IT STARTED AT THE ATHENAEUM I found a BOOK, I found myself in it. (http://www.kpbs.org/places/athenaeum-music-arts-library/) This little music library attracted me. I was researching songs that I might want to learn. It was grubby and poorly lit to be sure in 1988. Poorly funded, forgotten, grungy. And it was around the corner from the breathtaking La Jolla cove. So who wanted to be in a cramped library looking at librettos and picking out a song on a beautiful warm summer day? Everyone it seems. The place was packed. That research was a chore. I had not been brought up on classical music. In our household, someone would howl shut it down at the first few notes of any opera coming over the tv or radio. I was out of place, uncomfortable. Wading through the books was heavy work, but I was driven by a restless passion that came from where I don’t know. Half asleep, eyeing the window, I began to see references to the a famous socialite named Lillie De Hagerman Lindencrone. She was famous in only a few exalted circles. She was known for her beautiful hair and voice. She was never a professional opera singer like Jenny lind or an actress like Sarah Bernhardt. She is well remembered even though she had never been paid to sing nor had she been allowed to become famous or to travel as a singer. She was a socialite. Her value to historians is her memoirs, wherein she talks about many OTHER famous people in the arts, politics, and industry, but most especially, music. she knew many famous composers of her day, the 19th century. "In The Courts of Memory" is the name of one of this book, published in 1913. This book fell into my hands at that dark dusty library. In the cramped quarters of the reading room, I touched the Book for the first time. It was an electric shock, traveling up my hand and spreading like an electrical shock throughout my body. I started to shake with my right hand on the book. I had not opened it yet. Regaining a small amount of control,...