A great titan of the viola world has died today. Joseph de Pasquale was principal violist of first the Boston Symphony and then the Philadelphia Orchestra, and teacher of dozens great orchestral players (including two-thirds of the Philadelphia Orchestra viola section). I had the great honor of studying with him for part of one year of graduate school, and saw him teach and play at the Max Arnoff Viola Institute (which I co-founded) for several years after he’d retired from his position in Philly. I have some anecdotes I’d like to share, but I’ll gather my thoughts first and then put up a full post sometime in the next week.