Handel teaches music classes
By JACKI CAMPBELL
Students in two of KU's fine arts classes are studying in the midst of Handel and Mendelsohn.
Judith Mendelsohn, Prairie Village freshman, has been in two courses taught by Darrell Handel this semester.
The Handel and Mendelssohn of a few centuries ago were also interested in music. Remember "Handel's Messiah" or the music to Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream?"
"Since Handel never married and never had any children, I doubt if I'm an actual descendant of his," the KU instructor said laughingly, "but we've never actually checked into it so I couldn't say for sure."
MISS MENDELSOH, however, is a direct descendant of Felix Mendelssohn, the famous composer.
"He was my great, great, great grandfather," Miss Mendelsohn said. "When they came over from Germany they dropped one 's.'"
When Miss Mendelsohn enrolled and found that she was to have an instructor named Handel she was surprised.
"The dean (Thomas Gorton, dean of the school of fine arts), thought it was so funny he took me to another desk and told them about it."
HANDEL SAID he laughed when he learned he was to teach Mendelsohn. "I'm only sorry I'm not Bach," he told Dean Gorton. "We study mostly Bach in those classes."
Handel teaches Miss Mendelsohn in harmony, and dictations and sight-reading classes.
"I never have joked about it in class," Handel said. "But I guess the kids in the back of the class and out in the hall do."
Miss Mendelsohn remembers he "sort of smirked" when he called the roll the first time.
KU'S HANDEL resembles the famous composer in name and occupation only.
The composer "played the clavichord in the attic of his home because of his father's disapproval of music," J. Merrill Knapp said in the introduction of a Handel biography.
"My parents never minded," KU's Handel said. "I practiced in the kitchen."
KU's Handel played the jazz saxophone while attending the University of the Pacific.
He was in a five or six piece combo which played for fraternity and sorority dances. He also led a dance band.
"Our only real connection," KU's Handel said, "is that I am German and so was he."
A MENDELSSOHN biography by Heinrich Edvard Jacob and translated from the German by Richard and Clara Watson said, "Felix Mendelssohn was drawn to Handel. Perhaps the texts of Handel oratorios correspond more closely with his spirit. The Old Testament wrathfulness of the London composer influenced his own major works, the 'Paul' and the 'Elijah.'"
Short term student loans are the only financial aid available to students for the spring semester.
Dana Stevens, associate director of the Office of Aids and Awards, said all National Defense Loan funds have been used for the current year and that new scholarships are not awarded for the spring semester.
A STUDENT MAY borrow up to $300 on a short-term basis, with an interest rate of four per cent per annum. The loan fund is established on a monthly basis.
"More funds have been budgeted for February because of tuition and book fees," Stevers said. "The best time to corre to the office, if you want the money that day, is 9 a.m. In most cases, students should allow an extra day, however."
The office (room 26 Strong Hall) is open till noon on Saturdays.
Short term student loans only spring financial aid
REPEAT
HOLLYWOOD—(UPI)—Craig Stevens will repeat his title role of "Peter Gunn" in the movie version of the television show.
Daily Kansan 7
Friday, January 20,1967
"Things have tightened up because of increased enrollment. We look more closely at grade
point average and financial need. Loans of convenience are pretty well out of the picture now," Stevens said.