Much as I love music, I can’t carry a tune.  I only sing Christmas Carols when I’m in a large group and have had a glass of wine.  But I do love to listen, especially to classical music. In all my years of concert attendance, I’ve never seen what happened on Thursday. 

My favorite string quartet was giving a free lunchtime concert in a Harvard building right after the class I am auditing.  They were starting with a short piece I was not familiar with to be followed by one of my favorites, Schubert’s Death and the Maiden Quartet.

The first piece was very energetic, but shortly after it began, the bridge of the second violin broke into two pieces and fell to the floor.  The audience didn’t quite know how to react.  The astonished musicians put down their instruments.  And so ended the concert.

You can’t play a quartet with a trio.