The acquisition of the International Viola Society's extensive archive spurred an increased effort to expand BYU's holdings. In 1983, PIVA sent letters to hundreds of music publishers worldwide asking them to contribute viola music. In addition, the library placed standing orders with a number of international library suppliers to send viola scores upon publication. The library was also fortunate to acquire personal collections from violists, arrangers, and private collectors, including Ernst Wallfisch, the late eminent violist; Jan Albrecht of Czechoslovakia; Walter Lebermann and Rudolf Tretzsch, both of Germany; and the library of Franz Zeyringer, which constitutes the largest private collection donated to PIVA. Zeyringer was the founder and longtime president of the International Viola Society. In addition to these ongoing efforts to collect literature for and about the viola, PIVA plans to support projects in viola discography, to provide periodical updates to Franz Zeyringer's Literatur für Viola, to compile a biographical dictionary of violists, and to produce a bibliography of research pertaining to the viola.
From the inception of the Primrose Library the focal effort has been to gather, and where necessary purchase, Primrose memorabilia and to acquire viola music in print, along with holograph scores, or photostats of manuscripts when originals are not available. In 1977, Primrose donated to BYU approximately 200 pieces of viola music from his own collection. Although Primrose described himself as a "noncollector," a sizable number of interesting items turned up in this trove, including some that are unique. There is, for instance, a manuscript for solo viola by Ernst Toch dated 18 August 1968‹not long before his death‹which bears the inscription:
Primrose manuscripts include his pedagogical writings and arrangements, such as The Art and Practice of Scale Playing on the Viola (1954) and La Campanella (1956) by Paganini-Liszt. There are also proof sheets of his editings of other composers' works, for instance the Bach Cello/Viola Suites and Fantastic Variations on a Theme from Tristan by William Bergsma, written for Primrose (1963). PIVA has numerous holographs of various composers' works for viola, including Iain Hamilton's "Sonata for Viola and Piano," George Rochberg's "Viola Sonata," and Maurice Gardner's Rhapsody for Viola and Orchestra, works commissioned by Brigham Young University, Friends of Primrose, and the American Viola Society. An attempt was made to acquire the originals of two dedications to Primrose, specifically Bartók's holograph of the Viola Concerto and Britten's Lachrymae, but only photostats were available.
While most of Primrose's private collection consist of viola solo music, about fifteen chamber works containing viola parts with fingerings and bowings used by Primrose in performances and recordings are also included. It would be instructive for a curious violist to examine the viola part in an album of Mozart quartets used by Primrose in the London String Quartet, or the "Trout" Quintet used in the Festival Quartet, or a volume of Beethoven string trios presumably employed in the Heifetz
Primrose-Piatigorsky Trio.
In 1979 Primrose's sister Jean, of New York City, donated a trove of early Primrose memorabilia to PIVA. During the London Blitz of World War II, the Primrose family apartment fell victim to a V-2 bomb. Family possessions that were rescued were eventually stored at Canterbury and in 1977 were brought in a suitcase to BYU. A number of vintage family photos from Glasgow and London augmented the Primrose photo archive considerably, and a large press-clipping book with the musty spell of English dampness is a particularly interesting item in the archive. The suitcase, which Primrose recognized as an old companion from his concert traveling days, yielded programs, reviews, and some phonodiscs, both 78s and LPs. Among the discs were several examples of first pressings, or "test" records, with an approving "ok WP" scrawled on the label. Of particular interest are two recordings from air checks over NBC, done in 1942 by the Primrose Quartet (Oscar Shumsky, Josef Gingold, Primrose and Harvey Shapiro).
Efforts are being made increase the Primrose Endowment, to expand the holdings of PIVA, and to bring focus on the viola as a concert instrument.
Following his return to Austria and after consultation with the other officers of IVS, Professor Zeyringer commenced negotiations with officials of the Hochschulbibliothek Mozarteum in Salzburg to move the IVS Archive to the Brigham Young University Library. Zeyringer had been the significant force behind the establishment of the International Viola Society Archive at the Hochschulbibliothek and had devoted considerable personal time and funds to the archive. All parties concerned agreed to the proposition of moving the IVS Archive, and Zeyringer informed the Lee Library that further negotiations should be made directly with Dr. Werner Rainer, director of the library at the Mozarteum. Correspondence ensued primarily between David Dalton, professor of viola at BYU, and Rainer. An agreement, signed on April 21, 1981, by A. Dean Larsen representing the Brigham Young University Library and Dr. Werner Rainer for the Bibliothek Mozarteum, released the IVS Archive in exchange for a set of the Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae. The International Viola Society Archive arrived at the BYU Library in June, 1981.
With the acquisition of the archive of the International Viola Society, the Brigham Young University Library's collection of viola scores doubled to more than 2,000 scores. It was decided, in lieu of the notable expansion of the William Primrose Viola Library with the addition of the International Viola Society Viola Archive and its new international character, to rename the William Primrose Library the Primrose International Viola Archive. PIVA has subsequently become the official archive of the International Viola Society and the American Viola Society.
Another large work by Zeyringer dealing with the viola is Die Viola da braccio (Munich, Verlag Heller, 1988). This book addresses a wide swath of subjects relating to the viola, from the derivation of the word viola, the question of its size, the history of viola performance, to favorite endeavors with which Zeyringer has been inextricably connected, for example, the International Viola Society and PIVA. To the latter he devotes twenty pages, including photos of the BYU campus. He writes of PIVA and BYU as becoming the repository of his and other important collections of viola music and establishing itself as the viola center in the world.
Professor Zeyringer began to make regular donations of viola scores to the Primrose International Viola Archive as soon as it was established in 1982. The largest of the Zeyringer donations was in 1989, when Professor Zeyringer sent the corpus of his viola scores as well as wide-ranging correspondence with leading violists and other musicians. He included resource materials used in preparing various publications. An extensive collection of publications generated primarily by the International Viola Society and its several national chapters is represented. Professor Zeyringer continues to make contributions of materials relating to the viola and printed music for viola.
In 1984 a letter from David Dalton and Franz Zeyringer was sent to publishers worldwide requesting deposit of their publications of viola music in PIVA. This initiative was undertaken to make PIVA the central and largest repository in the world of materials relating to the viola. Response from these publishing houses was profuse with even small firms and rather obscure publishers sending copies of their entire viola output. Almost 500 solicitation letters were sent, and more than twice that number of viola scores were received. This solicitation was also undertaken in anticipation of the publication in 1985 of a new edition of Zeyringer's Literatur für Viola. This bibliography identifies most of the holdings within PIVA, thus making it easier for libraries and patrons generally to know if a desired composition is available in PIVA.
David Dalton first met the Wallfischs in 1975 at the First International Viola Congress held at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. Correspondence began between Dalton and Ernst Wallfisch concerning viola subjects of common interest. In 1984, five years after Ernst's death, David Dalton met Lory Wallfisch at the Tertis International Viola Competition on the Isle of Man, United Kingdom. A casual conversation led Dalton to inquire about the plans she had made for the disposition of Ernst's personal viola library. She had reflected on the matter, she said, but was undecided. When Lory was told about the Primrose International Viola Archive, she became interested in this possibility.
At Mrs. Wallfisch's invitation, Professor Dalton visited the Wallfisch home in Northampton to make a preliminary assessment of the Wallfisch viola library. The Wallfisch library included the standard published editions comprising the heart of the viola repertoire, but there were also more obscure works. Being an artist of his stature, Ernst Wallfisch had received presentation copies of published scores and manuscripts.
Lory Wallfisch visited Brigham Young University in 1986 to make her own assessment of the University Library and PIVA in particular. She was satisfied that PIVA was the appropriate place to deposit her husband's collection of viola music. About 300 items were subsequently added to PIVA.
In 1982, David Dalton visited Walter Lebermann in his Bad Homburg home. Both Mr. Lebermann and his wife were most cordial, and Dalton was invited to peruse the collection of manuscripts, printed music, microfilms, publications, and correspondence, housed in his work studio.
In 1984, word was received that Lebermann had suddenly passed away. Dalton tried to correspond with Erla Lebermann, the widow, for most of a year without success regarding the possible gift to, or acquisition of, the Lebermann collection by PIVA. When an answer was finally received, Frau Lebermann explained that the trauma of her husband's unexpected death had made it necessary for her to travel elsewhere to stay with other family members. Mrs. Lebermann was, however, willing to negotiate with PIVA.
Part of the collection had gone by prior arrangement to a European violist, musicologist, and noted collector. Negotiations in behalf of PIVA were successful, and the remaining part of the Lebermann collection was shipped to the Lee Library in 1986. Included were printed scores, microfilms containing classical viola concertos and classical concertos for various instruments, symphonies, and chamber music, with particular focus on music by the Stamitz family and Karl von Dittersdorf. Also included were photocopies of manuscripts and some printed books as well as modern published editions of music by Lebermann containing literature for viola and chamber music, concertos, and symphonies involving various instruments.
Lebermann memorabilia and all viola literature were incorporated in PIVA. The remainder was processed and catalogued in the appropriate area of the general music collections in the Harold B. Lee Library.
Professor Albrecht was a close friend of Zeyringer, who suggested to Albrecht that his collection be added to PIVA. With a protective, totalitarian regime still in power, it was not an easy matter to get the collection out of what was then Czechoslovakia. Again, Zeyringer played a major role in having the collection transported piecemeal to Austria before shipment to the Lee Library.
The Albrecht library added about 400 printed viola scores to PIVA. Especially valuable are many early editions of this century and particularly viola literature printed by eastern European publishers, which were not easily obtainable in the West. There were also many scores by Russian publishers that helped immeasurably to fill a gap in the international representation of printed music for viola.
Professor Rudolf Tretzsch (1905-1981) was born in Chemnitz, Germany. Tretzsch studied natural sciences at the universities of Leipzig and Vienna and music under Professor Waetzold at the Conservatory of Leipzig and under Professor Hugo von Steiner at the University of Vienna. His studies centered on violin, piano, and music theory.
In 1928, Tretzsch passed the state examination for teacher's credentials for institutions of higher learning. The title of his dissertation was Darstellung und Kritik der bisherigen Vorschläge zur Musikalitätsprufung [Representation and Critique of Existing Proposals for Musicality].
Tretzsch's teaching career began in 1930 at the Oberrealschule Auerbach in the Vogtland, where he taught music theory, orchestration, and instrumentation. After service in World War II, Professor Tretzsch was solo violinist at the municipal theater at Würzen (German Democratic Republic, 1946); solo violinist for chamber music with the Symphony Orchestra of Leipzig and coordinator for musical radio programs (1947-1952); director of the Orchestra at the Music Conservatory of East Berlin, as well as the Radio Symphony Orchestra of that city (1952-1954). In 1955 he resettled in West Berlin, where he taught at the Kant Gymnasium at Berlin-Spandau until his retirement in 1967. From 1968 until his death, Professor Tretzsch actively pursued private research in musicology while maintaining active professional ties with the Berlin Philharmonic (under Herbert von Karajan). From 1930 he was an active coeditor of the Catalogues for Chamber Music (Kammermusik-Kataloge), edited by Professor Wilhelm Altmann (1862-1951), then director of the Department of Music of the Preussische Staatsbibliothek at Berlin.
Professor Tretzsch was both an avid collector and a bookdealer after moving to West Berlin. He issued catalogs of items for sale, and at the time of his death, his apartment contained several thousand musical scores and music monographs. In 1986, the Berlin Philharmonic acquired his chamber music collection to be housed in the new Chamber Music Hall adjoining the Philharmonie Hall. In 1986, A. Dean Larsen, BYU Associate University Librarian, visited Liselotte Tretzsch, Tretzsch's widow, in her Berlin apartment and negotiated the purchase of approximately 600 viola scores. A Swiss bookdealer acquired the balance of the Tretzsch collection, consisting of approximately 3,000 scores and 1,000 monographs. These units were acquired by the Lee Library in 1987 and 1992.
Upon meeting David Dalton, de Beaumont of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, invited him to examine his collection of viola recordings and ongoing work with the discography, and simply to "talk viola." Dalton notified de Beaumont that he would be in Switzerland in June, 1982. De Beaumont answered that he welcomed the visit at that time although he would be recovering from, as he put it, a minor operation. Professor Dalton, calling de Beaumont's office from a neighboring city to announce his arrival in Neuchâtel on the following day, was answered by the receptionist: "Monsieur, je suis désolé. Doctor de Beaumont, il est mort!" Dr. Beaumont, a wonderful spirit and valued friend of the viola, had not survived the operation and was dead at forty nine.
Zeyringer, who was well acquainted with de Beaumont and his wife, Arlette, recommended to her that she consider depositing her late husband's phonodisc collection in PIVA. In the summer of 1986, David Day, BYU music librarian, visited Mme de Beaumont in Switzerland, and she agreed to consider PIVA as a repository for the de Beaumont collection. Later that year A. Dean Larsen, visited Mme de Beaumont and negotiated the purchase of the de Beaumont phonodisc collection, numbering about 150 items and maintained separately as part of PIVA.
While the role of PIVA as a secure institution of preservation is important, its goal is to make the unique resources of this great collection conveniently accessible to interested performers and scholars around the world. The present organization and daily activities of PIVA revolve around two underlying commitments and responsibilities: preservation and service to the user. These tasks are evident in the physical arrangement of materials, custom bindings for scores, computerized cataloging, reference services at the library, correspondence and response to numerous requests for copies within the fair-use guidelines of copyright laws, special arrangements of loan materials, and ongoing commitments to new acquisitions.
At present, limitations of space and personnel within the library necessitate organization of PIVA materials into two areas. Regularly published modern editions are bound in a distinctive red cover and interfiled with the general music collection in open stacks. Rare and unique documents, including original manuscripts, early published editions, photographs, vintage recordings, annotated performance materials, and personal papers of renowned violists, are kept and serviced with other notable special collections in music. University students and visitors to the library can browse the open stacks and examine the published scores freely during regular library hours. Access to rare materials and manuscripts is possible by appointment and prior arrangement.
The unusual care and attention devoted to binding the scores at PIVA is a model for music libraries everywhere. Every effort is made to protect each original score in an attractive and durable cover handmade from fine quality materials. PIVA bindings are also designed to ensure the convenient use of the score and any accompanying parts for performance. When torn or otherwise damaged scores are received as private donations, time and energy are expended to restore the scores to a useful life by strengthening broken spines and mending tears with Japanese paper. Digital processing of images in the microcomputer environment is also utilized as a means of reconstructing documents damaged beyond repair.
Computer cataloging for scores acquired by PIVA is a key step in making its resources known and available throughout the world. Scores are catalogued according to internationally established library standards and entered into several large databases. Students and faculty at the university can conveniently search the holdings of PIVA from numerous terminals located throughout the library and at other university campuses. Computerized cataloging information created for PIVA at BYU is also entered into two large national databases‹OCLC and RLIN. These two databases represent a network consortium of thousands of academic and public libraries located primarily in the United States and Canada with access to Great Britain and expanding to Continental European libraries. Experienced reference librarians at participating institutions can assist violists in determining whether a particular score is available at PIVA. The wave of new developments in computer networking around the world also presents fascinating possibilities for accessing the information stored in the library's computer at BYU. Today it is feasible for any violist capable of using Internet to log into PIVA's catalog from their own home computer. Manuscripts, papers, and other memorabilia are catalogued and indexed in a microcomputer database designed specifically for PIVA. This database, currently accessible only at PIVA, may be made available through computer networks in the future.
The advances of modern technology, however, are not available to all violists, especially those in developing countries. PIVA remains committed to reaching out to all violists regardless of location and circumstances. Updates of new acquisitions are published in Die Viola, the journal of the International Viola Society, and also appear in the Journal of the American Viola Society published at Brigham Young University with David Dalton, editor, and David Day, assistant editor. Most important, all violists may write directly to PIVA's curator, David Day, to request loans, photocopies, or any research information desired. Requests for loans are welcome from violists around the world affiliated in some way with an academic or public library. Special consideration will also be given to violists associated with a professional orchestra.
Photocopies are provided at a nominal cost, provided the request meets international copyright regulations. However, scores in print and available for sale must be purchased directly from the publisher. Materials out-of-print but still protected by copyright can be copied only if the requester obtains the written consent of the valid copyright holder. Works in the public domain (in most cases, published before 1917) may be copied unless protected by special restrictions.
The curator welcomes letters from violists requesting information or help in research. Although information requested may not always be available, an honest effort will be made to share the resources of PIVA as freely as possible with the entire international family of violists.
Perhaps the most exciting activity at PIVA is the ongoing quest to identify and acquire every newly published edition of music for the viola. This collecting scope includes not only works for solo viola but also small chamber works in which the viola plays a significant part. To assist with this daunting task, PIVA has established contracts with three major music distributors: Otto Harrassowitz for European publications, European American Retail Music for publications in the Americas, and Academia Music in Tokyo for Asia and the Pacific. The contract with Otto Harrassowitz has proved to be especially fortuitous because Peter Gnoss, the employee at Wiesbaden assigned to personally handle the PIVA account, is himself a fine violist.
In addition to scores received from contracted vendors, David Dalton and David Day regularly scan magazines and music publishers' advertisements in search of obscure and unusual pieces issued by small presses. Close working relationships have also been established with many antiquarian music dealers in the U.S. and Europe. For example, in 1989 when John Lubrano of J. & J. Lubrano discovered three original manuscripts for the viola by the composers Paul Rougnon, Henri Casadesus, and Robert-Lucien Siohan, PIVA was given exclusive advance notice of their sale and the first opportunity to purchase. Recently, PIVA has also focused more attention on the acquisition of sound recordings, visual recordings, rare editions, and noncommercial resources such as tapes of viola congresses and master classes, manuscripts of newly composed works, programs of major recitals, and photographs of important violists. A few music publishers and distributors, notably Theodore Presser among others, continue to send complimentary copies of newly published scores for review in the Journal of the American Viola Society.
A major acquisition project scheduled for the summer of 1993 will be the microfilming of the private collection of manuscript scores and rare editions of music for the viola owned by a prominent European violist and collector. The functional use of this priceless collection of more than 2,000 items in microfilm will elevate PIVA as a center of viola research to a new plateau of comprehensive excellence.
Periodic revision and republication of Zeyringer's essential reference guide, Literatur für Viola, is the first priority. Work is underway for the next edition projected for release in 1997. The new edition will include entries for newly acquired works since publication of the latest revision in 1985. It will also include references to the holdings to other private and institutional collections. The guide will be published in a new format with expanded bibliographic description and more information about manuscripts and rare editions held in research libraries around the world.
Another major undertaking will be a companion volume to the Literatur für Viola, a viola discography. Work for this publication is in progress; to date, approximately 1,500 recordings have been identified. The pioneering work of the late Dr. François de Beaumont will serve as a foundation to the content of the discography that is projected for release in 1995. The viola discography will be a comprehensive listing of commercially released discs and will also feature references to many noncommercially produced recordings, such as performances at congresses of the International Viola Society and the William Primrose Memorial Concerts given at Brigham Young University. Organization of the discography will provide easy access by composer and work with convenient indexes for soloists, assisting artists, record label and number, and a subject classification corresponding to the organization of Zeyringer's Literatur für Viola. Violists who possess large collections of viola recordings or who may be willing to donate personal recordings (commercial and/or noncommercial) for preservation at PIVA and documentation in the discography project should to contact David Day.
Two other important publication projects envisioned by the founders of PIVA include an annotated bibliography of viola research and a historical biographical dictionary of violists. Both publications are in early stages of development. During his active career devoted to research of the viola, Franz Zeyringer amassed an amazing library of information and resources. Most of his findings are documented in his Die Viola da braccio (1988) and a bibliography published in the 1985/86 issue of Die Viola.
Zeyringer's research papers now reside at PIVA. The task of compiling and annotating an exhaustive bibliographic guide to research about the viola is in process with a review and analysis of Zeyringer's lifetime accumulation. Graduate students studying viola at BYU are enlisted in the process of identifying research related to the viola. A bibliography of viola research compiled by Sharon Dunning expands upon Zeyringer's bibliography published in Die Viola. Claudine Bigelow undertook a bibliography project devoted to pedagogical writings for the viola. At some point in the future these component projects will be combined, verified, and critiqued for inclusion in a definitive guide to existing viola research.
The biographical dictionary of violists is in a formulative stage. Acknowledgment must, of course, be given to the extensive research about the most famous violists already provided in Maurice Riley's two-volume The History of the Viola (1980). The dictionary envisioned for PIVA, however, will be organized quite differently. This guide will deal specifically with biographical information of all significant violists. Announcements published in Zeyringer's Die Viola da braccio and other International Viola Society and American Viola Society publications have already resulted in contributions of numerous brief biographies from concert violists around the world. Although a publication date for the biographical dictionary is not yet projected, all violists are encouraged to submit a biography for consideration. As work on the revised edition of Literatur für Viola and the viola discography near completion, efforts devoted to the bibliography and the biographical dictionary will increase.
These four fundamental commitments of PIVA‹revised editions of Literatur für Viola, a viola discography, a bibliography of viola research, and a biographical dictionary of violists‹are time-consuming endeavors that will require years of sustained devotion. Violists and music historians interested in participating in these causes are gladly welcome. In its most lofty aspirations, PIVA will endeavor to promote even additional causes related to the viola. The archive's vast holdings of unpublished manuscripts and neglected early editions beg the skill of modern editors to enrich the repertoire of the viola with new publications of original works not yet known and masterpieces from the past longing to be performed anew. PIVA's increased focus on acquiring early recording of virtuosos will lead to opportunities to reissue a great legacy of historical performances on compact discs.
As the viola receives increased emphasis within the academic community, PIVA will offer aspiring graduate students aid in defining theses and dissertation topics. Advanced scholars may draw upon a wealth of primary research materials for publication in journals and presentations at future viola congresses.
Perhaps the crowning realization of PIVA will be a consolidation of its diverse resources into a distinct and unified facility. Such an organization was conceived in the original establishment and is presently incorporated into planning for an expansion of the Harold B. Lee Library. Although the new facility is still in an early and tentative stage of development, plans include a separate music library with a Primrose Memorial Room and other facilities to house and service the varied dimensions of PIVA.
The Primrose Memorial Room will feature standing displays of Primrose memorabilia commemorating the distinguished career of William Primrose, major donors to PIVA, and the legacy of the instrument itself. As conceived, the room will enable use of different media formats in one convenient and inviting environment. Its doors will welcome students, performers, and scholars from around the world. PIVA is truly becoming the mecca of all viola enthusiasts.