JAVS 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.

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

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