By SPERANZA SCAPPUCCI

Alumna Speranza Scappucci, who has been working in Vienna as a pianist and coach at the Wiener Staatsoper since September, learned of Sandor's death through his agent in her native Italy. After graduating with her master's degree in accompanying in 1997, Scappucci had stayed in touch with Sandor. "For the past three years," she writes, "I used to see him at least once every two weeks, for lunch or for coffee at his place on Central Park South. We would exchange ideas about music, opera, and politics. He was very open-minded and extremely up-to-date on everything. The last time I saw him was on the day of my birthday, on April 9, before going to England for the summer at the Glyndebourne Festival." The news prompted Scappucci to share her feelings in the form of a heartfelt letter to her departed teacher and friend.

Speranza Scappucci with Gyorgy Sandor in March 2004, at Mr. Sandor's apartment on Central Park South. (Photo by Piera Scappucci)

Caro Maestro,

From Vienna—far away physically, but ever so close in spirit and with all my heart—I want to express my grateful and warm "good-bye," now that you are at the end of your long and adventurous journey on this earth, a journey that has seen you live most of the 20th century and begin the present one, coming from the Old Europe into the New World, always passionately devoted to the only great love of your life: music!

I was one of your last students, like you had been of the great Bela Bartok. I remember when, as a teenager, I met you for the first time in Maratea, a little village in the south of Italy, where you were giving a concert. For the sake of art, you never declined to bring everywhere—from the most prestigious concert halls and theaters of the world, to the smallest and most remote corners of the planet—the sublime message of your music, therefore remaining faithful to your teacher, who took inspiration for his compositions from the most humble people.

During my years at Juilliard, I was able to take advantage of your precious teachings as a pianist and a musician. But more than anything, you enriched my life as a human being, sharing with me your cultural background and your numerous encounters with the greatest figures of the past century, from Stravinsky to Toscanini, from Kodaly to Schnittke, and many others.

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In your own youth, free-spirited and independent, you left with deep sorrow your native country, oppressed at that time by a totalitarian dictatorship, and you reached the generous land of America, where the dream of expressing your talent could be finally fulfilled in freedom.

I still have vivid in my mind and in my heart the last time I saw you in April; your elegant and aristocratic figure was fading away, but your eyes were alive, bright, and witty as always, your hands powerful and agile, ready for the last eternal and endless note.

Addio, Maestro!

Yours, Speranza