How curious can life be? Just Monday my nephew called wanting info on Howard Hanson.
He was going to introduce one of the Air Force bands on a concert swing this week, and
wanted to know if I had any bit of musical information that might make his comments on
Hanson"s "Romantic Symphony" more interesting for his audiences. Somehow I made a comparison between Howard Hanson and Thomas Hart Benton, the great artist from Missouri. I said they were part of the group that put a face on the Arts in mid- 20th Century America. By that I meant Howard Hanson had enormous reach as both composer and educator, much the same as Tom Benton, who taught at the Kansas City Art Institute, but also became an internationally revered artist.
Thinking about Thomas Hart Benton, I reached back in memory to the early 1950's when I
knew his daughter Jessie, mostly through a madrigal group formed at the University of Kansas City by my teacher Virginia French Mackie. Jessie was still in high school, but
Mrs. Mackie was a great friend on her mother and father, and suggested Jessie might like a bit more musical exposure. Jessie was quite clever with the guitar, and she conned me into being part of her backup group for a performance of folk songs at the River Club, a very posh KC club of wealthy business leaders. I was pretty woeful in this role, but Jessie was so charming and talented, so I went along with it.
We went to rehearse at her home, and Tom was in the living room with his guest Pete Seeger. Seeper was sprawled on the floor with his five string banjo, letting loose with the most wonderful songs, and Tom had his big glass of bourbon, looking very much the master at home. Rita Benton insisted we see the house, and Tom's studio in the back yard. Its now a museum run by the Missouri Division of Parks and Recreation.
Jessie had no fear of anything, and before we knew it, we were singing "Across the Wide Missouri", and Pete joined in, but being such a gentleman, didn't try to hog the show. When we got to the famous line, singing "Mis sou RI " so prettily, there suddenly was this huge interruption from Tom, who bellowed at the top of his voice, "damn it, it's MIS-SOU-RAH!!" I had always heard Tom Benton was a rugged individualist, and this proved the point.
A dear friend from high school and college posed for Tom as Laurie, when he illustrated "Green Grow the Lilacs" with his wonderful etchings. Most of you will recognize this work as the basis for "Oklahoma!" by Rogers and Hammerstein. His murals were all around Kansas City, including the USC Campus, Helxberg's Department Store, and later, the Truman Libraty. Next year the Metropolitan Museum of Art with display their new acquisition of one of his most famous murals.
To come back to my theme of co-incidence, just this past Monday Pete Seeger died in New York City at the age of 94. His mother was the fine American composer Ruth Crawford Seeger, and I often taught a suite of piano pieces by her, and always told the student about Pete Seeger. You must read his obits, as they are wonderfully written, and tell a great American Story.
So what did I learn from Pete Seeger? I heard the most wonderfully direct type of singing, by someone who lived every note and believed every word. He was a Great American.
