Preller

Went to Princeton today, for an evening remembering Victor Preller. Victor, one of my great teachers and friends, passed away almost fifteen years ago. The event took place at All Saints Episcopal Church, where Victor was a Priest Associate, and where an extension of the sanctuary is underway with money he left the church. Speakers waxed eloquent about his career as a professor, the significance of his scholarship and his inspiration as a priest. There was music too, including a Bach chorale for organ which spirited me back to Victor's living room, its walls floor-to-ceiling CDs, and the sweet transport of listening to music together on his tall 3-D sound speakers. I was humbled at how much people remembered, and how fuzzy my own memory has become. What a gift, then, to share and refresh recollections, and rekindle my wonder at how deeply and in how many ways Victor Preller was able to touch so many different people. Jeff Stout offered a lovely image for the relationship many of us have to Victor intellectually: his seminars provided the platform on which we still dance. In gratitude.

(The top picture is George Inness' 1891 "The Home of the Heron," Princeton Art Museum)