James Weaver, who helped bring music to the Smithsonian museums, died after contracting covid-19

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James Weaver, who helped bring music to the Smithsonian museums, died after contracting covid-19

By Alex Ellerbeck
May 18, 2020 at 10:50 a.m. EDT

James Weaver saw his first harpsichord during a high school field trip from his hometown of Danville, Ill. to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. With no guards in sight, he later told friends, he snuck over and pushed down a key. But no sound came out of the unrestored, antique stringed keyboard instrument.

Years later, when he became a music curator at the Smithsonian in 1966, Weaver made the instruments in the museums sing. During his four decades at the what is now the National Museum of American History and the Smithsonian Institution’s performing arts department, he brought in musicians, storytellers and dancers, and used the museum’s collection of more than 5,000 instruments to recreate historical music.

He was 82 when he died in April after contracting covid-19.

Weaver brought together nine musicians in 1976 to create the Chamber Music Society, an ensemble in residence at the museum. The group toured the country and brought to life meticulously constructed performances on instruments that dated to the early 1600s. At that time, the works of Johann Sebastian Bach were still mostly played on piano — an instrument the composer would have never seen.

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After more than five decades in the Washington area, Weaver moved with his husband Samuel Baker to Rochester, N.Y. last year. It was there that he caught covid-19 in April. After a visit to the doctor, he was admitted to the hospital, where his condition deteriorated rapidly. He died on April 16.

One of the hardest things, according to close friends, is that, due to social distancing restrictions, they cannot get together to commemorate his life with the music that he so loved.

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1. Stand up, Mr. Weaver is passing by...