One morning, after I had been singing at the Lutheran church for a year or so, after singing Mozart's "Laudate dominum", an elderly man, whom I had heard playing the violin (brilliantly) in a number of services came up to me and said "There's a voice that can carry in a 3000 seat opera house!" which totally astounded me, as I had been singing pianissimo. When he told me he was a retired violinist from the New York City Opera I was even more astounded and flattered.
After that, we "performed" several pieces in services (the "Laudamus te" from the Bach B Minor Mass and "Domine Deus" from the Vivaldi Gloria). We were going to perform the Bach cantata "Erfreute Zeit" when his eyesight and memory began failing. He never played again after that summer.
I knew that he did not have long, and when I heard that he was in the hospital with pneumonia I had hoped to visit him, but then this morning the church's Pastor posted on Facebook that he had died.
I don't want to link to his real name here, because for now, anyhow, I don't want people from the church who might "google" him to link back to this blog, although I am sure some of them already read it.
I miss this man for loving reasons and for selfish ones: he was part of my beginnings at the church when the trained musicians were fewer, and we were older. It was a golden age, never to come again, I suppose, and I should be grateful for having had it.
In other news, last night I had the first rehearsal of the Carmen duet with the tenor and the pianist. It was a little raggedy, but he has a magnificent voice, and is a superb actor as well. I love losing myself in the drama. This is where I am happy: singing (preferably something with no scary climactic high notes), acting, fussing over a costume and props, thinking about accuracy of time and place...
And the red shoes, which I wore at the Strand, totally rock.
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