At
the moment when one first learns of the passing of a well
loved colleague, all previous skills of rhetoric evaporate,
as well as
any extensive vocabulary being forgotten, and one is, like a
child attempting for the first time to express a complex thought,
left
sputtering phrases that fall well short of the mark required
for any adequate conveyance of one's grief.
Often,
it is in this moment
that humans look to the Divine for comfort and reassurance,
for the meaning of life, and for a validation of our short
time on
earth. There certainly is no philosophical framework that can
totally remedy, or even assuage, the emotional pain of this
deep of a tragedy.
For
this reason, Mass intentions for the repose of the soul of
Gretchen Snedecker were offered at the
Divine Liturgy celebrated
at the Vistula Old Catholic Orthodox Chapel in Toledo, Ohio,
this evening, Saturday, April 12th.
For
those with no affinity for spiritual
things, this might seem insignificant, but within the framework
of Apostolic worship, it is considered a fine and beneficial
thing to petition God for His mercy and comforting presence,
both for
the departed and for those they have left behind. In one
of our prayers we find, "May she find a place of comfort
and refreshment among thy saints, eternally in thy presence,
O Lord, according
to Thy perfect mercy, where she might offer to Thee fitting
praise forever. Amen."
Gretchen
was certainly one of the most remarkable young women ever connected
to the world of
horn playing; had I been asked,
I would
have replied that outstanding success in her future was something
that could be regarded as a certainty. We can recall the
discipline of her study and the inspiring results of her work,
as well
as her humility and conviviality we all enjoyed. Her antics
in Horn
Camp skits were executed with equal enthusiasm to her participation
in the world class rendering of the Konzertstucke of Schumann
we heard.
A
young woman of rare and classic beauty, her gracious demeanor
and social poise were qualities so striking, that they
often
made one forget how very lovely she was physically; an
example of the
inner merits dominating the outer. The same was true of
her playing, when her stage presence was subsumed by her compelling
execution
and interpretation. I never heard one hint of a detractor
aimed at her, every comment being praise, so universally
and
highly
was she regarded.
In
the modern stress-filled world in which we live, filled with
every injustice, illness, blight, and
imbalance, the
musical arts, and horn playing in particular, offer the
listener an
alternative
sonic universe, a world in which the listener is offered
dissonances that resolve to consonances, phrases balanced
by other phrases,
and orchestrations that induce serenity, allowing a blessed
respite from our anxieties, however brief.
The
horn, with its conical
acoustical
shape, resonates within our similarly conically formed
inner ear (cochlea), in a way no other musical sound
of instrument
or voice
can equal, letting the horn player speak not only to
the heart, but directly to the soul, it seems. It was in
her participation
within this singular artistic phenomenon where Gretchen
Snedecker functioned so brilliantly; it was her daily
gift
to her fellow
man and fellow woman, a sacrifice of sonic love which
she gladly made.
While
one may reasonably regret her not having lived long enough to
receive the professional fame she had already merited,
it is
worth pondering the excellence of the opportunities she had already
enjoyed early in her years, the successful and often intuitive
ways in which she met every requirement of those challenges,
and the high level of respect accorded her by her colleagues,
including
the most revered of international figures of the field.
Her
years were tragically short, but filled with a lifetime
of success,
accolades, and treasured friendships. She will be missed and
will not be forgotten,
for she touched us all, and I propose that, if possible, an
archival CD of some sort, featuring her art might make
an appearance,
enshrining her work into perpetuity within the horn playing
community, and
assuring us that she might, even in death, continue to inspire
other players through her stellar artistic and personal examples.
Requiescat
in pacem.
Rev
Dr Lowell Greer
