“Michael Jaffee, who with his wife, Kay Jaffee, founded the Waverly Consort, which specialized in performing music from medieval and Renaissance times and helped fuel a surge of interest in early music over the last half century, died on June 15 in Patterson, N.Y.,” writes Neil Genzlinger in Sunday’s (6/23) New York Times. “He was 81…. The consort, with Mr. Jaffee directing, would don period clothing to perform music from the 10th to the 17th centuries…. The consort’s success, which included television appearances as well as recordings and concerts, encouraged a proliferation of groups devoted to excavating and bringing to life music from before the Baroque period…. Rosamund Morley, a viola da gamba player who was a member of the consort for years, wrote in a tribute on the website of Early Music America, an umbrella organization Mr. Jaffee helped found, … ‘They gave a start to so many young singers and instrumentalists who are now stars in the historical performance movement.’ The group retired several years ago. Michael Jaffee … received a bachelor’s degree at N.Y.U. in 1959 and a master’s in musicology there in 1961…. Mr. Jaffee is survived by his wife and a sister, Claire Jaffee Speciner.”
Posted June 28, 2019
