My sister Karen is going through boxes of our parents’ memorabilia. One of the things she shared is the Dale family’s 1960 Christmas letter, perfectly typed by my mother. The two pages recount the year’s events including the birth of my sister Melissa (“very throaty, no head resonance”) and my father’s second appearance at Wigmore Hall in London that June.
My parents were both pianists and Dad taught at Connecticut College in New London. The American Dance Festival arrived each summer, and with it a host of premieres. I was surprised to see that Dad had accompanied some of the performances.
“We saw several of the Modern Dance Festival programs at the college in August. Bill even accompanied a couple of things. One dance by Pearl Lang is set to music by Hovhaness. The pianist must arm himself with marimba and tympani sticks and strike the bass strings directly. Sounds foolish to describe, but the resonant, gong-like effect is very lovely.”
William Dale
Pearl Lang
This would have been Lang’s Shirah. Sometimes called her signature work, Shirah is based on a Hasidic parable. It appears to be this tale (see p 344-5) as told by Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav.
I’m looking around for American Dance Festival archives verifying that Dad played this premiere, but musicians were often unnamed in dance programs. If anyone has that information, please let me know!
Wonderful to see the clippings, Monica!
Monica, your blogs are such a delight–many thanks!
Best regards,
Selma Odom
I was in the process of looking up Professor Dale and came upon this posting. While a cadet at the Coast Guard Academy, in the fall of 1974, I took as an elective Professor Dale’s Connecticut College musicology course “The Romantic Era.” He was a wonderful teacher, and often played fairly lengthy exerpts from the pieces we studied. He was such an accomplished pianist. Taking his class was a memorable experience . . . just thought you’d like to know!
Rick – How wonderful to read your comment! I’m sorry months have gone by before I was aware of it. I didn’t even know that Coast Guard cadets could take classes at CC!
At some point, I’ll share some childhood memories of growing up on the campus when it was an all-women’s school, and mightily resenting the “Coasties” as a little girl for various reasons! (How dare you date my babysitters, for one thing!)
Thank you so much for sharing your memory of my Dad. He really did love teaching, especially when students appreciated the experience!
PS – If you would like to know more about him, my oldest sister Karen has recently published a family history. It’s mostly intended for family only because we didn’t imagine anyone else would be interested, but is available on Amazon. I’m having a hard time posting a direct link, but it’s Dale-Christy-Family-History by Karen-Dustman.