South American Memories...1971

Chile in Revolt...Winter 1971 in Chile

Writing about this part of my life forty some years after the fact has it's own inherent perils and failing memories. But the fact remains, much remains vivid and thought provoking. I made this first tour of Chile when Patricio Cobos called me from Wintrop College to say his accompanist, pianist Jess Casey, would not be able to make the tour. He asked if I could possibly leave in two weeks time and also, if I felt comfortable about his repertoire demands. It was the end of term in Columbia, and I knew I wanted to go terribly. We met soon after and went through two of the larger works which I recall the Brahms Sonata in A Major for violin and Piano was one. In those days I had a large repertoire of music for strings, and almost as large for winds. A few shorter works were familiar, and there was also a mandantory work by an American composer, which I do not recall.

There was a rather humorous twist in that Patricio had just gotten married, and his bride would be accompanying us on our tour of 12 cities, lasting about a month. She was a lovely tall American beauty, and Patricio was barely up to my shoulder, and I was 5'11" in those days. Of course, everyone thought the bride was mine, and just who was this Chilean violinist tagging along. We had our share of humorous adventures to say the least.

Pat had arranged for me to stay in Santiago with his Aunt Clara and her family, and they lived near the center of town in a large apartment above a furniture store. That gave me the opportunity to get to know some locals, and also to rest up between segments of concerts. As we were playing for the United States Information Service, we made our base at the Centro Americano, where the main attraction was a large library and classes for teaching English. There was also a very nice Steinway in a small auditorium, and we practiced a great deal when we got there so as to make a team out of ourselves. After about a week we were ready to set off to the northern part of Chiles, that long narrow country that is as long as America is wide. We would be traveling by train and bus. Two days before we were to leave we were told that newly elected President Salvatore Allende would be touring the north as well, leaving the same day as we had planned. The American Embassy said we must go SOUTH instead....so in the space of two days the whole affair was turned around, and we indeed DID go south. This made me discover the fact that my sponsors were not fazed in the slightest, changing all sorts of concert arrangement for this long tour. Latins seem to like this kind of spontainiety, as evidently it happens all the time.

What is most important about this particular time in Chile was the fact, that after years of rule by the Social Democrats, Chile had elected a Socialist Party candidate, Salvatore Allende, as President. The country was virtually in an uproar, and the Socialist's drive to take land from large estate owners and parcel it out to poorer
people was having a chaotic effect, to say the least.

We played our first concert at the Centro, and a large audience attended. We had an
excellent review in the main newspaper, except I was puzzled by the comment that my
ornaments in the Mozart were "unusual". I never figured that out! We left by the night
train for Conceptcion, and I remember I couldn't sleep because the tracks were old and there was a clicking sound every few seconds where the ralls didn't quite connect! Pat made us go to the restroom and collect a share of toilet paper, saying it would mysteriously disappear. I guess there was a shortage along the line, so to speak!

Chillan is famous as the hometown of the great Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau. In fact, when we visited the marketplace I could hear him playing the Appasionata over the radio in one of the stalls. He was a hero, as he had come home after one of the worst earthquakes and played benefit concerts all over. I learned this from our piano tuner, who had accompanied Arrau on his tours in Chile. When we were leaving the following day, a man came to the train before it left and asked if we could come to his school some miles to the east near the base of the Andes. He said they didn't get much classical music, and the whole school would turn out. We accepted, and made plans to go there on our return in two weeks.

As we headed to the extreme south of Chile, we followed the Bio-Bio River for miles, and it was in flood stage, and often seemed like a vast lake. Temuco was Pat's hometown, and we had two concerts to play there. I remember the hall had no heat, and we played with a small heater at our backs. Afterward the last concert there was a banquet in a local hotel, and I remember the desert was called "Volcano" as it was the shape of one, and the top was filled with brandy sugur cubes, which ignited into a glorious plume of fire! Inside there was ice cream...so it was a kind of Baked Alaska, Chilean style. I was having to adjust to very late nights, Latin style, and soon learned the value of the siesta!


Our tour took us ts Valdivia, as far south as we could go without being much more
adventurous and heading into the mountains and glaciers of Chile Austral, where
Puntas Arenus is the most southern city in the world. That was not to be, but it
was the big regret of this trip. Valdivia was built along a river, and farmers brought boats with vegetables and fruits right into the heart of the city. We played for the
Goethe Society, as their is a huge German population in this area. Suddenly there seemed to be a lot of blondes of both sexes. We were entertained royaly, and I remember the beautiful hotel where we stayed, with the huge dining room with windows looking over the river.


Heading north again, we stopped in Concepcion, which is the home of one of Chile's great universities. Little did we realize that it was also a center of revolution, not the safest atmosphere during these turbulent days. Pat was to play with the school orchestra, but we received word that student unrest might lead to a demonstartion against visiting Americans. The concert was delayed one day, and took place quietly in the early evening. The orchestra was wonderful and Pat played two works of Saint-Saens.


A footnote to this is that, unknown to me, the composer Luigi Nono was in Chile at this time. He was associated with Stockhausen and Brono Maderna, leaders of the Darnstadt Group in Germany, but soon to establish his own studio in Freiburg. Patricio and I returned to Chile the next year, and again went to Concepcion. During that summer (winter there) a young leader of the Chilean Rovolutionary Front named Luciano Cruz was murdered under mysterious circumstances. Nono was deavastated at the news, and wrote one of his great masterpieces.. "Como una ola fuerza y luz" in memory of him. Just last summer 2011 I went to the Salzburg Festival to hear Luigi Nono's greatest work, "Prometeo", performed in the huge Collegiate Church. A massive work that takes two orchestras, several smaller orchestral choirs, two choruses, and two conductors...it is a work revered in Europe, but little known in the USA, where it still awaits a performance. I find such co-incidences thrilling in my life, even if it takes years for it all to clarify. There is much more to this story...and I will take up my pen again soon.