[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 15926]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         PASSING OF MAX METZGER

 Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. President, I wish today to recognize the 
passing of my friend Max Metzger this past Saturday morning. As we 
grieve the loss for his family, the citizens of St. Paul are grateful 
for the music he brought to them. As the former mayor of St. Paul, I 
had the opportunity to become acquainted with Max and was touched by 
the love of music he brought to our community.
  To say Max was an icon in the St. Paul Music scene would be an 
understatement. For 56 summers he brought music to thousands of 
Minnesotans, conducting pops concerts at the Como Lakeside Pavilion. He 
was a gifted musician, director, and entertainer. He was a kind and 
gentle man with a great sense of humor, a love for his city, and 
passionately devoted to his wife Nell.
  Max Metzger was born in Germany in 1922, and his family emigrated to 
the United States in 1931. His mother was Mady Metzger-Zeigler, an 
internationally renowned mezzo-soprano who founded the St. Paul Opera 
Workshop. Max was involved in the Workshop for several decades, before 
taking it over upon his mother's death in 1979.
  Yet while Max clearly loved music and had a high aptitude for 
producing and performing, he had not inherited his mother's beautiful 
voice. In fact, his mother made Max promise never to sing or she would 
disown him.
  So Max found other outlets for his musicality. He started to play the 
bassoon at a young age. He played with the St. Paul Civic Opera 
Workshop, directed the Civic Opera orchestra, and played with a 
symphony orchestra in Duluth.
  Max Metzger personified the thriving arts culture in St. Paul for 
decades, touching innumerable lives. In fact, in appreciation of his 
amazing deeds and accomplishments, the City of St. Paul dedicated a 
street in his name in beautiful Como Park. The Nobel Prize winning poet 
T.S. Eliot once said that ``you are the music while the music lasts.''
  Mr. President, the music will last in the hearts and minds of 
countless Minnesotans, thanks to Mr. Max Metzger.

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