Karl Haas dies at 91

[Liberal In Texas]

I posted this in GD, but in case you missed it.

February 7, 2005, 10:15 AM

DETROIT (AP) -- Karl Haas, who brought classical music to millions of daily listeners through his syndicated radio program, "Adventures in Good Music," has died, according to the station that produced his program.

Haas was 91 when he died Sunday at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.

A pianist, conductor and musicologist, Haas settled in Detroit after fleeing Nazi Germany in 1936. He taught piano and founded the Chamber Music Society of Detroit in 1944.

Damn. Another great one gone.

http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw111311_20050207.h...

[kwassa]

1. I was born in the hospital he died in!

and I grew up listening to him on WJR, a station so old it only had 3 call letters.

It was a wonderful show, on a commercial radio station. He had such an elegant but easy manner. In his way, he popularized classical music much like Leonard Bernstein did with his young peoples concerts.

What was the piano piece that was his theme song? I heard it the other day, and thought of him.

[Fleurs du Mal]

4. Beethoven Sonata No. 8 In C Minor, Op. 13 'Pathetique': Adagio cantabile

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. I used to listen to his show in Portland, and after I read his biography,

I marveled that he was still broadcasting in his late 80s.

[Fleurs du Mal]

3. Love/hate with Karl

I went through periods of both disliking and really enjoying his exposition. Sometimes he was really insightful and at others he clearly just revelled in the sound of his own voice. I never understood why he always championed Dittersdorf until I realized he just liked to say the name for an hour.

In the end, though, lots of good memories of just relaxing for an hour and learning about music!

[CBHagman]

5. The end of an era!

Is there anyone around to fill his shoes?

[MikeH]

6. I enjoyed listening to Karl Haas for many years

I first remember him on WJR in Detroit in the late 1960's, when my parents were living briefly in Jackson, Michigan.

I started hearing him on KFSD 94.1 in San Diego sometime in the early 1980's when I picked up an interest in classical music again after not having listened to it in several years.

The station aired his program from 9 to 10 every morning, and also at first re-aired one of his programs on Saturday afternoon every week, and later re-aired every program at night.

I would later hear him on XBACH AM 540 after 94.1 lost the classical format, at least while the 540 had the classical format (which it also eventually lost).

I found his programs very enjoyable and informative.

I particularly liked his Mystery Composer quiz every month, in which we would try to guess the identity of a composer. He would start from the obscure and end with the better known works of the mystery composer.

[FredStembottom]

7. He was like a forbidden pleasure to me as a boy

What could be more inappropriate and likely to get you beat-up ;)for an American boy than to like to listen to such a thing as Adventures in Good Music w/ Karl Hass. But I did anyway!

I sort of forgot about ol' Karl and the show as I grew up and became immersed in the work/marriage/family years. Several years ago, I stumbled on to the show again and couldn't believe he was still there! "Must be about 115 years old by now", I thought - and, apparently, I wasn't too far off!

I made his show a regular part of a freight truck run that I drove during the last few years of his broadcasting life. I am doubly glad now that I did.

My classical music tastes have always differed from his in many respects - but as an energetic boy as well as a tired adult I simply loved listening to him tell me about classical music in his way that could seem annoyingly old fashioned to me at times. And nevermind the second-language non-sequitors in his monologues. I loved it like listening to a beloved grandfather.

I regretfully believe that such a thing is totally gone now. No one will talk at length to anybody in any medium about classical music ever again.

Karl, you got to a boy in Minnesota. He listened and he is forever grateful.

[longship]

8. Hell-Lo Everyone.

I listened to Karl Haas on WJR 760 AM in Detroit on Saturday morning while I delivered "The Detroit News" on my bicycle. I love this stuff even though he was amazingly corny. He really did know his stuff, in spite of his oft-maddening antics.