Re: Gould-cult...

[Glenn Gould <glenngould@beethoven.com>]

Dear Miss Clunies-Ross,

Your e-mail even made me blush, with smiles of course.

Ta'ra



--------

 Well; "sexuality" is certainly a topic I never thought I would see
discussed  on F-minor! And I have hesitated quite a bit before replying.
Maybe (some  may think) I should have hesitated permanently, and not leapt
in with my  comments at all, but this topic does raise again the vexed
question of what  is, and is not, suitable to discuss on F-minor. I think
that the archives  might  show that along with Asperger's Syndrome  (No! I
am not going down  _that_  path again, so dont worry) this is the topic that
rouses wrath  between subscribers more than any other.

 Firstly, I would like to say that I agree with Anne Marble that any aspect
 of Glenn Gould's life and work and personality are valid subjects for
 discussion. Of course the music takes priority; but he himself
once>referred  to himself  I believe as  "a musician who happens to play the
piano" and he  also considered the Solitude Trilogy to represent some of his
most important  work, even if critics did not agree. And it is well known
that by 1982 he  was seriously considering giving up playing the piano
altogether and  devoting himself to composition and conducting. So if  death
had not claimed  him so prematurely, and he was still alive today, how would
we think of him  now? OK, still as a musician, but probably not as a pianist
so  much....presumably  just as as Glenn Gould, conductor/composer...maybe
even,  (since Canadians can accept knighthoods, I understand) as Sir Glenn;
he'd  probably love that, seeing as how when he wrote to Yehudi Menuhin
 congratulating him in _his_ knighthood, he said his nose had  been
seriously  put out-of-joint!....But I digress, and those of you who do not
admit there  might occasionally be room for a bit of whimsy in F-minor are
no doubt  beginning to growl and mutter.

 But: Gould's "sexuality" a subject to be discussed? Wow!  But hang on a
 moment; as far as I can see, nobody  _has_  tried to discuss his sexuality,
 even if a case could be made for such a discussion to be considered as
 important from the point of view of understanding his psychological
make-up.  We simply do not have enough knowlege of the subject to fuel such
a  discussion, thanks to his perfectly reasonable wish to maintain complete
 silence with regard to his private life. For those that  _are_ interested,
 guess the most that we can honestly be said to know  is that he was
 heterosexual, had short relationships with women but never formed a deep or
 longlasting emotional involvement of this type; and that  he  - or so it
 appears to me - never felt  this to be essential or regarded  the lack of
 this type of relationship as something to be regretted. His 'aloneness' was
 certainly important for his creativity ( everything that he said about the
 idea of solitude confirms this) but this of course has nothing to do with
 his personal relationships, or lack of them.

 No, what has probably surprised some F-minoreans is the idea that some
 admirers might themselves find Glenn Gould attractive! But surely there is
 occasionally room on this list for a little fantasy,  and humour, along
with  the serious stuff? We are all human, and so was Gould, no matter how
 stunning and far above the common run of mankind his awesome talents were.

 Anyway, its hardly surprising that he should inspire such thoughts. All
 celebrities, unless totally physically repusive or of absolute  repellent
 character.seem to attract this sort of attention from  admirers, these
days.  I guess we have become one of the most sex -orientated societies that
has ever existed ( I do not like the expression "sex-obsessed")  a
contributary  reason  being  that  we can now see the reality of our icons.
Before the  20th century there were no photographs (or at least, not the
sort of  photographic publicity) we  now 'enjoy', and certainly no moving
images to  show us the physical reality of the famous.

 And Glenn Gould certainly had a great affinity with the camera, and the TV
 camera too. ( Jock Carroll said in his book that "Gould. like Marilyn
 Monroe, had an affinity for the camera and made great use of it".) So none
 of the recent f-minor posts are exactly surprising.

 In any case, nobody has said anything offensive about Glenn Gould. I would
 certainly agree that offensive, abusive, or obscene posts should be
 condemned, immediately (this of course does not include serious or
 constructive criticism)  but I certainly dont find anything offensive about
 either expressing the idea that the man was attractive, setting up an
 enthusiastic website,or offering a rather whimsical fantasy concerning the
 nature of the music that Mr Gould might have employed to put his lady
 friends into an, um, romantic mood! ( at the risk risk of upsetting the
 determinedly -serious, i'd like to state that I dont think he would have
had  to try TOO hard ... Many women would no doubt have been very happy to
spend a little time with him!

 Whatever may be discussed, I do not think anyone on this list would wish to
 hurt the memory or the image of this man.  Yes, it is "trivial";  but hey,
 life is full of trivial delights as well as serious ones; lets enjoy them
 all!

And lets not forget that Glenn Gould himself admired Petula Clark and
Streisand, and was quite happy for everyone to know it!

 To me, Glenn Gould's music remains one of the most astounding discoveries
 of my life.  It is music that can move me to ecstasy, that can inspire me
and  uplift me. it is therapeutic...when stressed, afflicted by
panic-attacks, or  just plain depressed, the beauty of its calm control can
show me that the  world can be a better place. So yes, I would agree that
the music is the  most important thing Gould has given us.  If that makes me
a cult-member  then I am happy to be seen as such. But there is so many
things about the  man that are interesting.

 A final fantasy: Given that Gould would not have welcomed speculations
about  the  actual details and realities of his personal life, I wonder how
he  would have reacted to the idea that female admirers found / continue to
find   him so attractive ( I  know he reacted with fear to that obsessive
lady with  the gun we have already discussed...understandably ... but I have
no idea if  he received trivial fan-mail or if he did, how he felt about
it). I imagine  him hovering invisibly close by, reading these posts with an
assumed air of  astonishment. He might frown, but inwardly I'd hazard a
guess he would be  amused, even secretly pleased; but puzzled. After all,
this was a man who  obviously cared little about his physical appearance;
someone even  commented once about him that never was there a man so
ill-at-ease in his own body.


 Never mind Glenn: you may not be with us any more, but you sure keep giving
 us a lot to talk about!  And thank you. (For the music.)

 Kate