himself. He always liked to try out
new works, both for choir and organ,
and no two of his recitals had exactly
the same lineup of pieces.
UNLIKE ORGANISTS WHO dazzle by
means of superficial effects, my father
gave close attention to the structure,
the inner voices, of each work. A fan-
tasia, for instance, would set out a
composer’s main themes and develop
them with a rich, flowing grace. A
fugue would bring in other voices, their
interweaving lines taking the music in
new directions before tension was
resolved in harmony at the end.
My father never reached perfec-
tion—what artist does?—but he always
strived for it. Music, to him, was an act
of reverence and homage. Whereas ser-
mons were disposable commodities,
Bach was as essential as bread. Music
could be prayer; music could be revel-
ation; music could improve the world.
I found an expression of this faith in
a slip of paper I came across after his
death. Among the piles of letters,
musical scores, concert programs and
church bulletins, I discovered a typed
quotation from the Hungarian com-
poser Zoltán Kodály.
It was, I suppose, Kodály’s credo, and
I believe it was my father’s, too: “It is the
bounden duty of the talented to culti-
vate their talent to the highest degree,
to be of as much use as possible to their
fellow men. For every person’s worth
is measured by how much he can help
and serve his fellow men. Real art is
one of the most powerful forces in the
rise of mankind, and he who renders
art accessible to as many people as
possible is a benefactor of humanity.”
My father might have hesitated to
resort to such grandiose words. But
Kodály’s faith was one that spoke to
him. It transformed what might appear
to be self-absorption into a gift, an act
of service.Kitchen Conundrums
Tired of recipes assuming I have a stove.
@KEVINFARZADSmoke detectors are basically just you-suck-at-cooking detectors.
JULIUS SHARPE, WRITERWhy does cooking take, like, six hours, and eating takes three seconds and
washing dishes takes, like, seven days and seven nights?
@HASNATMAHMOODFROMINDM BY M THE OARK ABLEY, CORGANIST: FUGUES, FATHPYRIGHT ©ERH 2019. REPRINOOD, AND A FRAGTED BY ILE
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