William Kapell (1922-1953)

A gifted pianist, he died in an airplane accident in 1953. I was 18, he was 31. I had been hearing him on the radio. And just a few months ago I took out, from the Teaneck library, some disks of his performances. What a tragedy. He would have been 85 this year! Fifty years of his superlative piano playing that we have missed.

This morning, I had breakfast with a reader who had enjoyed reading my review of a local opera in the local newspaper. His name is Bob Kapell and he lives in Mountain Lakes. Maybe a cousin?

Are you related? I asked in the midst of breakfast.

"He was my brother."

And he told me stories about his brother--his early gifts, his triumphs, his death.

I would love to write an article about the great William Kapell, with his brother as a main source.