The Jazz Owl
  • Travis Rogers, Jr. -- The Jazz Owl
  • A Love of Music
  • Music Reviews
  • Reviews on Travis Rogers Jr.
  • Meetings with Remarkable People
  • SoulMates by Candlelight
  • Music in Portland
  • Toshi Onizuka
  • The Arts: Film, Literature and More
  • A Love of History
  • Baseball Stories
  • Personal Reflections

Part Three: "Papa Lou" Maser

11/1/2011

0 Comments

 
When I was 16 years old, I took a music class at Indian River State College (formerly Indian River Community College). It was a Music Appreciation class and the professor was Louis Maser, a 1938 graduate of the University of Kansas. I never did find out what took him to Kansas for music.

He was a brilliant music teacher. He was a renowned trumpet player but his piano lessons were widely sought-after. He was hilarious, he was charming, and he was one of the finest chess players I ever met.

In his private lessons, he was patient and he was kind. I was not a good musician but he always said "If you could only get your fingers to co-operate with your heart." So, it was he that encouraged me to study music literature with the same passion I had for history and philosophy. "The piano may never reveal your heart but the pen certainly will. Make others feel what you feel by your words about the music!"

So, I wound up for a time following his advice about writing on music. I wrote for my high school and college newspapers and wrote a lot of concert and record reviews. Why did I ever stop?

In his college classroom, he served up musical delicacies that thrill me to this very day. Sure, we heard all the stuff from Bach and Mozart and the rest and I enjoyed listening to the music and watching him diagram the music. He played for us Saint-Saens and Sibelius, Shostakovitch and Smetana, Michaud and Mahler, Grieg and Glinka and so many others I had never heard. 

More than this, however, he began telling the personal stories of these great and sometimes not-so-great composers.

The French composer Lully, for example, had spent most of his career working for King Louis XIV. In those days, the conductor was not more than a time-keeper and they used a long staff instead of the later baton. They would beat out the time on the floor using this big staff. Lully was conducting a Te Deum in celebration of Louis XIV’s recent recovery from illness. During the performance, Lully struck his big toe with the heavy staff. The wound turn gangrenous and Lully died from it. No wonder they invented the baton. “Conducting is dangerous stuff!” Maser proclaimed.

With stories like that, I became intrigued with the composers as people and not just as music-writers. He told of Brahms being raised in a brothel. Beethoven was beaten by his father to make the young Ludwig play for the old man’s drunken friends. Wagner married Liszt’s daughter. Handel and Scarlatti used to have harpsichord and organ contests between themselves.

He especially loved to talk about Joseph Haydn. His favorite re-telling was how Mozart and Beethoven had called him “Papa” Haydn. Maser even seemed to get a little misty-eyed when discussing it. After studying with him for the next two or three years, a couple of other students and I decided to call him “Papa Lou” Maser. So help me, the old guy had to wipe tears away and just said, “Bless you boys.”


© copyright 2011. All rights reserved.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    A Love of Music


    Join Amazon Prime - Listen to Over a Million Songs - Start Free Trial Now

    Archives

    November 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    December 2020
    July 2020
    April 2020
    November 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2017
    December 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    June 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011


    Categories

    All
    3rdegree
    Aimee Allen
    Allan Holdsworth
    Ambrosia
    Annette Aguilar
    Beginnings
    Berta Rojas
    Bob Arthurs
    Bobby Sanabria
    Brand X
    Dann Zinn
    Dan Robbins
    Darrell Marrier
    David Sancious
    Dewa Budjana
    Don Cornelius
    Dweezil Zappa
    Eleanor Rigby
    Eugene Marlow
    Farnell Newton
    Flash
    Grammys
    Hristo Vitchev
    Igor Atalita
    Jarrod Lawson
    Jenika Marion
    Jimmy Johnson
    Joe Derose
    Kevin Louis
    Louis Maser
    Marcus Reynolds
    Mary Lou Williams
    Melissa Aldana
    Murray Low
    Naras
    Neil Portnow
    Paquito D'rivera
    Patrick Moraz
    Paul Creighton
    Peter Banks
    Reinhardt Melz
    Rock And Roll
    Ronnie Ciago
    Rosewater
    RUNA
    Shannon Lambert-Ryan
    Steve Lamattina
    Steven Kroon
    Stevie Wonder
    The Left Banke
    The Soulmates
    Toshi Onizuka
    Vinnie Colaiuta
    Zappa Plays Zappa


    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.