1951

178 Madison Avenue Holyoke, MA 01040

The crabgrass having again won the battle, it seemed fitting to "leave the field and take to the hills—the Berkshires, that is. Fortunately, Nase Hurowitz and his wife Martha Grace had anticipated our arrival on Saturday, August 8, by making arrangements at the Apple Tree Inn in Lenox, next to the main gate at Tanglewood, where we would later enjoy an evening concert. On an afternoon that alternated between sun and thundershowers, seven classmates, together with wives and friends, met in the late afternoon for cocktails and dinner.

Driving east from GE-land near Schenectady were Don and Joanne Snell, while Bob(Lefty) and Kathy Hustek motored north from Bridgeport, where Bob teaches at Central High School. Hank Sanders tarried with us for the gustatory portion of our outing, on his way to a four-day course in forestry and woodland management at Sterling College in northern Vermont. Andy Pincus, by contrast, was very much in his element here as he resides in this area from which he reports to the world as a music critic in the New York Times and local papers as well as in several of the magazines of the music world. Since his retirement two years ago from an editorship at the Pittsfield, Mass., Berkshire Eagle, Andy had been busy not only writing columns on the music scene in the Berkshires but also teaching English, journalism, and music courses at Williams College and the Simons Rock campus of Barnard College. In addition, he has been working on a behind-the-scenes-at-Tangle- wood book. Andy's wife Katharine has a shop in Lenox called "Weaver's Fancy" which specializes in distinctive fabrics. Dick Dutton admits to having attended one other symphony concert prior to the present occasion (although he could easily qualify as an expert in the movies of the late forties and early fifties), so the good influence of his wife Peggy is here duly noted in her getting him to drive up from Washington, Conn., where they live. Dick is presently doing consulting work in printing and publishing, when he is not trying to locate something called a "Woodstock soapstone woodstove catalytic converter."

Steven Ledbetter, who taught in the Dartmouth music department from 1972 to 1979, was our between-course speaker during dinner before the Tanglewood concert. As musicologist and program annotator for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Steven provided us with several insights into the nature of a world-class orchestra. For example, he believes that great orchestras such as the BSO must continue to strive to keep their repertoires fresh by accommodating contemporary music so as to prevent their becoming only museums for the playing of works by long-dead composers. Because most new musical compositions are now being written for small ensembles, he believes that full orchestras such as the BSO will perhaps consist of such ensembles, an arrangement which may then, in turn, influence the kind of music which will be composed in the future.

Dinner over, we spent the evening listening to gorgeous music on the spacious lawn in the balmy air beneath a hazy full moon. Tanglewood is indeed a special place.

Other notes: Hank Sanders, as our Alumni Council member, wants to remind you all to give some thought to suggesting names of persons to fill the vacancy left by Norm McCulloch's leaving. And one very special feature for our class during the Dartmouth Night/Yale game mini-reunion weekend of October 30-November 1 will be a review of the Julius R. Wolf collection of art which was bequeathed to the College after Jay's death in 1976. A panel consisting of Joe Caldwell, Jack Giegerich, and DonDworken will discuss (on Saturday, October 31 at 10:00 a.m. in the Loews Auditorium of the Hood Museum) a selection of the nearly 100 pieces created from the forties to the mid-seventies which Jay had collected.

Take care. And keep in touch.