{"value"=>"<p>Leopold Stokowski was a conductor and composer, born in 1882 in London. Between 1905 and 1908 he was the choir director and lead organist at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in New York City. There he became acquainted with Mary Pearsall Field. They developed a friendship that lasted many years and Stokowski was a frequent visitor at Mary's home in Mohegan Lake, N.Y.</p> <p>Stokowski's letters to Mary relate his early struggle in America and his success as the conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 1909.</p>"}