Marita Petzoldt McClymonds

1935 - 2023

Marita P. McClymonds, 87, of Charlottesville, died very peacefully March 2, 2023, at the University of Virginia Medical Center surrounded by her family. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on December 4, 1935, daughter of the late Adie Sylvester Petzoldt and Elda Louise Engert Petzoldt.

Surviving members of her immediate family are her son, James Taylor McClymonds, his wife, Susan B. McClymonds, and twin children, Malcolm and Emilie, of Amsterdam, N.Y.; daughter, Julie Rose McClymonds-Smith and her husband, Nicholas Page Smith, of Charlottesville, Va., their son, Gabriel of Rochester, N.Y., and daughter, Ariel of Charlottesville; nephew, Michael Owen Tudor and his wife, Dawn Heather Tudor, of Alameda, Calif.; stepsister, Andrea Farthing and husband, Alan; sister-in-law, Lois Hudson and family; and nieces, Rosanne Quatroke and Jean Pechtel and their families. Besides her parents, Marita was preceded in death by Clarence Milton McClymonds, her husband of 58 years; sister, Eleanor Tudor; brother, Tristan Petzoldt; and stepmother, Maria Petzoldt.

Marita was a graduate of Quincy High School, Quincy, Ill., and received her B.A. at Culver-Stockton College, Mo., and M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. Prior to her graduate work, she taught music privately and in public schools in Missouri and Illinois. Marita was a world-renowned musicologist. Her academic career began in 1981, when she was appointed professor of music at the University of Virginia, where she was also chair of the Music Department (1988–95, 1998–9). Her dissertation on Italian composer Nicolo Jommelli's last years proved to be the starting point for extensive, wide-ranging studies on 18th-century Italian opera, in particular the innovations and modifications in opera seria during the second half of the century. Her studies threw new light on the background to the operas of Mozart, Haydn, and Gluck, and focused scholarly attention on the librettist Mattia Verazi. While chair of the Music Department, Marita was instrumental in founding the graduate program leading to Ph.D., as well as the music performance concentration there. She took great pride in mentoring and supporting other music scholars, and developed close friendships with many of them. Marita was a board member of the Mozart Society of America, board member and advisory committee chair of the Ashlawn Summer Opera Festival (now Charlottesville Opera), consultant and outside evaluator, A. Co. M. sub-project, "Catalogo dei libretti" Sele Sistemi S.p. A., Venice, co-founder and first conductor, Commedia dell Opera (now the Berkeley Opera), Berkeley, Calif., and member of other professional and musicological organizations. She was an Orthodox Baha'i. She had an international outlook, and her friends and colleagues came from every corner of the world. Marita had a great love of family, friends, food, music, travel, art, birdwatching, gardening, and cats, and enjoyed attending classical and jazz concerts, plays, and opera. She was an avid supporter of her local music and arts organizations, and environmental and wildlife conservation causes and organizations.

A simple graveside service for friends and family will be conducted at Riverview Cemetery, on Tuesday, March 7, 2023, at 1:30 p.m. A reception will follow at the home of Julie and Nick Smith.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to the World Wildlife Fund at worldwildlife.org and Charlottesville Opera at charlottesvilleopera.org.

The family would like to thank everyone who supported Marita in her last days, particularly devoted caregiver Sandy Lapp and her dear friends at The Blake. They would also like to thank the staff at The Blake Assisted Living and the University of Virginia Medical Center for their loving care of Marita.

Funeral arrangements by Anderson Funeral Services.