|
Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)
|
Oh my. Who remembers Franz Lehar today?
Oh my goodness...Let me tell you a story about “Dein Ist Mein Ganzes Herz”!
Daddy was getting his hair cut at the barber back in 1955 or 56, and for some reason started to hum that very song.
The barber, Al, A German Jew, began to sing along with my dad.
Since Dad had been the first on his block to get a Hi Fi, he invited Al home to listen to Classical records, as he had the Entire “Land of Smiles” Opera on the new 33 1/3” Long Playing Hi Fi Records.
Al and dad spent a lovely evening listening to Lehar, Beethoven, and other German Composers. I toddled over and sat on Al’s lap, and asked him what the numbers on his arm meant. Mom tried to shush me, but Al patiently explained to me that that was “From the camps”.
A few years later, I watched a documentary on TV, and I found out what “the camps” meant. I was stunned as I instantly remembered the kind little barber who bounced me on his lap, listening to “Dein Ist mein Ganzes Herz”
I can’t ever hear that song without thinking of him.