Gretna Nymphs and Angels

Not only does Gretna Music occasionally host 'certain nymphs' like Syrinx, we also have angels. Nancy Hatz is one. Perhaps you could call her our violin angel.

Nancy will soon be able to say she has an earthbound angel for a century. Although she is still two years short of that point, I can now predict it for certain because the state has renewed her driver’s license for 4 years and that will take her well into her second century. She missed Brahms by only 18 years! Nancy, and until recently her late husband Russell, were Gretna residents  and neighbors of mine. 

Midori and Nancy Hatz in 2007

Last year Nancy moved to the second floor of Traditions in Hershey, but very soon thereafter had to move again -- with her Steinway grand piano -- to the first floor because the second floor was reassigned to ‘assisted living,’ a service that she didn't need. 

Nancy has been in our audience for almost every concert since 1975 and always comes backstage afterward to thank the artists and exchange memories. You may recall that she sponsored the concert by Midori several years ago. 

Sarah Chang and Nancy Hatz in 2013

Like this one, that concert honored the memory of Russell with whom she was “The Music Department” at Susquehanna University for many years. One legend has it that Russell, a violinist, was a founding member of the Juilliard String Quartet. The last music Nancy and Russell played together was the same Brahms Sonata in d minor played for 625 people by Sarah Chang and Andrew von Oeyen last Wednesday evening. 

Nancy is still passionate about nurturing young musicians and does that with the Harmonia Music Association in Lebanon, an affiliate of the Pennsylvania Federation of Music Clubs.

We are always on the lookout for angels.