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At 3:00 p.m. on 8 May 1998, a congregation of approximately three hundred individuals assembled in Walter Hall at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, to pay tribute to one of Canada's preeminent musicians and teachers, the harpsichordist and pianist Greta Kraus (b. Vienna, 3 August 1907; d. Toronto, 30 March 1998). It was a wonderful event, both sad but at the same time exhilarating as a celebration of her rich life. There were tapes of Greta playing and speaking, tributes by former students and colleagues, and live performances by some of those whom she had coached. The outpouring of love and respect for this special person was enormous, one of those extraordinary events those of us fortunate enough to attend will remember for a long time.
As a relative newcomer to Toronto, I am fortunate to have had an opportunity to meet and talk with Greta Kraus. Our one meeting, which lasted about forty-five minutes, took place at her home several months before her death. She wanted to know all about my background and about my plans for the Faculty of Music, where she had been a long-time member of the faculty. But most of our time was spent talking about a common interest, the musical heritage of the famous Austrian musician-theorist, Heinrich Schenker (1868-1935). Greta had studied with Schenker in Vienna, and it is my understanding that after leaving Austria she had an invitation from Hans Weisse, another of Schenker's students, to teach at the Mannes College of Music in New York City. It is most fortunate for Canada and those who have studied with her that she had trouble with U.S. Immigration and instead settled here. Greta was well versed in Schenker's theoretical approach, as one can see in her graphic analysis of Chopin's Etude in F Major, op. 10, no. 8.1 But as a teacher I think she was not particularly interested in the theory but rather in the music principles upon which it is based: notions of line, direction, and closure.
Back to Walter Hall and the memorial tribute to Greta. At several points in the program, but particularly during a tape of her speaking about Schenker, my mind was drawn back to our one conversation. Then, near...