The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: Here is an entertaining story about the American GI rifleman who fiddled for Josef Stalin, Harry Truman and Winston Churchill at Potsdam.

By Jacob Stockinger

Nothing big today.

Or important.

Just a good old entertaining story about Stuart Canin (below), the American GI rifleman who suddenly got called on to play his violin for Josef Stalin, Harry Truman and Winston Churchill (below bottom) at the Potsdam conference right after the Allies’ defeat of Hitler‘s Nazi Germany during World War II.

More proof that you just never know when playing an instrument — or singing, for that matter — will come in handy.

This is the story as it was reported on NPR or National Public Radio:

http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2015/07/17/423548728/the-rifleman-who-fiddled-for-truman-churchill-and-stalin