Some time ago, a German television station ran a programme on Gozo with two opera houses just hundreds of metres away from each other, each putting up a complete opera on two nights each year.

Towards the end, the documentary interviewed Maestro Joseph Vella, who died suddenly on Sunday night, and another maestro. As they were leaving each other, at a crossroads in Gozo (perhaps Marsalforn) they spoke about taking out the boat and going fishing.

This simple episode describes the humanity, and the humility of the musical giant who has departed for the great symphonic concert in the heavens.

Maestro Vella carried his musical brilliance under a bushel.

His nimble mind churned out music in all forms at all times. Naturally, being from the St George parish in Victoria, a sizeable part of his directing skills was spent in the church, especially around the feast, and in the La Stella Band Club. The baroque tone of many of his works fit in wonderfully with the baroque trappings of that church especially at festa time.

But then he branched out to various forms of music from Masses to concertos to operas. On Saturday, as he was opening an exhibition of his works, he revealed he had completed two acts of his new opera. Curiously, he never composed a Missa da Requiem.

His fame and musical skill crossed over from Gozo to Malta and beyond. He directed orchestras in many parts of the world. And kept composing – his fountain never ran dry and his inventiveness was inexhaustible.

And yet he carried his scholarship lightly – he could converse with anybody with no superiority complex at all. For the people of Rabat he was always Joe or Il-Profs to musicians. He had, his family said, the innocence of a small boy. And he worked hard, very hard, till the very last day of his life.

He could be directing an opera and then switch to something inconsequential, as long as it had music in it.

More than the honours bestowed on him, it will be the people who will throng to his funeral in grateful recognition of the music he has left to posterity that will show that people of all classes recognized in him a humble genius.