Klarinet Archive - Posting 000207.txt from 2008/11

From: "Dan Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Music dealers
Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:39:05 -0500

Excellent piece. Chris Weait's contribution was delightful because I first
met him at one of Joe Marx's Saturday night chamber music parties, and we
have remained friends all these years. Chris was co-principal bassoon with
the Toronto Symphony, and then he became the professor of bassoon at Ohio
State. Now he is retired but still active as a player, conductor, and
composer.

As for Josef Marx, here is my final anecdote about him.

I knew that Josef had played first oboe with the Jerusalem police band, and
had become a terrific shot with a rifle. The band went out for target
practice every week and, according to Josef, he could shoot the eyes out of
a turkey.

Long after Josef's death, I had to give a technical computer talk in
Jerusalem. I sat on the stage waiting for the event to begin and my host was
at my right. About 30 minutes before the event began, a band came on stage
and started playing. It was a very good band and I asked my host what the
name of the group was, only to be told that it was the Jerusalem Police
Band. My host asked me if I knew of the group because it was well known in
Israel. I answered, "I know of the group well because I knew the former
first oboe player."

Dan Leeson
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Wilson" <fanosax@-----.com>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2008 1:15 AM
Subject: Re: [kl] Music dealers

> While not as colorful as Dan Leeson's anecdotes, there is a nice article
> on Josef Marx in the JIDRS archives:
> http://idrs.org/publications/journal2/jnl12/marx.html
>
> Mike
>
> Dan Leeson wrote:
>> You have me at a loss. His mistress, one of many that he had over
>> several years, was an oboe student living with him at the time. She was a
>> very good player, and it was always a source of amazement to me to have
>> both his wife and his mistress helping out with the coffee and cake after
>> we played things at his apartment between 86th and 87th and between
>> Broadway and Amsterdam. Big building. Used in several films. It had a
>> name. The Apthorp was at 78-79th but I don't remember the name of Joe's
>> building. Big courtyard.
>>
>> Every week we played chamber music at his place, and no matter what
>> cockeyed combination we had, Joe had a piece for it. And once, over a
>> period of perhaps 12 weeks, we did every Mozart piano concerto using a
>> string quintet, and minimal brass but no percussion. There just wasn't
>> room for it. The pianist was a very well-known guy and I can't remember
>> his name.
>>
>> The next story about Joe Marx is how he walked Stefan Wolpe across the
>> broad avenue near Lincoln Center. Wolpe had Parkinson's and could barely
>> walk. It took them some 10 minutes to get across the street, and I
>> thought they were both going to get killed.
>>
>> Dan
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed Wojtowicz" <ewoj@-----.com>
>> To: <klarinet@-----.org>
>> Sent: Friday, November 14, 2008 5:19 PM
>> Subject: Re: [kl] Music dealers
>>
>>
>>> I would rather hear how he managed the wife and mistress! ;-)
>>>
>>>
>>> On Nov 14, 2008, at 6:29 PM, Dan Leeson wrote:
>>>
>>>> He was also the only many I ever met who kept both his wife and his
>>>> mistress in the same apartment in Manhattan.
>>>>
>>>> At some later time, I will tell you the story of his playing oboe in
>>>> the Jerusalem police band.
>>>>
>>>> Dan Leeson
>>>
>>>
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