Hi
Folks,
I am teaching a class on sacred classical
music at my local church. One of the items which has proven popular each week
is sharing a few anecdotes and trivia about the composers. I am currently preparing
for my class on Anton Bruckner. To make a long story short, I came across this
website with trivia about famous musicians.
http://theclassicalstation.org/trivia/8.shtml
They list the following for our hero Glenn
Gould:
GOULD, GLENN
There's some truth to the proverb that the only difference between someone
who's weird and someone who's eccentric is talent and/or wealth - if you're not
talented or rich, you're just weird. Prepare to meet one of the most eccentric
performers ever to hit it big.
- Gould was Canadian (he was born - and died - in Toronto).
- Because of his precocious musical ability, he
enrolled at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto
when he was only 10 - and graduated 3 years later!
- Early in his teens, he developed a playing posture
which would horrify any parent: he would bring his head down almost to the
level of the keys while he played. This would become a lifelong habit.
- Wanna know why he recorded so much Bach? He recorded
a lot of Bach because of linear compositional techniques, a hallmark of
the Baroque era, and perfected by Bach.
- He made his U.S.
debut in Washington, DC on January 2,
1955 and was highly praised by critics and public alike.
- If you were lucky enough to see Gould perform, you
might have noticed one or all of the following: he sat in a chair only 14
inches high (which put his eyes at keyboard level); he kept a glass of
distilled water on the floor near the chair; the piano itself rested on a
rug (no matter what the setting).
- Fear of injuring his hands (his way of making music
and, therefore, money) led him to abandon the practice of shaking hands -
even with the conductor after a performance!
- Listen to Gould recordings for any length of time and
you're likely to hear another instrument, in addition to the piano: his
humming! He developed the habit of humming or singing along and made
little attempt to stop it even when recording. This one trait alone serves
as a wedge which divides piano music lovers into "love Gould" or
"hate Gould" camps.
- In 1962, at the age of 30 and arguably at the height
of his popularity, Gould suddenly withdrew from the concert stage and
limited himself to the recording studio for it was there, with editing and
playback at his command, that he could make "perfect"
recordings. (Again, his definition of perfection must have included
humming.)
- Perhaps not surprisingly, Gould never married and
lived much of his life as a recluse, rarely granting interviews. He did,
however, grant an interview to himself that served as liner notes to one
of his releases. (For those of you who are familiar with the breakup of
the Beatles, who also suddenly stopped public concerts in order to devote
themselves to the recording studio, this self-interview foreshadows Paul
McCartney's interview on his debut solo album!)
- Gould developed an addiction to pain-killers and he
was also a chain-smoker.
- He died at the age of 50. His life, career and
astonishing range of "eccentricities" were the subject of the
motion picture 32 Short Films About
Glenn Gould. The title itself was an inside joke - the 32
"films" were the individual sections of Bach's Goldberg
Variations, a work which gained Gould early recording fame.
Was Glenn Gould really a chain smoker ?!?
I never, ever remembered reading this anywhere. I know Leonard Bernstein was a
serious smoker, but I am shocked to read this about Glenn Gould. Does anyone
know if this is true or not?
Eric Cline
Reichhold
Sr. R & D Synthesis Chemist
P.O. Box 13582
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
USA
Office Phone: +1 919 990 8116
Fax:
+1 919 767 8506
E-mail:
eric.cline@reichhold.com
-----Original Message-----
From: F_Minor
[mailto:F_MINOR@EMAIL.RUTGERS.EDU] On Behalf
Of Maurice lussier
Sent: Sunday, October
23, 2005 7:47 AM
To: F_MINOR@EMAIL.RUTGERS.EDU
Subject: [F_MINOR] Glen's low seat
Does anyone know od any evidence as
to why Glen sat so low? I am most interested in facts as opposed to
opinions. thanks!
Maurice
**************************************************
Signoff
instructions, and user preference interface
F_minor Website
**************************************************