Picture: A poster of Donizetti’s Opera “L’Elisir D’Amore”, “The Elixir of Love.”
I dedicated this Psalm Offering to my friend, and lyric opera tenor, David Waite. I met Dave, when I was in college. He had the lead role of Nemorino, in the opera seen to the left. I sang in the chorus, playing numerous roles, e.g. diplomat, peasant, soldier and so on (there was a lot of costume changes in the wings to say the least). Dave is one of those extraordinary personalities that one rarely encounters in life. He had tremendous confidence in his ability as an opera tenor, so much so, that he would sell his car to pay for a one way plane ticket to Sydney, Australia, to audition for a role in the Sydney Opera. He had the talent, and perhaps the moxie, that he would always get the role. He would sing, get paid, buy another car, and when the gig dried up, sell the car, and go somewhere else to audition. Later, when he would come and visit, he would regale Ruthie and I with all sorts of stories about singing at Mafia funerals in Little Italy, being involved in the Boston Opera, New York City Opera company and other opera companies around the world. Though we believed that half of his stories were based on truth and the other half bullshit, they were, nonetheless, great stories and David was a great storyteller. I still remember some of his stories to this day.
About the music: David originally requested that I write him a musical setting of a Psalm that he and his wife, another opera singer, could sing in concert. I sat down with my favorite psalm, Psalm 84, and wrote this music originally as an operatic duet. I gave the music to him and away he went to Zurich, Switzerland, where he and his wife were singing in the Zurich Opera Company. I wrote the music in 1978 and never knew whether he and his wife ever performed it in concert. The last time I saw Dave was when I was in graduate school at the St. Paul School of Divinity at the University of St. Thomas. Dave was getting a Masters in Business Administration at the University at the same time. It had been 10 years since we last saw each other and we caught up with each other over lunch. He had been divorced by his wife during that time, worked at the Boston Opera company, and decided that he was too old and tired to engage in “playing the director’s couch” in order to get singing gigs, hence deciding to focus on the business end, rather than the performance end, of the opera business. In 1988, I decided to take the setting of Psalm 84 that I had written for him ten years earlier and recompose it into the piano music that is heard here (by that time I had written different setting of the same Psalm for choir, as a present for Ruthie). The original 3 verse construction of the song has been retained with all of its operatic flourishes.
Thank you for your Blog and your dedication of this Psalm Offering to my late husband David Waite. David and I were married in January of 1996. At that time he was the music director at First Lutheran, a large church in White Bear Lake. I am sorry to report that he passed away on December 10, 2004 from a massive coronary. Yes, David was a great storyteller, and yes, those stories were true for the most part, although he liked to embellish them. Thank you again for your posting.
Good morning Gerda. Was I ever so surprised to see your reply to the posting of this music for Dave! I am very deeply saddened to hear of his death. Since the summer of 1986 when Dave and I last met over lunch, I have wanted to catch up with him. Dave is such a larger than life kind of guy. His talent and his knowledge of music I always found extraordinary. I admired him, loved him, and always looked forward to seeing him. After we met over that brief lunch, he seemed to have dropped off the map. I thought perhaps with a diploma in business administration he would be directing some theatrical or opera company someplace around the globe. I am delighted to hear that he stayed nearby and directed the liturgical music for First Lutheran.
As I mentioned in the post, Dave and I first met when we were in a production of “The Elixir of Love.” Dave was the lead tenor and I was the peasant, the nobleman, the baker etc in the chorus (I had some many costume changes, I changed in the wings). We played a lot of gin rummy. As I recall, Dave had a penchant for KOOL cigarettes (the menthol was easier on his throat), and, he had a recipe, passed down from opera singer to another of a special merangue (probably miss spelled that) to coat the throat to ease singing with a cold. I do remember Dave squirting honey down his throat to salve a sore throat prior to singing.
Ruthie and I went on double dates with Dave. And, when he would get back from wherever he sang, we would get together and enjoy each others company. While he was in Zurich he sent us a letter requesting a “Care Package” of sorts. We found the rice and other condiments that were apparently lacking overseas, along with some toiletries also lacking and sent them to Dave.
When Dave and I last met, the one person about whom we talked about was Dr. Maurie Jones (see Psalm Offering 6, Opus 2). It was Maurie, who was directing vocal music at St. Kates, that directed the Elixir of Love and introduced Dave to me. Maurie had passed away from AIDS in the Spring, though St. Kates related a completely different story that he died from Legionaires Disease. Dave and I, along with all of the Twin City music community, knew that that was a fabrication. We both had a tremendous love and admiration for Maurie and thought he scandalous that the administration of St. Kates were not forthright about it.
I did not have a picture of Dave to place on this post. I did eventually find by searching old Bethel College yearbooks, one picture of Dave. It was a group photo of Dave singing in a production of Mennotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors” in 1968. I have subsequently used that picture (I extracted Dave’s image from the group and did a copy and paste of it). Dave was one of the wisemen bringing gifts to the Christ child in the production.
If ever you would like to get together over coffee and visit about Dave I would be ever so delighted. If you would like a copy of the original setting of the duet I wrote for Dave, or a copy of the piano setting that is heard here, I would be happy to give them to you. If you have an extra copy of one of Dave’s photographs, I would love to have one.
I can be reached at my email, dknbob94@yahoo.com or at bob.wagner@npcatholic.org . Since I cover three church sites, two of them rural, it is harder to reach me by phone. However, you can always call my direct dial at St. Wenceslaus at 952-758-0463 and leave a message if I am not there.
Ruthie and I still live in the house we were living in when Dave would come to visit. I still work for the church, obviously, however my role has changed from director of liturgical music to directing pastoral ministry and administration. However, the very essence of me prefers directing music over all the rest.
Peace,
Bob