When I learned in 1989 of the death of Scott Ross, to whom I had had the opportunity to be acquainted in Quebec, where I have been a harpsichord maker from 1974 till 1981, one of the first ideas which struck me was to write a biography of him which would allow to keep memory of what had been his magnificent talent on a level not so much of sound (there stands the record for that purpose), but rather at the level of the objective elements which had allowed that excellence. It is that idea that this master's degree report gave me the opportunity to achieve. Here it is for you to read, with some modifications.
It was obvious that I should find rather few elements throughclassic research amongst books and specialized magazines, and that Iwas largely to work in the field for my enquiries. I have to admitthat I had rather little realized, at the time I started my research,the difficulties tied to long, distant and expensive travels, theconstraints of dates, schedules and disponibility of persons. I havenevertheless, in good part through the generosity of father andbrother, been able to gather a good number of informations, be itthrough interviews or the examination of archives. And I should wishto thank my former teacher of french litterature, Vice-RectorAndré Boudreau of Laval University in Quebec, whose help camein precious, just as well as all the persons mentioned in this bookwho gently agrreed to answer my questions and lighten up various darkspots.
The testimonies I have gathered sure were not of equal importance,but all allowed me to proceed futher in a purpose of which I shouldadmit that it seemed at times exceeded my capacities. Some turned outto be capital et would deserve publication just by themselves; othersshowed a more anecdotal nature, but just the same enlightening.
Concerning the documentation, some from archives, some frominterviews published in various magazines and papers, some mere radioor television tapes, plus a privately owned unpublished tape, allgave me opportunity to better perceive a character who always waspuzzling. I only can hope that this work will allow the curiousreader to better seize the structure which underlines all theregistered work of Scott Ross who never admitted fatality, were itfor his instrument or for his own self..
Montpellier, october 1rst 1994
The english translation of this book was decided during anextremely hot summer, designed to keep my mind busy. I just hopenobody complains about my style, but rather that despite it's faults,the subject shall be of interest to those who care about goodharpsichord playing.
Montpellier, August 1995
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FOREWORD
Just like many others, friends, music lovers, and musicians,Michel Proulx once met Scott Ross. How can one forget him? How canone harmonize in his remembrances the abundance of such a character,so contrasted. Michel Proulx has had the somewhat mad courage ofconfronting his own testimonial to that of the many others who knewhim well. This quest, demanding and painful, gave this unclassifiablebook, overflowing with anecdotes, of crosswords, of passion and openquestions. One hears in it, as a counterpoint, the flowing of of thatsovereign chanting's generous vein which Scott Ross, as a modernOrphaeus, left us in heritage.One can perceive in it the echo of theexcruciating (he loved that word) experience of the power of soundsand the terrifying demands of the artist's condition
Henri Prunières
Prades-le-Lez, June 11, 1999.
Biography
We could trace Scott Ross' ancestry over 4 generations and more.
Among others, the name of the grandfather of his paternal grandmother,
Clara Mae Stonebraker, was Winfield Scott Stonebraker (1847-1918).
He's possibly the reason for Scott's middle name. Going further in time, the
family is German in origins, Steinbrecher, of which the meaning is exactly the
same as stone breaker.
The Childhood
There was born on March 1st 1951, in a family of american intellectuals, Scott Stonebreaker Ross, second son of James Ross and Sarah Madeline Howe, of n° 4, Forbes Terrace. His father, a journalist and the "City Editor" of the
Pittsburg Post Gazette, an important Pittsburgh paper, still extant today,
whose origins go up to 1786, wrote during the war papers --that were remarked-- on the social questions peculiar to a city where street lights were still on at 11 a.m., so dark it was because of the smog. His mother was also an intellectual who spoke French and worked in advertizing; it seemed that she was prodigiously intelligent, with an I.Q. of 160, anyway rather superior to the average. Henri Prunières says that she was fascinated by the style of French advertizing.
His Father's Death.
In 1957, he begins, at six years old, his apprenticeship of the piano.
Then, at age twelve, he begins to study the organ with doctor [3]
Russel Wichmann. In 1960, July 26, Scott's father dies. Scott shall
never get over it, and neither his mother. Around the same period, he has to wear a special corset in order to correct a scoliosis which had been detected when he had been 2 years old, and which, stretching him progressively, must keep him from becoming a hunchback dwarf. He shall retain as a sequel a height, quite small compared to that of his brother James, ‐‐ who shall resemble him strangely as an adult, except for his tall height ‐‐, as well as a pronounced curvature of the spine which caused him a curious jerky gait [4] .
The decease of James Ross Sr. leaves Madeline distraught, as if some spring had broken inside ; and, probably in order to flee places which reminded her too much of the past, she leaves in 1964 for France with both her sons, a flight forward of which this was to be merely the first stage, un fortunately.
In France.
Madeline Ross land in Paris without any real home base. She hasthe address and phone number of an American protestant minister who, while chatting with young Scott, learns that he plays music and that he admires Pierre Cochereau who oficiates at the Notre-Dame de Paris' great organ. As he himself is a friend of Cochereau, he offers to take them to the pulpit next Sunday. And it is thus that Scott gets introduced to the organist by the minister who, without even knowing him, makes of the boy a dithyrambic eulogy. Cochereau then suggests that Scott register in the Conservatoire of Nice whose director he just so happens to be [5]. To begin with, all this excitement leaves Madeline Ross a bit restless, as she doesn't have too much money, and with her American mentality, all that can only be expensive: thus shall she feel quite relieved when she shall learn that registration and courses cost nothing and are free!
But life in France turns out to be harder than foreseen. There is always an abyss between tourism and immigration, and although she had a boy-friend -- the painter Elmer Szigeti -- with whom she lived for some time, James jr., Scott's elder brother would not adapt himself. She thus went back to the US with him and settled in New-York where Mrs.Marie-Claire Pathy-Demangel would call on her, when she would live in the USA; and she reports that she
« was charming and then she lived in a large flat which had nothing to do with the way Scott lived, large modern paintings, le board, there, with a view over Manhattan, it was all white, she was a woman, absolutely not what you could guess, she was no hippy, you know. She had a very artistic approach, very open, but artistic. She painted [6] »..
