My only concern was the program notes. It would have helped to explain how the score survived the Holocaust and if the orchestral arrangement was original. In the notes, the only thing mentioned was that, basically, only strings were available for performance at the time. (This information may be in the notes of the London/Decca CD, which I now have to seek out.)

The glaring omission was any explanation of the choice of playing the sextet introduction to Strauss's Capriccio. The only conclusion that could be drawn was the juxtaposition of the dates and the consonance of Strauss's music with the ironic nature of Ullmann's.

But in spite of Strauss's aquiescence to the Nazi regime (and his extreme naiveté in dealing with it), some background on his situation, and that of his Jewish daughter-in-law and her parents, would have been illuminating for those who do not know the details. Alice Strauss's parents were imprisoned in Theresienstadt and may have actually heard the performance of the Ullmann opera. I haven't had the time to look up the information; I do not know if they survived or were victims themselves of the Holocaust.

ANDREW LUDASI
East Windsor, NJ

I wish to commend and thank conductor James Conlon and Juilliard for reviving the music of those gifted composers who were victims of Nazi tyranny ("James Conlon Revives a Musical Heritage," The Juilliard Journal, March 2003). As one who has been engaged in Holocaust research, a presenter of Holocaust programs in the Albany area, and acquiring a Holocaust repertoire for the piano, I found this article very moving and welcoming.

Terezin, where Viktor Ullmann was interned, was the so-called "model camp" (an oxymoron as well as a cruel joke). The Germans would invite authorities from the International Red Cross to visit it. The authorities would inspect the camp and claim that everything was "fine." After the inspectors left, the adults and children would be sent to their deaths at Auschwitz.

It was in Terezin (also known as Theresienstadt) that I Never Saw Another Butterfly, a collection of poems and drawings created by the children who were interned at the camp, was born. The title of this work, which has been made into a book, is based on the haunting poem "The Butterfly," by Pavel Friedman, whose last line of the third stanza ends with, "Only I never saw another butterfly." I first heard this poem beautifully read by Elie Wiesel during a Holocaust program some years ago, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. It has been set to music by at least two composers, Lisa Glatzer Shenson and Charles Davidson. This book of poems and drawings is a testament to the courage and optimism of these children, a work now intrinsic to the established Holocaust bibliography.

In contrast to the orchestral works that are being revived, my own Holocaust repertoire is primarily based on the vocal music of that era--obtained, with gratitude, from the composer Lazar Weiner and from friends who are survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. These songs were born in the death camps, in hiding, and in defiance of the enemy. I have transcribed them for piano and performed them for special audiences, especially Holocaust survivors, a deed of healing as well as inspiration.

Exploring Holocaust music has also led me to the treasured Yiddish repertoire of pre-Holocaust Europe... but that is another story, another world. What started out as an effort to acquaint myself with the music of a tragic era and to draw closer to relatives who perished in the Holocaust has evolved into intellectual and artistic growth, and a commitment that will never waver.

ROSE ANN ROTH 
(B.S. '60, piano)
Rensselaer, NY

Warmest thanks for the space devoted to women in music in the March issue. Having contributed extensively to The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers, I still lament the absence in any standard reference work of Latin American historical women. Just now I am placing finishing touches on Angela Peralta: The Mexican Nightingale. Her operatic career in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Cuba, New York City, and her homeland glistened with triumphs that also included the publication of 19 compositions and a flashy career as manager of her own opera company. On former occasions I have published extensively on Teresa Carreño, whose published compositions are unjustly minimized in reference literature. Instead of cataloguing and analyzing them, encyclopedists harp on her four husbands.

Olga Samaroff is another highly successful Juilliard teacher worthy of addition to the list of women mentioned in the photo essay on Page 12. Her illustrious pupils included not only Eugene List and William Kappell, but also Rosalyn Tureck.

ROBERT STEVENSON
(DIP '38, piano, composition)
Emeritus Professor of Musicology, U.C.L.A.

Elizabeth Morgan's article in the April issue of The Journal vividly describing recent piano master classes given by Richard Goode and Leon Fleisher moved me to reflect with sadness and regret on the fact that, in the course of my four years as an undergraduate student at Juilliard, I watched the world's finest cellists pass through New York in their annual concert tours without so much as a visit to the School. Students raised this issue time and again with both faculty and administration, each time assured that the winds of change were in the air, and yet each school year slipped by with cellists such as Lynn Harrell and Yo-Yo Ma (both of whom are, incidentally, alumni) paying visits to the city's other musical institutions while being neglected by their distinguished alma mater.

The week Rostropovich came to town to open the Philharmonic's season with a Live From Lincoln Center broadcast (an occasion which was, of course, off limits to students due to the celebratory nature of the concert and commensurate ticket prices), Slava visited Juilliard to spend some time with Harvey Shapiro, yet was not engaged to work with students who have grown up admiring his playing but likely have never had the opportunity to hear him live or learn from his wealth of experience.

Juilliard's faculty is of the highest order, representing some of the finest artists in the profession, yet through either arrogance or ignorance, cellists and string players in general have been deprived of one of the richest resources that a grand institution like Juilliard has to offer. I can only hope that the School's faculty and administration will work more diligently in the near future to see beyond their prejudices and provide this invaluable learning experience.

JASON CALLOWAY
(B.M. '02, cello)
Los Angeles, CA

Dean Stephen Clapp responds:

Students need only to advise their major teacher or the chair of the department to recommend guest artists for master classes. Barring unexpected circumstances, Juilliard always invites the teacher.

This letter is in response to the cute cartoon in last month's issue, which implied that the musicians' union kicked the virtual orchestra's butt. If only this were true!

Despite statements from Local 802 referring to the "achievement" of a "settlement," as of April 15, the tentative agreement between producers and musicians has not been ratified. If, by the time this letter is published, musicians have agreed to the new contract, it will have been signed out of fear and duress. If Broadway musicians accept the proposal, they will be signing away 98 out of a total of 325 current, full-time chairs on Broadway. Based on precedents of the last 40 years, in which each successive contract lost more seats to producers, this loss will be permanent. And, due to the contract's "Special Situations Clause," a producer of a new show can apply (usually successfully) to cut a new show's orchestra to an even smaller size, so the actual losses would be even greater.

When Broadway musicians have been cut in previous contracts, their parts have often been assigned to synthesizer players. The virtual orchestra, a pre-programmed synthesizer which is apparently permitted in the new tentative agreement, can also be assigned cut parts, and its inherent inflexibility will harm the musicianship of the few musicians left in the pit, who will be forced to follow it to prevent the show from falling apart.

LOUISE DUBIN
('92, cello)
Broadway substitute cellist and member Local 802
New York City

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