I was surprised that no one has said much about the lutenist Michael = Eagan since his death last week, but I think many lute players just = didn't know him. So I thought I would, because it is a shame not to = honor the passing of such a gem of a gentleman and lutenist.
I had the experience of playing opera continuo together with Michael in = various places around the country. He was the perfect continuo player: = responsive to the music and to other players, reliable, responsible, and = committed, never stealing the show but always shaping it. He had a = wonderful sense of humor and a real flair for telling stories, usually = over long and late dinners.=20 As a lutenist, I especially appreciated and have learned from his = limitless sense of what the lute can do. He had a completely fluent = knowledge of harmony on the lute, particularly for 18th-century music. = He played a well-worn single-strung Michael Lowe archlute for almost = everything. He never considered the lute to be a quiet instrument, and = so, in his hands, it never was. He had a greater sense of what was = possible than most people, and this led him to forming, with gambist = Mark Chatfield, and leading his own group in Los Angeles. Reaching past = the traditional, he was an accomplished composer as well. One of the many times we played an opera side by side, I was playing = theorbo in a key that worked beautifully; later I realized that it = required that Michael play nearly the entire thing using bar = chords---and not a complaint or a missed or unclear note did I hear the = whole time. His musical ideas were equally confident. I think of him = often as I search for such clarity and direction in my own playing. Deborah Fox --
