Eugene Lehner – Jan Karlin

The Strength of Ideas

January 23, 2020 Jan Karlin

Many friends and colleagues have encouraged me to write more in detail about how ideas originate, develop, and are finally realized. In my book and previous blogs, I have discussed the building blocks of creativity, especially inspiration, education, and the skills to bring one’s ideas to fruition. This blog is the first installment of a new series that will demonstrate idea development through my experiences as musician, administrator, educator and cultural entrepreneur.

My last blog spoke about the seed of creative ideas — inspiration. Something must inspire us in order to have the urge to create. Early childhood exposure builds interest and ultimately the direction of our life.

Tanglewood Memories

August 4, 2018 Jan Karlin

Grandma led me to the Press Gate at Tanglewood where her dear friend Louie Esterman held court. Louie stopped us instead of waving us through – “I want you to meet Leonard Bernstein’s children: Jamie, Alex and Nina.” At ten years old, I wasn’t exactly sure who they were, but we nodded to each other. I could tell that Louie thought it was a special encounter.

My mother grew up in Pittsfield, next to Lenox, which is the location of Tanglewood in the beautiful Berkshires in western Massachusetts. As a child, my grandparents Anna and Nathan Bass began taking me to hear concerts at the summer home of the Boston Symphony because of my violin studies. I loved the beautiful environment and enjoyed the music.

Looking for Models

March 25, 2018 Jan Karlin

The legendary Kolisch Quartet had the singular distinction of playing its entire repertoire from memory, including the impossibly complex modern works of Schoenberg, Webern, Bartok, and Berg. Eugene Lehner was the violist for the quartet in the 1930’s. Lehner’s stories about their remarkable performances often included a hair-raising moment when one player or another had a memory slip. Although he relished the rapport that developed between them without the encumbrance of a music stand, he admits there was hardly a concert in which some mistake did not mar the performance. The alertness, presence, and attention required of the players in every performance is hard to fathom, but in one concert an event occurred that surpassed their ordinary brinkmanship.