Temple Painter, musician

Temple Painter, 83, who earned the moniker "Mr. Harpsichord of Philadelphia" for his performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, died Saturday, Aug. 6, at Hahnemann Hospital of cancer-related illness.

"He was a kind, gentle person with a tremendous musical gift," said his longtime friend and colleague, the composer Harold Boatrite. "He would play a concerto with one group and get in a cab to the next venue to play a different concerto with another group."

During the 1960s and '70s, Mr. Painter's repertoire included 30 concertos and countless solo works, often improvising in Baroque-era works in which the keyboard sections - the foundations of the piece - were not written down.

When he did write down his own "realizations" of pieces - as they are called - he readily shared them with other harpsichordists, said Davyd Booth, now the Philadelphia Orchestra's regular harpsichordist. "I still use one of his realizations for one of Vivaldi's Four Seasons," said Booth. "He was always happy to share everything he knew."

Mr. Painter made several recordings, including Handel's Roman Vespers with the Philadelphia Singers for RCA. He also navigated reputedly difficult conductors with surprising ease. During rehearsals with the New York Philharmonic, the notoriously thorny Hermann Scherchen fired his organist for a Bach cantata program and hired Mr. Painter on the strength of his reputation as a player who brought harpsichord precision to his organ playing.

Stepping into the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy was full of challenges, mainly because the regular players knew to come in behind the conductor's beat and newcomers might not.

Boatrite compared Ormandy's style to that of a baseball pitcher: "He pitched the beat and they came in behind." Mr. Painter, who performed with the orchestra on an as-needed basis, adapted.

Born in Pulaski, Va., in 1933, Mr. Painter came to Philadelphia to attend the Curtis Institute of Music, graduating in 1956. From there, he developed a series of lasting professional relationships, the longest being a 45-year tenure, until 2002, as organist at Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Elkins Park.

Close behind that was his 40-year association with Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, then called the Concerto Soloists, which specialized in Baroque music under founder/director Marc Mostovoy. Unlike current harpsichordists, who play smaller, more demure replicas of 18th-century instruments, Mr. Painter preferred a modern hybrid, which was more readily heard in modern concert halls.

"We loved it," said Mostovoy, "because when he played concertos, we could hear him."

Besides playing baroque repertoire, Mr. Painter premiered and championed Boatrite, commissioning his Harpsichord Concerto. He was associate professor of music at Haverford College from 1969 to 1982, and lectured on music at Immaculata University and Temple University. He held an honorary doctorate from Combs College of Music. Among his several recordings, the best known is Temple Painter - Harpsichord Recital, released on the Artia-Parliament label in 1962.

Mr. Painter wound down his activities in recent years, playing his last performance in 2004 with Chamber Orchestra. At the time of his death, he had been working on a recording of the Bach Sinfonias and Inventions that Boatrite said was left unfinished.

Mr. Painter is survived by friends and extended family.

A Latin Requiem Memorial Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 19, at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, Logan Square.

dstearns@phillynews.com.