One Hundred Limericks on Early Music, Occasionally Annotated
By William Peck
1.
A young clarinetist from Zinc
Liked to practice while over the sink
The echo specific
Was rather terrific
But it drove all the neighbors to drink.
2.
A contrabassoonist of note
Used his instrument case for a boat
He’d row as he’d go
Singing ho, hodie ho
While never missing a note.
The contrabassoon case is really more like a coffin than a boat, sad but true.
3.
A flautist from Sault Ste. Marie
Liked to tootle while perched in a tree
The birds would be huddled
While slightly befuddled
But later would stay for high tea.
4.
An oboist from the Ukraine
Loved playing his horn in the rain
When his reed would get soggy,
His phrasing was logy
And the sound caused a great deal of pain.
5.
While Handel was leading his band
On a barge on the Thames near the land
A fierce storm arose,
And the instruments froze
So the concert by critics was panned
Handel’s “Water Music” was premiered on July 17, 1717, in response to George I’s request for a concert on the Thames. I don’t think it rained.
6.
A double bass player named Ned
Liked to practice his scales while in bed
The sound was horrific—
Not a bit soporific
But only in Mr. Ned’s head
7.
A fiddler lad from Kentucky
Found himself exceedingly lucky
In an old case he had—
A long missing Strad
Neath a varnish exceedingly mucky.
Too bad! The original varnish of a Stradivarius is much to be prized. Apparently someone took care of that.
8.
A piccolo player named Fred
Had a rather bad cold in his head
When he tried to play Strauss
He would sound like a mouse
And his colleagues would all cut him dead.
9.
A cymbalo expert from Turkey
Played romances both turgid and murky
He’d hum and he’d strum
As he’d carefully drum
In a tempo decidedly quirky.
Cymbalo: A hammered dulcimer popular in Eastern Europe. Not to be confused with a zither.
10.
An aging diva from Venice
Excelled at mixed doubles in tennis
Her partner and she would
Agree on a key
And sing a duet to the finish.
Possibly “Là ci darem la mano,” but only if her partner is male.
11.
A tenor, soprano, and bass
Got together for a short relay race
They passed the baton
With a certain élan
While singing a trio in haste.
It would have been more successful if they had all been tenors, like Carreras, Domingo, and Pavarotti. Picture that!
12.
A xylophone player named Dave
Found dinosaur bones in a cave
He arranged them by size
And was filled with surprise
By the the fossilized sound that they gave.
Xylophones are usually of wood, but fossilized bone would work. French claquebois, German Holzharmonika (literally “wooden harmonica”), Italian silofono...
13.
McCorkel played rauschpfeife and shawm
Quite loud but no cause for alarm
His music called “Early”
Was sometimes quite surly
But exuded a primitive charm.
The two instruments are both early double reeds that were principally played out-of-doors. The shawm was the father of the oboe; the rauschpfiefe had no progeny.
14.
A gamba player of old
Left his instrument out in the cold
The results were so drastic
The poor man went spastic
And the gamba not fit to be sold.
The viola da gamba, similar to the cello but a different family, was a favorite instrument in the Baroque period, gone but not forgotten—like the one left out in the cold.
15.
The soprano’s favorite role
If ever the truth had been told
Was Queen of the Night
Sung in dazzling light
In a costume of ebon and gold.
This character has one great moment in The Magic Flute. You can’t blame her for wanting to dress the part for the most impact.
16.
A native of gay Taormina
Was adept on the old ocarina
To provide a fine sample
That her talents were ample
She played Bach on her cracked concertina.
A Sicilian ocarina player who likes Bach must be something of a rarity. Let’s hope she gets the concertina fixed.
17.
When concerts were held at the abbey
The musicians could sometimes be crabby
The light was by lamp
And the atmosphere damp
And the portraits hung flaccid and flabby.
An altogether depressing situation. But then, Bach and Mozart played by candlelight.
18.
Last night’s performance of Rienzi
Left the audience in a mild raving frenzy
The plot rather vapid
And the tempo so rapid
That it gave them a mild case of quinsy.
The first performance of Wagner’s Rienzi ran six hours long. It was cut and presented on two successive nights. Hans von Bülow quipped that “Wagner’s Rienzi is Meyerbeer's best opera.”
19.
The percussionist Mortimer Poole
Liked to perch on a rather high stool
When he’d reach for a cymbal
His colleagues would tremble
For fear that he’d fall off, poor fool.
Percussionists want to be seen so the audience has an idea of all the activity that goes on back there and all the effort they pretend to make. High stools help.
20.
A novice bagpiper from Perth
Liked to spread jollity and mirth
When he played “Annie Laurie”
In too much of a hurry
He succeeded in proving his worth.
Some pipers play everything slowly; others just want to get it over with.
21.
An oud master from old Baghdad
Played romances mournful and sad
When asked to play sprightly
He replied impolitely
That kind of tune drives me mad!
“Al-oud” is the Arabic predecessor of the European lute. Introduced (probably) through Muslim Spain. The name has nothing to do with pillage.
22.
A harpist’s most ardent desire
Having lost her old harp in a fire
Was to float a small loan
That would not cause her moan
For an instrument more like a lyre.
Harpists only show up when they feel like it—and she probably did not have instrument insurance.
23.
A Viennese zither virtuoso
Was drawn to a task even more so
To find Arthur’s “Lost Chord”
And broadcast it abroad
In a rhythm much more meno mosso.
He finally gave up and worked on a movie called The Third Man. Arthur Sullivan would have been pleased.
24.
A mandolin buff from Marsala
Would play any tune for a dollar
He projected a style
On the whole rather vile
In a voice little more like a holler.
One suspects that he had a little too much of the local vintage.
25.
When the band played a quadrille by Sousa
You sensed him a bit of a looser
His marches were fine
And his polkas divine
But his waltzes were not for the choosier.
He also wrote gallops, schottisches, tangos and foxtrots, gavottes, and caprices, plus over a dozen operettas. Only the marches seem to have stayed with us.
26.
A string quartet from Kalamazoo
Played concerts from Des Moines to Timbuctoo
When not engaged on tours
They’d fasten all their doors
And amuse themselves performing on kazoo.
27.
An orchestral conductor named Brune
Tried to keep his violinists in tune
He’d say as they’d play
“You sound like you bray
In the night at the height of full moon.”
Try keeping 30 or 40 independently-minded prima donnas in tune. Good luck.
28.
When the orchestra played a boléro
By Ravel or some other fine fellow
The rhythm hypnotic
Was like a narcotic
Which made the musicians quite mellow.
Ravel’s Boléro puts some people to sleep but, contrary to rumor, it was well received when premiered at the Paris Opera. It was Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring that caused a riot.
29.
The tuba’s the king of the brass
Not at all considered low class
It provides the firm basis
Of harmonical stasis
And it won’t take any more of your sass.
The sousaphone is a tuba, redesigned by Sousa for marching. A lucky Buckeye tuba player in the band gets to dot the eye in Script Ohio at football games.
30.
Maclune was the odd kind of fellow
Who painted his double bass yellow
When asked what the reason
He said “It’s the season
To make all my section mates mellow.”
A coat of paint on a stringed instrument is a very bad idea. Don’t do this at home.
31.
A violinist named Ted at the back
Was but little more that a hack
He was no kind of thriller
But was hired as a filler
And was helping to take up the slack.
Which just goes to prove that not all musicians are solists. Some of them have team spirit.
32.
A trombonist fresh from his studies
Was not awed by coy fuddy-duddies
His first chair in the band
Where he played out of hand
Set his standing with all of his buddies.
Chairs are often awarded by audition and competition. This guy must have been some kind of brilliant student.
33.
When Elizabeth danced the gavotte
Her courtiers moved at a trot
I don’t need to mention
That the mood was high tension
God help the poor soul who forgot.
Apparently Elizabeth I was fond of dancing and naturally everyone had to agree.
34.
Wanda, the harpsichord queen
Enjoyed making a scene
She’d play Byrd in a hurry
And Boyce in a flurry
With snatches of Bach in between.
Wanda Landowska (1879–1959) was partly responsible for reviving interest in the harpsichord. William Byrd c.1540–1623, William Boyce 1711–1779, J. S. Bach 1685–1750.
35.
There was a young Copt from Imbaba
Who performed with great skill on rabāba
He could play pizzicato
Or when called on, legato
While wearing a handsome jalabah.
Copt, Christian Egyptian; Imbaba, a neighborhood of Giza in Egypt; Rabāba, two-stringed, bowed instrument; Jalaba (djellaba), long robe popular in North Africa. Get it now?
36.
When Pavarotti performed “Nessun dorma”
Which he did in a manner pro forma
The ladies all cheered
While the opera buffs jeered
The tenor a bit too enorma.
What this aria from the last act of Puccini’s Turadot has to do with The World Cup or the Olympics is beyond me.
37.
In the islands where hula is danced
The rhythm is always enhanced
By the tiny ukulele
Which must be practiced daily
Or otherwise the hula can’t be chanced.
A bastard child of the lute family, apparently Portuguese in origin. The ukulele was the favorite instrument of Arthur Godfrey (remember him?) and Tiny Tim, who tiptoed through the tulips.
38.
When Lenny composed Candide
An expression of philosophical creed
He scored a success
With the press more or less
But the public was not up to speed.
When the musical Candide opened it only ran 73 performances. Its overture, however, has become one of the most performed pieces in the orchestra repertoire. Lots of operas are only known for their overtures.
39.
When the orchestra played Les préludes
A streaker ran out in the nude
When detained she complained
Of being restrained
But her actions quite suited the mood.
There is no accounting for the musical taste of streakers.
40.
The theorbo is like a big lute
With additional long strings to boot
It produces a bass
With an elegant grace
And the gambas will all follow suit.
The principal problem the theorbo player has to overcome, due to the length of the instrument, is air travel.
41.
A bass clarinetist from Bremen
Seemed very attractive to women
He’d play his low notes
Like the fog horns on boats
To entice them all to go swimming.
The bass clarinet is an octave below the normal clarinet but it would still not be low enough to sound like a fog horn. (Artistic license.)
42.
An annoying pianist named Glenn
Played the same work again and again
He couldn’t stand draughts
Or audience laughs
’Cause they always got under his skin.
Glenn Gould was notorious for his sensitivity to temperature—and for recording the same thing over again.
43.
A saxophone star from Hamtramck
Liked to play for his friends from a hammock
Then he’d make them a dish
Of very fine fish
Which in Arabic is usually called sammak.
Sammak has absolutely nothing to do with saxophones, hammocks or Hamtramck.
44.
When Callas performed in La Tosca
She awarded herself a gold Oscar
Though the prize was for film
It was her secret whim
To also become a top rock star.
I once saw Callas attending the debut performance of another soprano. She wore a floor-length, eye-catching, ermine coat. She left after the first act. She was the definition of “diva.”
45.
When the band played “The Last Rose of Summer”
The prominent line was the drummer
He graced that old air
With a great deal of flair
Which reduced all those there to a slumber.
This one is surreal. “Last Rose” is a romantic ballad that hardly requires drums at all.
46.
When the orchestra essayed The Fifth
They succumbed to a prevalent myth
That Toscanini had need
For inexplicable speed
To finish The Fifth in a jiff.
Some criticized Toscanini for his Beethoven tempos too speedy, others for tempos too ridged (“like a metronome”). Sometimes you can’t win.
47.
I once had a very strange neighbor
Who performed on the old pipe and tabor
He could coax out a tune
Late at night or at noon
And considered it love and not labor.
The pipe is played with one hand, the tabor (drum) with the other, a kind of early one-man-band.
48.
A harmonica player from Maine
Played the same tunes all over again
When asked for his favorite
He said “Don’t belabor it”
Its an old hit called “Lady of Spain.”
Normally “Lady of Spain” is an accordion solo. This Maniac (is that the proper designation for someone from Maine?) was a show off.
49.
An accordion player of Rome
Authored an elaborate tome
Titled Folk Songs Italia
It was full of nostalgia
Which made one think fondly of home.
This really only applies if Rome is your home, otherwise it’s a stretch. If your home was Padua, for example, it would make no sense at all.
50.
Jed played banjo and spoons in a trio
With music called Country, always con brio
His secret wish, to boot
Was to buy a lovely lute
And sing the lyrics to “O sole mio.”
Theoretically, to accompany “O sole mio” properly, one would play a Neopolitan Mandolin, but they say that desperation is the mother of improvisation and there is no accounting for taste.
51.
A Russian composer named Boris
Composed for an amateur chorus
But his ardent desire
Was to write for a choir
That drew on ethereal sources.
Some artists don’t know their own limitations. Others aspire to great things. Let us hope that Boris was of the latter persuasion.
52.
When Lully directed his band
His bâton simply got out of hand
It banged on his toe
Caused infection to grow
But his funeral was really quite grand.
The baton in Lully’s day was not the twig-like thing conductors use today, it was more on the order of a mace carried by drum majors. It was actually pounded on the floor.
53.
When the king’s band played sackbut and shawm
There was really no cause for alarm
Their stated vocation
For ceremonial occasion
Was to play with a dazzling charm.
The sackbut was the ancestor of the trombone, the shawm, of the oboe. Both were outdoor instruments that could produce a lot of sound. Both have morphed into civilized instruments.
54.
When The Opera for Beggars was conceived by John Gay
The impresario John Rich said that “This is the day”
To no one’s surprise it opened to cheers
And was such a success it continued for years
While making Gay rich and Rich gay.
The last line is not original. It was current at the time. Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera) by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill is based on the Beggars Opera (loosely).
55.
When Bizet was grinding out Carmen
He spent lots of time with his barman
With each aria for the gypsy
He got a little more tipsy
As he’d say “Set ’em up on the bar, man”
I have no idea that Bizet was a drinker but it would have probably helped to produce Carmen.
56.
A flamenco guitarist from Navarre
Traveled widely both near and by far.
With the music he’d hear
He found nothing to compare
With his local neighbourhood bar.
If he was from Northern Navarre, the music was from the Basque culture, from the south it was more influenced by Aragon. Neither have flamenco as a principal tradition.
57.
A cellist’s considerable girth
Caused the audience a great deal of mirth
But Dvořák’s concerto
Proved him an experto
As the greatest fat cellist on earth.
It’s always nice to see musicians overcome physical challenges.
58.
The Handel Society’s forte
Was to sing Messiah for sport
They would gather on Monday
And sing until Sunday
At which time they would have to abort.
Because they had all rattled their brains by overdoing a good thing.
59.
A French horn player I know
Liked to take all the high notes for show
On the Mozart concerti
He pronounced with celerity
“Sometimes my aim is too low.”
Dennis Brain’s recording of the Mozart horn concerti is a classic, hard to beat. Barry Tuckwell is a good second—just my opinion. Check out Flanders & Swann’s “Ill Wind” for a rousing version of the third movement of Concerto No. 4.
60.
A busker who played in the strand
Thought music hall favorites most grand
He performed for the queues
And imparted the news
He was forming a much larger band.
Charles Laughton and Vivian Leigh played buskers in The Sidewalks of London, 1938. Imagine that!
61.
When Chaplin wrote songs for his films
They fulfilled a few of his whims
He was a great comic
Who seeked success sonic
And his composition “Smile” resembles hymns.
Charles Chaplin wrote “Smile” as an instrumental theme for his film Modern Times. The words and title were added later by others. It has been covered by a number of artists—hardly a mention of Chaplin.
62.
A luthier who worked ’round Cremona
Hawked his wares in an old red kimono
His violins were quite handsome
You could hear them through the transom
But they suffered from a strange strong aroma.
For some reason all craftspeople who make or repair stringed instruments are called luthiers. Many of them have never seen a lute, much less made or repaired one.
63.
When G&S debuted The Mikado
They did it with a certain sly bravado
Now their vision of Japan
Would never fit the plan
Of a modern PC cultural art embargo.
64.
When Mozart performed on celeste
His fans all hailed him “the best”
But when his dad took him touring
He found travel somewhat boring
While managing his performances with zest.
The celeste or celesta was not invented until 1886, which makes it a little hard to believe that Mozart (1756–1791) performed on one. Maybe the clavichord was meant. Get your facts straight!
65.
When Mimi knocked at the attic door she’d chosen
Rudolpho quickly commented that “Your tiny hand is frozen”
A sad romance developed
In which they were enveloped
But by the last act Mimi’s life was closing.
In 1896 at the premier performance of La Bohème, the 28-year-old Toscanini conducted. What more can I say?
66.
When the trumpets set up in the wings
The prompter said “Don’t play those things
The opera Aida is being performed
And the sounds you might make would cause an alarm
At the time when the fat lady sings.”
There are off-stage trumpet fanfares in Aida. The prompter was new.
67.
Joe Green was master of the oompa style
His operas would hold your attention a while
He could craft a pretty tune
But one discovered soon
That the lack of inner structure made one smile.
Giuseppe Verdi, aka “Joe Green” was sometimes rather pompous. Some people love it. I’m not one of them.
68.
A backwoods musician’s grandpa
Was adept on both washboard and saw
When he essayed a classic
He was more than fantastic
’Cause he learned from his friend Yo Yo Ma.
69.
Caruso made recordings for posterity
But they’ve not all survived with great clarity
The quality was scratchy
But his arias were catchy
And that explains their growing great rarity.
Not so rare—he made about 250 recordings and appeared in over 70 operatic roles. And by the way, Mario Lanza was no Caruso.
70.
A navy musician named Paul
Was swept overboard in a squall
With a will and a smile
He found a small isle
Where they never played Sousa at all.
Members of military bands soon become weary of playing Sousa marches. What might have begun as a classical music career soon becomes a depressing routine of endless repetition.
71.
A marimba virtuoso from Belize
Played the Goldberg variations with ease
He doubled in brass
But was troubled alas
By the trombone which gave him a wheeze.
Highly unlikely. Percussionists don’t usually double in wind instruments but the reverse is sometimes true when the score calls for many “effects.”
72.
When Stravinsky unveiled Le Sacre
He felt he had much more to say
At the premier the riot
Could not be kept quiet
But Petrushka would soon have its day.
Le Sacre du printemps (1913) actually followed The Firebird (1910) and Petrushka (1911). It’s hard to believe that a work 109 years old is still considered radical.
73.
When the 1812 Overture’s live
The cannoneers all bravely strive
To create as much racket
As would need a flak jacket
So the players would surely survive.
This only applies when the cannon fire is not prerecorded. The cathedral bells are another matter.
74.
When Pachelbel’s Canon’s requested
A work that is sometimes protested
By quartets and groups
And itinerant troops
It’s played while being detested.
More properly, “Canon and Gigue for 3 violins and basso continuo,” has become a classical piece loved by people who don’t like classical music. A similar situation exists with those who adore Marc Chagall and have no interest whatever in the visual arts.
75.
When Debussy wrote “Clair de lune”
He depicted the state of the moon
But his epic “La mer”
Was too much to bear
And he hoped to get over it soon.
It makes some people seasick, others find it erotic.
76.
When Scarlatti cranked out a sonata
He said I feel that I gotta
It’s like having an itch
And throwing a switch
And besides it’s my main bread and butter.
555 sonatas for keyboard. Need I say more?
77.
A major banjo picker from Kentucky
Considered himself as somewhat lucky
He won a competition
And sold a new edition
For his novice guide to simple banjo plucky.
The ancestors of the banjo came from Africa by way of the Caribbean. In a modernized form it was made popular in the nineteenth century by its uses in minstrel shows and basic “Learn to play the banjo” instruction books proliferated.
78.
Max played the panpipes for fun
But when he had hardly begun
The Birds came in force
To seek out the source
So Max played a jig on the run.
Unless Max had ancient Greek ancestry and was a devotee of the god Pan, he should have stuck to the piccolo.
79.
When Haydn wrote one more symphony
His wife shook her grey head in sympathy
Don’t you think that’s enough?
For it’s ever so tough
And you’ve worn out my measure of empathy.
108 symphonies, 16 overtures, 47 divertimentos, 68 string quartettes, etc., etc., etc. No wonder the old lady’s hair was grey.
80.
St. Cecilla is mostly a myth
Yet we honor her musical gift
She played on a harp, or a lyre, or a timbrel
With an infinite skill that might make us tremble
I hope that you’re getting my drift.
It’s like the myth of Nero “fiddling” while Rome burned. The chordophone (there’s a word for you) known as the violin or the fiddle, doesn’t show up as such in Italy until around the sixteenth century.
81.
When Vivaldi concocted the “Seasons”
He did so for practical reasons
Four stray compositions
Were given positions
With unnatural thematic cohesion.
This is entirely false. Vivaldi wrote the four parts to convey the differences and effects of the seasons as they progress. He even wrote poetry explaining the details.
82.
Respighi loved fountains and pines found in Rome
So he wrote compositions to remind him of home
With melodies soothing
And sometimes amusing
He created a series of musical poems.
Respighi also used the recorded sound of a nightingale in The Pines of Rome, the first known appearance of recorded bird song in a symphonic composition. That’s the reason for the reference to “amusing.”
88.
Borodin pronounced from his cloud
That Kismet should not be allowed
“A smart bunch of goons
Have stolen my tunes
Intending on pleasing the crowd.”
It’s easy to compose a musical when you “borrow” from 12 different compositions by Alexander Borodin—sometimes several times from the same composition—and from a 1911 stage play also titled Kismet.
89.
He had come all the way from Detroit
At the theater he was made out of sort
When he opened his playbill
What he saw made him quite ill
He was in Oberrannergau, not in Bayreuth.
Who would confuse the German passion play with the festival hall of Richard Wagner?
90.
Clara Schuman at a performance of Tristan
Could hardly sit still and listen
Confronted later
As she left the theatre
Said “It was repulsive and well worth missing.”
She actually wrote “The most repugnant thing I have ever seen or heard in all my life … During the entire second act the two of them sleep and sing; through the entire last act—for fully 40 minutes—Tristan dies. They call that dramatic!”
91.
Darius Milhaud wrote Beef on the Roof
And Copland settled for beef on the hoof
They were met with success
In concert and press
And their music lives on as the proof.
Milhaud’s “Le Bœuf sur le Toit” and Aaron Copland’s Rodeo and Billy the Kid were all hits in their time—some kind of raw meat fixation?
92.
The French hated Delilah and Samson
But Liszt provided a ransom
Saint-Saëns was relieved
With his opera reprieved
So he dashed off a few extra chansons.
In 1876 no opera house in Paris would mount a production of Samson and Delilah but Listz arranged a premier in Weimar for 1877. It took a while for it to catch on.
93.
Olga played the flugelhorn, the cornet, and the trumpet
But all she ever had for lunch—
A toasted, crunchy crumpet
Her friends became concerned
With the calories she burned
Her reply was simply “Either like my lunch or lump it.”
Ever-versatile Olga was a talented brass player but her culinary taste left something to be desired.
94.
A Sarrusophone addict in France
Played every neighborhood dance
He was so much in demand
For a national band
He quit music to study finance.
The Sarrusophone is not to be confused with the Sousaphone. This odd instrument, a reed constructed of metal, is not as rare as you think. It turns up in the scores of Ravel, Debussy, Percy Grainger, and others. The well known contrabassoon solo in “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” was originally written for it.
95.
The Welsh play a harp called a crwth
Which has a curved bow forsooth
In the past it was used
To accompany a muse
When he sang a sad lay, that’s the truth.
Only the Welsh could invent an instrument spelled without vowels.
96.
A Cambridge bell ringer named Ned
Has the changes arranged in his head
When the master said “Go!
It’s time for the show”
Poor Ned was still curled up in bed.
If you don’t know about change-wringing, look it up. Or read The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers.
97.
A klezmer clarinetist named Moe
Liked to mount a traditional show
His band took his lead
And doubled the speed
Never thinking of anything slow.
Klezmer is a distinctive style based on Eastern European folk music. When the Hora is danced at a wedding it should be played by a Klezmer band for full effect. Thank Rumania for the Hora.
98.
When Guido of Arezzo invented the scale
He taught all his students to sing without fail
“do, re, mi , fa, sol, la”
Sung from the notes on his tavola
And the choir hit the tune on the nail.
Guido saw the trouble with the inexact notation that employed neumes so he worked out a more precise way of writing music. Ever try reading and singing all those square notes?
99.
Scarlatti, Vivaldi, et al.
Seemed to be having a ball
If your taste for Baroque
Has not yet awoke
You’ve not met the masters at all.
Then there is Carl Fasch, Jan Dismas Zelenka, Heinrich Biber, and countless other Baroque composers you never heard of who are gradually making themselves known.
100.
Ninety-nine limericks so far
Like Tennyson “Crossing the Bar”
It was fun while it lasted
But can’t be contrasted
With having a beer in a bar.
William Peck is an Egyptologist, author, and lecturer. He was Curator of Ancient Art at the Detroit Institute of Arts for many years; he also taught as an adjunct at a number of colleges and universities. His avocation has been the performance of Early Music.
Read next: Spring by Esther Kondo Heller