Judith Davidoff Explained

Judith Davidoff
Birth Date:1927 10, df=yes
Birth Place:Boston, United States
Death Place:New York, United States
Instrument:viols, baroque cello, medieval bowed instruments, Erhu
Genre:Early Music
Occupation:Musician and teacher
Years Active:1939-2021

Judith Davidoff (21 October 1927 – 19 December 2021)[1] was an American viol player, cellist, and performer on the medieval bowed instruments.[2] She was considered the “Grande Dame of the viol”,[3] "a master of the viola da gamba and other stringed instruments" and "a central part of the early-music scene."[4] Her recorded performances reflect her wide range of repertoire and styles, including such works as Schoenberg's Verklaerte Nacht and 13th-century monody.[5] She is responsible for the catalog of 20th- and 21st-century viol music.[6]

Musical education

Judith Davidoff began musical studies at age 7 and made her public debut at 12. A native of Boston, she was a graduate of Radcliffe College and the Longy School of Music, where she received a soloist diploma in cello. Long interested in folk music, she studied the Black Sea kemence and the saz in Turkey, and the erhu in Taiwan.[7] In the fifties she took up the viol,[8] which she studied privately with Alison Fowle.

Ensembles

Davidoff participated in a number of ensembles, performing viols, early strings (vielle, rebec, kemence), the baryton, and the baroque, classical and modern cello.

She was a member of American early music ensembles, starting in the fifties with New York Pro Musica,[9] which she joined as a viol and early strings player at the invitation of Noah Greenberg – which caused her to move from Boston to New York City.[8] [10]

At the request of the then director of New York Pro Musica, Noah Greenberg, she created a viol consort, which became an independent ensemble in 1972, under the name of New York Consort of Viols, and performed uninterruptedly until 2015, during more than four decades. Under the artistic direction of Davidoff, that ensemble presented concerts both in the United States and abroad, as well as offering workshops and outreach activities.[11] The Consort commissioned new works for viols and produced numerous recordings, in its mission to familiarize audiences with the sound and repertoire of the viol. It also collaborated with early music ensembles such as Pomerium, Zephyrus, the Boston Viol Consort, the Yukimi Kambe Viol Consort, the Waverly Consort, the Ensemble for Early Music and Music For A While and Ensemble PHOENIX, Israel (2013).

She performed also with the Boston Camerata (founding member – viols, early fiddles, baryton, tromba marina),[12] the Waverly Consort (viols, early fiddles, baroque cello),[13] [14] Music for a While (viols, early fiddles),[15] [16] the Cambridge Consort, and the Agassiz Trio (classical cello).[17]

As a modern cellist, she participated in the Helikon String Quartet (founding member), in the Brandeis University Resident Quartet and the Arioso Trio.

Recordings

Teaching

She taught at the New England Conservatory and the Longy School of Music while she was a Boston resident. As a New Yorker, she was a member of the music faculties at Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY (viol, Collegium Musicum) and Columbia Teachers College, New York, NY (viol). She taught also at Columbia University, Extension Division, at SUNY Purchase, Purchase, NY (Music History through Performance), at the Queens College School of Education, Queens, NY, and at Soochow University, Taipei, R.O.C.[7]

She was a faculty member of a number of workshops throughout North America, organized by the Viola da Gamba Society of America, the American Recorder Society, and had been the heart of the New York Consort of Viols one-day and weekend workshops and Children's Outreach workshops at the Riccardo O’Gorman Garden and Library, Harlem. She also gave workshops and masterclasses in Australia, Brazil, Israel, Sweden, Taiwan and Turkey.[44]

A number of professional viol players studied with Judith Davidoff, among them Lucy Bardo, Myrna Herzog, Fortunato Arico, Patricia Neely, Robert Eisenstein, Lesley Retzer, Cecilia Aprigliano.

Articles and reviews

Davidoff contributed two articles for the Journal of the Viola da Gamba Society of America: “Ann Ford: An Eighteenth-century Portrait” (vol. 30, 1993 p. 51) and “The New York Pro Musica and the Soviet Union: Personal Observations of a Viol Player” (vol. 2, 1965 p.30).

Her Ph.D. Dissertation, The Waning and Waxing of the Viol: A Historical Survey and Twentieth-century Catalogue is available online at site of the Viola da Gamba Society of America [45]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Judith Davidoff (1927-2021). Patricia Ann. Neely. December 28, 2021.
  2. Web site: Judith Davidoff. West Side Arts Coalition. May 4, 2019.
  3. Web site: Judith Davidoff (1927-2021) . December 28, 2021 .
  4. News: Genzlinger. Neil. 2022-01-06. Judith Davidoff, Master of Long-Dormant Instruments, Dies at 94. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-01-08. 0362-4331.
  5. Web site: Music For A While (2), Guillaume de Machaut - La Fontaine Amoureuse. Discogs. 1977 .
  6. Web site: New Music Catalog. vdgsa.org. May 4, 2019.
  7. Web site: Journal . 1993 . vdgsa.org/pgs . 2019-05-04.
  8. Web site: New York Pro Musica @ SNAC. snaccooperative.org. May 4, 2019.
  9. Web site: archives.nypl.org -- New York Pro Musica records. archives.nypl.org.
  10. James Gollin, Pied Piper: the many lives of Noah Greenberg Pendragon Press (2001), p. 114-115. . Retrieved November 2, 2011
  11. Web site: Three Centuries of Viol Consort Music Performance by the New York Consort of Viols part 1. Terry Prideaux. March 5, 2014. YouTube.
  12. Web site: Boston Camerata - News. bostoncamerata.org. May 4, 2019.
  13. Web site: Las Cantigas de Santa Maria — The Waverly Consort. www.sonusantiqva.org. May 4, 2019.
  14. News: A King's Songs Evoke the Medieval Era. Raymond. Ericson. The New York Times . April 9, 1971. May 4, 2019.
  15. News: McLellan . Joseph . Music for a While . The Washington Post . 1982-01-23 . 2019-05-04.
  16. News: la Fontaine Amoureuse' Given By Music for a While at Church. Raymond. Erickson. The New York Times . February 26, 1978. May 4, 2019.
  17. News: MUSIC; A Busy Cellist Performs With Three Ensembles. Robert. Sherman. The New York Times . March 3, 1991. May 4, 2019.
  18. Judith Davidoff here used her marriage name, Judith Rosen https://www.marlboromusic.org/learn/commercial-recordings/music-from-marlboro-schoenberg-verklaerte-nacht-faure-la-bonne-chanson/
  19. Web site: C. Monteverdi, Hugues Cuénod, Daniel Pinkham, Judith Davidoff, Robert Brink - Monteverdi Secular Vocal Works . . 1962 .
  20. Book: Sonatas, op. 1 for violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord ; suite, no. 12 in E minor for harpsichord ; canzonettas in C major and G minor for regal. May 4, 1965. 82300545. May 4, 2019. Open WorldCat.
  21. Web site: J.S. Bach*, Sonya Monosoff, James Weaver, Judith Davidoff - Six Sonatas For Violin And Harpsichord, Two Sonatas For Violin And Bass Continuo. Discogs. 1970 . May 4, 2019.
  22. Web site: John Hsu, Louis Bagger, Judith Davidoff - Marin Marais Pieces de Viole (From the Second Book, 1701) . . May 15, 1974 .
  23. Web site: LaNoue Davenport, Judith Davidoff, Susan Evans - Dances of Three Centuries . . 1974 .
  24. Web site: LaNoue Davenport, Mark Davenport, Judith Davidoff, Edward Smith - Eighteenth Century Recorder Music . . 1974 .
  25. Web site: Marin Marais - John Hsu, Louis Bagger, Judith Davidoff - Pièces de Viole from Suitte d'un Goût Etranger, Book Four, 1717 . . 1975 .
  26. Web site: Marin Marais - John Hsu, Louis Bagger, Judith Davidoff - Pièces de Viole from Book Five, 1725 . . 1976 .
  27. Web site: John Hsu, Louis Bagger, Judith Davidoff - Marin Marais Pieces de Viole (From the First Book, 1686) . . January 11, 2022 .
  28. Web site: Las Cantigas De Santa Maria - Medieval Music and Verse in the court of Alfonso X, el sabio. The Waverly Consort, Michael Jaffee, Director. Musicians: Kepros, DeGaetani, Cassolas, Logemann, Davidoff - Amazon.com Music . Amazon . 2019-05-04.
  29. Web site: New York Pro Musica - A discography. www.medieval.org. May 4, 2019.
  30. Web site: La Fontaine Amoureuse. www.medieval.org. May 4, 2019.
  31. Web site: Parnassus Records - LP catalog Select P287 OLD - used and rare classical vinyl, jazz and non-classical vinyl, lp records, recordings. www.parnassusrecords.com. May 4, 2019.
  32. Web site: Sonya Monosoff, Judith Davidoff, Peter Wolf, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber - Eight Sonatas for Violin and Basso Continuo . . 1982 .
  33. Web site: Francesco Geminiani / Sonya Monosoff, James Weaver, Judith Davidoff - Four Sonatas for Violin and Continuo. Discogs. September 12, 2018 .
  34. Web site: The New York Consort Of Viols: English Consort Music (Book/2 CDs). Presto Sheet Music.
  35. Web site: Orlando Gibbons: Fantasias And Consort Songs, New York Consort Of Viols / Judith Davidoff (Vinyl). vinylmailer.
  36. Web site: The New York Consort Of Viols. Discogs.
  37. Web site: Early Music Discography (M&M - Música Ficta) - Jorge E. Salazar . Machali.net . 2019-05-04.
  38. Web site: The Music of William Byrd - The New York Consort of Viols DOWNLOAD ONLY LEMS-8015. World Music. Store. World Music Store. May 4, 2019.
  39. Web site: Jan DeGaetani in Concert, Vol. 4 (Live). Spotify. June 1999.
  40. Web site: Music of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich & Eleanor Cory. Spotify. January 2007.
  41. Web site: New York Consort of Viols - The Road From Valencia. gemslive. May 16, 2008. YouTube.
  42. Web site: The Silent Waterfall: Solo & Chamber Music by David Loeb.
  43. https://open.spotify.com/album/4ueTd6xM1rjMgIlpU6OLSt?si=2ijORQKpR3-h6qlpuAZA0A
  44. Web site: Life Members. vdgsa.org.
  45. Web site: Davidoff . Judith . The Waxing and Waning of the Viol: A Historical Survey . Viola da Gamba Society of America.

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