Byron House Assisted Living is located in a quiet and secluded suburb of Potomac on the beautiful campus of Our Lady of Mercy Church. Six AMSF members gathered there on Saturday, September 20th to entertain the residents for an hour. Eight members had signed up to perform, but unfortunately Stephanie Dailey and Alberto Gamez could not make it. Tom Haug and Ellen Lazarus immediately stepped up to the plate and, at short notice, each added a second piece to their performance. Such is the inherent versatility of our group! At least 14 residents were already seated in the room when we arrived, and we were able to begin the recital promptly at 3:30 p.m. with Sharon Atteh-Chi.
Sharon, who is a formidable flutist, chose to play the Largo and Allegro movements from Sonata No. 1 in F major by German Baroque composer Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767). Telemann was a friend of J.S. Bach, and he was almost completely self-taught on flute, oboe, violin, viola da gamba, recorder, and double bass. Sharon mastered the numerous scale runs in the Allegro with ease and charmed the audience with the haunting melody of the Largo, which ended with a beautiful trill typical of Baroque music.
Raye Haug followed on the piano with Excursion No. 2 by American composer Samuel Barber (1910–1981). Raye’s slow blues tempo was perfect for the piece as she swayed and put her heart into the music. Her second piece was Cello Prelude to Suite No. 1 by German Baroque composer J.S. Bach (16851–1750). Bach wrote six cello suites, and each one had a prelude. No. 1 was arranged entirely for left hand piano. Raye’s playing was so convincing and musical that one would have thought she was using both hands.
Classical guitarist Ellen Lazarus played next and took us to Venezuela and Italy. She first played “Monotonia” by Venezuelan guitarist and composer Rodrigo Riera (1923–1999). This piece was built on a short repeated eighth-note motif and though the name means “monotonous,” Ellen’s playing was not. The infectious Spanish flavor was evident in her lilting melody. Her second piece was Etude No. 5 Op. 48 by Italian composer Mauro Guiliani (1781–1829). This Etude moved quickly and taxed Ellen’s finger dexterity, but, being well-rehearsed, she remained in complete control.
Tom Haug was the second pianist. He played a new piece called “Sleepwalking,” composed by AMSF veteran Joan Magagna. It is rare that members get to perform pieces composed by their peers, and Tom did an excellent job, especially since the piece was peppered with long glissandos in the right hand. His second piece was Sonetto Del Petrarca No. 123 by Hungarian Romantic composer Franz Liszt (1811–1886). This was an imposing and technically challenging piece that lent itself to a wide range of interpretation, which Tom fully exploited with his gentle touch. Near the end, it featured hand-crossing as the music gracefully decrescendoed to a very soft finish.
Jodi Lipson followed with a beautiful rendition of “Reverie” by Impressionistic French composer Claude Debussy (1862–1918). Jodi mentioned that Debussy was not at all happy with the piece when he composed it in 1890 and was reluctant to publish it. He said, “I regret very much your decision to publish.” He felt it was “of no consequence and frankly no good.” Jodi certainly proved otherwise with her sensitive touch and musical interpretation.
The recital concluded with a singalong of “It is Well with My Soul” with lyrics by Horatio Spafford (1828–1888) and music by Philip Bliss 1838–1876). Horatio had lost his four daughters in a terrible tragedy at sea and wrote the words as he was grieving for his children, even as he traveled to meet his wife who had been rescued. Being a devout Christian, he was comforted by the hope he had. Ellen distributed the printed words to the residents, and, accompanied by Jodi on the piano, Carol Henry led the singing. It was a somber but uplifting ending to an enjoyable recital.
As we gathered by the piano to take our group photo in our fun sunglasses, one resident who had come in about halfway through the recital said that she lamented the fact that she had missed the first performers because she had enjoyed the latter half so much! Her kind comment truly warmed the hearts of the performers as we packed up to leave Byron House.