JAVS Spring 2022

at home in viola playing. It is a shame that a master like Palaschko, who wrote so valuable and thankful material for the violin (e.g. op. 14, op. 23), is played so little in public. With this opus, quite a few viola players would like to make up for what the violinists have been missing. 22 “Elves Dance” from op. 92 captured Palaschko style: melodic, spritely, and simple. Palaschko evoked a playful attitude for the student’s enjoyment. In 1931’s Signale periodical, there was a short review of the following work: [Translated into English] The two works by two long-recognized educators, namely the 26 melodic violin etudes for the G-string op. 95 by Johannes Palaschko (Edition Schott, Mainz) a collection of charming, mostly in song form, taking into account the most diverse types of free and strict style gap-based character studies of their own invention, and the scale studies for piano by Amadeus Nestler, the excellent, based on a special system, the “principle of symmetry” Leipzig educators. The latter were published by the Carl Merseburger publishing house in Leipzig, which is particularly well known and valued as a special company for instrumental schools 23 In the last period of Palaschko’s life, he was known as a “long recognized” educator, and a “master” but his music had begun to fade from people’s memory. However, it appears that his impact would remain as a teacher amongst his peers. Palaschko, for reasons unknown, died October 21, 1932, at the age of 56. Legacy The pedagogy and technique of Johannes Palaschko has largely been forgotten by modern musicians. Even though he wrote 20 violin and 13 original viola etude books, many easy violin and piano chamber pieces, and even a symphony for students—except for his viola etudes—his works remains obscure. The reason for this may not be surprising. He wrote no great string quartet or symphony; his focus on shorter easier violin/viola works, and study pieces indicates a life in music education. His works, in general, are “clever”, “original,” and “ingenious,” but short in duration and often underdeveloped. That shouldn’t take away from their unique voice and accessibility to students, though.

Palaschko, during his lifetime, was writing in the Romantic style. His works are full of personas and stories which harken back to his 19 th century predecessors, but this was an old style in the beginning of the 20 th century. Palaschko’s compositions seem not to be affected by the monstrosities of World War I and their aftermath. In contradiction, the frivolous nature of some of his works appear to rail against those negative factions. He wrote etudes to the themes of elves, folk songs, mazurkas, boleros, and hunting songs; and he wrote etudes trying to evoke the sounds of Scotland, Asia, Turkey, and Poland. His etudes have attitude, color, pizazz, and lyricism that can’t be ignored. When performing his viola etudes, some with clever piano accompaniment, one can get a sense of the composer’s playfulness and willingness to have fun with viola study. The more you play these melodies, you hear the voice of Palaschko, which at its core is light hearted and modest, and you feel the emotion that he projects in his phrase. When one looks at the entirety of his etudes you see the depth of their pedagogical reach: from etudes written for beginners to those performed by capricious professionals, and all levels in between. Another unique aspect of Palaschko’s viola etudes are the Romantic-style melodies that were written exclusively for the viola. Whereas violin, cello, and piano have an abundance of Romantic melodies from a variety of composers, the viola was left virtually abandoned from the Romantic concerto and chamber works. Berlioz sums the problem up on his Treatise on Instrumentation: The unjust treatment of this noble instrument has been due to several causes. In the first place, the masters of the 18 th century, rarely writing four real voices, generally did not know what to do with the viola. Whenever they could give it a few notes to fill up the harmony, they did not hesitate to write the odious col basso— often so carelessly that the resulting octaves conflicted either with the harmony or with the melody or with both. Furthermore, it was unfortunately impossible at that time to write any important passage for the viola requiring the most ordinary skill for its execution. Violists were always selected from the weaker violinist. If a musician was unable to fill creditably the post of a violinist, he was relegated to the violas. Thus, violists eventually could play neither the violin nor the viola. 24

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 38, No. 1, Spring 2022