Sir, – Frank McNally records that the composer Sir Arnold Bax died suddenly, visiting friends in Cork in 1953 (“Was Gustav Holst German or English? Frank McNally on ethnic confusion”, An Irishman’s Diary, August 5th).
One evening in the 1970s, I was a guest at the home of Aloys Fleischmann, a professor of music at University College Cork, and his wife, Anne.
Mrs Fleischmann told me that Bax stayed with them frequently as, for many years, he was the external examiner for the university’s music department. She added in passing – somewhat to my discomfort – that he had died in the chair on which I was sitting. – Yours, etc,
LINDSAY ARMSTRONG,
READ MORE
Ranelagh,
Dublin 6.
