Hear What Happened At Boston's Symphony Hall After JFK's Assassination

[Anita]

Here's an excerpt from an article by Anastasia Tsioulcas, Nov. 21, 2013

"One of the most moving documents to emerge from the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination is a radio broadcast. It's WGBH's audio of what was supposed to be just another Friday afternoon concert given by the Boston Symphony Orchestra— which turned into an eloquent elegy for JFK.

James Inverne, former European performing arts correspondent for Time magazine (and my former boss at Gramophone magazine, where he was editor and I was North America editor), has delved deep into what he rightly calls "one of the most emotional pieces of radio ever recorded" — and emerged with an extraordinary story."

Read more and listen to the broadcast at http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadenc...assination

[Eva Elisabeth]

Leonard Bernstein had also written a piece for JFK's inauguration:
http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/?...on_id=4606
The most touching for me still is John John's salute. Jackie had taught him saluting at Wexford just a few days before (Nov. 10).

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Do there any foreboding stories exist about JFK's assassination comparable to Crook's "Good-bye" or the dream Lamon recalled Lincoln telling?

[Anita]

What's so amazing about WGBH's recording is that the planned concert was to start at 2 PM. Musicians were on stage and the audience seated when Erich Leinsdorf received word about the assassination, changed the program and announced Kennedy's death to the the audience. Hearing the collective gasps and cries from the audience and the few moments Leinsdorf had to prepare the musicians for the change makes this a special peice of history.

" First, we hear the gasps and shushes after BSO music director Erich Leinsdorf utters the words: "The president of the United States has been the victim of an assassination." Second, a wave of groans and sighs after Leinsdorf continues, "We will play the funeral march from 's Beethoven's Third Symphony" — as if the crowd's shared response is that they couldn't possibly have heard the first part right, but that then the orchestra's change in repertoire confirms the awful, unimaginable truth. And then, for the next 14 minutes ... utter silence, save for the incomparably somber music."

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadenc...assination