“Are you Mr. Kletzsch?” This question came suddenly from a man who was holding the locker room door open for me.
“No,” I answered, “but I knew Charlie very well.”
My questioner, it turned out, was attending his 25th reunion at Harvard College. He had come from his home in Portland, Oregon for this event and mistook me for an old friend and, perhaps, mentor.
For decades, Charles Kletzsch had been “composer-in-residence” and librarian in the undergraduate house where the former student had lived. Now back after long absence, the visitor took me for a figure from his past, one whom he held in respect and affection.
If he had to be mistaken, I was the ideal person to encounter. That’s because I had considerable contact with Charles Kletzsch over the years. I even had the privilege of assisting him in his time of decline. I did so by helping arrange for him to transfer from an uncongenial nursing home to one of the best in the Boston area. That is where he died several years ago.
Charlie and I shared much interest in the Catholic Church, which he had joined as a young man. We often talked about church music and the monastic life. In the summer he would often go to Europe and report back on the monasteries in which he stayed and the music they featured.
My most vivid memory comes from my former career as a Catholic priest. Sometime, probably in the early 1970s, Charlie proposed composing a Mass to be celebrated in one of the college’s squash courts. At first the idea struck me as rather bizarre, but I came to think it an inspired plan. Whether church authorities would agree seemed dubious but I resolved to go ahead with the proposal.
One evening at midnight, I did celebrate the Mass. Some students were in attendance along with Charlie and me. The event turned out to be a spiritual experience, but one that I never repeated. Charlie presumably kept the musical score among his possessions but he did not keep me informed of its location.
While composing this blog I discovered, to my amazement, a video of Charlie that was filmed in 1986. In addition to other sites, this YouTube film shows him in his suite at Dunster House; among the items in his living space was an 18th century clavichord.
As I hope emerges here, Charles Kletzsch was a rich personality. No wonder the returning grad inquired for him. I feel gifted to be mistaken for such a friend.