Since 1903, members of Arts and Letters have delivered commemorative tributes to fellow members who have passed away. These remarks celebrate and reflect on the lives and work of the members being honored and acknowledge their contribution to the arts. A selection of tributes is now available in the digital archive below. As we prepared this archive, we were reminded that these tributes reflect their times, and, in some instances, include terminology and social and moral judgments we do not endorse.
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Tonight we take leave of our friend and colleague, Ulysses Simpson Kay, composer of music.
Instead of talking about him, what better way to honor his memory than to invite him to speak to us for a few minutes in his own language, his music.
Our music has lost an eloquent voice, and at a time when new music is seldom encountered at orchestral concerts. Yet the power of symphonic composers to provide psychic nutrients essential to the human condition is unmistakably felt in music such as we have just heard.
So then, farewell, friend Ulysses, and for your music, many, many thanks.
A five-minute, taped excerpt from a symphonic piece by Ulysses Kay was played.
Read by Francis Thorne at the Academy Dinner Meeting on April 2, 1996.