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Chapter Two - Establishing Himself in the United States Yale, Hindemith, and Winning the Koussevitzky Prize

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Summary

Arrival at Yale. Study with Hindemith. Concertizing and making contacts. Debut at Tanglewood with conductor Eleazar de Carvalho.

Parisot “possesses finesse, technical accomplishment and draws from his exquisite instrument a ravishing tone.”

So I came to America. I couldn't speak English, of course, and I was waiting for the man to say, “New Haven.” A woman from the music school went to the train to get me. And when the man was going by, “New Haven!” I said, “Oh, this is it.” So I got my little bag, and I don't know how she found out, or maybe they gave her a picture of mine, and she said, “You are Aldo Parisot?” And I said, “No English.”

Parisot arrived in America in 1946, to a prosperous postwar America where there were many opportunities for performance. He had been recommended highly by Carleton Sprague Smith. After Parisot's arrival in the United States, Smith remained a friend, sometimes playing the flute with him in chamber combinations. Parisot arrived at a time when the Yale School of Music was making changes in organization and curriculum. A recommendation had been made in 1941 to admit only advanced students. The number of students was smaller than it is today, averaging one hundred and thirty two per year between 1945 and 1954. After the war, there were approximately eight special students per year—Parisot was a special student from 1946-1948.

Parisot settled in an apartment on Crown Street, where, as luck would have it, clarinetist Keith Wilson, who had been hired as assistant professor of wind playing and band director at Yale, also lived. Parisot practiced for hours. “Keith came in 1946, and he used to live in the basement. The whole building is still there. I think it has five floors, loaded with pianists, all pianists. Only my roommate was a cellist. I remember playing in the bathroom in the middle of the night, practicing, because I wanted to be really good.” He was soon playing with his friends and colleagues at Yale— with members of the Yale faculty such as Wilson.

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Aldo Parisot, The Cellist
The Importance of the Circle
, pp. 19 - 28
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2018

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