Julie, my son-in-law (very successful DJ/KJ) just lost an entire PA/DJ rig in a pub burglary Saturday night. I'm fear that the realities of the sociology and economy of this era in the states will only make things worse to come. My condolences.

St. Anthony, pray for us. St. Cecilia, pray for us.

I'm sorry for the frustration of your loss, Julie. And to have to go to Mass after finding that. It's tough to let the Mass be a consolation rather than a reminder that you are having uncharitable thoughts. (Edit: not that I am assuming you had the latter.)

Thanks so much for the consolation and hugs! I appreciate it very much. Yes, I was indeed having some unprintable thoughts on the way to church, but my husband said, "Let's pray for the burglar," so we did even with a lot of interior grumbling on my part. My kids said maybe he/she will read the books about Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict which were in my husband's bag and convert and then become a church musician. We can only hope, but I think our books are more likely sitting in the land fill.

Finding new resources and repertoire isn't a totally bad thing. I just miss most the scores that I worked so hard on with all the notes from my organ teacher who is now deceased.

There are certainly worse things in life, though---on Saturday a neighbor drove up whom we hadn't seen in months and told me of her year from hell dealing with her teenage son's battle with cancer. He was diagnosed last year on Memorial Day and has spent months at Sloan Kettering. He's now in remission, thank God, but it was a very narrow escape. He is a violin virtuoso and a Latin scholar and got a near perfect score on the SAT while undergoing chemotherapy. She showed me a video of him playing his violin recital at Julliard last week. He has lost part of his hearing but he performed with extreme artistry and incredible pathos and sweetness. Just amazing. So we were a bit shaken up by that. It's been quite a Pentecost weekend.

I'm so very sorry to here about this. Many, many years ago when I was moving west I had my car broken into. I lost 300+ very rare CD's a lot of which are out of print, and completely unattainable now, and I lost my wonderful Conrad Johnson MF-200 amp which was pure music. I felt so emptied of so much music that I loved to listen to but I gave it back to God for the sake of holiness.
Well, 25ish years later, I have replaced the music, and the speakers, and the amps and everything else (thank Our Lord they didn't get my rare sheet music {as you say, thieves aren't interested in true value}), and I'm a better person to know that....... God giveth, and God taketh away. Blessed be God.
You have my prayers.

Very sorry to hear of this. Culture is so fragile.

'Culture is so fragile.'

'How easily it is destroyed.'

Lord of the Flies!

My car was broken into some years ago and my briefcase was stolen. All it had was organ music in it. But in particular I had a score that Madame Durufle had written in annotations and had signed the score as I had taken a masterclass with her. Worthless to anyone except me. I still am sad about that when I play the piece....

Yes, culture is fragile.

Sorry to hear about that. I always keep my music either at home or locked in my music closet in the church because I'm a very untrusting person and I always think someone's going to snatch my stuff (people will even take pencils from the organ -- only the mechanical ones disappear though). Even if someone doesn't snatch it, people have a way of being careless with others stuff.

In regard to your loss, is there a way of knowing exactly what you had? I'm fairly certain I have duplicates of some music. If I have two of something, I'd be willing to let you have the duplicates, although I can't recall exactly what I have at the moment. It's not much, but maybe it could help you get started again. IMSLP is certainly a good resource, but it's not the same as having a book in my opinion.

I'm sorry to hear about this theft. Music can be hard to replace--who knows what's still in print!

Julie, were the accompaniments by Henri Potiron? I believe they are available for free download from CCWatershed. (They are the old books set up for the EF, which I think is fine for you!)

I wish I could help more, but I don't have duplicates (as far as I know) of anything. I'll see what I have.

Let me offer some advice, having been in that situation twice:

Look around the area. Dumpsters, yards, businesses. Someone probably grabbed the bag, thinking it could have a laptop, then looked through it and dumped it. It's likely lying in an alley somewhere. Maybe put up a Craigslist post, too?

Once I had my car broken into, and thankfully the thieves rummaged through the bag and saw there was nothing to interest them. The second time, a friend and I left our bags in the car, which got a smash-n-grab, taking both of our music-laden bags - and my friend had a recital coming up in two days!!

Thankfully, I had left some pay stubs in my bag, and I got a call the next Monday from a legal firm which had found my bag and the stubs, then called my place of employment to return the bags to me. Funny thing is that the thieves stole a $20 phone charger - and left the $500 worth of music alone!

Many of prayer of mine are in store for you !

One lesson is : hold your family close and hold your belonging's closer ... For, people out there are the capability to be bad
Ph

Y'all are the most kind-hearted folks in the world! Thanks so much for the offer. The thing is that I've realized I don't use most of the books that I lost since I only have a keyboard now. I've been toting those books around in the vain hope that someday I'll play a real organ again, but by that time that happens I'll probably be too old and rickety to play it. : )

The church will reimburse me to replace my music so I've been looking for some good repertoire books. Any favorite collections you can suggest for preludes, postludes and interludes (manual only) suitable for the EF? (I'm partial to the Baroque end of things.)

Feast of St Anthony of Padua today, 13th June. Little reminder to St Anthony here: can you help Julie to recover her organ music, please? Thank you.

« O God, make thy Church to be glad at the solemn memorial of thy blessed Confessor and Doctor Anthony, causing her ever to be strong through thy ghostly succour, and fitting her to relish blessedness at thy right hand for evermore. »

Patronage of St Anthony: (Wikipedia)
American Indians; amputees; animals; barrenness; Brazil; elderly people; faith in the Blessed Sacrament; fishermen; Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land; harvests; horses; lost articles; lower animals; mail; mariners; oppressed people; poor people; Portugal; pregnant women; seekers of lost articles; shipwrecks; starvation; sterility; swineherds; Tigua Indians; travel hostesses; travellers; Watermen.

« The reason St. Anthony's help is invoked for finding things lost or stolen is traced to an incident that occurred in Bologna. According to the story, Anthony had a book of psalms that was of some importance to him as it contained the notes and comments he had made to use in teaching his students. A novice who had decided to leave took the psalter with him. Prior to the invention of the printing press, any book was an item of value. Upon noticing it was missing, Anthony prayed it would be found or returned. The thief was moved to restore the book to Anthony and return to the Order. The stolen book is said to be preserved in the Franciscan friary in Bologna. »

swineherds

St. Anthony, St. Anthony,
herd them swine
Who absconded with stuff
that is rightfully mine.

lower animals

St. Anthony, St Anthony
whip the brute
Who plundered my car
for some musical loot.

travel hostesses

Stewardess, stewardess,
Come around
Need five more gins
before we hit the ground