By Katherine Boyle
WASHINGTON, DC — “Sayeth the spirit, that they rest from their labors,
and that their works follow after them.”
— Johannes Brahms
It’s a vintage Norman Scribner story. When the Army drafted the young organist, then 22, he took only three books with him. The Bible, of course. No clergyman’s son could forget that. “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare,” good for passing evenings in the flatlands of Fort Chaffee, Ark. And lastly, a thin, emerald book containing the music and German text of Johannes Brahms’s “Ein Deutsches Requiem.”Three parts of one man, neatly stacked in an Army footlocker.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.