In 1747 Frederick II dared Bach to take a long complex musical figure and improvise it into a three-voice fugue, which he did handily. Then in a fit of caprice the king defied Bach to change that into a six-voice fugue. This became The Musical Offering . On Saturday, June 2 the very popular St. Petersburg String Quartet wove a musical offering of three pieces into tribute to their friend and fellow musician Abbot Francis Kline before a sellout crowd of 280 in the Mepkin Abbey Church . What over ten years ago began as a Sunday afternoon of dreaming between myself and Ellen Dressler Moryl, (the head of Cultural Affairs for the city of Charleston and of Piccolo Spoleto) became over the ensuing years a series of concerts at Mepkin and collaborations with our beloved Abbot Francis: Messien's Quartet for the End of Time , Ernest Bloch's Quintet for Piano and Strings no. 1 , and Antonin Dvorak's Piano Quintet in A major (Op. 81) .

Shostakovich wrote the quartet in 1960 during a visit to the war-scarred city of Dresden . The piece is filled with the memories of the horrors of war stirred by the sight of the remaining devastation. In addition his own chronic ill health raised the specter of his looming mortality. All of this spoke to the untimely death of our Fr. Francis. The American Quartet by contrast with its Native American and African-American folk themes was a lyrical joyous dance reminiscent of the kind of musicianship of Francis Kline, which often brought an audience to their feet in admiration. However, for me, it was the final strand of this three-fold cord that so evoked the very presence of Francis. The Nocturne of Alexander Borodin from the Quartet in D Major , offered as the encore, left nary a dry eye in the house. All were moved deeply by the experience, the musicians as well as the audience. For this we are eternally grateful to Ellen Dressler Moryl for making this musical offering and all our other memories possible.

Father Aelred Hagan