Reminiscences of Aspen

Since its inception, the Aspen Music Festival and School has had the privilege to host many distinguished artists, whether as artist-faculty members, guest artists, or composers-in-residence. They’ve come from all over the United States and the world to spend their summer(s) in Aspen and showcase their many talents. With the Festival underway, we thought we would share a few of their reactions to being in this marvelously majestic and unique environment—both in terms of nature and the Festival itself.

“Aspen is already a challenging cultural stimulus. It offers unique educative advantages and the highest selection of music in excellent performances.”

—Igor Stravinsky

“Aspen offers a mountain vacation with musical entertainment, unmatched, to my knowledge, in the United States and, I am sure, in Europe as well.”

—Virgil Thomson

“A project which may logically result in the establishment of one of the most important centers for art and ideas that this country knows.”

—Olin Downes (New York Times critic)

“Aspen is a fascinating place. It is full of youth and big enthusiasm, and to my big  surprise I got very involved in the teaching and helping people. I am very privileged because I have a big percentage of real good voices and it is an immense pleasure for me . . .

You would love it too. I work very hard and very much, but somehow get some rest and fun. The climate is heaven, the nights are cool, sometimes the nights remind me of Jerusalem, especially when the moon is full. Norman Singer is the dean of the music school and he is very bright and loves his job. . . .”

—Letter from Jennie Tourel to Leonard Bernstein, July 17, 1957

“It’s breathtaking—spectacular! Nothing in the world is more beautiful—Switzerland cannot equal it. We Americans should blow our own horn more—we are too modest about the American grandeur.”

—Helen Traubel, after visiting Maroon Lake

“I’m always super prepared in Aspen because it matters to me if the conductor and orchestra like it.”

“Suddenly, I was a kind of celebrity and everywhere I went after that it was always jammed, including here. It was strange to be treated like that in Aspen. People who’ve never gone to a concert came to hear me play because of the TV stuff and I think it’s great—because if they had a great time, it wasn’t just me, it was the symphony too. They may become subscribers, music lovers.”

—Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg

“In spite of the fun and laughter, this is a very serious place and you don’t get on stage unless you are totally ready. I’m going to see my friends the next day in the supermarket and I can’t face them if I haven’t played well.”

—Cipa Dichter

“We see the concerts through the eyes of our children as well as ourselves. They grow up knowing that the Tent is there, that there’s tennis and hiking, but there’s also the Verdi Requiem at four. The autumn after the Verdi, the radio was on in New York and one of our kids said, ‘Oh, that’s the Verdi requiem, we heard that last summer in Aspen.’ It wasn’t like getting dressed up to go to Carnegie Hall and hear the Cleveland; it was coming back from tennis, hearing the Verdi, then going out to dinner. The family experience is wonderful.”

—Misha Dichter

“Before I learned about humidifiers, the cello would be drier and drier through the season and the strings would be so close to the fingerboard there was no tension. Also, what happens up here is that we hear differently. The air is thinner, which makes the sound thinner, and we all work harder to produce the sound we’re accustomed to at sea level. Then during the summer you get used to it.”

—Zara Nelsova

“Music has content and you have to absorb and reflect—you can’t do that if you’re off to the next event. Some like the fact that you can pick and choose and don’t have to go to everything. But back when it was three times a week you wanted to go to everything. There was something special about concerts, and now, we’re very definitely a school.”

—Adele Addison

“Our calendars became models of musicological research. Other festivals wondered how we did it.”

—Martin Verdrager

In our 70th anniversary season, we celebrate all of the students, artist-faculty, guest artists, and administrators who have graced the Festival. Their memories and reactions, profound or not, are part of our enduring history and speak to the many feelings and ideas that have been born out of the magnificence that is Aspen.

—Quotations compiled by Kelsey Fenske and Kevin McBrien