A Memorial Service in celebration of Lyndon's life was held on September 10, 2005, at the Park Avenue United Methodist Church.  The church was filled to capacity, and the service ended with the resounding sound of every singer in attendance singing the final "Amen" from Handel's Messiah.  

 
  LYNDON WOODSIDE
1935 - 2005  
     Lyndon Woodside served as the Music Director of the Oratorio Society of New York from 1973 until his death in 2005, the tenth in a series of distinguished conductors. Under his direction, the Society continued the traditions established during its remarkable history and entered into new areas of music making, earning Dr. Woodside repeated critical acclaim for his sensitive yet precise conducting of the large chorus. He led the group through the standard repertory and through four world, two U.S., and three New York premieres.
     After his 1982 European debut in Salzburg, Lyndon Woodside made guest appearances throughout Europe in choral and also orchestral concerts. Among the orchestras he conducted in Europe are the Mozarteum Orchestra, Orchestre Pasdeloup, Prague Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Tours, Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic of Lodz, I Solisti di Roma, English Chamber Orchestra, and Orchestre Bell’Arte. Following his 1995 French debut in orchestral concerts in Tours, the press hailed the "great art of the conductor." In June 2000 he conducted members of the Oratorio Society and the Beijing Orchestra and Chorus in the new Forbidden City Music Hall in Beijing. In March 2003, Dr. Woodside conducted members of the Society and the Orquesta Sinfonica National in a series of concerts in San Jose, Cost Rica to benefit the ecological preservation of Cocos Island, for which he was awarded a UNESCO World Heritage Medal.
     Handel’s Messiah was an important part of Dr. Woodside's repertory. In addition to annual performances in New York he conducted the work in Prague, Mexico City and Warsaw and recorded the Mozart orchestration of it in Poland in a recording distributed by Koch International Records.
     Dr. Woodside served as the principal judge for the Oratorio Society’s Solo Competition for 29 years. He also served on the judging panel of the Opera Index Awards at the Metropolitan and for the Opera at Florham Competition.
     Lyndon Woodside served as music director of the Westchester Choral Society beginning from 1965 to 2005. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, he was voted distinguished alumnus of the year and was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Music in 1991. He received his Master’s degree from The Juilliard School of Music. In 1976 he received a Grammy award for his participation in the "Concert of the Century."

TRIBUTE TO LYNDON WOODSIDE
2005 August 23 (Memorial - September 10)
 
I invite you to walk once more with me down memory lane—where, together, we can remember…all those wonderful Lyndon years…  Together, let’s quietly 
‘celebrate’ his life.

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“Celebrations” speak of “gladness,”
But this… is mingled with such sadness;
That fact….cannot be concealed;
For forty years he led our chorus...
...A score (and more...) he stood before us...
Always outstanding in his field!

Today….it’s time….to “pool” our memories,
For we share “outstanding” memories…
It’s time – each one here had his say:
Oratorio… truly pleased him -
And he pleased us – despite (we’d tease him)
Minor quirks: "Do things my way!"

“His way”… at each rehearsal
Now…here…it’s total “role reversal”
Our time to “give back” (though with tears);
Our thanks… for years of caring,
Forty years of giving...sharing,
And for always being so sincere…

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So many memories… Looking back….
We must “touch” on his years in Georgia ….
His boyhood town was Waycross Georgia ,
Where he led the high school band;
There, in his role as school drum major,
He discovered something – major,
He learned… there's power in the hand.

Now…I have tried….to be objective
And to keep clear perspective:
...It's clear--batons gave him a 'high';
With a “mere stick”...a flick of fingers...
He controlled two hundred singers--
Sent us soaring...to the sky!

While conducting The Messiah,
He set Carnegie afire,
We were sold out--best in town;
Critics claimed us 'bright, and dancing’,'
Even 'buoyant...fresh...entrancing’,
And, as for speed... he won... (hands down).

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Okay…
Time for “Woodside truth” (no fiction):
(Here goes) “Sing vowels, but get the diction,”
“…You stare at score?  you win no prize;”
“Look!  I’m conducting--pay attention,”
“I get lonely…” (this he’d mention…!)
"Do not ignore me - that's not wise.”

"Chorus:  focus...point the sound,
Do not drop chunks of granite on the ground;
And, while we're at it….basses--you
(And also tenors) quit your barking,
Just sing, ‘hark’ - the word's not harrking,
Soprano high notes:  Hit a few!”

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We sensed…
When …words (like “molte”)...caused confusion,
Lyndon lied... (that's my conclusion):
"Oh, that means 'Watch the con-duc-tor';
'Dolce's...'Chorus, sing to me’,'
'Andante's' clearly--'Look at me!’'
I want these noted in your scores!”

“Also, unless directed, sing legato,
That's the rule of thumb we’ve got...
So…don't sing any other way;”
The bouncing ball—we wouldn’t ‘foller’...
Unless...we chose to hear him holler:
"All ye like sheep...have gone astray."

So quick to spot the 'straying sinners',
Stopped us cold... with one-line winners:
"Don't you dare do that again;
Your game of 'search and then destroy'?
That’s not the method I employ,
“Kathleen, audition dates…they’re when?”

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His brain…a “library of stories”
(Catalogued by categories)--
A “pun” for every 'don't' and 'do';
When we sang flat?  his pun was “mellow”,
(He oft described a cartoon fellow –
One with bottom wide... a 'schmoo'.)

Non-stop…
Those anecdotes kept pouring
Off his lips--all bent on boring
In to “fix” some trouble spot;
I would sit there….flabbergasted--
Thinking… (as we’re being blasted...)
…Did he mean me…or…what?

He was “maestro”… self-claimed master
Sent to save us from disaster;
Said: we need him—nothing more:
"Yo, chorus, here!  I'm in the center!
I will show you when to enter..."
Fine!….fuggittabout the scores.

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…For him …
To “work” these movements (as intended),
Enormous energy was expended:
He’d 'crank' and 'saw'.... (he'd always stop);
But--when he stood--who doubted whether
He would pull it all together?
"Chorus, take it...from the top!"

A small phrase 'from the top',
It doesn't mean 'a mountain top';
Yet…those three words raised us so 'high';
We felt...such exhilaration....
Such inexpressible elation...
It’s safe to say…that’s called ‘a high’...

But more, much more, (there's no debating),
We’d be on stage...ready, waiting...
...In the grandest Hall of all...
He’d signal...lights were dimming,
Then with expectations brimming--
Our voices filled...Carnegie Hall!

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Oh…Lyndon…
     Thank you for pursuing
     “Excellence WITHIN”…for doing—
     Demanding more from this chorus!
It’s forty years since his decision
To conduct us....And his “vision”
Lives — today! — It lives in us!

Today…
Today’s….our heartfelt recognition
Of his hard work, sense of mission,
And….how we wish things hadn’t changed….
He’s our conductor--we're his chorus,
He was born and bred to stand before us...
….How we wish things hadn’t changed….

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But…
He’s gone on – answered a ‘calling’
To lead angels – (no small ‘calling’…)
….Thousands of thousands sing “Ah-men!”….
Yes…Lyndon reached those gates before us…
Yet, could it be…we’ll join that chorus?
….And he’ll lead us once again….?

But now… for us …(’till then):
May the Lord God bless and keep us,
Make his face to shine upon us,
God be gracious, give us peace;
And may today (and ever after),
We find….comfort ….even laughter
In these memories… they don’t cease.

This comes to you with all my heart….

Carole Swaim
On behalf of
The Oratorio Society of New York 2005

The importance of looking at the conductor:

Lyndon was leaving after rehearsal with his Westchester chorus on a cold winter night and got to the parking lot, wrapped in his muffler and  wearing his beret. The only other person there was a distressed man who  could not get his car started. Lyndon, always the gentleman, offered  his help and jumpstarted the man's car. The man thanked him profusely,  and said something like "I don't even know who you are!" This man had  just attended rehearsal and was obviously one of those who never looked up!!
Alfreda Haaland, Florie Maynard
Following directions:

After giving the chorus a particular direction and our not having followed this instruction yet again, Lyndon quoted his  mother, "Now, I don't want to nag, so I'm going to say this just ONE MORE TIME...."
( I have appropriated this and use it a lot! ) Helen Doctorow
"Lyndonisms" 2002-2003:

- Some of you are very eager to sing that... wrong.
- I HOPE no one comes in there. It'll cost you $10 an entrance.
- (after a long silent pause) ...Do you know where we are?
- I would like to have an electrical connection - during the performance - so I can buzz you whenever I want you to look at me.
- Well, that is sounding, um, as we say down south: "it gets soggier & soggier."
- The sopranos are all alone there. Anyone else who comes in there is a Total Nerd.
- That was basically wretched.
- It has dawned on me how few rehearsals we have between now and the concert, and so I've turned nasty.
- You sang a C there with great authority, and nothing to back it up.
- You sound like you need more denture grip.
- Let's see if the tenors have any memory at all.
- Do it again. I don't trust you.
- The performance is Thursday. It would be nice to see you there.
- There are three kinds of tenors in the world. And I'll tell you about them if you ask me privately.
- You'd be surprised at what I'm thinking up here.
- Basses: when you go for that nice comfortable low note, don't drop your whole package down there. Um...wait...that didn't come out how I meant it.
- Here is a tip: if you sounded like a chicken, you goofed.
- When I look at you, I see mules wearing blinders, to keep you from being distracted by any conductors.
- Come on, tenors. Sound like men.
- This is a total, total autocracy. And I am the autocrat.
Elaine Boxer, from notes taken during rehearsals
A personal recollection:

In the more than 25 years I have known and sung with Lyndon in Westchester and New York, I have heard many funny Lyndon stories and remarks and hope members will pass these on to Lyndon's family. My story is more serious, but I think speaks volumes about Lyndon's character and kindness. I have been ill for more than 2 years, but have managed to attend rehearsals and participate in concerts. On a few occasions, illness or hospitalizations have prevented me from attending rehearsals. Invariably, when I have missed several rehearsals, I have received a phone call from Lyndon inquiring about my health and wishing me well. These calls have meant a great deal to me and I will miss our rehearsals and our concerts with our caring director. I look forward to seeing many members at the memorial service.
Toby Nussbaum 
A memory from long ago and far away:

I can't think of any particular Lyndon Story, but I remember how good HE was at telling stories. I loved to get to choir rehearsals early just to be able to have a cup of coffee and listen to Lyndon and Jane tell stories. Those southerners were SO fascinating to this Bronx girl. But I'll just tell my story now. I was a member of OSNY for 5 or 6 years and traveled to Warsaw with OSNY and Lyndon. I was also a member of the Park Avenue United Methodist Church choir for around 8 years. I'd never sung before but was invited to audition for that choir by the wonderful pastor at that time, Phil Clarke. I'd never auditioned before, and I wobbled through a few bars of a hymn from the hymnal, but Lyndon said I could join! Choir rehearsals were the highlight of my week. Lyndon made it all so much fun. I became a member of the church but never felt like a "church lady". I could never explain to people how much fun we had in the choir seats. A while later I'd stopped smoking and got up the courage to ask to join the OSNY, and THOSE Thursday evening rehearsals were the highlight of my life! Even more fun than the actual concerts, which were pretty thrilling too. I even took voice lessons at Turtle Bay Music School, which came in really handy for all those really loud high notes we had to sing in Beethoven's 9th Symphony! 
Joanne Alban Hanschell, now living in Barbados
Sing like what?

It was early fall of 1982 or 1983 and we had just started working on Messiah.  The sopranos had been giving Lyndon fits all evening - just not achieving the sound he wanted.  In pure frustration Lyndon snapped at them,  “like virgins, if you can remember that far back!”  There was a collective audible gasp followed by gales of uproarious laughter.  The next time through the passage the sopranos were perfect! 
Karen Oldham
Messiah Score Notes

Here are a few of Lyndon's instructions, which I've dutifully written in my Messiah score:
"Nymphs & Shepherds" - And He Shall Purify
"Keep it jazzy" - His Yoke is Easy
"Don't slide" - Behold The Lamb of God
"Strong, trumpet-like" - Let All The Angels of God
"Gray Twas" - The Lord Gave the Word
"Triumph" - Hallelujah
"C#!!!" - Amen
Liz Simpson
Laughter

Lyndon was a master at giving laughs. He enjoyed laughing himself. I told him that my first season with Oratorio was 1980-1981. It was when we sang with Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein to celebrate Copland's 80th birthday. Copland and Bernstein had long been two of my musical heroes. I told Lyndon that that concert was the peak musical experience of my life and its been downhill ever since. Lyndon roared with laughter. I cherish the twenty-five seasons with Lyndon and, in truth, its been uphill since my first audition in 1980. Thank you Lyndon for helping me be a better musician.
Ted Voelker
Delighted!

I'm starting only my third season with the Oratorio Society. I'd like to share an indelible Lyndon Woodside memory.  After my audition, Lyndon looked at me and said "I would be DELIGHTED to have you sing with us this season." That made me feel great.  I was delighted, too.
Paul Zorovich
Coming Home 

     I remembered the sound of the chorus rehearsing in the basement of Turtle Bay during 8 years of self-imposed exile, while I was working in Asia. I was always amazed to find myself on stage at Carnegie Hall, waiting to sing, waiting for Lyndon to pull the sound toward him, ("Sing to me! You can't imagine how much better it sounds when you stop looking at your books and sing to me!"), and that was surely a great experience...but rehearsing in that space put vibrations right through my bones. 
     I was so homesick for Thursday evenings, and I remembered the night our section made some egregious error, upon which Lyndon looked up in astonishment and said, "Altos!" --in two syllables that surely spanned an octave. Got our attention right away.
     When I came home to live in NYC again, and sing with OSNY again, it was as good as I remembered it...and Lyndon had not lost his touch, or his voice. He was becoming exasperated, and said, "You must not do that! It sounds extremely mediocre, and you are not
mediocre!" He paused for a moment, and said, "Except for just now."
     Nobody was like him. Nobody. 
Julia Turner
Another "Lyndonism"

During rehearsal, while describing the spirit of "And He Shall Purify" from Handel's Messiah - "This is nymphs and shepherds on pointe with tutus!" Whenever I sing this song, I picture the whole ballet in my head with Lyndon conducting them all.
Nicola Dempsey
"City Family"

Along with many others, I also have many special memories of rehearsals and conversations with Lyndon. I sang with Lyndon at Park Avenue United Methodist for about ten years, and with OSNY for four years. For a single person just arriving in the city, I really looked forward to having coffee with Lyndon and Jane prior to rehearsal and on Sunday mornings, and always made sure I was early, for the company and heaven forbid - never to be late to a rehearsal. Lyndon and Jane and the choir members were my "city family" and I cherished those moments. I can also remember some Sunday mornings when the about 20 choir members couldn't quite produce what Lyndon wanted - there was no room to hide with only about 20 singers, and dearly wishing we could improve our pitch or work out whatever offended. Lyndon always strove for the best in us, and I have never since sung with anyone who prepared for a rehearsal or performance in such a total and complete manner. I will always appreciate his supreme attention to detail - phrases always had shape and purpose. Rehearsal might at times have been hard, but it was always energizing. And yes, his stories were a huge part of him - I am so very thankful to have spent so many years singing with Lyndon.
Christie Anderson Fitzpatrick 
20 Years of History

     I think this fairly captures my 20 year history with my friend, Lyndon Woodside....
     During our returning trip from Yugoslavia in 1985, I said to Lyndon that I would like to sing the Brahms' Requiem with the OS the following season. I was a member of the Masterwork Chorus in NJ at the time. He replied that I could sing it if I joined the chorus. I said, "No, you don't understand...I just want to sing the "Brahms" with you." He again said, "Join the OS." I again said, "You don't understand, I just want to sing the Brahms." Then he emphatically responded, "NO, you don't understand...if you want to sing the Brahms Requiem, join the chorus!" I shortly thereafter auditioned! Sometimes it takes me a while to "get it."
     Because of it, I also moved to Manhattan from NJ, and started a whole new life as a NYC resident. I have never regretted this decision.
     Lyndon played the organ at our wedding in 1985. He had become a special friend after that trip to Yugoslavia. At some point, I began handling the summer trips and worked closely with him. 
     For one trip, and he was always fond of telling this story, Kathleen Flaherty, Lyndon and I needed to find out everyone's place of birth! This was about two days before leaving for Europe. We diligently started making phone calls, but after a few answering machines, we realized this wasn't going to work. So we mutually agreed to make up places and had a blast doing it! If I remember correctly, Dot Young was from Mobile, Alabama! Someone was from Podunk, Iowa, etc. We spent the next few hours being very creative and laughing very hard at our silliness.
     It was always special after a trip when he thanked me for doing "such a great job..." 
     Once on a ferry crossing, we found ourselves playing "killer" Scrabble. He put down a 7-letter word by adding "r" to "unique.'" What kind of word is "uniquer!!!!" How could anything be uniquer?!? But I didn't challenge the word and he won. He always remembered that I didn't challenge it and let him get away with it. By the way, I had an audition coming up and I didn't know him that well. He was still the maestro! Jane did look the word up in the Scrabble dictionary and it is legitimate. P.S.: I did pass the audition, too.
     If anyone has spent anytime around Lyndon, they know that he had a rather bizarre sense of humor. He was a great joke teller! Since I cannot ever remember jokes, I can't repeat any of them...then again, some of them couldn't be repeated in mixed company anyway! 
     We did have a running joke about our ages. Whenever it was my birthday, he always exaggerated my age. But my retaliation for the last few years was that after the chorus sang Happy Birthday to him, I've recently resorted to finishing it up with "How old you are now....!" 
     The most special moments were always around the music, however. Just standing in front of Lyndon in the middle of a concert, either in Carnegie Hall or on one of our trips, was always ecstatic! The beauty of participating in a beautiful piece of music is beyond words. To share this experience with Lyndon, as well as with everyone on the stage, is what will always be my most moving memories. To see his delight when things were brilliant and his disapproval when not...as we scrambled, focused or did what we needed to hold it together...and to finish triumphant to a cheering and appreciative audience... That will always be the most cherished, loving times that I will try to hold on to about my friend.
     One last note: when Sheila Donovan got married about 10 years ago, I sang "O Magnum Mysterium" in a quartet at Grace Church. After the ceremony, Lyndon was so gracious in his compliment, saying, "That was the most beautiful I've ever heard you sing." Needless to say, I was thrilled with the Maestro's wonderful compliment! But then the true Lyndon crept in...with that crooked smile and sarcasm that many of us loved and others despised, he said..."but that's not saying much!" I think I kicked him in the shins (in my mind only!), but we both laughed so hard. 
     I will miss my dear friend so much and am so grateful for the experiences we had the privilege of sharing with each other.
Mary-Jo Iacovino
Charley Tolk shared the following at the September 10 Memorial Service

     My first meeting with Lyndon Woodside in late August 1989 was an accident. My wife, Terry, wanted to join a chorus and I agreed to accompany her to the auditions and go out to dinner afterward. When I got to the Oratorio Society auditions, because of the need for male voices I was persuaded to audition as well. When I had to fill out the application card with prior choral experience I noted that in several summers spent near the Marlboro Vermont Music festival I had sung Beethoven’s choral fantasy in a pick up chorus open to everyone.
     I marveled on how comfortable I was made to feel by this choral director. I was completely unprepared but was allowed to sing My Country Tis of Thee and I didn’t have to know the words. The sight singing part was more problematic and what I sang did not match at all what this kind man was playing on the piano. I didn’t think I was that bad, but this was not a pick up chorus. He looked for some reason for the discrepancy and found that what he played and what I sang were two different pieces and that we were literally not on the same page. It was straightened out and I together with Terry began our association with Oratorio Society
     A week before what was supposed to be my Carnegie Hall debut in a snowy December. I slipped on the ice and fractured my elbow and could not hold my music. The caring maestro said it would be perfectly fine to have me look on at the score of the person to my right and he allowed me to sing.
     I developed enormous respect for the man who stood up in front of us each Thursday evening. He seemed to know what each of the 150 members could do musically, and also to know what meaning the chorus had in their lives. As I got to know him more, personally, he would sometimes share how he agonized over decisions about asking someone whose presence in the chorus was detrimental to the overall sound to leave Oratorio Society. “They’ll be devastated. It’s such an important part of their lives”
     On our first summer trip with the chorus, Terry and I got to meet Jane. Lyndon always seemed so much in command of what was going on, I wondered what it was like to be the wife of a Maestro. I was surprised when after one of our performances in Prague, I overheard him ask her if his tempos were too fast and she said “Yes” It was clear that along with his confident, self-assured personality that was in evidence as he stood up in front of us, was a man questioning himself. When he needed truthful judgments and a reality check, he could rely on Jane.
     We were grateful for the opportunity to get to know the Woodsides and to become their friends. We spent many New Year’s Eves with them, many Memorial Days, summer weekends at the home of Liz and Dick Levine, and frequently went out to dinner, or were invited to their home for dinner.
     It was sometimes difficult for me to figure out if I was with a friend as I was on all those social occasions, or with my maestro, a leader who knew what was best for me and my fellow choristers. During the last season I developed a bad cold and appeared before one concert, expressing my worries to Lyndon that I would break out in loud coughing fits and detract from the performance, and when I was not coughing could not produce very much sound to be of help to the group. He said “Try it, I like having you up there.”
     In recent years the Oratorio Society held a fund raising service auction. Terry and I decided to offer “Dinner with the Maestro” We would invite Lyndon and Jane as guests of honor to our home and others could bid for the other 8 places at the table with the proceeds going to the society. These turned out to be delightful evenings with the Maestro holding forth with the many stories he loved to tell and the spirit of fellowship coming forth with a backdrop of good food and wine. This past year the only disruptive snow storm of the season raised a question about having the dinner or canceling it. Since some of the cooking had already been done, we decided to go ahead with an evening with fewer courses and the locals who could get to our home would come, and we would have another dinner in the spring for the whole complement of guests. People from Brooklyn who had bid on it and Lyndon and Jane from New Jersey could not get there. In an effort to be amusing I hung a sign on the door “Dinner without the Maestro” I had no idea what a bad joke it would turn out to be.
     In the final days of his life I visited Lyndon in the hospital. He was breathing with difficulty, with the aid of oxygen, sleeping a lot, and when awake struggling to speak. I told him that we had just returned from Vermont on vacation and alert for the moment, he asked how it was. We had gone to a concert at the Marlboro Music Festival. During the intermission someone had approached the woman sitting next to us and asked if she wanted to join the pick up chorus for the performance of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy which was to be performed the next week. I asked about it, knowing that we couldn’t be there to participate the following weekend. The first rehearsal was to take place an hour after the concert. Terry and I picked up scores and sang the rehearsal. As I told the story to Lyndon he smiled and then went back to sleep
     A few evenings later just after dinner with most of the people that had formed the core of our summer weekend group and our New Years Eve group and our Dinner with the Maestro group, I got the phone call from Kim that Lyndon had died. It is strange for me who has rarely cried as an adult to find myself walking down the street in tears. My maestro and my friend I miss you.
Charley Tolk
More rehearsal comments

Lyndon, describing 3 Requiems:
     "With the Verdi, you can feel the flames of hell licking your feet.
     With Mozart, you have a hope of heaven.
     With Faure, you're already there. 
Joyce Budinski Hawkins and Alfreda Haaland (discussed at the Memorial Service).

Another, during a Bach rehearsal:
     "When the angels play for God, they play Bach. When they play for themselves, they play Mozart, but God secretly listens."
Joyce Budinski Hawkins
A word from the other side of the stage

As a 'chorus spouse' I too have known Lyndon for 25 years, since my husband joined OS for the 80-81 season.  For many years I only knew his back and the top of his head when he 
turned around to take his well-earned bows. Then we started to go on some of the summer trips with OS. I got to know Lyndon's wonderful (and wonderfully dry and sarcastic) sense of humor and began to look forward to the raised eyebrow and the gleam in his eyes as he anticipated one of my stories or began to tell one of his own. I will miss that twinkle in his eye and I will miss his back.
Diane Meltzer
Richard Pace shared the following at the September 10 Memorial Service

     I am Richard Pace. I’m the president of the Oratorio Society of New York. Lyndon Woodside devoted 42 years to the Society, serving as our Music Director for the last 32 years.
     I am honored to share with you some of my recollections of Lyndon as a musician and conductor, as a friend and musical mentor. 
     I first met Lyndon in the fall of 1968. I had just joined the Oratorio Society of New York and Lyndon was assistant conductor and rehearsal accompanist. Some time later that year, he asked me to join the Tenor section of the Park Avenue Methodist Church Choir. It was through that affiliation that I met my wife, Lois, to whom I have been happily married for the last 35 years. 
     Lyndon also asked me if I were able to join a performance of the Verdi Requiem that he was conducting with his Westchester Chorus. These opportunities arose, as most singers will know, because I sang tenor, and you always need another tenor. 
     I think the Verdi was probably at the time, the largest musical force which Lyndon had commanded, and I recall his looking at the array of strings and woodwinds, brass and percussion and saying, more to himself than to me:
“I can do this.”
     In 1971, Lois and I moved to Boston and after a series of other relocations we found ourselves on Roosevelt Island in 1976 where we have lived ever since. At that time I was working at Irving Trust Company and attended, as a matter of duty, the obligatory annual officers dinner, a truly stuffy affair. So, I was very pleased that year to find I was seated next to someone who had an interest in music, and somehow in the course of the evening, the topic of the Oratorio Society came up. By coincidence, his wife sang with the Society and he told me news that I had not yet heard, which was that Lyndon Woodside had been appointed music director. I rejoined the Society that Thursday and have been a member ever since. 
     Over the years, I witnessed Lyndon’s tremendous growth as a conductor. Happily for the Oratorio Society he took us along for the ride, and performances took on a freshness and new excitement. Even in approaching the Messiah that we rehearsed at the beginning of each season, he would always have ideas for a renewed approach. He was always well prepared, having spent hours with score, outlining his rehearsal approach and musical direction. A few years ago, when we had a significant number of items of business to discuss, I asked Lyndon if he would like to meet for dinner before our rehearsal. He thanked me for the invitation, but told me that before rehearsal he was much too focused on what he was going to do in that session to begin to try to concentrate on other topics. 
     As a friend, I found that besides the love of music, we shared some other things in common. A love of good food, and a love of humor, all humor, good and bad. 
     Traveling in Italy with Lyndon and Jane, I recall walking in the small spa town of Albano Therme and seeing his eyes light up and lock onto a sign ahead on the promenade and he announced with the greatest of fervor “Gelati!”. Of course, conducting, which is an extraordinary physical workout, would leave him ravenously hungry, and he came to know that the Paces always had food squirreled away when traveling. 
     His love of humor was legendary, and it was a rare rehearsal at which he did not share at least one story or anecdote with the chorus to illustrate a musical point. But at the rehearsal break, when we had a few minutes to deal with whatever administrivia needed to be handled, I could see by the smile on his face, and the gleam in his eye as I approached the piano, that Lyndon has heard a new joke and needs to tell it. 
     As a musical mentor, he was unparalleled; there was no topic on which he was not conversant. There was no musician or composer of any importance whose work he did not know, and have an opinion about. For one of my birthdays, he and Lois conspired to get me a full edition of the Groves Dictionary of music, and when they gave it to me, he described to me how he could get lost for hours following the trail from one article to another to another. 
     I have much to be grateful for. I am grateful for Lyndon’s strong musical leadership of the Oratorio Society for over three decades, for the music that he brought into my life, all of our lives, that made it richer, by far, and for the wonderful friendship that we shared. He will be missed.
Richard Pace
From Tenor Roberta Hershenson:  This is the piece that was published in the New York Times on Aug. 28 in my column Footlights.  (Westchester edition)

     Lyndon Woodside, the longtime music director of the Westchester Choral Society, who died of pneumonia Tuesday at age 70, was remembered last week as a distinctive chorus leader who mixed wit and erudition with discipline and playfulness.
     "I found that besides his enormous musical knowledge, his stories about conducting different orchestras and singers on his trips to Europe and China were always fascinating and full of fun," said Numa Rousseve, the chorus president, who began singing with Mr. Woodside in 1975. "Sometimes he made you laugh, and sometimes he made you feel a sense of awe."
     Mr. Woodside, whose combed-back white hair and piercing blue eyes lent him a commanding presence on stages from Carnegie Hall to the Rudolfinum in Prague, recently completed his 38th season with the choral society, and had been scheduled to lead a summer sing in the county earlier this month. He became ill last month on a trip to Peru, where he was arranging a concert for the Oratorio Society of New York in Manhattan, which he led for 32 years. Other positions he held at his death were music director of Temple Emanu-El of Southern Westchester in Yonkers, where he worked for 35 years, 
and organist and choir director at the Park Avenue United Methodist Church in Manhattan.
     Mr. Rousseve recalled Mr. Woodside's constant and sometimes peeved command: "Look at me!" which he directed at singers who failed to follow his rhythms and cues. One of Mr. Woodside's favorite anecdotes concerned a snowstorm after a concert in which he provided jumper cables to help start a chorus member's car. Grateful, the singer looked at the conductor, who was bundled up in his scarf and hat, and asked, "And who might you be?" If he had been watching during the performance, Mr. Woodside wryly remarked, 
he would have known.
     David Baranowski, the choral society's accompanist, will conduct the group when it resumes rehearsals next month, Mr. Rousseve said. Candidates for the job of music director will be interviewed in the fall, he said.
     A memorial service for Mr. Woodside will be held on Sept. 10 at 2 p.m. at the Park Avenue church, Park Avenue and 86th Street. 
(By Roberta Hershenson)
From David Britton
Professor of Voice - Arizona State University, and Nine time OSNY tenor soloist

     Once, in the middle of a Messiah performance at Carnegie Hall (and some of the older members might remember this event), Lyndon started to take his handkerchief out of his tails' jacket to mop his brow forgetting that he'd stored some breath mints there. Well, about a dozen of them exploded out of his pocket and onto his music stand and onto the  mezzo and yours truly. This was one of those rare ‘live show’ moments one doesn't readily forget in concert. Unperturbed, he put one of the mints in his mouth, gently mopped his brow, coolly picked up the baton and carried on in heroic fashion!
     Lyndon was such a good soul who would truly believe in young singers. He’d get behind them and take the risk conductors usually do when hiring an unknown. For my part, my first reviews in NY (30 years ago!) came from his concerts at Carnegie Hall and from subsequent performances we shared with OSNY. 
     In all sincerity and with affection I will most of all, remember his loyalty.

 

     Jane Woodside has expressed her appreciation to all that have called and written. She asked that instead of flowers, that money be donated to either the newly established Lyndon Woodside fund at Park Avenue Methodist Church, or to the Oratorio Society in his memory.
     Donations to the Oratorio Society may be mailed to the following address.  Please include a note that your donation is "In Memory of Lyndon Woodside."
          Oratorio Society of New York
          Carnegie Hall
          881 Seventh Avenue – Suite 1204
          New York, NY  10019-3321
     The mailing address for the Park Avenue Methodist Church is 106 East 86th Street, New York, NY 10028.

     This collection of stories and remembrances was started at the request of Curtis Woodside, Lyndon's son.  It seems that all those wonderful anecdotes that kept us so entertained at rehearsal didn't always get told at home as well!  If you have a story you'd like to share, either one you remember from rehearsal, or a personal "Lyndon Story" of your own, please send it to Liz Simpson at ChorusNews@oratoriosocietyofny.org.