Walt Preucil is an original – in more ways than one, but in this case, I’m speaking of his role in Midsummer’s Music. He is one of two of our musicians still playing with the group who has been with us since the beginning 28 years ago. (Pianist Bill Koehler is the other.) What that means was brought home to me the other evening when Stephanie, his wife, told me that Walt had just played his 500th performance with us. I hadn’t realized that Midsummer’s Music had reached the 500-concert mark, which of course is rather special. However, it is extra special for Walt because he has played on every single performance since our first concert on June 12th, 1991 in the home of Peter and Dianne Trenchard. What a record! Walt is the Lou Gehrig of Midsummer’s Music. For those of you who weren’t following baseball back in the 1920s, Lou played every single game for the New York Yankees from 1923 – 1937, a record only recently broken by Cal Ripken. They called Gehrig “The Iron Horse.” Walt is our Iron Cellist.
But Walt’s originality doesn’t’ end with this record. He has put his unique stamp on quite a few things in the Midsummer’s Music camp over the years. Early on, he decided that the musicians needed an annual miniature golf tournament. It had to be played at The Red Putter in Ephraim because he wanted to commemorate the night when, as youngsters, he and his brother Bill were playing golf there with their family when Bill, goofing around as he was want to do, managed to break his leg. If that weren’t bad enough, Bill was playing violin at the time with the Peninsula Music Festival. His full-length leg caste wouldn’t allow him to bend his knee so he had to play with his leg sticking straight out resting on a separate chair. Walt thought this event needed to be memorialized, so for many years we did so annually – the whole ensemble that happened to be here at the time including, especially, children.
But that was just the beginning. After several years of playing pairs of Midsummer’s Music concerts at the Hardy Gallery on Fyr Bal weekend, Walt decided that the Fyr Bal Chieftain was not the only one who should make a special aquatic entrance. Slipping into the water in Nicolet Bay in Peninsula Park, Walt and Stephanie rowed a canoe past Eagle Tower and across Eagle Harbor to the Hardy dock with violin and cello case on board arriving just in time for the performance. I was very happy to see them make dock, but now I had to wonder if the exertion of rowing all that distance would allow them to hold their bows steadily on the strings of their instruments. Fortunately the water was reasonably calm that evening and these sailors were both in very good shape. They proceeded to row their way through a fine concert.
But water seems to bring out the worst in Walt. A few years later after the Eagle Harbor crossing, another crossing loomed. It was Deaths’ Door stretching before us on our way to the Trueblood Center on Washington Island. This turbulent strait is legendary for its toll on ships, but little did we know what it portended for piano music. Walt, David Perry, our first violinist, and our pianist, Bill Koehler, were standing on the upper deck aft passenger area of the Washington Island Ferry. Bill had his score for the Arthur Foote Quintet in A Minor for piano and string quartet under his arm. Walt asked Bill if he could take a look at it. He said he wanted to check something against his cello part. It was fairly breezy high above the waves and churning water streaming out from the rear of the boat. Suddenly, Bill’s part slipped from Walt’s hands and went airborne, and for a second it resembled one of the seagulls trailing us. Then, astonishingly, the music wafted ever farther out to sea and disappeared. Bill was ashen faced. This was the main piece on our program, and finding a part for the Foote Quintet in the big city at the last minute would have been terribly difficult – forget finding a replacement source on Washington Island.
Fortunately, Walt gave Bill his real part back fairly quickly, averting the impending heart attack that was building in Bill’s chest. It turned out that Walt had made a copy of Bill’s part and had let the counterfeit one fly off into the wind. Bill was reunited with his own version.
As I say, Walt is an original, and what I have recited are only a few of his masterful inventions. He keeps us loose during an otherwise intense and exhausting season. When you work as hard as our group does, there have to be ways to make it seem like play, and Walt understands that. You still have a couple of chances to see Walt and his colleagues in action. Their friendship and joyous music making is exhibited on Thurs., August 2 at the Old Town Hall in Fish Creek (including a dinner at Alexander’s Restaurant afterwards, if you wish), and Saturday at the new Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor. Then we take a break before returning for additional exciting performances in the week or so leading up to Labor Day. Please call 920-854-7088 or visit www.midsummersmusic.com for tickets or more information.