Karl Haas' theme music?

[Dwain Lee]

What is the name of the piece of music that Karl Haas uses to begin his
radio program?

Dwain Lee

[James Boyk]

Dwain Lee wrote:

> What is the name of the piece of music that Karl Haas uses to begin his radio program?

Unless it's changed, it's the 2nd movement of the Pathetique sonata,
Opus 13, by Beethoven. I grew up in Toledo hearing this theme every week
from WJR Detroit. A very cultured man who has created a marvelous
program for goodness knows how many decades; but I wish he'd change the
theme!

James Boyk

[Dwain Lee]

Thanks, James! I know he's used the theme I'm referring to for at least the
last 10 or 12 years. I don't get to hear his show as often as I like, but I
always liked that piece of music. Every so often, I'll hear it on the radio,
and I can't help but expect to hear, at the appropriate place in the music,
Karl say, "Hel-lo everyone!" :-)

Hah, now here's a test. If you remember back in the mid to late '60's, CBS
used to have a short morning news program that aired at 6:30 am, that opened
with a very pretty, simple harp piece(sorry, not piano this time). I
remember as a kid, waking up, going downstairs, turning on the TV, and
hearing that piece first thing every morning, and now it's driving me nuts
as to what it was. How's your memory?

Dwain

James Boyk <bo...@caltech.edu> wrote in message
news:3A08A1D1...@caltech.edu...

[James Boyk]

Dwain Lee wrote:
> ...If you remember back in the mid to late '60's, CBS

> used to have a short morning news program that aired at 6:30 am, that opened
> with a very pretty, simple harp piece(sorry, not piano this time). I
> remember as a kid, waking up, going downstairs, turning on the TV, and
> hearing that piece first thing every morning, and now it's driving me nuts
> as to what it was. How's your memory?

Never heard (or viewed) this program.

jb

[Tom W. Ferguson]

> I grew up in Toledo hearing this theme every week
> from WJR Detroit.

Originally and for many years every DAY! Haas's "Adventures in Good Music"
came after the show with the live house band and Jack Harris, the Bing
Crosby clone. WJR was the last radio station in the country to employ a
house band . . . and every now and then the piano player would break out
with a few uptempo bars of the Haas theme -- possibly the only time in radio
history that one on-air personality made fun of another by playing a little
stride Beethoven. Haas, BTW, played (plays?) the theme himself, right?

[James Boyk]

That's what I heard. -jb

[Douglas Milburn]

For a more balanced estimate of Karl's place in the cultural order of
things, I would refer rec.music.maker.piano readers to:

http://www.texaschapbookpress.com/magellanslog6/abysmalculture3b.htm

--
Douglas Milburn
Magellan's Log
The Internet Magazine of Culture, Counterculture, & Anticulture
http://www.texaschapbookpress.com/magellanslog.htm

[James Boyk]

Douglas Milburn wrote:

> For a more balanced estimate of Karl's place in the cultural order of things, I would refer rec.music.maker.piano readers to:
>
> http://www.texaschapbookpress.com/magellanslog6/abysmalculture3b.htm

Hardly balanced! It's a viewpoint I used to share slightly, but I now
have quite a different 'take' on Haas's program. There is no question
that giant numbers of people have had their understanding and interest
stimulated by it. Also, I think the writer at that URL doesn't
understand the cultural difference between himself and a European,
essentially 19th-century man like Haas. A lot of what he objects to is
manner, not matter; and Haas's manner is different because of these
cultural differences, not because those negative adjectives apply!

James Boyk