Tribute To Julius Baker

Posted by Sir James Galway on December 31, 2003 at 00:19:57:

I was in my early twenties when I first met Julius Baker. Julius was around 42 years old when I was 21 years old. I was solo flute in Sadler's Wells Opera, which later became the English National Opera. Julius was the most famous American Flute player of his time.

During the interval of an evening performance at the opera, I got a phone call from my dear old friend Norman Maloney, the managing director of Rudall Carte, the famous English flute makers. He was calling to tell me that Julius Baker was in London and that Mr. Baker would like to meet me.

I could not believe this. Until this time in my life Julius Baker was one of the most admired names in the flute world. His recordings with Silvia Marlowe of the Bach and Handel sonatas set the standard of flute playing for many years to come. An icon in the flute world was summoning me and I was so excited I was fit to be tied. As soon as the opera finished I hotfooted it round to Romily Street in the West End of London where in a Italian restaurant on the corner, I first met Julius. He had just got married and his beautiful wife Ruth was there too. I have no idea what we talked about because I was simply star struck. It was a very enjoyable evening and I left the restaurant waling on air but not before Julius had made me promise to meet him the following day.

We met the following day at the Flute Makers Guild where I heard Julius play live for the first time. He played an Anderson study from beginning to end from memory. I was REALLY impressed. I had never heard an Andersen study played like this before and it put the flute into another league. We tried a handful of headpieces and during these trials I got to play the flute for Julius. All through this his wife Ruth listened patiently. The afternoon wore on and I had to leave to go and play in the opera. The memory of meeting Julius stayed with me for a very long time after that. I was playing a closed hole offset G Haynes flute at the time and I thought after this meeting to get myself a new open hole flute in line, just like all the "Big Guys". Shortly afterward I got my first Cooper in line low B and thought it was just fine.

From then on I met Julius every time I came to NY. He was living at 300 West End Avenue and when I would appear in NY he would have me come over. These meetings were so inspiring and he was always so very kind to me. He was so excited by his students and when someone would come for a lesson he would call me and get me over to listen to the lesson. I have to say I was very impressed with the standard of his students and of the amount of work he set for them.

I had a wonderful time at the Bakers' house. Julie showed me all sorts of memorabilia. There were lots of photos of him with famous conductors. He showed me an original copy of Quantz's book on playing the flute. We spent hours playing flutes and trying head joints. In those days I was still playing my newly acquired Cooper flute with the head from my old Haynes. Playing duets with Julie was great fun. He was a great sight reader and with a very solid technique. We had a great time. It was like standing on a magic carpet with a genie who played the flute. Everything was so perfect.

I don't suppose many people knew that he was an enthusiastic ham radio operator. I guess this was the early email. He would from time to time stop doing what we were doing and say "I gotta get on the radio to a guy in Georgia who always logs on at this time". So we would go into his "radio room" where he would talk to people all over the place. He really enjoyed an interaction with other people and this endearing quality won him many friends worldwide.

Life went on for me in the London music scene. I made numerous visits to NY with the London Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic. At each visit I would meet Julius and he would introduce me to many of the NY flutists, some of whom are my friends to this day. Sam Baron was a very special friend and I met him through Julius.

In the year 1977 I had a very bad accident breaking both legs and my left arm. This was a bit inconvenient, as I had just left the Berlin Phil to begin my solo career. I was out of action for some time and began to pick up where I had left off around June 1978. In August of that year I went to NY to play with the Mostly Mozart orchestra. Julius had a class going in Brewster and he invited me to go up there. I thought it was a great class and it was there I met Gary Schocker, Hubert Laws and my wife Jeanne.

After the class I went out with several people for a drink and dinner at a local bar. I was trying all these fancy cocktails and getting quite a buzz out of it. Jeanne was there too. I was staying with Julius and Ruth on their farm and had to get back in the house. As I had no idea how to get home Jeanne and her friends brought me back to the Bakers' house. They left me on the doorstep and this is where the fun began.

Everyone had gone to sleep and I managed to get to my bedroom in spite of the fact that Julius had two huge Dobermans; they were called Heidi and Fritz. I was scared to death trying to get past them without getting eaten alive and also I did not want to wake the family. Well I nudged my way past their suspicious glares and growls till I was in my bedroom. I was never so happy to close a bedroom door in my life.

I called a friend of mine, Robert White, the tenor to let him know I was at the Bakers house.

Robert happened to be free and he came up to the class where we played a couple of Irish pieces we had been playing on a cruise some weeks before. It was at this class where I met Robert's brother Philip who is to this day my best friend on the West Side of NY. Phillip drove Bobby up to the class in a big blue American car. I thought it was about the same size as our house in Belfast. After saying goodbye to all the people in the class I remember leaving Julius' class in the rain and we gave Jeanne a lift home as she lived on 72nd and Central park West. I was staying conveniently round the corner in the Mayflower Hotel, home to the artists of the world while they were passing through NY.

In the mid '70's Julie had a heart attack. I talked to him on the phone from Berlin, and he filled me in on all the details. The following year I left the Berlin Phil to embark on my career and because I was not sure how it was all going to go I took a job teaching at the Eastman School in Rochester. I thought it would be a very good idea to get Julie up there to talk to the students and he agreed to come. I was as excited as the students were. At the time I used go running every day before breakfast. Well in great excitement Julie arrived and we agreed to go running together. I was not ready for this one. Julie was really fit. He left me in his tracks and then explained that he would run several miles every day with his son Jonathan. Some of the students came running with us. We then all went to have breakfast after which Julie came and gave a really terrific class to the students. Little did he know that Mindy Kaufmann, who was at that time in my class, would one day sit alongside him in the flute section of the New York Phil.

Gradually my career took off. This meant that I would come to New York often, and leave as soon as the concert was over. Our relationship faded a bit until my manager at the time, Shelly Gould, bought a house in Putney, which was not far from Brewster as the crow would fly. Getting from one place to the other in a car was different. That part of the world is not really famous for its instructional road signs, many which are covered in some of the most beautiful foliage. Jeanne and I did experience the wonderful American fall and we spent many visits to Julie and Ruth driving through this beautiful natural event, usually lost! During the periods when I would play in the New York area we met many times in upstate NY.

This was in the early '80's and Jeanne and I were going strong then. We got married in 1984 and Julie was delighted claiming that he was the matchmaker involved with this marriage. In fact had I not gone to Julie's class I doubt that I would ever have met Jeanne.

We would visit or call Julie from time to time and then in the year 2000 I had two stents implanted as a result of careful monitoring of my heart over the years. On the advice of my heart specialist Dr. Steven Tam I stayed in New York where the operation had taken place on the 10th of March. He advised me to stay in NY for a month. This gave me time to enjoy meeting my friends and see Julie. I called him and told him about my situation and he exchanged notes with me. It was all very interesting stuff he had to tell me. I walked to the Julliard one day to see him and we had a fine time meeting old friends in the school and having breakfast with the students. I listened to his students and was amazed at the standard of playing. I have to say the standard has really gone up since I was a student.

That month of March Julie came to have lunch with Jeanne and me in Fiorello's, our favorite hangout opposite the Lincoln Center. It was a beautiful sunny day in NY, and after lunch we walked over to the Lincoln Center. This short walk reminded me of one of the things that Julie used to do. While walking in the street he would often stop from time to time, to make a point of something and then continue walking. This was one of the little traits that Julie had.

For those of you who have never heard Julie in his prime try to get hold of the Hindemith Metamorphosen on themes from Weber with the Cleveland orchestra. I think this is the greatest playing of Julie on record in the orchestra.

We have witnessed the coming and going of a Flute Legend who touched so many people with his charm and beautiful flute playing. He will be sadly missed by everyone who could ever say

"I met Julius Baker".

This is just my rather late thank you to a great friend, mentor and wonderful flute player.

Best regards,
Sir James Galway