I met Claude in 1960 for a lesson when my teacher went on tour.  Among the whole "fleet" of NY piano teachers he stimulated me to practice most effectively.  I played for him again in 1964 with an even more dramatic result.  We had numerous friendly interactions as colleagues at Yale, but perhaps the most charming one occurred when I played the Diabelli Variations.  Claude had never heard me play in public and he expressed his congratulations in a delightful way. When I told him he hadn't heard me in 40 years he said "You've improved".  Of all the great performing artists - he made really fine music-making seem within reach to ordinary mortals although it turned out to be a little harder than all that...
A precious performer and engagingly unsentimental human.

I met Mr. Frank at Yale when I was 20 years old, but he was already a living legend. 

Over the next few years, I developed what one might call an idolatrous obsession with his philosophy of beauty in art - one that I've never been able to shake, and one that I'll take with me forever. I ended up following him everywhere I could; all over the world, in fact, to the dozens of places he continued to inspire people like me. For a Filipino punk who had barely left California his whole life, this was eye-opening. 

For those who really knew Mr. Frank, we all know that "moment" we first cried in his presence; that moment he touched the piano to demonstrate and took the sublime and the divine and the vulnerably beautiful, viscerally intersected them all and brought us to another place. He was nothing less than a hero, a human paradigm, and a gift to the world.

Rest in peace.

Gone but will not be forgotten, as he R.I.P may you find comfort in memories shared together, prayers and hope in the father of tender mercies and the love and support oaf all

From his playing, it is clear that Claude Frank knew Mozart and Beethoven personally and paid them many visits.

Frank E. Campbell - The Funeral Chapel

Claude Frank

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Claude Frank

24 December, 1925 – 27 December, 2014

Frank E. Campbell - The Funeral Chapel

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