Professor of Law Emeritus Kenneth Rudolf gave his last lecture via Webex with 32 people in attendance on Tuesday. Along with his lecture, he entertained the audience by playing the organ.
Rudolf said he chose to make his last lecture a concert because he wanted to make it interesting for his viewers.
“Why don’t I just do something that reflects both my past and what I hope my future will be, which is do some music for you since that’s really been a part of my life and a part that I’ve not been able to keep up that much, particularly in the last few years and hope to do more with,” Rudolf said.
Kevin Marshall, dean of the College of Law, introduced him at the lecture.
Rudolf joined the College of Law in 2002, but before that he had a music career, including a doctorate in historical musicology from the University of Washington and serving as organist and choir director at Branford First Congregational Church in Connecticut. He said he wanted to showcase that side of his career in his lecture.
“I want to get back into music much more in-depth because my skill set has dropped a whole lot. I used to be a whole lot better,” Rudolf said.
He performed five different songs: “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” and “Wake, Awake, a Voice is Calling” by Johann Sebastian Bach, two movements from “Organ Sonata No. 1” by Felix Mendelssohn, “Adagio for Strings” by Samuel Barber and “Carillon de Westminster” by Louis Vierne.
Charnpreet Takher, a sophomore history major, attended the lecture and expressed how much he enjoyed it.
“The organ recital was amazing. Personally, I had never heard an organ being played before and I had very little knowledge about the organ and its sounds. It was nice to get the extra background information on the organ and how the pieces and sounds changed over time,” he said.
Takher also said he loved how passionate Rudolf was about music.
“It’s amazing how as a musician, he must have an intimate knowledge of his organ and all the sounds it creates,” Tahker said.
—Gabriella Cummings
