I was just sent this link regarding the death of Moshe Cotel.
Moshe Cotel was our orchestration teacher at Peabody. A fascinating pianist and a composer, Mr. Cotel made an important journey from the religion of classical musician to being a rabbi.
I didn't know him well, but I did admire him, and in the last year I have been intrigued by a series of concerts he has been presenting regarding "a Jewish life in classical piano." I had been thinking about inviting him to play for us here at Chowan some time in the next few years.
My one personal story related to Cotel is as follows and it is a poignant memory of the last time I saw him.
When I lived in New York, I took a lot of afternoon walks in Riverside Park. Most of those walks consisted of me wandering, contemplating, imagining, musing, praying, seeking to understand my life. On one of these walks, I saw a man in a blue pea coat that reminded me of Cotel, and as we got closer, it turned out to be him. He asked about my life since Peabody and was calm-spirited and kind. As we parted ways, I felt that his Riverside walk may have been the same sort of walk I was having.
Knowing he's no longer in it makes the world seem a little less complete.
1 comment:
I am Moshe Cotel's sister in law. I saw your posting when you first wrote it, and I go back and look at it every once in a while when I am missing him. Your post really got to the essence of the man. I have also enjoyed reading some of your other posts (thus the nature of blogs - I don't know you, but now I know a lot about what you think about music), and I've referred your blog to 2 musician friends of mine! Keep writing.
p.s. I posted this anonymously because I don't like my name out there on the Internet, but if you re-post, I'll be happy to tell you my name in some other format than here.
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