The Backstory: The Power of Serendipity, Curiosity, and Human Connection
Every once in a while, a chance encounter or serendipitous events lead down an unpredictable path. In preparation for a piano recital during the fall of 2022, Rene Johnson (piano teacher) asked her students to say a few words about the composers of their pieces. Sheila Herrling (piano student) set out to research Albert Rozin, the composer of The Little Concerto, a popular two-piano teaching piece for beginner students. Despite the concerto’s popularity, the only information Sheila could find was a reference to a 1940 Census document and eBay links to a host of old sheet music. What unfolds from here is an adventure of a lifetime – sending shot-in-the-dark emails and phone calls that led to family and friends of Albert; forging new friendships; finding new details about Albert; digging into the bowels of copyright law; listening to the wonder of Albert’s music; discovering hidden treasures; delighting in the joy of a son rediscovering his father, and experiencing the immense honor of writing into history a man whose life and works deserve to be recorded.
Digging In
Intrigued, Rene and Sheila dug into the project of finding more information on Albert. Using the 1940 Census document, Rene deployed her genealogical records skills to reveal that the Albert Rozin in that document, cited “piano teacher” as his employment, had a wife named Rosanne, and a child Paul (age 4). Further sleuthing led to a Paul Rozin, retired UPenn psychology professor who, at age 86 and citing a childhood in Brooklyn, fit a lot of descriptors for the 4-year old son of the Albert listed in the Census Document. Could it actually be him?! A shot-in-the-dark email from Rene to Paul was answered with this:
“Hello Rene. I am indeed Albert Rozin’s only child. He wrote hundreds of piano pieces for children, as well as some vocal music for the Jewish reform synagogue service (he was the organist at a Reform synagogue for many decades). His income came mainly from piano teaching. He was born in Minsk, in what is now Belarus, and came to the US as an essentially penniless immigrant before 1920. His family settled in New York City, where he spent his life. If there is any other information you would like, let me know.”
Connecting
Over the next several months, Sheila and Rene met several times over Zoom with Paul and his son, Lex, a professor of music theory at West Chester University, to learn more about Albert. A separate call with Deborah Tannen (renowned author and Paul’s cousin and family historian) added details to Albert’s emigration story and early life in Brooklyn. And, finally, in the summer of 2023, Sheila, Rene, Lex, and Paul met in person in Philadelphia where they conspired over an exquisite meal prepared by Lex to join forces to build a website to share Albert’s life and talent with the world.
The Wish, the Work and the Wonderful Surprise
Paul’s wish was to make all of his father’s music accessible to the public. He envisioned a website where visitors could go to learn about his father, listen to his music, and download his piano sheet music free of charge – a literal treasure trove for piano teachers, students, and the music aficionados. Paul had discovered a list of all of Albert’s compositions – over a hundred published pieces and references to almost a hundred more unpublished pieces. Five immediate challenges presented: (1) who owned the copyrights to the published material (most of which was no longer being published) and how to return those rights to the Rozin family; (2) where to locate all the unpublished pieces; (3) how to engrave all the pieces in order to post them on the site; (4) how to record all the pieces so visitors could listen to them; and 5) how to create and design the website.
The team got to work. Sheila took on the laborious work of researching Library of Congress records to account for copyright ownership, after which she and Rene were successful at getting the rights to many of Albert’s published pieces returned to Paul. Lex took on the task of engraving. Rene grouped the pieces by level, provided descriptions and recorded the pieces. Paul hired William Johnson (yes, a relation to Rene!), a talented web designer, to build the website. And after months of searching unsuccessfully, Paul found a box in his daughter’s barn containing all of the unpublished music along with family scrapbooks and a children’s story his father had written!
What Next
The copyrights for the majority of Albert’s published pieces are still owned by various publishing houses. Without those rights, the pieces cannot be posted on the website. Many of those publishers have gone out of business, some are still considering if and how to return the rights to Paul, and one publisher has rejected the request to return the rights. Further effort will require hiring a legal team. Paul is inspired to create a family video from the old films he has. Rene continues to share Albert’s music with teachers and students around the world alongside ways to creatively incorporate it into lessons. Sheila pursues opportunities for NPR radio programming to share the story more broadly. But perhaps the greatest next step is to build and deepen the friendship Sheila and Rene now have with Lex and Paul. Fellowship is at the core of the human experience and the bedrock of a peaceful world. So in many respects, investing in building friendships wherever and whenever and with whomever you can, will yield life’s greatest returns.
You just never know where a simple question might take you. This one took us on a ride of a lifetime for which we will be forever grateful.