Jerry Horner (right) performs with his Fine Arts Quartet colleagues in the 1980s – violinists Ralph Evans and Efim Boico, and cellist Wolfgang Laufer
ALAN MAGAYNE-ROSHAK / UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MILWAUKEE PHOTO SERVICES
The life and achievements of the American violist Jerry Horner are celebrated in a memorial service in Bloomington, Indiana, on 1 February, a year after his death. Bloomington was Horner’s home town on and off for 50 years, and although he was ill for some time, he still taught there. In the last few days of his life he gave a masterclass at his home, during which he reiterated what he considered to be the privilege of a chamber musician’s life: ‘Most of the greatest composers have written their finest, most intimate, most heartfelt and most profound music in the form of chamber music. I think the repertoire is unbelievable. Then, there is the mix of individuality and give and take in a group of chamber musicians, and the knowledge of the music that is necessary in order to be a good chamber music player. If the musicians all have understanding and a similar approach to the music, something really transcendent can happen.’ That transcendent quality, Horner said, is ‘the ability of music to teach us to be better human beings’. As always, he was happy to have contributed in a profound way to one of the world’s great art forms and to have had the honour to share his insights with others.
’THE TRANSCENDENT QUALITY OF CHAMBER MUSIC IS ITS ABILITY TO TEACH US TO BE BETTER HUMAN BEINGS’ – JERRY HORNER