Peter Sparling: In Memory of Shirley Verrett

November 2010

Peter Sparling, professor of dance, spending fall semester in Paris at the Cité Internationale des Arts, heard about the passing of Shirley Verrett on November 5, and subsequently received a clip of Ms. Verrett singing “When I am laid in earth” from Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas. “Thank you for sending that beautiful, heartbreaking recording of Shirley,” he wrote Lydia Qiu. “I am in Paris, so cannot attend her memorial. But I'll be there in spirit. I made a video this morning in my apartment as a tribute.” Watch and listen here.