the last book I ever read (Black Deutschland by Darryl Pinckney, excerpt seven)

from Black Deutschland: A Novel by Darryl Pinckney:

Cello said in German that when Peter Serkin’s father, Rudolf Serkin, made his debut in 1921, he played the fifth Brandenburg. He then asked Adolf Busch what he should play as an encore. The Goldberg Variations, the violinist who would be his father-in-law said. “So Serkin did. All thirty. Busch had been joking. When Serkin finished, six people were left in the hall Adolf and Frieda Busch and Mr. and Mrs. Artur Schnabel and Mr. and Mrs. Albert Einstein.”