As the tag line says, “Nothing moves the needle on evolution like the arts.”, and I am hoping this edition of The Other Side of the Keyboard helps demonstrate that.
My wife is a watercolor artist. Her mentor and friend is the remarkable Alice Meyer-Wallace, artist extraordinaire.
Through my wife I met Ms. Alice and many of her students at the Community Arts Center in Wallingford, PA and at the historically famous Plastic Club in center city Philadelphia. If you aren’t familiar with the Plastic Club, treat yourself: https://www.plasticclub.org/
Soon, Gretchen, my wife, honored to say, will have her own web site. I shall keep you updated.
But that is not what this submission is all about. It is about a message from the heart.
Alice’s talented older brother, Richard Meyer, a talented artist and architect was married to Alice’s best friend Lesley Hopwood Meyer. Imagine being best friends with your brother’s best friend. How does that happen?
I was not gifted with knowing Lesley but I depend on the stories told by Richard and Alice. However, Lesley had to have been a special and storied woman of great empathy and love. Lesley would, every year, compose a special Christmas Carol set in olden times, and they were recorded in her honor by Richard with the help of some extremely talented people. I’ll explain later.
As the story goes, well, let me stop here and use some of Lesley’s own words from the jacket to help with the explanation.
“I live in a lovely rural suburb of Philadelphia called Rose Valley, in a carriage house among the trees. In March, the migrating birds wake you up at 5:30 or so every morning. One morning, being rudely awakened, I decided to get up and write down the birds’ songs – the rhythm and pitch. I did this for three or four hours. Later that day, I used the song to write Bird Warmup #1, Morning (really me waking up – no bird song there) and Bird Warmup #2. I had already written the chilly middle movement, Antarctica, and it needed to be warmed up!
Real ornithologists have listened to my piece and not recognized my interpretation of the robins, cardinals, and house finches, but that’s what is nice about being a composer rather than a naturalist – you can make things up!”
This turned out to be “Six Short Works for Piano and String”
Think about this: This is evolution at its very best! What love a body must have to hear, feal, and set to music the highest levels of nature itself.
The CD is no small effort as the mission, which was executed by the following, some of whom you may recognize. This is best offered in Richard’s, aka Dick’s, own words:
“I am grateful for the significant contributions of Liz Cochran, Bill Hayward, Carol Briselli, Charlie Abramovic, Vivian Barton, Barbara Jaffe, and Igor Szwec to the beauty and character of Lesley’s music. I appreciate being able to use the ballroom at the Wallingford Art Center to make the five original recordings. The CD cover art was created by Sarah Moody.”
It didn’t stop there, and as promised, back to the carols. Each year, for 26 years. Lesley would write a Christmas Carol in the style or the “olden days.” This collection was held for posterity on a CD created by her husband Richard in her honor and set to disc by some very, very talented local artists.
The CD was titled “Mr. and Mrs. O.L.D. Fezziwig requests the honour of your presence at a domestic Ball.”
Fezziwig -wig, Fezziwig-wig, Fezziwig’s Ball
In came a fiddler and tuned like fifty stomachaches,
In came Mrs. Fezziwig, one vast substantial smile,
In they all came:
Some shyly, some boldly;
Some gracefully, some awkwardly;
Some pushing, some pulling;
In they all came!
In came the three Miss Fezziwigs, beaming and lovable,
In came the six young followers whose hearts they broke,
In came the house maid with her cousin, the baker,
In came the cook, with her brother’s friend, the milkman.
This is from the famous: A Christmas Carol by Dickens.
John Richardson: The Fiddler
Veronica Chapman-Smith: Mrs. Fezziwig
Karen Wapner The Three Miss Fezziwigs
Kent Schauble: The Six Young Followers
Paulo Faustini: The Housemaid
Wallace Umberger: The Cook
Choir:
St. Luke’s Chamber Singers
Jonathan Bowen, Organist and Choirmaster
Again, in Richard’s own words:
This is the complete collection of 26 Christmas Carols composed each December from 1976 to 2001 by Lesley Hopwood Meyer, and recorded between November 14, 2001 and November 15, 2007.
All the carols have been arranged for four voices from the original Christmas cards by Jonathan Bowen, Choirmaster of the Church of St. Lukes and the Epiphany in Philadelphia, and recorded under his direction in seven sessions between 2001 and 2007. Janathan’s work is distinguished by its wonderful musicianship and his exceptional faithfulness to the spirit of each individual song.
I am grateful to The Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany for graciously allowing the repeated use of its warm and evocative space for rehearsal and performance.
Uncompromised engineering and editing is by Bill Hayward of Hayward Productions, Swarthmore. For the final eleven recordings he was assisted by Chris Gately. Mastering for this recording was done by Bill and John Senior at Elm Street Studios in Conshohocken, incorporating 15 songs that were produced by Bill and George Blood Audio in Chestnut Hill between 2001 and 2005. Ed McCann helped to develop the playlist through endless variations. CD duplication was provided by Syndicate Pictures, Media PA. The booklet insert was provided by Disc Hounds, West Chester Pennsylvania.
The original group was assembled by Elizabeth Cochrane, a friend of Lesley, Jonathan, and Bill, who did not know each other. Without the help of Liz, it is doubtful that any of these songs would ever have been performed or heard.
Many beautiful versions of the carols have been passed over in this effort, including the Robert Ross setting of Nunc Gaudet Maria that was published through the Woman’s Sacred Music Project by Oxford University Press in 2005, and Alice McIntyre’s Latin translations that were performed by the Goffredo Petrassi Chamber Ensemble, presented by Fondazione Atkins Chiti in Rome for Christmas, 2005. All of these will be included in a forthcoming collection of the Complete Works of Lesley Hopwood Meyer.
Finally, a word about the words: Lesley was drawn into the project because the 13th Century sentiment “Kick and beat the grumblers out” appealed to her. Whether “The prunes so lovely” (15th C) “Squadrons of spirits” (16th C) or the autobiographical “A babe is born all of a may, in the salvation of us..”, there was always a bite of charmed language that set the music in motion. In some cases, the preservation of these old texts in Lesley’s settings may be their salvation.
Music by Lesley Hopwood Meyer.
The songs:
1. Proface (1993)
2. Fezziwig’s Ball (1989)
3. A Hymn on the Nativity (1992)
4. Hymn to Joy (1997)
5. All That Believe in Christmas Lay (1994)
6. All You that in the House Here (1982)
7. A,a,a,a Nunc Gaudet Maria (1991)
8. Get Ivy and Hull, Woman (1990)
9. Furry Day Carol (1984)
10. From: In Memoriam XXVIII The time draws near (1998)
11. Carol For Austrian Hunting Horm (1983)
12. For Christmas Day (2000)
13. So, Brother Fesans, Reijouissance (1986)
14. Christ is Come Well (1980)
15. Now is Christmas Ycome (1979)
16. Sun of Righteousness (1988)
17. Out of Your Sleep Arise and Wake (1977)
18. Minuet (1978)
19. Now Christmas Draweth Near (2001)
20. Now All is Well That Ever Was Woe (1983)
21. Christmas Day 1995)
22. Anglo-Norman Carol (1976)
23. A Christmas Carol In the Blead Mid-Winter (1996)
24. Good Day, Good Day (1999)
25. The Star Song (1981)
26. Song of the Nuns of Chester (1987)
The glorious part of this effort is the love of one for nature and the ultimate love of one for another. The sad part of this is I can not share this CD as it is not, I believe, available for sale, only gifting, and that is how I received this gift.
At Richard’s house last evening, I attempted a tuning on the 1939 Lester Spinet that Richard and Alice grew up with. In response to that offering, Richard gifted me the two CD’s. I remarked at the picture of Lesley on the front of one of them, and how utterly beautiful she was which brought Richard to a pause…he misses her so. That was my queue to stop talking and just take the CD’s with gratitude.
Tonight, we celebrate the holiday season at Richard’s. Gretchen baked a Christmas Tree cake, and I bring the Ouzo…Alice’s favorite.
With this I wish all of you the kind of love Richard, Lesley and Alice experienced and continue to this day.
As coincidence would have it, the two CDs were produced by a great many of my family. The singers, players, directors, and engineers are many of whom I have worked with as a concert/studio piano technician. I was so elated to see them on this, a most joyous collaboration.
Happy Christmas to all and to the rest who may celebrate other occasions, just as solemn and important, may the holidays bring you all that you require to be happy, healthy and surrounded by love.
Remember Ye this: Santa is secular. He doesn’t disappear when one reaches the age of 10 or 12, he is simply passed on to a generation of new, eager parents!
In trying to come up with my next story, I decided to post my partial list of clients and at random, or when the spirit moves me, I’ll pick one of the followint and run with it. If you want to hear about a favorite from this list, let me know and I’ll be happy to tell the story.
Some Notable clients we enjoy servicing or have serviced in the past.
Cheyney University (RT)
Widener University (RT)
George Blood, Recording Engineer, Philadelphia Orchestra (PT)
Pierre and Elise DuPont (R)
Bobby Short (VA)
Michael Feinstein (VA)
Duke Ellington Band (VA)
Oscar Peterson (VA)
Sarah Vaughn (VA)
William Bilson (VA)
New School of Music, Tamara Brooks (RT)
Temple University/Main Campus, Ambler Campus, Center City Campus (RT)
Vladimir Sokoloff, Curtis Institute, WHYY (VA, ASR)
Rudolph Serkin, Mozart on the Square (VA)
Pennsylvania Ballet (RT)
Philadelphia Opera Company (RT)
Philadelphia Musical Academy (RT)
The Walnut Street Theater (RT)
The Hershey/DoubleTree Philadelphia Hotel (RT)
Annenberg Center, University of Pennsylvania (RT)
Davidsbund Chamber Players (RT)
Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia (RT)
Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts (RT)
The Philadelphia School (RT, R)
University of Pennsylvania, CC Campus (RT)
Rutgers University, Camden Campus (RT)
Mozart Orchestra, W. Jerome (ASR, VA)
Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, T. Brooks (RT)
Robin Hood Dell (RT)
Andrew Willis, New School, Official Pianist/Philadelphia Orchestra (PT)
Natalie Hinderas, Temple University (PT)
Lambert Orkis, National Symphony (PT)
Richard Raub/Academy of Vocal Arts (PT)
Richard Rome (VA, ASR)
Susan Starr, Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts (ASR, VA)
Claus Tennstedt (VA)
Philadelphia Singers, M. Korn (RT)
Vladimir Horowitz (VA, ASR)
Arthur Rubinstein (VA,ASR)
Joseph Plon (PT, VA)
Chestnut Hill Academy (R)
Chestnut Hill College (R)
Settlement Music School (ASR)
Arden Theatre Company of Philadelphia (RT)
Richard Goode ( PT)
Victor Borga, Valley Forge Music Festival (VA)
Dr. Nicholas Provenzale (VA)
Albany Records (VA)
The List Continues…
Benjamin Whitten, West Chester University (PT)
Shirley Aliferis, West Chester University (PT)
Nijole Dedinas, West Chester University (PT)
West Chester University School of Music (R)/Visiting Artist Series (VA)
American Music Theater Festival (RT, VA)
Magnetik Productions (WFLN/Franklin Broadcasting) (RT)
Malcom Bilson, Cornell University (R)
Bill Balkin (VA)
Dr. Robert Sataloff, DMA (PT)
Dr. Dahlia Sataloff, DMA (PT)
Michael Korn (PT)
Marc-André Hamlin (PT)
C. Alan Lightcap (R)
WHYY Radio (RT)
Elizabeth N. Morgan, Ph. D, Associate Professor, St. Joseph’s University (RT)
St. Joseph’s University (RT)
The Agnes Irwin School (RT, R)
Bud Dengler, Music Director, Agnes Irwin School (PT, R)
Ridley School District (RT)
Rose Tree Media School District (RT)
Wissahickon School District (RT)
Methacton School District (RT)
Westtown School District (ASR, VA)
‘We The People’ Celebration of Philadelphia (VA)
St. Lukes of The Epiphany Church (RT, R)
Dr. William Gatens, Good Shepherd Church, WFLN RADIO (PT, R, RT)
Dr. Terry Klinefleter (PA, R, RT)
Jonathan Bowen, St. Luke’s of the Epiphany, (PT, R, RT)
Kim Beamon, St. John’s Church, (RT)
Dr.Vincent Craig, Main Line Unitarian Church, (RT, R)
North Penn High School (R)
Gratz College (RT)
Arden Theater (RT)
Carol Lawrence (R)
Steven Sondheim (ASR)
Philadelphia Academy of Music (ASR)
Kimmel Center (ASR)
Alexander Fiorillo (PT)
Professor Harvey Wedeen (PT)
Temple University ( RT, R, Instructor)
Richard Goode (PT)
Albert Franz, (PT)
LEGEND : PT = Personal Technician R = Rebuilding Client VA = Visiting Artist
RT = Resident Technician ASR = Artist’s Special Request
NB: The above list is to demonstrate an outline of our more recognizable clients. This list is, by its very nature, incomplete. The above is in no special order.
Industry and Trade Clients Serviced
by
Ralph Joseph Onesti Piano Restorations:
The following is a list of those for whom we have worked over the past fifty plus years. These are capable technicians and/or manufacturers, the most discerning type of client a rebuilder might service. To be chosen and accepted by one’s peers nationally, as their custom piano rebuilder or consultant, is truly an honor. Pianos from the following are in service all over the United States.
Michael Sweeney Piano Craftsman, RPT (R,C) Wayne, PA
Donn Young, RPT, Accurate Piano Service (R,C) Devon, PA
James Chadwick, RPT (R,C) Drexel Hill, PA
Judith Palmer, RPT (R,C) Merion, PA
Webb Phillips, RPT, Mainline Piano Service. Allied Guild (C) Horsham, PA
Peter Reichlin, RPT (R,C) Washington’s Crossing, PA
Victor Benvenuto, Sr., RPT The Piano Shoppe (R,C) Philadelphia, PA
Joseph Benvenuto Piano Service, MPT (R) Mt. Airy, PA
Edwin C. Trefz (R,C) Norwood, PA
Joseph Sciortino Piano Service (R), NY
Copelin Piano Service (R), Arkansas
Wesley E. Beaumont Piano Service, (R) Princeton, NJ
C. Alan Lightcap Restorations (R) Lambertville, NJ
Leary Musical Service (R,C) Cleveland, OH
Stuart Davidson Pianos (R,C) Sioux Falls, SD
Ralph E. Nelson Pianos (R,C) Hayward, CA
Polans, AMICA (R) Long Island, NY
LA Piano Service (R) Los Angeles, CA
Sol Kohen Piano Service, RPT (R,C) Horsham, PA
Henry T. Meyerman, Sr., RPT Piano Service (R), Wilmington, DE
Steven P. Winder Piano Service, RPT (R), Harleysville, PA
Aeolian Restorations, Rebuilders (R), Sumneytown, PA
John Daubert Piano Service (R), Barrington, NJ
James Ficca Piano Service (R), Wilmington, DE
Nicholas Natale, B&N Piano Service (R), Aston, PA
Stephen Prentice, RPT Piano Service (R), West Chester, PA
Richard F. Rioux, Piano Service (R), New Egypt, NJ
C. Paul Joseph, RPT Piano Service (R,C), Upper Darby, PA
Thomas Sterner, RPT (R,C), Wilmington Opera House, Wilmington, DE
Howard Stickley III, RPT, Piano Service (R), Philadelphia, PA
John Campbell, RPT, Piano Service (R), Phoenixville, PA
Steve Houck, RPT (R), Baton Rouge, LA
Herman Giersch, Media, PA (RTC)
The list continues….
Various National Insurance Companies (Appraisal Consultant and Forensics)
Young Chang America (RTC,C)
Kawai America (RTC,C)
Mason & Hamlin (RTC,C)
Yamaha Piano Company (RTC)
Samick (RTC,C)
Pacific Piano Supply Company, Van Nuys, CA (R)
Best Piano Services, Putnam Valley, NY (R)
Luca Music, Mineral Spring, RI (R)
Meridian Music, Indianapolis, IN (RTC)
Wilmington Piano Company, Jordan Kitts Music, PA, DE (RTC,R,C)
Aeolian American Piano Manufacturers (RTC)
The Smithsonian Institution RTC
Philadelphia Museum of Art (RTC, R)
Brandywine River Museum (RTC)
Cunningham Piano Company (R)
Warner Piano Company (C)
LEGEND
R = Rebuilding Client C = Field/Shop Consultant RTC = Regional Technical Consultant
RPT = Registered Piano Technician MPT = Master Piano Technician
NOTE: Rebuilding clients’ work consisted of higher-level types of shop work not normally handled by in-house personnel such as: soundboard, pinblock, bridges, and action manufacturing and design.
QUALIFICATION:
NEITHER THE COMPANY: RALPH JOSEPH ONESTI PIANO RESTORATIONS, NOR THE INDIVIDUAL: RALPH J. ONESTI, IS AFFILIATED, RELATED TO, OR CONNECTED WITH, ANY OF THE ABOVE-NAMED INDIVIDUALS OR COMPANIES. IT IS TO BE UNDERSTOOD THAT ANY WORK PERFORMED FOR THE ABOVE INSTITUTIONS IS STRICTLY BY CONTRACT AGREEMENT ONLY. THE COMPANY RALPH JOSEPH ONESTI PIANO RESTORATIONS, AND THE INDIVIDUAL: RALPH J. ONESTI HAVE BEEN SEPARATE ENTITIES FOR THEIR ENTIRE EXISTENCE IN THE FIELD OF PIANO TECHNOLOGY.
This is a story that goes back further than I think Marc and I care to remember.
I was taking care of all the acoustic keyboards at Temple University, Presser Hall, teaching a course in Piano Technology and acoustical physics, and generally pulling my hair out, a story for another entry.
Professor Harvey Wedeen, chair of the piano department, and I were close. I would like to think we were friends; dinners out, baseball games when Helen Kwalwasser, Chair of the string department and his wife was out of town, and I got to use her season ticket seat, etc.
Harvey confided in me one day, that he was teaching a promising young student in Canada, none other than Marc-André Hamelin. I thought that was a challenge right there. Harvey explained that he mailed, there was no email then, Marc a lesson, then Marc would mail back a cassette tape, with all its physical and acoustic flaws, to Harvey. Harvey heard the talent through all the wows and flutters cassettes provided. That went on for a while until Harvey said, “We have to get Marc down here”. And he meant to the USA, Philadelphia, and Temple.
Quite honestly, I don’t know all the ins and outs to the logistics of getting Marc moved here, and if I did, I would have forgotten them, but down he came.
Marc-André was someone you would have quickly recognized as a big, no, a huge talent.
One afternoon, I went to Marc’s apartment to tune his piano. To my astonishment, it was a Baldwin Hamilton, better known as a “PSO”; Piano Shaped Object. Clearly this thing was well below Marc’s talent. When I went there, I was greeted by Jodi, Marc’s significant other, at the time, and I remember Marc’s outrageous sense of humor. So, the tuning started off with a joke or a story and maybe, just maybe, a bit off color.
I went back to Harvey and complained that Marc was practicing on this “thing”. Harvey said, “No, he isn’t”. I was just there. It was the only piano in the apartment. Harvey said, “Marc practices in his mind!”
There was a short period where I was convinced to try selling pianos by the Aeolian Company that made Mason & Hamlin, and very badly at that. They flew me to Rochester, NY to try and figure out how to get that 9’ CC to ring out. It didn’t take me long to figure out that my task was insurmountable. The egos did not allow for change, but they tried, and so did I. So, for a bit, a very little bit, I tried to sell the Mason & Hamlin line after some drastic manufacturing changes.
All this leads back to Marc. Harvey came to me and said Marc needed a real piano. I had a 7’ BB that I had worked on, and reworked until it was a suitable instrument. Harvey said Temple had $10,000.00and asked if there was anything I could come up with. The BB was selling for about $26,000.00. I told Harvey that Temple and I would go in ‘halfies’. Harvey asked if I could afford that. I couldn’t, but I told him I couldn’t afford not to. Marc was that important, and so was his gift to the musical world. I needed help! The devil, as they say, is in the details, and the only way I could do this for Marc was to remain anonymous for reasons I could not divulge at the time, and which are unimportant now. Temple and I agreed, and the piano was moved under Marc’s hands.
Marc continued to flourish, and as I remember, the classics and the romantics were not his favorites. Marc loved the new stuff. The stuff no one else could read let alone play. When the comp students wrote in atonal or 12 tone ala Schoenberg, and no one could play it, Howard Levitsky said they would say, “Give it to Marc”. He would sit and rip it off as if he wrote it.
Time went on and Marc-André Hamelin went on to become listed in the top one hundred pianists that ever lived. I’m talking Glenn Gould, Franz Liszt, Wilhelm Kempff, Martha Argerich, Arthur Rubenstein, Emil Gilels, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vladimir Horowitz, Morizio Pollini, Rudlolf Serkin, for whom I also worked, Yuja Wang, and the list goes on and on. Yes, Marc-André Hamelin is on that list. He continues to flourish and is still with us today. Thank you, Marc, for letting me be a part of your success, albeit a minor one.
I watchen an interview with Marc where he said to the interviewer, “A performance is not an exhibition, it is an offereing”. The words of a true artist!
He lives now in Europe, and we have lost touch, except recently through Maestro Albert Franz.
Gretchen and I are trying to get our resources together to visit Albert in Vienna for a concert on November 23 of this year. I am hoping against hope, Marc will be there. Seeing him again would be a reunion I would cherish.
It was many years ago; come to think of it, everything was many years ago, I had the pleasure of prepping a piano for Maestro Watts at the Philadelphia Musical Academy. That, in fact, is where he studied and had some lessons with my piano professor, Mrs. Florenza Decimo Levengood. His studies at PMA were under Genia Robinor, Doris Bawden, and Clement Petrillo, then of course Leon Fleisher at Peabody.
I had to babysit the Steinway B and Mr. Watts. He was doing Tanglewood auditions, as I remember.
Student after student filed in and played what they thought would impress him enough to get selected for the summer program in Boston. Between students I got to hear story after story and we laughed and joked, and then were interrupted by the next victim. He smoked this huge cigar I would need two hands to pick up.
By the end, he reached into his coat pocket and came out with two tickets to his performance that Friday afternoon. I asked what he would be playing, He said, “I was supposed to play Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, but I can’t even read the darn thing!” I, in a bit of shock, reminded him the performance was in a couple of hours and asked what the strategy was.
He explained that under contract to Columbia Masterworks at the time and being booked years in advance, he was doing 100 recitals a year. Practice came at a premium. So, he would play pieces he knew, then throw in some new pieces to test them out…YIKES! He would indeed change the program that afternoon.
He went his way, and I went mine. Of course I went to the recital. I had great seats and took a friend.
Just before the recital, the hall manager came out and announced that there would be a program change and instead of Pictures, Mr. Watts would be doing the B-minor Chopin Sonata, some excerpts from Candide, in honor of Leonard Bernstein, and some of the usual suspects.
Out on stage he comes, changed into his suit; matinees usually didn’t come with tuxedos, he bows to thunderous applause, knows where I am, winks at me with a tiny smile, turns to the piano and sits. His hands approached the keyboard and out came the unannounced Beethoven’s Fur Elise, played at a painfully slow, yet artistic tempo. After that, the stated changes.
OK, when all was finished, ancors and all, I went backstage to collect my final hug. I went to the green room where he greeted me like an old friend. I got my hug but asked, “Maestro, what the heck was that?!”, “Oh, you mean the Fur Elise, I told you I’m short on time, that was my warmup!” We laughed and I parted with a great memory and a great story.
Maestro died at 77, way too soon. I shall always remember our day together; what a gift. You can’t see me, but I have tears running down my face.
I will endeavor to keep up with this as much as time permits.
And…I will strive to make it chronological.
However: I have a really great story I MUST share NOW!
This is a story you may not need to hear, but it’s one I need to tell!
My profession is that of being a piano technician, however, I have been told that I am not a piano technician; that I am more like a mentor.
Dr. Vincet Craig whom I saw through his master’s degree and ultimately his Doctorate at Peabody, and as a result, with my guidance and encouragement every step of the way, became the head of the piano department at Wells College of Music at West Chester State University. Vincent called me to tell me two things: “I have a broken string, and by the way, you have never given me bad advice.” to which I responded, “Vincent, that’s because I don’t have any bad advice!”, we laughed.
Some 30 years ago, I was called to do an “emergency” service call in a house in Springfield, PA. “We have a genius living with us for the summer and he is a pianist.” I was in my piano shop at the time and there was significant begging involved. I, being who I am, just can’t refuse.
I arrived to a see a console piano with Liszt Transcendental Etudes on the music desk. OK I thought…so tune the piano I did.
In walks this tall, slender young man from the Pittsburgh area. At the time he was a student at Penn State in the engineering department, a sophomore I believe. I asked if the music on the piano was his to which he replied in the positive. I asked how long he had been playing, to which he replied, “Two years”. I said, “This is not your music.” He begged to differ. “Sit.”, I said, and play. He had every note right where it belonged, but there was no music. He was typing. However, I heard something there but wasn’t sure what that was. He was, at the time playing Chopin and Liszt etudes like the Revolutionary and Winter Wind and Gnomenreigen at full tilt within a year or so…rather amazing!
OK, for those not familiar with the process of becoming an artist at the piano, what Albert did in two years, most take ten. And, most start when they are five or six, Albert much later. But there it is and there he was, the proverbial diamond in the rough!
I asked him to be quiet while I made a phone call to Professor Harvey Wedeen of Temple University, probably the best living pedagogue on the planet. Harvey and I were good friends, and at the time I was teaching piano technology and the accompanying acoustical physics involved while taking care of all of the pianos at Presser Hall. I told Mr. Wedeen what I had experienced. He asked what the boy was playing. I told him. He said that was great then asked how long he had been playing. I went silent, then finally found the wherewithal to say” two years”. Harvey said, “Ralph, seriously?” I proceeded, “Harvey, you know me, I wouldn’t waste your time, please hear him”. Harvey agreed.
So, this young man found his way to North Philadelphia to the studio of Professor Harvey Wedeen and played. Harvey called me later that day to say that he would agree to give him lessons for the summer. I told Harvey that that boy young man no money to which Harvey responded, “I didn’t say I would charge him, did I?”
So, all that summer, Albert studied with Professor Wedeen. Every once in a while, Albert would visit me at the shop telling me how it was going.
At the end of the summer, I gave Albert money to purchase Harvey a bottle of vodka and a box of chocolates, both of which were his favorites. I didn’t think to realize that Albert was too young to buy vodka.
At the summer’s end, Albert once again visited me. He thanked me for my help and then said, with a tear in his eye, “Well, it’s all over”. I didn’t understand. As it turns out, his family was the neighbor of the folks where he stayed that summer before they moved to Pittsburgh. He was “hiding” there that summer to play the piano as he was forbidden to do so at home.
I asked if I could help by having a conversation with his father, and with terror on his face he said “No”. Then I said,” If it is all over, why won’t you let me help?” We talked further and he relented and gave me his father’s phone number, and I called.
I said to his father, “You don’t know me, and I don’t know you, but I am a concert level piano technician.”, and there he stopped me abruptly. “He isn’t playing the piano, is he?” I asked the father what he did for a living, he said he was in banking. I said, “Banking, and that’s what you wanted to do since you were 5 years old?” He replied, “Well no, but my fa…,” and stopped talking. I said, “So, you want to do to Albert what your father did to you?!” Needless to say, the phone call did not go well.
Albert returned to his studies at Penn State and cleverly switched his major to a degree in music. Albert quietly became so proficient that he received a full Fullbright Scholarship to Vienna, the City of Music, and was mentored by none other than Paul Badura-Skoda, a famous Austrian Pianist.
Albert went on to win competition after competition and his career was set in stone. He is now a Bosendorfer artist and widely acclaimed for his performances, and the rest I will call, “What goes around comes around”.
Just a few weeks ago, an old friend who moved to Arizona working for the largest Bosendorfer outlet in the US called to ask me to take care of a 7’ “Bosey”, the Klimpt, Tree of Life model…quite beautiful and quite pricey being shipped to Berwyn, PA. I, of course, agreed. I show up to this lavish home in Berwyn, PA. The owner said, “You come highly recommended.” I said,
‘Yes, I know Sonja Lynne very well.“ The owner said, “NO…it was Albert Franz from Vienna!” I nearly fell over. Albert was her teacher via Zoom. She asked if I would return to tune again in a week as now Maestro Albert Franz would be there and asked if he could be present to reunite with you. I was aghast.
So just yesterday, after a one-hour tuning, in walks none other than Albert Franz and we had a four-hour visit. Tears were involved. We chatted and laughed and reminisced. We exchanged phone numbers and emails and took pictures.
Then I said to Albert, “You know, there was another young man, in whose career I had a hand at Temple,” and wondered if they had met. Then he showed me a photo on his Apple I Pad of he and Marc-Andre Hamlin at a table in a pub. They were the closest of friends, no surprise, and advised that Marc remember me fondly…more tears. These are two of the top pianists in the world, sitting and chatting at a spot in Vienna, are you kidding me?!
Albert said I had changed his life, and I said, “No, I opened the door, but you chose to walk through, and YOU did!”
So, of the many young people I have helped, most go on to careers never to be heard from again, but yesterday, the Universe decided to give me a gift.
Indulge me here please. Everyone tells me that I should write down the many anecdotes of my career in Piano Technology. “You should write a book!” they say. Quite frankly, I don’t think I’m smart enough for a book, but I will re-ignite my abandoned blog; “The Other Side of the Keyboard”. I hope you will search for it and enjoy it.
I am not very religious or political, and I’m not sure “everything happens for a reason”, or even fate, I am a Humanist. But I do believe in Karma!
I adore my musical family. On May 14, I will turn 76, and riddled with the gift the Marine Corps gave me, systemic arthritis, I will go on. I hobble to work, and I hobble home. There may still be young folks I may be able to help, and I won’t hesitate.
In closing I will say that this is only my part in Albert’s story. The rest is for him to tell. And, I did not change his life, he changed mine!
Enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuqfdI9gBC8
Ralph