The Assignment

November 17th, 1997

I am sitting in the Juilliard School of Music Library at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, waiting for archival material on Anna Schoen-René, who taught at the school from 1925 to 1942, when it was uptown at 130 Claremont Avenue—where the Manhattan School of Music is now.

The head librarian brings me a file folder and places it on the table before me. I lean forward, open it, and see that it contains one sheet of paper—a typewritten order of events for the memorial service for Anna E. Schoen-René. I also see that Margaret Harshaw, who had won the Metropolitan Opera’s Auditions on the Air in 1942, sang Mendelssohn’s ‘Oh, Rest in the Lord.’

Then, I see the date at the top of the page. 

November 17th, 1942

I caught and held my breath, realizing Schoen-René’s memorial service took place fifty-five years earlier—to the day. At that moment, I felt an unseen presence behind me, leaning over and whispering in my right ear. 

This is your assignment.