Author Archives: Martha Warrington

Sonatina

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On December 7, 1941, Lotte and I were at her apartment, listening to the broadcast of the Sunday symphony, when the program was interrupted to announce that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor and sunk several ships. The next morning I stood in line, with perhaps a couple hundred other guys, at the Navy Building on Church Street, trying to enlist.

Length of complete piece: 10:00 (3 movements)

Sonatina

Sonatina

Shakespeare’s Sonnet No. 73

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At one of the processing desks there sat a dignified-looking middle-aged soldier. I started a conversation with him and found he was the director of the Bremen Symphony. And I invited him to dinner at our house. I picked up my prisoner (he was not yet discharged) and brought him to the house. We had a fine meal, with wine and everything, and afterwards we listened to a recording of Brahms’ 3rd Symphony. Later, when I took him back to the camp, he said that he felt he was becoming civilized again… About eight months later, when I was back home, I received a letter from him, thanking me again for that evening. He had reestablished the orchestra, and he had opened the season with a playing of Brahms 3rd. That music became indelibly linked to that experience for me.

Recorded by: Madeline Ross (voice), Michael Roberts (piano)

Length of complete piece: 3:15

Shakespeare's Sonnet 73

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire,
Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes they love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

– William Shakespeare

In a Pensive Mood

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A little while later there were prisoners that didn’t look quite right to me. I said to the guy: “You don’t look like soldiers. Who are you?” And he said: “We are the Munich Symphony Orchestra.” Then I knew for sure that the war was over. And I said to him: “You will be making music soon, again.” (Two years later, when I was in Germany again, I heard them on the radio, being conducted by Knappertsbusch.)

Length of complete piece: 5:45

Recorded by: Michael Roberts

In a Pensive Mood

In a Pensive Mood

My Schedule

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Kennedy’s casket was brought back by train from New York to Washington, and she was on that train. The entire funeral was televised, including the train ride (it took four hours), and I was glued to my set all day long… During the ceremony, Leonard Bernstein (a friend of the Kennedy family) conducted the strings of the New York Philharmonic in the Adagietto of Mahler 5th Symphony. As I watched the train roll for four hours, the music would not get out of my mind. Since then, wherever I hear that music I see the train.

Length of complete piece: 1:40

My Schedule

My Schedule