page_title: Priscilla Paetsch
section_title: Günther
hierarchical_section_title: Priscilla Paetsch / Günther
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: de:Tübingen, de:Neckarfront der Altstadt English: en:Tübingen, Germany, front of the old city towards the en:Neckar river
context_page_description: Priscilla McClure Paetsch, was an American violinist, composer, artist, sculptor, horse trainer, and co-founder of the Paetsch Family Chamber Music Ensemble in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She was the wife of cellist Günther Johannes Paetsch and the mother to their seven children.
context_section_description: On February 21, 1957, the 26 year old American violinist Priscilla McClure Johnson found the fairy-tale village of Tübingen, Germany with cobblestone streets, half-timbered houses, huge weeping willow branches overhanging the Neckar river, a beautifully restored medieval center and an old castle that dominates the hillside. As she walked the streets she heard a trumpet practicing as if there was a concert that night. She knocked on the door and asked someone nearby (a young man named Dietrich) if there was a concert that evening. She was told that there was and he happened to have an extra ticket to it and offered it to her. After she had checked into the youth hostel and tidied up the best she could she met Dietrich and went to where the concert was to take place and proceeded to hang up her coat in the Green room. She noticed an old Klotz violin lying on a piano. She admired it, the owner said to try it so she looked for a quiet corner. She saw a man playing a cello facing the corner playing one part of a two-part piece. So she went behind and played the other part and they played to the end. When they finished he looked around and Priscilla saw for the first time the face of the young handsome 28 year old Günther Johannes Paetsch, the man from Germany who was to become her husband.
  During the performance Priscilla sat in the audience between Dietrich, who happened to be Günther's best friend and a girl named Isolde, who was Günther's pianist and rather attached to the cellist. Priscilla was unaware of this and had eyes only for the handsome cellist with the eyes like stars. His playing was with flair and a tone with such musicality. she had never heard anything quite like it. Gunther spoke no English and Priscilla had only college German so the next day they played piano trios with Isolde for the entire day going through most of the literature just for the pleasure of it. They had fallen in love.
  The next two years or so Priscilla did not return to United States immediately but traveled and met new people and learned new languages and when she ran out of money she would play concerts. But she always returned every half year to visit with Günther in Stuttgart (he had finished his studies and had by now been admitted into the bar). It was at this time that she walked to Iraq, learned Arabic and was caught up in the revolt there escaping unharmed.
  In 1957 Priscilla McClure Johnson was invited to be a member of the international jury representing the United States in the International Stringed Instrument Competition held in Moscow, Russia. Maurice Maréchal represented France, Priscilla M. Johnson represented the United States, and representing Russia and the president of the jury was David Oistrakh.
  Later she found herself in Norway and Finland, playing concert for the Sami people and walking up to Nordkapp, Norway in the dead of winter and nearly froze to death in the silent mountain passes where no vehicle could go. She had asked how far it is to Nordkapp and they told her it was about 4 miles, unaware that a Norwegian mile is about ten English miles.
  For two and a half years between 1956–59 she went on a World Study Trip, sponsored by the Putney Graduate School of Teacher Education, traveling over all of Europe, on both sides of the Iron Curtain, to Africa and the Middle East, to study the Music and the Educational Systems in 30 different countries, visiting numerous Music Schools and Conservatories, and seeking knowledge of the Compositions of Contemporary Composers.
  Priscilla insisted that if they were to be married he must at least see the country and the life style from which she grew up (she also trained Polish-bred registered Arabian horses in Colorado). He agreed to come to America if she married him. Even though he couldn't speak a word of english he set out for the United States and found an openness and freedom that he had not known and stayed. She brought him out to her mothers 'Pine Springs Ranch' in Steamboat Springs, Colorado in June 1959.
caption: Tübingen and the Nekar river.
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