This reminds me of a true story about the Austrian organist/ 
harpsichordist Susi Jeans (Lady Jeans).
She lived in a vast old rambling 18th-century house in the south of  
England, Cleveland Lodge.
In the late 1960s she thought her gas bills were too expensive so she  
complained.
A few days later a man from the British Gas Board arrived.
She made him sit down and played him the JSB E minor trio sonata on  
the organ.
She got her bills reduced.

DM



On Feb 6, 2008, at 11:27 AM, Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:

> I got my wife to type a Landowska anecdote from her childhood in  
> largely Polish central CT.
>
> *************
>
> I recall reading a modified story of this incident by Wanda  
> Landowska but I can't seem to locate it. It concerned how to  
> determine whether one captured the right spirit of a dance. I  
> thought readers might be interested in another viewpoint.
>
> My Uncle Henry worked as a fireman in Torrington, CT. Since  
> firemens' hours are irregular and involve some weekdays off, many  
> of the guys moonlighted by making occasional deliveries for the  
> local furniture store.
>
> One day Henry got an order to deliver a chair to an address in  
> Lakeville. When he got there, he recognized that the lady of the  
> house was Polish. He said some words to her in her native language  
> and they had a short conversation. She then asked him to get some  
> coal for the stove from the cellar . Always happy to help a lady,  
> Henry complied. When he returned the lady was playing some dance  
> music on a strange instrument that was "sort of like a piano" but  
> wasn't. Upon hearing it, he danced a little jig (that was the  
> playful way Uncle Henry acted and was quite believeable). The lady  
> was very excited to see this. Henry thought she was overreacting  
> and wasn't sure what all the fuss was about.
>
> ******************* end of Barbara********
>
> I don't think Uncle Henry ever knew who the lady was, or what a  
> harpsichord is. WL did tell the story differently. Maybe some  
> lister can come up with it.
>
> Henry was, however, the grandfather of the then 6-year old girl who  
> took stubbornly to the little fretted clavichord we brought to the  
> Highland Lake cottage, repeating the one chord sequence she knew  
> over and over until it came into tune. I thought this showed a  
> latent musical talent but she never went anywhere with it. We both  
> remember Henry being present on that occasion, but it was about 35  
> years ago.
>
> Rodney Myrvaagnes
>
> Please send emails to
> rodneym (AT) alumni (DOT) tufts (DOT) edu
> with obvious corrections.

==========================================
Davitt Moroney
Professor of Music; University Organist; Director University Baroque  
Ensemble
Department of Music, 210 Morrison Hall
University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1200, USA
email: [log in to unmask]
Office:  +1-(510) 643-4580 / Fax: +1-(510) 642 8480
http://music.berkeley.edu/Moroney.html