JAVS Summer 2021

Retrospective

Reflections and Memories of the Early AVS Years

Editor’s note: In recognition of the fiftieth anniversary of the AVS, we are featuring the reflections of several prominent violists and foundational members of the AVS. These memories, along with Dwight Pounds’s article in this issue and Thomas Tatton’s forthcoming article in the Fall 2021 issue, serve to celebrate the history of our society. Those interested in further retrospectives should refer to the JAVS Volume 28, Summer Online Issue (2012), which is devoted to remembering IVC V, and David Dalton’s article about IVC VII in JAVS Volume 25 number 2 (Fall 2009). During my Fulbright year in Vienna, 1964–65, I made a trip to Poellau, a charming village in lower Austria, to meet Franz Zeyringer, the author of Literature for Viola . I was privy to his impressive viola research and also had the pleasure of performing with Franz, a good violist, and a local orchestra in the Graupner Concerto in D for Viola d’amore and Viola. It was at that time that Franz talked of having viola societies in countries, world-wide, and particularly in the USA. So, when I returned back to New York City, I set about to create an American chapter, the Viola Research Society (VRS), the forerunner of the American Viola Society (AVS). Through some articles in music journals, the VRS grew quickly. It had not only Americans, but violists, teachers, students and scholars from Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries. Eventually, individual chapters were created in many countries. The American chapter was the largest and its International Viola Congresses were stellar events. So, today, 50 years later, it gives me much pleasure to see how the AVS has grown and matured into a superlative organization with a roster of extraordinary musicians Myron Rosenblum

and performers, with a fine and scholarly journal, a publication component, viola competitions, and other valuable ancillary projects. From those days when the viola was considered a poor relative of the violin and cello, I think with great satisfaction of what William Primrose said in a speech about the viola at one of the early Viola Congresses on American soil: “You’ve come a long way, baby!” May the AVS continue on its meaningful and special path in the viola world and music. I joined the Viola Research Society in 1973 when I was in the middle of my DMA program and busy teaching at Whittier College in California—it seemed like a reasonable thing to do. What was a clear vision for Myron Rosenblum (and many others) was just a foggy notion to me. It wasn’t until 1975, when I attended IVC III in Ypsilanti Michigan, that I knew I wanted to wrap myself in the organization. The level of playing was spectacular, the master classes sparkled, the pedagogy workshops were eye opening, and the exhibits were unlike anything I had seen before. In short, I was awed by the experience! That said, it was the cheerful, collegial, and friendly violists all around me (some 350 of them!) that clinched my lifelong love affair with the VRS/AVS! IVC III, in Ypsilanti, Michigan: What a thrill, all those violists. The viola was just coming into its own in the US, outside of a few patriarchs and matriarchs, including William Primrose, Paul Doktor, Walter Trampler, Lillian Fuchs, and Karen Tuttle. I had just graduated from the Juilliard School and met people that were students as well as All Stars. We all sat in the cafeteria and talked as Thomas Tatton Marna Street

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 37, 2021 Online Issue

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