Remembering Kurt Masur, Dickie Moore, Marjorie Lord, Bonnie Lou
The Conductor Without A
Baton
A BELOVED COMPOSER, CANADIEN, DANNY’S
WIFE, AND THE
FIRST FEMAL ROCKABILLY ARTIST
Kurt Masur was the respected
German composer who took over at a troubled time for the
New York Philharmonic and brought it back to prominence. Before that he was the director of the prestigious
Leipzig Gewandhaus for 25 years.
Dickie Moore was a member of the great
Montreal Canadien teams of the
1950’s, the third member of the line with the
Richard brothers,
Maurice and
Henri.
Marjorie Lord was
Danny Thomas’s television wife in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, and the mother of actress
Anne Archer.
Bonnie Lou was the first female rockabilly singer, who broke new ground in the 1950’s.
Kurt Masur (18 July
1927 –
19 December 2015) was a German conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros",[1] he led many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the
Gewandhaus, and also served as music director
Masur was born in Brieg,
Lower Silesia,
Germany (now
Brzeg in
Poland), and studied piano, composition and conducting in
Leipzig,
Saxony. Masur was married three times. His first marriage ended in divorce. He and his second wife,
Irmgard, had a daughter, Carolin.[2] Irmgard Masur died in
1972 in a car accident in which Masur was severely injured.[3] His marriage to his third wife, the former Tomoko
Sakurai, produced a son, Ken-David, a classical singer and conductor.
Masur conducted the
Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra for three years ending in
1958 and again from
1967 to 1972. He also worked with the
Komische Oper of
East Berlin. In
1970, he became Kapellmeister of the
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, serving in that post until
1996. With that orchestra, he performed
Beethoven's ninth symphony at the celebration of
German reunification in
1990.[7]
In
1991, Masur became music director of the New York Philharmonic (
NYP). In that capacity, he led the Philharmonic in a performance of
Brahms's
Deutsches Requiem in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on
11 September 2001.[7] During his tenure, there were reports of tension between Masur and the NYP's
Executive Director at the time,
Deborah Borda, which eventually contributed to his contract not being renewed beyond
2002.[8] In a television interview with
Charlie Rose, Masur stated that regarding his leaving the NYP, "it was not my wish".[9] Masur stood down as the NYP's music director in 2002 and was named its
Music Director Emeritus, a new title created for him. The critical consensus was that Masur improved the playing of the orchestra over his tenure.In
2000, Masur became principal conductor of the
London Philharmonic Orchestra (
LPO) and held this position until
2007. In
April 2002, Masur became music director of the
Orchestre National de France (
ONF) and served in this post until 2008,[11] when he took the title of honorary music director of the ONF
Richard
Winston "
Dickie" Moore (January 6, 1931 –
December 19, 2015) was a
Canadian professional hockey player, successful businessman and community philanthropist. He twice won the
Art Ross Trophy as the
National Hockey League's leading scorer and was inducted into the
Hockey Hall of Fame
Moore played left wing with the
Montreal Canadiens from 1951 to
1963.[1] He started playing with the Montreal Jr.
Royals for three seasons from
1947 to 1950, and made his debut with the Montreal Canadiens in the middle of the 1951–52 season. Moore had played on two
Memorial Cup winners, one with the
Montreal Royals in 1949 and
Montreal Junior Canadiens the following year
. In the late
1940s Canadiens GM
Frank Selke Sr. anointed him
Canada’s best junior
Marjorie Lord (born
Marjorie Wollenberg; July 26,
1918 –
November 28, 2015) was an
American television and film actress. She played
Kathy "
Clancy" Williams, opposite Danny Thomas's character on
Make Room for Daddy and later
Make Room for Granddaddy.