Eulogy

By Emanuel Ax

I first met ISAAC STERN when I was a young pianist, just beginning to perform. I was so bowled over by the force of his personality and reputation that it was many years before I realized he was not 7 ft. tall. One of the thrills of being onstage with him was the feeling of belonging he exuded. Once, after a concert in which he had played particularly brilliantly, even though the day had been spent in tiring travel, he said to the rest of us playing with him, "You know, I'm just a stage animal." It was that quality that gave us the feeling that there was no need to be afraid or nervous--we were there to share music with our friends onstage and with our listeners, and the goal was a kind of exaltation through music. All the great performers have that quality, but he had enough to give partners as well. He was a man who relished life to the fullest and was lucky to be able to enjoy so much. He gave unstintingly of himself for two causes that were dear to him--Carnegie Hall and music education--but he was just as enthusiastic about sharing a great meal or the wonderful performance of a colleague. There was a letter to the New York Times from one of his devotees that sums up how we all felt: that in any but medical terms, the cause of his death, "heart failure," was the farthest thing from the truth. The one constant in his life was that his heart never failed.

--Emanuel Ax, concert pianist