JAVS Winter 1991

European attempts to improve the instrument. Certainly, the work of the American scientist/violist, Dr. Carleen M. Hutchins, of acoustical research on the viola 6, is worthy of mention by Zeyringer. The probability that Hutchins' work has not been translated into German is the most likely reason for this omission.

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IVS

In "The International Viola Society," Chapter Four of this book, Zeyringer allows himself to become autobiographical. Much of the information on Zeyringer's career in the early part of the review was derived from this section. The "P6llau Protokol," upon which the entire movement toward an "international" viola organization is based is printed here, as are the "Statues of the International Viola Society." He correctly credits Dietrich Bauer, Myron Rosenblum (founder of the American Viola Society), and Wolfgang Sawodny for their influence and contributions to the society. This section constitutes what at this time has to be the definitive history of the first twenty years of the parent international organization. Zeyringer shares both the successes and failures of starting such an organization: his very long and frustrating efforts to found an international viola archive, describing the transfer of a growing archival collection from Kassel to Salzburg in search of a home, the negotiations with David Dalton and the Harold B. Lee Library personnel at Brigham Young University, and the final establishment of the Primrose International Viola Library. Zeyringer's language describing his long,sought goal of a viola archive is passionate, leaving the reader with the conviction that the establishment of the PIVA, despite the fact that it was not in a German speaking country, is the pinnacle of his professional accomplishments and that of which he is most proud. This section is carefully written in great detail, sometimes more detail than that to which the English reader is accustomed. Regarding the book itself, the print is quite small and the German paragraph system (which neither spaces or indents) may cause some initial confusion to English language readers unless they are in the habit of reading Gennan publications. The illustrations, many hand,drawn by the author, maps, and graphs are very well done and quite adequately convey the author's intent. Some black and white photographs are used, and while basically satisfactory, a few of the images are lacking in detail. Zeyringer is what he is-a very affable and unassuming man who is very content living in the small Austrian town in which he was born rather than the musical centers of Vienna or Graz. Though not academically trained in musicological research or in languages, and somewhat rustic by nature, he is a surprising scholar in some respects. He overcomes these conditions as his son, Klaus, says through "exceptional enthusiasm for his work, considerable organizational talent, extensive knowledge of his subject, and also a notable quantity of perserverence." (p. 9) Occasionally, he may tend to derive assumptions from historical trends and known documents to support his point of view, but in so doing Zeyringer remains quite willing to be proved incorrect. Quick judgments such as that on the Tertis Mooel viola and the omission of an exceptional acoustical researcher like Carleen Hutchins reflect somewhat on his knowledge of events and his access to information pertaining to the viola in the English,speaking world. However, Franz Zeyringer's successes and contributions outweigh his shortcomings enormously, both in his career and in his latest book. "What enthusiastic musician would not like to hold in his hands a book which places his instrument in the focal point and illuminates it from page to page?" (p. 11) This statement by Klaus Zeyringer in the introduction accurately describes the result of his father's five,year effort to write a comprehensive history of the viola and provides a fitting close to this review. Die Viola da Braccio is indeed such a book. Just as it inevitably will be measured with musicological scrutiny, so should Franz Zeyringer's book eventually find a secure and honored place among instrumental treatises, especially for the descriptions of the International Viola Society and the Primrose International Viola Archive, which are unique to this work. Franz Zeyringer's Die Viola da Braccio should be translated not only into English, but any other language read by instrumental scholars and afficionados of the viola. BOOK AND AUTHOR