Mark Golbach
John Barker
For more than two decades, John W. Barker attended and reviewed classical concerts for Isthmus. The retired medieval history professor had an encyclopedic knowledge of music and provided a wealth of context. He cared deeply about the Madison music scene, and held performers and ensembles to high standards. According to his widow, Margaret Barker, John was still thinking about how to share his knowledge with the public right until he passed away on Oct. 24.
“His mind was active right up to the end,” Margaret writes in an email to friends and colleagues of her husband. “About 12 hours before he died he was concerned about his promise to show a film here at Capitol Lakes about the Venetian Ghetto and so he dictated his comments about it to me so that I can say his words and thoughts for him at the showing. And he advised me to listen to Bruckner’s 6th symphony while thinking about Gothic architecture.”
In September, I was deeply moved while attending a concert dedicated to John at Capitol Lakes, where the Middleton Community Orchestra honored his work by dedicating their fall season to him. I wrote about it for an Isthmus Snapshot.
John will be missed at Isthmus and at the concerts he loved attending.
Read many of John's Isthmus reviews here.
