Sad News

matthew

::

06 feb 2007 :: 07:54am

Dear Friends,

It is with great sadness and loss that I inform you of the the death of Norman Herzberg,
great bassoonist, teacher, friend and mentor. Norman died on Saturday night after
having taken a sudden turn for the worse while undergoing therapy for leukemia. There
are no current plans for a memorial, but I will be in touch with Leah and hope to have
some news soon. I will be back in touch when plans are made. For those who want to
write, the Herzberg's address is:

Too Bad The Internet Sucks So Bad
That I Can't Give This Out

Please forgive me if this email is redundant, or if you have already received this news.

All the best,

XXX XXXXX

Mr. Herzberg changed my life is so many ways I'll never be able to explain them all. Night after night spent on his couch in L.A. with pictures of the greatest bassoonists ever to have lived watching down on me, seeing him throw his shoe across the room at his big projection screen T.V. when Trent Lott came on, his introducing me to sushi, his taking me to Harbor Freight in search of a good allen wrench set, his care in showing me every detail of how his profiling machines are put together (I've got almost 2000 emails from him, seriously), looking through his very crowded (very, very crowded) garage for some bassoon reeds he made in 1932 or something like that, having him help me get this incredible instrument I play every day, having him scream "Fuck" or "Shit" or something after ever small little mistake I made in a Orefici study until he was finally able to stop after hours of my practice. His kind manner. His caring hand on my shoulder.

I have one of the last reeds that he played on, pulled right out of the reed box he had in his bassoon the day he stopped playing in 1989, sitting in a small glass-enclosed box on my piano. That means a lot to me. But, I also carry around his care for perfection and his banged-into-my-head technique and philosophy for playing the bassoon. That is priceless to me.

Mr. Herzberg changed who I am forever and, though I'm thankful he no longer suffers, I will miss him more than words can say.