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I was surprised to see my former violin teacher, Sally Thomas, omitted from Jane Gottlieb's article titled "Showcasing the Legacy of the Violin" in the October issue. With a long history of service to the School and her influence on many violinists, surely she deserves mention in such an article.
Stepan Rocen
N.Y.C. Jane Gottlieb replies:We apologize for the inexcusable omission of Sally Thomas from the violin faculty exhibit and thank Mr. Rocen for bringing it to our attention. Ms. Thomas has been a member of Juilliard's violin faculty since 1961. A graduate of Juilliard, she studied violin with Ivan Galamian and chamber music with Edouard Dethier, Josef Gingold, Hans Letz, and Louis Persinger. She will be featured in the photo of current violin faculty members, which will be added to the exhibit shortly.
I read with great interest the article in the October Journal about Pablo Casals ("Paying Homage to Casals" by Selma Gokcen and Jonathan C. Kramer), which painted a touching picture of the great cellist, conductor, and humanitarian.I must take issue, however, with the article's discussion of authenticity. The authors ask the reader to imagine a world in which scientists had reconstructed the exact minutiae of Shakespearean pronunciation. They write, "Imagine the straitjacketing of ... creativity, intuition, and imagination" if modern interpreters of Shakespeare were expected to adhere rigidly to this dialect in order to be considered authentic.No doubt Casals would have agreed with part of this argument. An eminently creative musician, he wrote that "there are no two notes absolutely alike, and no note can be played absolutely the same way twice." Certainly the notion of a single correct interpretation would have been completely foreign to Casals' musical values.Yet Casals was neither arbitrary nor capricious. His immense reverence for the great composers manifested itself in intense score study and contemplation. He writes in his memoir that he practiced Bach's six cello suites for more than a decade before he first dared to perform them in public.At the heart of the historical performance movement is this same spirit of respect for composers and their music. To quote Joseph Joachim, the renowned violinist and frequent chamber music partner of Brahms, "In order to do justice to the piece which he is about to perform, the player must first acquaint himself with the conditions under which it originated. For a work by Bach or Tartini demands a different style of delivery from one by Mendelssohn or Spohr." The inspiration behind this statement is not some abstract commitment to authenticity; rather, it is the belief that a truly great composer undoubtedly has something to offer a performer who is trying to interpret his or her music.I have often wished that I could have the opportunity to hear Bach improvise at the organ, to read a Mozart string quartet with the composer, or to hear Chopin perform his Preludes. Though I know these fantasies will never come to be, I feel lucky that I can at least read firsthand accounts about their performing and teaching. I can study their manuscripts—as Casals, who prided himself on his manuscript collection, certainly did—to see whether my modern editions reflect what the composers actually wrote. And yes, we can practice and perform on period instruments that replicate the instruments these composers knew and for which they conceived their music.Whether one chooses ultimately to perform on period or modern instruments, to perform a cadenza that the composer wrote or to devise one's own, and so on, must be a personal decision. The relationship between composer and performer is complex, and all musicians must seriously consider how they wish conceive of this relationship. Yet we must never cease to ask questions of the composer. Whether it is through musical analysis, practice with period instruments, meditation, or any other method, it is axiomatic that asking these questions can only enhance one's musicianship. And if we ask the questions with enough creativity, I believe we will always find the answers.
Edward Klorman
(B.M. 2004, viola)
N.Y.C.Mr. Klorman is instructor for the Historical Performance Project, a series of workshops about performance practice for viola students of Heidi Castleman, Misha Amory, and Hsin-Yun Huang, sponsored by the Garett Albert Special Fund.
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