Placido Joseph Pietropaolo

Joseph (Placido) Pietropaolo, native Bostonian and member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) for 39 years, died in Westborough, Massachusetts on December 5, 2014.   Born August 21, 1934, his love of music began at age 4 when he often walked with his parents from their West End neighborhood to listen to Boston Symphony Esplanade concerts. He studied violin and later viola and graduated from New England Conservatory where he studied with Joseph DePasquale principal violist with the BSO and chamber music with Eugene Lehner, violist with the BSO.  In 1954 and 1955, he was a fellowship student at the Tanglewood Music Center, and in 1957, he was on full scholarship and a member of the Brandeis Fellowship String Quartet.
In 1959, he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to Rome, Italy, to study viola and viola d'amore with Renzo Sabatini.  His stay in Italy included a U.S.I.S. sonata recital tour of major cities, after having performed a chamber concert for the birthday of Ambassador Zellerbach at the United States Embassy on Via Veneto. The season in Rome included chamber music at the German Swiss Institute, and a superb production of Monteverdi "Orfeo" with Nicola Rescigno and Franco Zeffarelli, with members of the Rome Opera, and The Corelli Society. This was done in costume, with all early instruments, and his viola d'amore was used to fill the void of the 2nd Alto Gamba.
Returning to U.S., Mr. Pietropaolo auditioned and earned a seat in the viola section of the Boston Symphony under Charles Munch in 1960.  For the next four decades he played for the BSO and Boston Pops under the artistic direction of Erich Leinsdorf, William Steinberg, Seiji Ozawa, Arthur Fiedler, John Williams and Keith Lockhart regularly touring the U.S and Europe with inaugural visits to China, Russia and Japan.  He played the viola d'amore in Bach's St. John Passion with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra and was a soloist at the First U.S. Viola d'amore Congress, held at the University of Wyoming.
In the 1970's and 1980's he was a contributor as a violist and violist d'amore in the Curtisville Consortium, which occurred during the Tanglewood season at Citizen Hall in Curtisville, Lenox, MA performing music of Purcell, English Masques, Telemann, Couperin, and Trejans Ground.  Mr. Pietropaolo’s interest in history led him to take courses at Harvard University Extension School in Middle Eastern History and Islamic Architecture. Following this he gave a series of chamber recitals with his wife, Maryan McClelland, cello, RuthAllen, piano, Joseph McGauley, violin, and Alfred Schneider, violin at University of Lowell, the Follen Series in Lexington and others.

For 17 years he was an adjunct professor of viola and chamber music at Boston Conservatory, University of Lowell, and Boston University Tanglewood Institute. He also taught violin and viola privately in his home studio as a resident of Lexington for over 30 years.

He had a passion for music, teaching, history, and cooking good food! His great musical ear and meticulous craftsmanship led him to pursue the art and science of acoustical adjustment, having studied string instrument repair with Francesco Tulli, cellist, pedagogue and luthier from New York City.
In 1999, having retired from the Boston Symphony, he and wife Maryan moved to Westborough, where they set up studios and established the Pietropaolo Vivaldi Festival concerts where students have the opportunity to play Vivaldi concertos with a live professional orchestra and conductor in a concert hall. The spring 2015 concert will mark the 15th annual festival which will be dedicated to Joseph.
He leaves his wife of 56 years, Maryan McClelland Pietropaolo, daughter Linda Maressa Pietropaolo, son David James Pietropaolo and his wife Amy Pietropaolo, grandson’s Alexander James and Curtis Joseph Pietropaolo, brother Peter Anthony Pietropaolo and his wife Donna Pietropaolo, sister Joan Pietropaolo Labrosse and her husband Gerard Labrosse and nieces Claudia Pietropaolo Wilson, and Joelle Jordan and nephew Jean-Paul Labrosse.
A memorial service to honor Joseph Pietropaolo will be held at The Congregational Church of Westborough, 57 West Main Street Westborough, MA 01581 on Saturday, January 3, 2015 at 10:00am.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in memory of Joseph Pietropaolo to one of two charities; (1) Pietropaolo Vivaldi Festival Orchestra annual fund. Checks should be made payable and sent to: Pietropaolo Vivaldi Festival Orchestra Fund, PO Box 145 Westborough, MA 01581-0145.  (2) Cardiac Transplant Research Fund at the Mass General Hospital.  Checks should be sent to: Cardiac Transplant Research Fund in Memory of Joseph Pietropaolo c/o MGH Development Office 100 Cambridge Street Suite 1310 Boston, MA 02114. MGH Credit card donations are also accepted online at https://give.massgeneral.org

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