Walter Trampler

It seems odd that in the space of just three days, I would be writing about another violist. The other day it was William Primrose - now, it's Walter Trampler. Not that I resent them in any way, though it's annoyingly coincidental - I suppose there's nothing anyone can do about the proximity of viola players' birthdays. Maestro Trampler was born in Germany on this day in 1915. He became famous for playing the viola as well as the viola d' amore. I think a viola d'amore is simply a regular viola that sounds sweet, but I'm not at all sure of that. Who really knows? Trampler studied violin with his father (what else is new?), a violinist. I don't know when he switched to the viola, but he did, early in his career. He first played - for a time - with the Strub String Quartet - a very obscure ensemble, as far as I know - but ended up as Principal violist of the Berlin Radio Orchestra. He came to the U.S. in 1939, concertizing extensively and teaching at major music schools, including Juilliard. He was also one of the founding members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Many musicians still speak well of him.

Viola Jokes

William Primrose was a truly outstanding viola player of the twentieth Century. (That is not an oxymoron, no matter what anybody says). He was born on this day in 1903. His first lessons were with his father. He later studied violin with Eugene Ysaye, who, it is said, encouraged him to give up the violin in favor of the viola. Nobody knows why and I haven't done enough research to find out. There is never a good enough reason to leave the violin for the viola but there you have it. Anyway, "what's done cannot be undone." He played in the London String Quartet until 1935. In 1937, he joined the NBC Symphony Orchestra but left after he heard that Toscanini would be quitting the conductor's post in 1941. He was the first violist to record Harold In Italy, Berlioz's famous viola concerto (or tone poem or fantasie or whatever it is). That was in 1946. This is the same piece Paganini refused to play because it was not dazzling enough, though that is just a rumor. Who really knows? Primrose also premiered Bartok's Viola Concerto (1949). He was so technically brilliant that he could play Paganini's violin caprices on the viola - no small accomplishment. He played an Amati viola now owned by the Philadelphia Orchestra's principal violist, Roberto Diaz. Later in his life, he was a distinguished teacher and wrote several method books. My violin teacher had a copy of one of them titled Technique is Memory. As far as I know - and I really don't know all that much - he is the only violist in history to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Modern Stradivarius

Strads are not the only violins that have gone mysteriously missing. General John T. Honeycutt constructed over sixty violins, having taken up the luthier’s craft after his retirement from the military. Almost fifty of them are now missing and there are precious few examples of this master craftman’s art, even through photographs. One of the few that I found (#13) is shown in the Gallery, as is a magnificent example of one of his rare violas, now owned by Karl Winkler of Albuquerque. I could not locate a sample of the General’s label. Should you come across one of his instruments, his website directs you how to proceed.