![The Symphony [click for larger image]](sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/hoffnungmusicks.jpg.w180h275.jpg)
Gerard Hoffnung was born at a very early age (as he was wont to say). Unfortunately he also died at one, of brain hemorrhage
at age 34. In that short span (March 22, 1925 September 28, 1959) he was able to cultivate an extraordinary range of comedic
talents as cartoonist, raconteur, impresario. Above all he was a personality an amazing blend of sophistication and innocence,
a fount of gentle but exquisite humor, a man of boundless good cheer, a Santa Claus, a rather large pixie, a creation virtually
indistinguishable from his caricatures of himself.
His talents combined when Hoffnung devised a concert of hilarious symphonic caricature
at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Foremost composers were commissioned to write some of their wittiest and most humorous
compositions, while conductors, soloists and artists submitted whole-heartedly to the unprecendented demands made upon them.
Throughout the years since those performances nearly forty years ago, internationally famous orchestras have delighted in
presenting gems from the Hoffnung repertoire to packed audiences. Since then, uninhibited laughter has constantly echoed as
visitors file through exhibitions of the hundreds and hundreds of ingenious and absurd ideas, mostly on a musical theme, that
Hoffnung illustrated with such superb artistry. His work offers no barrier to age, race or background. Success was immediate
and has endured.
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Dear Sir;
I am writing in response to your request for additional information in Block #3 of the accident reporting
form. I put "Poor Planning" as the cause of my accident.
You asked for a fuller explanation and I trust the following
details will be sufficient. I am a bricklayer by trade. On the day of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a new
six-story building. When I completed my work, I found I had some bricks left over which when weighed later were found to weigh
240 lbs. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley which was attached
to the side of the building at the sixth floor.
Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the
barrel out and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went down and untied the rope, holding it tightly to insure a slow descent
of the 240 lbs. of bricks. You will note on the accident reporting form that my weight is 135 lbs. Due to my surprise
at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say,
I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side of the building.
In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel which
was now proceeding downward at an equally impressive speed. This explains the fractured skull, minor abrasions and the broken
collarbone, as listed in Section 3, accident reporting form.
Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent,
not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley which I mentioned in Paragraph 2 of
this correspondence.
Fortunately by this time I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold tightly to the
rope, in spite of the excruciating pain I was now beginning to experience. At approximately the same time, however, the barrel
of bricks hit the ground-and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Now devoid of the weight of the bricks, the barrel weighed
approximately 50 lbs. I refer you again to my weight. As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down the side of the building.
In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles, broken tooth and
severe lacerations of my legs and lower body.
Here my luck began to change slightly. The encounter with the barrel
seemed to slow me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell into the pile of bricks and fortunately only three vertebrae were
cracked. I am sorry to report, however, as I lay there on the pile of bricks, in pain, unable to move and watching the empty
barrel six stories above me, I again lost my composure and presence of mind and let go of the rope.
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![The Symphony's back [click for larger image]](sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/thesymphonysback.jpg.w180h275.jpg)
with piano, tuba, piccolo, and
garden hose
I've got this thing here that
I must read to you. Now, this is a very tragic
thing
... I shouldn't, really, read it out
in its original performance,
Dennis Brain was soloist
in Norman Del Mar's arrangement
for garden hose-pipe of
the Presto from Leopold Mozart's
Concerto for Alpenhorn.
Here we find off-stage trumpeters
positioned in the auditorium in
numbers never imagined in the
preceeding three versions of the work.
"And to find a playmate everyone
has to learn the proper way to play."


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