JAVS Spring 2024

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2024 Spring JAVS

Features: 2023 Dalton Competition Winning Papers Rebecca Clarke Abroad, Part I Shubho Lhaw Quolo Journal of the AmericanViola Society Volume 40 Number 1

Journal of the American Viola Society A publication of the American Viola Society Spring 2024: Volume 40, Number 1

p. 3 p. 4 p. 7

From the Editor From the President

From the American Viola Festival Coordinator

Feature Articles

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Rebecca Clarke Abroad—The Launching of a Viola Star (Part I) by Caroline Castleton

p. 17 Shubho Lhaw Qolo: Turning an Ancient Aramaic hymn into a Modern Viola Concerto by Sami Seif p. 29 2023 Dalton Competition 3rd Place Winner: The Cade Instrument Collection: Celebrating an Unloved Viola by Catherine Joy Ziegler p. 39 2023 Dalton Competition Winner: The Mystery (Rosary) Sonatas by H.I.F. Biber: a Complete Edition for Viola and Basso Continuo by Gabriel Forero Departments p. 49 Development Corner: 2024 Spring Giving Circle p. 50 Development Corner: Let’s Talk About Legacy, by Tom Tatton p. 53 In the Studio: The Hunt for the Purple Viola Sound, by Christiana Reader p. 59 Luthier: Pernambuco Update: Time to Take Action, by Lynn Hannings p. 64 Recording Review: Works for Viola by American Women Composers, Sonata Forum No. 3: A Century of American Viola Sonatas, and Shubho Lhaw Qolo, by Lanson Wells

On the Cover: The Luthier by Jacob Dhein

In 2006, Jacob graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in Painting and Sculpture. He worked for several years after graduation, continuing with his artwork through portrait commissions. During this time, he took workshops to enhance his skills with painters whose work he was interested in. After two years, in 2009, Jacob dedicated himself to painting full time. Upon reflection he realized that there were missing elements in his artwork he needed to explore if he were ever to reach his goal of mastering the medium. He searched for a school that had a renowned faculty that excelled in representational painting. He completed his Master of Fine Arts at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco in 2013. From 2014-2019 Jacob taught drawing and painting at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco. Currently, Jacob resides in Cádiz, Spain and focuses on painting a variety of subject matters and teaching workshops internationally. He is represented in galleries around the world and has done numerous solo shows. www.jacobdhein.com

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 40, No. 1, Spring 2024

The Journal of the American Viola Society is published in spring and fall and as an online only issue in summer. The American Viola Society is a nonprofit organization of viola enthusiasts, including students, performers, teachers, scholars, composers, makers, and friends, who seek to encourage excellence in performance, pedagogy, research, composition, and lutherie. United in our commitment to promote the viola and its related activities, the AVS fosters communication and friendship among violists of all skill levels, ages,

Editor: Christina Ebersohl-Van Scyoc Assistant Editor: Lanson Wells Departmental Editors Development Corner: Tom Tatton Consultant Dwight Pounds AVS National Board of Directors: President-Elect: Daphne Gerling (2026) Past President: Hillary Herndon (2023) Secretary: Lauren Burn-Hodges (2024) Treasurer: Ann-Marie Brink (2025) Webmaster Tony Devroye (2025) Board Members Ruben Balboa III (2024) Kathryn Brown (2024) Jessica Chang (2024) Anthony Devroye (2025) Christina Ebersohl-Van Scyoc (2024) Misha Galaganov (2024) Officers President: Ames Asbell (2026)

JAVS welcomes articles from its readers. Submission deadlines are December 1 for the Spring issue, April 1

Kimia Hesabi (2026) Hsiaopei Lee (2025) Kayleigh Miller (2024) Gabrille Padilla (2026) Cody Russell (2026) Steven Tenenbom (2024) Molly Wilkens-Reed (2026) Rose Wollman (2026) JAVS Volunteer Kevin Nordstrom AVS General Manager Madeleine Crouch AVS National Office 14070 Proton Road, Suite 100 Dallas, TX 75244 (972) 233-9107 ext. 204

for the Summer online issue, and August 1 for the Fall issue. Send submissions to the AVS Editorial Office, Christina Ebersohl-Van Scyoc editor@americanviolasociety.org or to

Madeleine Crouch, 14070 Proton Rd., Suite 100 Dallas, TX 75244

JAVS offers print and web advertising for a receptive and influential readership. For advertising rates please contact JAVS Editor Christina Ebersohl-Van Scyoc editor@americanviolasociety.org

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 40, No. 1, Spring 2024

From the Editor

Dearest friends,

Aramaic Hymn. And we are proud to showcase two of our 2023 Dalton Research Competition Winners in the Featured Articles section, with a look at the “unloved” Cade instrument collection and a premiere look into the creation of a complete edition of H.I.F Biber’s Rosary Sonatas for viola and basso continuo. If the astonishing state of scholarly research doesn’t inspire you, hop over to the Departmental Articles, where you can find a truly inspirational look on guiding students to create the “Purple Viola” sound. And don’t miss the call to action on the Pernambuco crisis in our Luthier section that lays out what you can do to make a difference. This issue wraps us—as it always does—with our Recording Reviews, which focuses on newly released contemporary composers. An amazing way to start off our 2024! By regularly bringing scholars, performers, teachers, luthiers, and enthusiasts together in one place—be it the JAVS or the Festival—we are all made better. And more importantly, we are making a difference in the viola community and empowering a stronger generation of violists who follow. Thank you to each one of you who has helped us do more than ever in 2023. Our goal for 2024 is to use that support to exceed your expectations and transform dreams into reality.

In this busy spring season of planning, collaboration, and envisioning the path to make the “impossible” possible , I feel reenergized and completely inspired. As you read on to the Letter from the President, you’ll learn about our celebration of 40 years at the Journal of

the American Viola Society —a monumental occasion that I am honored to be a small part of. And a little further on, you’ll hear about some of the tremendous events awaiting you at the 2024 American Viola Society Festival and Primrose International Viola Competition this summer in the Letter from the Festival Coordinator. As we delve into 2024, I can’t help but reflect on those outstanding mentors and teachers who have shaped my journey—many of whom continue to provide friendship and support even today! The impact of a single person can be truly transformative. It can create a ripple affect throughout communities and across generations. The Journal of the American Viola Society continues to invest our efforts in those who want to lead, question, and transform the music world into a stronger and more violistic tomorrow. In this Spring issue of JAVS , you will find FOUR featured articles of great variation—from part one of Rebecca Clarke’s lesser discussed musical journey, to the creation of a viola concerto from an ancient

V/r, Christina Ebersohl-Van Scyoc, Editor

Join the American Viola Society Your membership supports the viola community through performance, education, research, mentoring, publishing, commissioning new works and more. www.americanviolasociety.org/Join.php

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 40, No. 1, Spring 2024

From the President

Jaime Laredo. This spring, we will also launch our second Educator Mini-Grant program, designed specifically to support teachers. If you have pedagogy training you would like to pursue or need funding for a studio project, be sure to apply! Over the past forty years, the Journal of the American Viola Society has grown from a simple mimeographed newsletter into a full-featured research journal. There have been many milestones along the way, including the addition of an online issue, and last year, a browsable digital archive with all issues available on the AVS website. Through it all, the JAVS continues to deliver a high standard of viola research, news, events, and more directly to your mailbox (or inbox). This year, the AVS celebrates forty years of the J ournal of the American Viola Society (1984-2024) by going FULL COLOR ! The summer online issue has been in full color since its inception, but starting with this issue, all print issues will be in full color as well. To me, full color printing is a beautiful metaphor for the great diversity of our membership—including teachers, students, amateurs, professionals, orchestral players, chamber musicians, luthiers, and aficionados from a broad variety of backgrounds, all united in our love of the viola. That also means we want the JAVS to represent you. If there is a topic you would like to see in the JAVS or if you are interested in submitting your own research or writing, please let our team know at editor@ americanviolasociety.org. Congratulations to all JAVS editors and staff, past and present, whose work has contributed to this tremendous milestone. Here’s to forty more years! In addition to celebrating the legacy of our journal, I’m sure you will enjoy the contents of this first full-color issue. In feature articles, Caroline Castleton provides a fascinating look at a favorite violist composer, Rebecca Clarke, and Sami Seif introduces Shibho Llhaw , his new viola concerto based on an ancient Aramaic hymn—with the score is now available in the “Scores’’ section of the AVS website! We are also proud to present feature articles by two David Dalton Viola Research Competition winners, Gabriel Forero and Catherine Ziegler. Thank you so much for supporting the AVS through your membership and donations. They are both vital to making all of these events and initiatives – from the AVS Festival to the Greenroom events to the journal – possible. If you are enjoying your membership, please tell a colleague, student, or friend. We are stronger together!

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Warmest greetings during this coldest time of year! Although a polar vortex is currently bringing frigid temperatures to many of us throughout the country—including Texas, where I’m based— spring will be on the horizon by the time you receive this, and we’ll be looking forward to warming weather and making plans for summer travel and fun.

This summer, I hope you’re planning to join us at the 2024 American Viola Society Festival and Primrose International Viola Competition ! On June 19-22, emerging viola stars from all over the world will gather at the Colburn School in Los Angeles to compete in the Primrose, while the AVS presents a concurrent four-day festival filled with presentations, recitals, masterclasses, workshops, exhibits, competitions, and much more. I’m getting excited just thinking about the knowledge, inspiration, and camaraderie I take home from every AVS Festival I attend – not to mention the festival swag, sheet music, and other vendor purchases crammed into my suitcase! A combined AVS Festival/PIVC won’t be held again until 2030, so don’t miss this incredible opportunity to immerse yourself in the best of viola performance, research, pedagogy, and community. This event will also be especially meaningful as it is dedicated to the memory of David Dalton, a leading light of the viola world for over 50 years. Registration is open on the AVS website, and early registration discounts end April 1. I look forward to seeing you there! This has been a busy season indeed at the AVS. While our festival team has been occupied with festival planning and Primrose Competition pre-screening, other AVS board committees are working to select winners for the 2025 AVS Presents recording call and collect nominations for the 2024-27 AVS board cohort. We also enjoyed a wonderful January AVS Greenroom with Masumi Rostad and host Steven Tenenbom. Please be sure to explore the incredible library of past AVS Greenroom conversations on our website and look for announcements of future special guests such as Antoine Tamestit and Advertiser Index Anderson Musical Instrument Insurance Solutions. . . . . . . IBC AntiquusStrings.....................38 AVS History & Reference Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Connolly Music Company/Thomastik-Infeld. . . . . . . . . BC

Yours in alto clef,

Ames Asbell President

David Dalton Competition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Moes & Moes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 NoteWorthy Federal Credit Union. . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC Robertson & Sons Violin Shop, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 40, No. 1, Spring 2024

AVS Presents: 2023 – Works by Underrepresented Composers

In 2021, the American Viola Society established a recording label to provide affordable recording opportunities for our members. For the inaugural album, the AVS requested submissions of works for solo viola or viola and piano by composers from underrepresented demographics. The response from the community was remarkable…

…and in the fall of 2023, the AVS proudly released the first recording in its “AVS Presents” series: “Works by Underrepresented Composers.”

This release includes music composed by: • Jeanne Behrend • Lycia de Biase Bidart • Andrea Clearfield • Reena Esmail

• Tigran Mansurian • Jessie Montgomery • Olivier Toni • Ellen Taaffe Zwilich

Featured viola performers are:

• Jacob Adams (with Paul Lee, piano) • Sheila Browne (with Julie Nishimura, piano) • Vijay Chalasani • Mary Moran • Fabio Saggin (with Mauren Frey, piano) • Tallā Rouge Duo

• Rafael Videira • Alyssa Warcup

Scan here to listen!

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 40, No. 1, Spring 2024

Festival Host Letter

Dearest AVS Community, Happy New Year!

Registration opened in February, so make sure you sign up and take advantage of our Early Bird rate. Information is available at: https://www.americanviolasociety.org/avs festival/ Virtual participation through the Whova online platform will also be available for those for whom Los Angeles is too far away.

As 2023 comes to a beautiful end, I’m taking a moment to reflect on all the wonderful viola moments of this past year. I am grateful for teaching marvelous students and performing with dear colleagues throughout Texas,

May the new year bring you much violistic happiness and renewal!

Cheers!

Daphne Gerling President-Elect

as well as in Honduras, Thailand, and Tennessee. I hope your love for the viola brought you joy and many great moments this season as well. The AVS team has been hard at work to bring you very exciting programs and activities in 2024, particularly the AVS Festival and Primrose International Viola Competition, which will be held June 19-22, 2024 , at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. We are so excited for you to join us to hear the amazing artistry of the PIVC competitors, and master classes and recitals by select members of the PIVC jury, which includes amazing artists such as Atar Arad, Cathay Basrak, Ensik Choi, Steven Dann, Tim Fredriksen, Ayane Kozasa, and Geraldine Walther. The AVS will be hosting three Youth Solo Competitions, the Ensemble Invitational, the Orchestral Audition Competition, and the Exhibition of Modern Violas and Bows, as well as more than 80 panels, presentations, lectures, recitals, and workshops. The week’s events culminate with the Primrose Competition final concerto round, which will be broadcast by Medici TV and the Violin Channel.

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 40, No. 1, Spring 2024

2024 American Viola Society Festival Competition Finalists Announcement

The AVS Festival team would like to formally announce the following individuals and ensembles on their advancement to the final live round of competition at this year’s Festival:

Orchestral Audition Competition Sumin Cheong Isabella Carvalho Marques Eleanor Hammersly Angela Rubin Joyce Tseng

AVS Festival Solo: Collegiate (ages 19 and up) April Kwon Nilli Tayid Alice Ford

Victoria Skinner Seth Goodman Grace Leonard

Gina Gravagne Devin Burgess Jay Julio Laureta

AVS Viola Ensemble Invitation: Junior Viola Voice Ensemble, directed by Naomi Graf AVS Viola Ensemble Invitation: Senior Settlement Music School Viola Choir, directed by Shelley Beard CCM Viola Prep Quartet, directed by Joyce Chan Grabell AVS Viola Ensemble Invitation: Collegiate Schwob Viola Ensemble, directed by Katrin Meidell Desert Violas, directed by Molly Gebrian USM Violas, directed by Hsiaopei Lee NIU Viola Studio, directed by Anthony Devroye

AVS Festival Solo: Junior (ages 14 and under) Neena Agrawal McKayla Hwang

Jennifer Kang Ellie Washecka

Aria Kim Julie Choi

AVS Festival Solo: Senior (ages 15-18) Lillianna Wodzisz Sophia Nam Mason Lee Logan Purser Dustin Breshears Kayla Kim

From all of us at the American Viola Society—our sincerest congratulations to all the finalists and to everyone who submitted their auditions. We look forward to hearing you all perform at the 2024 AVS Festival!

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 40, No. 1, Spring 2024

Featured Article

Pt. I: Rebecca Clarke Abroad— The Launching of a Viola Star by Caroline Castleton

The revival of Rebecca Clarke’s compositions in the 1970s sparked new interest in her from scholars and performers alike. Her success as a composer during the period between the two World Wars was anomalous in a world where women received little encouragement towards entering the field. Authors of academic literature, CD liner notes, and program notes, have repeatedly told the story of how Clarke’s Viola Sonata and Piano Trio received first runner-up at the Berkshire Festival of Chamber Music’s composition competitions 1919 and 1921, respectively. 1 Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, sponsor of the Berkshire Festival of Chamber Music, commissioned another chamber work from Rebecca Clarke in 1923: the Rhapsody for Cello and Piano. All three of these works are frequently performed today. Coolidge’s patronage placed Clarke squarely among the ranks of such composers as Igor Stravinsky, Ernest Bloch, Samuel Barber, and Béla Bartók, who also benefited from Coolidge’s commissioning of new works. 2 Clarke composed over one hundred pieces, comprising works for instrumental chamber ensembles, voice and piano, and choral ensembles. Most of the published literature on Rebecca Clarke focuses on her work as a composer; however, her main career focus and source of income was not in composition, but instead as a performing violist. The two branches of her career were inextricably connected and had historical precedent. Some of the most revered composers of Western European art music played the viola, including J. S. Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Dvořák. These luminaries appeared to find that playing a middle voice was useful to their craft. Clarke’s composition teacher at the Royal College of Music, Charles Villiers Stanford (1852–1924), shared this philosophy and prompted her switch from violin to viola, as she describes in her memoir:

‘You must come into the orchestra,’ Sir Charles had said soon after I entered College. He was the conductor. ‘Change over to the viola,’ he continued, ‘because then you are right in the middle of the sound, and can tell how it’s all done.’ And from that moment the viola became my instrument. I had felt an affinity for it ever since I was a child and first heard the two Brahms songs with viola obligato; so the switch from violin felt very natural. I have always been glad I made it. 3

While Stanford’s suggestion was clearly a practical one from a compositional standpoint, Clarke’s remarks, as well as her dedication to the viola throughout her career, demonstrate an affinity for the instrument that reached far beyond a utilitarian support for her compositional aspirations. By switching to the viola, Clarke entered largely uncharted territory in comparison to other string instruments, in that technical approaches to playing the violin and cello were long established with method books, schools of technique, and increasingly demanding new repertoire. Until the early twentieth century, the viola received little attention from major composers, pedagogues, and performers due to its perceived limitations in projection as well as its reputation as an instrument for second-rate violinists—violists Lionel Tertis (1876–1975), Paul Hindemith (1895–1963), and William Primrose (1904–1982) tend to receive the most credit for the emergence of the viola as a solo instrument.

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 40, No. 1, Spring 2024

While viola enthusiasts appreciate Clarke’s compositional contribution to viola repertoire, her advocacy for the viola through international tours, recitals, and radio performance is often overlooked in comparison with her male contemporaries. In a time before commercial air travel, and in a world complicated by World War I and its aftermath, international tours were no small matter, and Clarke’s pre-dated any such tours by Tertis or Primrose (outside of continental Europe). 4 The organization and funding behind her tours must have been substantial, and they are a testament to her persistence in a male dominated field. Clarke’s performances abroad drew consistent praise and often resulted in critical reappraisal of the viola as a solo instrument. This first article in a two-part series presents new details about Clarke’s early career and international tours, while the second will focus on her radio broadcasting in the United Kingdom. Clarke’s formal training began in 1902, when at age sixteen she enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music, where she studied violin with Hans Wessely. Towards the end of her second year, she received a marriage proposal from her harmony teacher, Percy Miles. This event led her father to abruptly remove her from the school. In the years that followed, Clarke visited relatives in the United States and experimented with writing art songs. 5 Her father sent some of her songs to Charles Villiers Stanford, a well-known Irish composer who taught at the Royal College of Music. Stanford invited Clarke to enroll in the Royal College and study with him, which her father permitted her to do in 1908. The result of this was not only an opportunity for intensive compositional training, but also Clarke’s switch to viola. She studied the viola with Lionel Tertis during this period, likely privately since Tertis taught at the Royal Academy. Sometime after 1911, but before Clarke had finished her studies at the Royal College, a dispute with her father led him to kick her out of the family home and cut her off financially. 6 Within a day she was able to secure a room in London and arrange a professional gig as a violist in the Royal College orchestra. 7 “And so,” she wrote, “in hardly more than twenty-four hours, I had reached a watershed, and the whole course of my life had begun to run in a different direction. I was living in London, a professional musician, preparing to earn my own living. It was exhilarating and rather frightening. Actually, I was too dead tired to realise it all” (fig. 1). 8

There is little documentation of performances in which Clarke participated in the years preceding World War I. In January 1911, she performed in a concert played entirely by women, featuring music by the composer Ethel Smyth (1858–1944). 9 This is the earliest record showing Clarke collaborating with the violinist Marjorie Hayward (1885–1953) and the cellist May Mukle (1880–1963), both of whom would become important colleagues throughout Clarke’s entire performance career. The three were about the same age and Mukle and Hayward had known each other as students at the Royal Academy of music. 10 During her early career, Clarke often performed with other women; two notices name her as part of the Solly String Quartet and the Nettleship Quartet, both all-woman groups. 11 She also performed with the famous Hungarian sister violinists, Jelly and Adila d’Aranyi (later Adila Fachiri), who were great-nieces of Joseph Joachim. Most importantly, Clarke joined the Norah Clench Quartet when she replaced the violist Cecilia Gates in 1910; May Mukle was also a member of this ensemble. 12 During this time, Clarke and her colleagues were often hired to play in private homes; she specifically mentions Walter Wilson Cobbett, a “rich chamber music enthusiast” and amateur violinist who frequently hired musicians to play quartets with Figure 1. Publicity photo, ca. 1911. This photo was taken close to the time Clarke left home, becoming an independent earner as a violist. Photo Courtesy of Christopher Johnson, rebeccaclarkecomposer.com, photo taken by H. Walter Barnett.

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 40, No. 1, Spring 2024

him. 13 Clarke also frequented parties at the home of Paul and Muriel Draper, who hosted many of the leading musicians of the day. This is where she rubbed shoulders with Artur Rubenstein, Pablo Casals, Jacques Thibaud, and others. 14 Clarke spoke fondly of the Drapers and their parties even in her later years. 15 Some of the earliest reviews of Clarke’s solo playing appeared in 1913 after a concert at the Guildhall in Wells, Somerset, where she played an arrangement of Wagner’s Prieslied. The two reviews were somewhat contradictory: the Wells Journal found that, despite Clarke’s “delightful work in the quartettes,” her tempo was “taken too strictly all the way through and a gradation of tone lacking,” but the Shepton Mallet Journal extolled her “extremely attractive rendering … the grand tone produced from the viola being splendid in its purity and depth.” 16 In 1913 Clarke found greater financial stability as one of six women hired by the previously all-male Queen’s Hall Orchestra. Her acceptance was based on an audition in which she sight-read the viola part to Strauss’s Don Juan , a notoriously difficult excerpt which to this day appears on standard repertoire lists for orchestral auditions (fig. 2). 17 Her technical prowess was indisputable.

that year and 1924. The first documentation of this tour is a recital on September 19, 1916, in Sorosis Hall, San Francisco, in which Clarke and Mukle performed piano quartets by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Paul Juon. Advertising for the concert was mainly focused on Clarke and Mukle (fig. 3).

Figure 3. Advertisement for Clarke and Mukle concert at Sorosis Hall in San Francisco. Photo Source: San Francisco Examiner, September 17, 1916, 62.

It was during the 1916 tour that American newspapers began to take notice of Clarke as a soloist. In October, she shared the stage with soprano Johanna Kristoffy in a joint recital in Oakland, California, where she played viola solos with piano: Wagner’s Preislied , Bridge’s Melodie , one of Marais’s Old French Dances , and Grainger’s Sussex Mummer’s Christmas Carol . The Oakland Tribune gushed, “Miss Clarke, who is a member of the Arenyi string quartet of London and has an international reputation as a soloist with symphony orchestras, plays that rarely heard instrument—the viola.” 19 The account, while somewhat exaggerating Clarke’s accomplishments up to that point, exemplifies the enthusiastic reception she received in America. Earlier that month, a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner introduced his interview with Clarke and Mukle by praising the viola, as played by Clarke:

Figure 2. The first women to be admitted to the Queen’s Hall Orchestra.Clarke is on the lower left. Photo Courtesy of Christopher Johnson, rebeccaclarkecomposer.com.

The female performers in the Queen’s Hall Orchestra did not perform for the Promenade season until 1916. 18 While it’s possible that Clarke participated in the 1916 Promenade concerts, it was also in 1916 that she joined Mukle on the first of several international tours between

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 40, No. 1, Spring 2024

Why do not more women devote themselves to the viola? The viola has the tones of a contralto; it suggests distinction; there is a patrician air about it which the more light-fancied violin can no more emulate than a dressy servant girl can look like a countess. It was Miss Rebecca Clarke who stirred these thoughts in me. True, they lay dormant there, so to speak, and it only required a whisper to bring them uppermost. So Miss Clarke played the “Sussex Mummers’ Noel.” … It has a grave, rich melody, true English in character, English of the folk, like ‘There Were Three Ravens Sat on a Tree,’ and Miss Clarke played it with fine expression. 20

In January 1917, Clarke performed the Sussex Mummer’s Carol as well as Brahms’s trio for viola, cello, and piano (originally written for clarinet, cello, and piano) in a recital in New York City at the Music School Settlement. 21 She and Mukle performed again in New York City in March at St. Thomas’s Church. 22 Seeking more repertoire for herself and Mukle to play, Clarke wrote several new pieces between 1917–1918: Irish Melody , an arrangement for viola and cello; Morpheus for viola and piano; Untitled Movement in E minor for viola and piano; Lullaby for violin and piano; and Lullaby and Grotesque , two duets for viola and cello. During this time Clarke also met Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, whose Berkshire festivals would prompt some of Clarke’s most successful compositions, and Gertrude Watson, a pianist who lived in Pittsfield and with whom Clarke and Mukle would collaborate a number of times throughout the following few years. 23 The three formed the Onata Quartet with the violinist Walter Stafford in 1917, the group’s name first appearing in the Hartford Courant in September. 24 Clarke and Mukle’s work with the Onata Quartet likely immersed them in much of the repertoire they w ould later play with their more famous piano quartet, the English Ensemble. On February 13, 1918, Clarke and Mukle performed a recital in New York City’s Aeolian Hall. The New York Tribune included a glamor shot of Clarke in its notice of the concert (fig. 4).

This recital is the one known time that Clarke used the pseudonym “Anthony Trent” as the composer of her piece, Morpheus. She also played Frank Bridge’s Allegro Appassionato for viola and piano; Hubert Parry’s Sarabande, arranged for viola from his Partita for Violin and Piano in D minor; and Clarke’s two duets for viola and cello, Lullaby and Grotesque. The New York Tribune reviewed the concert, focusing almost entirely on Clarke, despite Mukle’s greater fame at the time: Figure 4. Advertisement for Clarke’s New York debut in Aeolian Hall. Photo Source: “News and Comment of Concert and Opera,” New York Tribune, February 10, 1918, 3.

Rarely heard, except in company with some sixty or eighty other orchestral instruments, the viola was the chief centre of interest at the recital given yesterday afternoon by Rebecca Clarke, violist, and May Mukle, ‘cellist, at Aeolian Hall. The beauty of the instrument, which possesses something of the flexibility of the violin with the intensity of the ‘cello, was admirably exploited by Miss Clarke, and set the audience wondering whether more could

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 40, No. 1, Spring 2024

not be heard from this instrument, even if its limited repertory of music must be extended with works adapted from music written for other instruments. Miss Clarke masters the deep ‘cello tones, as well as the song-like upper register of her instrument, and with more flexibility of bow phrasing will become an executant of real authority. 25

The two newspapers gave the concerts rave reviews, including high praise for Clarke as a soloist:

The very warm reception accorded Miss Rebecca Clarke, violist, who was the soloist on this program, speaks well both for the musical taste of Honolulu audiences and the superb ability of the artist. Miss Clarke is truly a pioneer in the use of the viola as a solo instrument, there being but two or three others in the world who have won recognition as original interpreters on this instrument. The Romanza by Wolstenholme is perhaps better suited to the timbre of the viola than the Capriccio by Haydn. In the Romanza Miss Clarke drew out a peculiarly lovely and appealing tone of velvety smoothness and golden richness. The Capriccio was dainty and beautifully rendered. For an encore Miss Clarke played an old French air, and was smothered with flowers. 27

Clarke and Mukle spent the following summer touring New England with the Onata Quartet. Referring to one of their July concerts, the Berkshire Eagle reported, “Miss Rebecca Clarke has done what few men would try to do and what few have made a success of, that is, using the viola as a solo instrument. She plays with a vivid and sure technique and displays remarkable command of her instrument.” 26 Clarke and Mukle attended Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge’s first Berkshire Festival in September, then played a few concerts in California before leaving to spend an entire concert season in Hawaii, where they were engaged by the Philharmonic Society of Honolulu to play fortnightly recitals from October 1918 to February 1919. The organizer, Max Selinsky, also recruited violinist Iola Barber Ingalls and the Australian pianist, Jessie Masson. The five musicians played solos, trios, quartets, and quintets for the concert series. It was rare for artists of such high caliber to visit Hawaii, so the concerts were heavily advertised in the Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, and the group mostly played to sold-out audiences (fig. 5).

Clarke aimed for development as a whole musician throughout her life, and her season in Hawaii doubled as an opportunity for compositional inspiration. In an article devoted exclusively to Clarke, the Honolulu Star Bulletin reported:

Before taking up the viola Miss Clarke played the violin for many years with great success, but discovered that her true love was the viola and she has done her utmost to exploit this beautiful and little-known instrument. In addition, she has another talent which is equally famous, that of composition, and one of her chief reasons for coming to Honolulu was to get inspiration and leisure for this work by spending a winter in the Hawaiian islands. 28

During this time, Clarke was working on her viola sonata which would eventually win second prize after a tie breaking vote in Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge’s Berkshire Festival competition.

Figure 5. Photograph of Rebecca Clarke with the Selinsky Quartet in Hawaii. Photo Source: Honolulu Star Bulletin, December 5, 1918.

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 40, No. 1, Spring 2024

Clarke used her time in Hawaii to develop her musicianship in a third way: connecting verbally with her audience. Of the five musicians engaged for the season, she was the only one to conduct a series of pre-concert lectures to discuss the music performed in each concert. This way of engaging with her audience appeared to stick; years later a writer from London’s Acton Gazette and Express would remark that “the happy way she had of taking the audience into her confidence in the “little chats” by which she preluded each item was an agreeable feature of the recital.” 29 Even after her retirement, Clarke continued to work as a speaker on musical subjects. After their resounding success in Hawaii, Clarke and Mukle returned to the continental United States. In September 1919, Clarke’s Viola Snata won second prize at the Berkshire Festival. This achievement has been discussed so extensively in other sources that there is little need to cover it here; however, after the competition Clarke spent a great deal of time promoting the sonata through her own performances of it. In the United States, her efforts brought her to Detroit, Buffalo, Boston, and New York City, where she played the sonata in multiple public recitals with great success. 30 In her diaries, she also recounts private performances for the conductor Walter Damrosch and pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch. 31 In January 1920 she returned to New York City where she had, as the New York Times put it, “the novel experience of presenting her own [sonata] at Aeolian Hall … for the first time in New York.” 32 Clarke was more than satisfied with her performance, writing, “Saved myself up all day for the evening. Felt very nervous. … Concert went off extremely well. Had tremendous success with sonata & also solos. Very enthusiastic house. Jolly party here after, about 80 people.” 33 The New York Tribune reviewed the recital, praising Clarke as both performer and composer: Into the three movements the young woman has crowded the emotions of a sensitive nature. … The second movement has spectacular glissandos for the piano and showy passages for both instruments in unusual combinations. It is evident that Miss Clarke has listened sympathetically to the music of French and Spanish composers. It is in the third movement that the composer has shown her greatest genius, for here the music is mystical and macabre, in places as poignant, as moving as anything heard

in the death chamber of Melisande. The beauty of the opening theme of this movement first announced by the piano alone will not soon be forgotten. Wholly in keeping with the character of its last pages the sonata ends with a question. Had Miss Clarke written nothing more than this last part it would be enough to stamp her as a composer of remarkable talent. Like her composition, her playing was of a high order of merit. 34 In this recital, Clarke also played a sonata by Giovanni Battista Grazioli, selections from Marin Marais’s Old French Dances , Caprice Basque by Emil Ferir, and Lullaby by Cyril Scott. Clarke soon returned to London where she continued the work of promoting her sonata. In May 1920, she performed it privately for Lionel Tertis, who performed it himself the following month. 35 Clarke gave the London premier of the sonata on May 31 in London’s Aeolian Hall, to largely positive reviews. 36 She and May Mukle then returned to the U.S. to spend another summer touring Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire with the violinist Gertrude Watson, this time as a trio, with Watson’s villa in Pittsfield, Massachusetts as a home base. The Berkshire Eagle lists Clarke as an attendee at the 1920 Berkshire Festival, though she did not participate as performer or composer that year. Clarke’s activities in 1921 mirrored the previous busy year, with spring performances in England, where she and Mukle joined the Music Society String Quartet with violinists André Mangeot and Kenneth Skeaping. 37 This group’s performance of Alfred Mistowski’s piano quartet may have been Clarke’s first collaboration with the pianist Kathleen Long (1896–1968), who would later found the English Ensemble with Clarke, Mukle, and Marjorie Hayward. In spring 2021, Clarke also performed her viola sonata twice, in Aeolian Hall and Wigmore Hall. She then spent another summer in New England, where she entered a brief phase of violin playing to facilitate the performance of piano trios with Mukle and Watson; their performances included works for this instrumentation by Brahms, Schumann, and Dvořák. Clarke even played solos on at least one occasion, prompting the Berkshire Eagle to observe, “Miss Clarke was at her best in two violin solos, ‘Après un Rêve,’ (Fauré) and ‘Hungarian

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 40, No. 1, Spring 2024

Dance’ in G minor, (Brahms-Joachim). Miss Clarke who is an accomplished viola player, is proving herself a master of the violin as well and it is always a pleasure to hear her.” 38 Clarke followed her New England tours by attending the Berkshire Festival, this time winning second place for her piano trio in the composition competition. The winner, incidentally, was H. Waldo Warner, also a well known violist and member of the London String Quartet, perhaps more evidence to support the philosophy that playing the viola was helpful for composing, the belief that led Clarke’s compositions teacher, Charles Villiers Stanford, to suggest her switch to the viola. Clarke gave at least two performances in New York City again in January and February of 1922, but then spent most of that year back in England, where she again performed with the Music Society String Quartet (fig. 6).

In early 1923, Clarke, Mukle, and Gertrude Watson went on an international tour, dubbed “Pittsfield in the Orient” by the Berkshire Eagle , to the British Colonies and Asia, including India, Singapore, Japan, China, Indonesia, and Burma. 39 Clarke continued her stint on the violin for this tour, leaving her viola at home, though she did have the opportunity to play her sonata in Peking (Beijing), China, on a borrowed viola. 40 She was named as a violinist for the performance of Tchaikovsky’s piano trio in the tour’s concluding concert on June 28 in Hawaii. 41 Clarke and Mukle remained in Hawaii for a time while Clarke worked on her Rhapsody for cello and piano, commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge for the 1923 Berkshire Festival. Clarke also performed at the festival on September 28, playing Benjamin Dale’s sextet for violas with Lionel Tertis, Hugo Kortschak, Edward Kreiner, Nicolas Moldavan and, of the London String Quartet, H. Waldo Warner. Mukle performed Clarke’s Rhapsody for the festival on September 29. 42 1924 saw Clarke back in London, which she finally made her home base after the exhaustive touring lifestyle she had led for the previous eight years. The mid-twenties were a formative time for Clarke’s career and shaped the direction for the remainder of her time in London, until she relocated to America in 1939. Her performances included self-promotion of her own works. For example, in October 1925, Clarke performed in two recitals featuring only her own works, one at Wigmore Hall and the other over wireless broadcast. Her two main performing ensembles, the Aeolian Players—featuring Joseph Slater, flute; Constance Izard, violin; herself on viola; and Gordon Bryan, piano—and the English Ensemble—featuring Marjorie Hayward, violin; herself on viola; May Mukle, cello; and Kathleen Long, piano—were also founded during this time. Perhaps even more importantly, Clarke gave at least sixty performances over BBC broadcast between 1925 and 1939, including many solos, exposing the listening public to the viola as a worthy solo instrument. Part II of this series will cover Clarke’s significant contribution to radio broadcasting. Footnotes: 1 Liane Curtis, “Clarke [Friskin], Rebecca,” Grove Mu sic Online, 2001, accessed March 14, 2023, https:// doi-org.proxy-um.researchport.umd.edu/10.1093/ gmo/9781561592630.article.44728. 2 Gustave Reese and Cyrilla Barr, “Coolidge, Elizabeth (Penn) Sprague,” Grove Music Online, 2001, ac-

Figure 6. Publicity photo, ca. 1922. Photo Courtesy of Christopher Johnson, rebeccaclarkecomposer.com, photo credit: G.C. Beresford.

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cessed March 14, 2023, https://doi-org.proxy-um. researchport.umd.edu/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630. article.06403. 3 Rebecca Clarke, I Had a Father Too , unpublished mem oir, Rebecca Clarke and James Friskin Papers, Music Division, Library of Congress, 158–159. 4 Tertis’s first performing tour in the Americas was not until 1923, when Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge invited him to play in the Berkshire Festival. See John White, Lionel Tertis: The First Great Virtuoso of the Viola, (Rochester: Boydell Press, 2007), 68–69. Primrose was only age twelve when Clarke left on her first tour of the United States in 1916. 5 Clarke, I Had a Father, Too , 141–152. 6 Ibid., 178–179. 7 Ibid., 178–179. 8 Ibid., 181. 9 Advertisement, “Women Writer’s Suffrage League at Home,” Votes for Women , January 20, 1911, 260. 10 “Royal Academy of Music,” Musical Times and Singing Class Circular 38, no. 651 (1897): 316. 11 “Advertisement and Notices,” Exeter and Plymouth Gazette , October 22, 1912; “The Nettleship Quartet: String Concert at Ramsgate,” East Kent Times and Dis trict Advertiser , November 12, 1913, 7. 12 Clarke, I Had a Father Too , handwritten notes, 11¬–12. 13 Clarke, I Had a Father Too, 13; Walter Wilson Cob bett (1847–1937), though not a professional musician, compiled, authored, and edited Cobbett’s Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music, which continues to be a useful resource for today’s researchers. Rebecca Clarke was well acquainted with Cobbett and wrote the article on the viola in the Cyclopedic Survey. 14 “Muriel Draper Papers,” Collection Overview, Archives at Yale, accessed March 28, 2023, https://archives.yale. edu/repositories/11/resources/1624. 15 Diane Walsh, personal communication, March 27, 2023. 16 “Mr. A Trowbridge’s Concert,” Wells Journal , Novem ber 14, 1913, 5; “Concert at the Guildhall,” Shepton Mallet Journal , November 14, 1913, 8. 17 M. B. Stanfield, “Rebecca Clarke: Violist and Com poser” The Strad 77 (December 1966), 297. 18 “Chamber Music Proves Delight,” San Francisco Exam iner , September 21, 1916, 8. 19 Ray C. Brown, “Music Echos From the Realm of Tone,” Oakland Tribune , October 22, 1916, 29. 20 “Why Do Not More Women Take Up the Viola?” San Francisco Examiner , October 15, 1916, 64.

21 “Music School Settlement Notes,” New York Age , Janu ary 11, 1917, 6. 22 Advertisement, “General News and Notes in the World of Music,” New York Times , 25 Mar 1917, 90. 23 Maria Foltz Baylock, “Women Musicians in Early Twentieth-Century London: The String Players in the English Ensemble,” (Thesis, Southern Methodist Uni versity, 1998), 58. 24 “Society Women Will Hear Miss Matthison,” Hartford Courant , September 14, 1917, 7. 25 “Music: Miss Rebecca Clark Demonstrates Beauty of the Viola, Instrument Rarely Heard Alone,” New York Tribune , February 14, 1918, 9. 26 “Noted Musicians to Play at the Concert Tonight,” Berkshire Eagle , July 22, 1918, 12. 27 “Capacity House Gives Rapturous Aloha to Artists,” Honolulu Advertiser , November 2, 5. 28 “Rebecca Clarke Will Be Soloist Friday Evening,” Ho nolulu Star-Bulletin , October 30, 1918, 6. 29 “Viola Recital at Ealing Green,” Acton Gazette and Ex press , November 16, 1928, 3. 30 “New Trio Will Play 3 Attractive Programs,” Detroit Free Press , December 7, 1919, C1; “Music,” Buffalo Courier , November 20, 1919, 83; “Musicale at Brook lyn Music School. 31 Clarke, Diary, December 3, 1919; March 22, 1920. 32 “Gives Her Own Sonata: Rebecca Clarke, Viola, Plays with Winifred Christie, Pianist,” New York Times , Janu ary 27, 1920, 18. 33 Clarke, Diary, January 26, 1920. 34 “Miss Clarke Interprets Her Own Composition,” New York Tribune , January 27, 1920, 13. 35 White, Lionel Tertis , 59–60. 36 “Contingencies,” Sackbut 1, no. 3 (London: July 1920), 109; “New Viola Music,” Morning Post , Jun 1, 1920. 37 “The Music Society,” Daily Telegraph , March 19, 1921, 11. 38 “Gave Excellent Concert,” Berkshire Eagle , September 22, 1921, 11. 39 “Berkshire Artists Heard in the Orient,” Berkshire Eagle , June 4, 1923, 14. 40 Clarke, Diary, May 20, 1923. 31 “Mukle Concert is Much Enjoyed by Honolulu Audi ence,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin , June 29, 1923. 32 “Collection Description: Berkshire Festival of Chamber Music (1918–38),” Concert Programmes: a Database of Collections of Concert Programmes Held in European Libraries, Archives and Museums, accessed May 16, 2022, http://www.concertprogrammes.org.uk/html/ search/verb/GetRecord/4287/.

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 40, No. 1, Spring 2024