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Glenn Gould
Gould rehearsing in 1974
Gould rehearsing in 1974
Background information
Birth name Glenn Herbert Gould[1][2]
Born September 25, 1932(1932-09-25)
Flag of Canada Toronto, Canada
Died October 4, 1982 (aged 50)
Flag of Canada Toronto, Canada
Genre(s) Classical
Occupation(s) Pianist, Composer
Years active fl. 1945-1982

Glenn Herbert Gould[1][2] (September 25, 1932 – October 4, 1982) was a Canadian pianist, noted especially for his recordings of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, his remarkable technical proficiency, and his eccentric personality and piano technique. Events 303 - On a voyage preaching the Gospel, Saint Fermin of Pamplona is beheaded in Amiens, France Year 1932 ( MCMXXXII) was a Leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. Toronto (təˈrɒntoʊ colloquially pronounced or) is the largest city in Canada and is the provincial capital of Ontario Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Events 610 - Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) Toronto (təˈrɒntoʊ colloquially pronounced or) is the largest city in Canada and is the provincial capital of Ontario Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and Secular music The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers A composer (literally meaning 'one who puts together' is a person who creates Music, usually in the medium of notation, for Interpretation and Performance Events 303 - On a voyage preaching the Gospel, Saint Fermin of Pamplona is beheaded in Amiens, France Year 1932 ( MCMXXXII) was a Leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 610 - Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page A pianist (/'piənɪst/ is a Musician who plays the Piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces play with an ensemble or Orchestra WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section.2 This article is written in British English including maximised use of "-ise" He was one of the best-known and most celebrated pianists of the twentieth century. He gave up concert performances in 1964, dedicating himself to the recording studio for the rest of his career—as well as performances for television and radio, non-musical radio documentaries and other projects. A concert is a live Performance, usually of Music, before an Audience. A recording studio is a facility for sound recording. Ideally the space is specially designed by an acoustician to achieve the desired acoustic properties (sound

Contents

Life

Gould, February 1946, with Nick.
Gould, February 1946, with Nick.
Alberto Guerrero with his student Glenn Gould, 1945.
Alberto Guerrero with his student Glenn Gould, 1945. Antonio Alberto García Guerrero (b La Serena Chile, February 6, 1886 – d

Glenn Gould was born in Toronto on September 25, 1932, to Russell Herbert ("Bert") Gould and Florence ("Flora") Emma Greig Gould, Presbyterians of Scottish extraction. Toronto (təˈrɒntoʊ colloquially pronounced or) is the largest city in Canada and is the provincial capital of Ontario Events 303 - On a voyage preaching the Gospel, Saint Fermin of Pamplona is beheaded in Amiens, France Year 1932 ( MCMXXXII) was a Leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. Presbyterianism is a family of Christian denominations within the Reformed branch of Protestant Western Christianity The Scots people ( Scots Gaelic: Albannaich) are a Nation and an Ethnic group indigenous to Scotland. (Greig is the original Scottish spelling of this name, unlike the Norwegian variant Grieg. ) His mother's grandfather was a cousin of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. Though not athletic, Gould was a sociable young man. He was close friends throughout his life with his cousin, Jessie Grieg.

Gould's interest in music, and his talent as a pianist, became evident very early on. Both his parents were musical and his mother, especially, encouraged the infant Gould's early musical development. He had perfect pitch and could read music before he could read words. [3] At a young age, he reportedly behaved differently from typical children at the piano: he would strike single notes and listen to their long decay. [4] Gould's first piano teacher was his mother until the age of ten. The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers From the age of ten he began attending the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where he studied piano with Alberto Guerrero, organ with Frederick C. Silvester and theory with Leo Smith. Antonio Alberto García Guerrero (b La Serena Chile, February 6, 1886 – d The organ (from Greek όργανον – organon "organ instrument tool" is a Keyboard instrument of one or more divisions each Frederick C Silvester (1901-1966 was an Organist and Composer. Music theory is the field of study that deals with the Mechanics of music and how Music works

At an early age Gould became interested in composition, and played his own little pieces for family, friends, and sometimes larger gatherings. For example in 1938, in the company of his mother, Gould attended the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church, a few blocks from the Gould house, and performed one of his own compositions. [5]

When he was six, Glenn was taken for the first time to hear a live musical performance by a celebrated soloist, which had a tremendous impact on him. He later described the experience: "It was Hofmann. It was, I think, his last performance in Toronto,and it was a staggering impression. The only thing I can really remember is that, when I was being brought home in a car, I was in that wonderful state of through your mind. They were all orchestral sounds, but I was playing them all, and suddenly I was Hofmann. I was enchanted. "

In 1945, he gave his first public performance, playing the organ, and the following year he made his first appearance with an orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, in a performance of Beethoven's 4th piano concerto. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian Orchestra. 400000 people attend its live performances each year and it is often broadcast over CBC Radio 2 Ludwig van Beethoven ( English ˈlʊdvɪg væn ˈbeɪtoʊvən, 16 December 1770 &ndash 26 March 1827 was a German Composer and Pianist. Ludwig van Beethoven 's Piano Concerto No 4 in G major, op His first public recital followed in 1947, and his first recital on radio came with the CBC in 1950. This was the beginning of his long association with radio and recording.

In 1957, Gould toured the Soviet Union, becoming the first North American to play there since World War II. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including His concerts featured Bach, Beethoven, and the serial music of Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg, which had been suppressed in the Soviet Union during the era of Socialist Realism. In Music, serialism is a technique for composition that uses sets to describe musical elements, and allows the manipulation of those Arnold Schoenberg ( pronounced ˈʃøːnbɛrk (13 September 1874 &ndash 13 July 1951 was an Austrian and later American Composer, associated with Alban Maria Johannes Berg (February 9 1885 &ndash December 24 1935 was an Austrian Composer. Socialist realism is a teleologically -oriented style of realistic art which has as its purpose the furtherance of the goals of Socialism and Communism

On April 10, 1964, Gould gave his last public performance, playing in Los Angeles, California, at the Wilshire Ebell Theater. Events 879 - Louis III becomes King of the Western Franks. 1407 - the lama Year 1964 ( MCMLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the 1964 Gregorian calendar. Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West [6] Among the pieces he performed that night were Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 30, selections from Bach's The Art of Fugue, and the Piano Sonata No. Ludwig van Beethoven 's Piano Sonata No 30 in E major Op109 is the first of his late piano sonatas (Opus 109-111 composed between 1820–1822 The Art of Fugue or The Art of the Fugue (original German Die Kunst der Fuge) BWV 1080 is an incomplete masterpiece 3, Op. 92 No. 4 by Ernst Krenek. Ernst Krenek ( August 23 1900 &ndash December 22 1991) was an Austrian born (and from 1945 an American) Composer Oddly, a recording exists in which Gould claims the event took place in Chicago. For the rest of his life he eschewed live performance, focusing instead on recording, writing, and broadcasting. Towards the end of his life he began conducting; he had earlier directed Bach's Brandenburg concerto no. Conducting is the act of directing a Musical performance by way of visible gestures The Brandenburg concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach ( BWV 1046&ndash1051 original title Six Concerts Avec plusieurs Instruments) are a 5 and cantata BWV 54, Widerstehe doch der Sünde from the harpsipiano (a piano with metal hammers to simulate harpsichord sound) in the 1960s. A cantata (derived from the Italian word 'cantare' meaning 'to sing' is a vocal composition with an instrumental Accompaniment and often BWV is also the SIL code for the Language Bahau River Kenyah spoken in Borneo. Widerstehe doch der Sünde ( Stand steadfast against transgression) BWV 54 is a Cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. The tack piano is a permanently altered version of an ordinary piano in which tacks or nails are placed on the hammers of the instrument at the point where the hammers hit the strings His last recording was as a conductor, Wagner's Siegfried Idyll in its original chamber music scoring. The Siegfried Idyll, one of Richard Wagner 's few non-operatic works is a Symphonic poem lasting approximately twenty minutes for Chamber orchestra Chamber music is a form of Classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber He had intended to give up the piano at the age of 50, spending later years conducting, writing on music and perhaps composing.

During his life he suffered many pains and ailments, including chronic prostatitis. Prostatitis is an Inflammation of the Prostate gland in men A prostatitis diagnosis is assigned at 8% of all urologist and 1% of all primary care physician visits [7]

He suffered a stroke on 27 September 1982, which paralyzed the left side of his body. A stroke is the rapidly developing loss of brain functions due to a disturbance in the blood vessels supplying blood to the brain He was admitted to hospital and his condition rapidly deteriorated. He was taken off life support on October 4. [8] He is buried in Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Mount Pleasant Cemetery is a famous Cemetery located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Gould as a pianist

Gould was known for his vivid musical imagination, and listeners regarded his interpretations as ranging from brilliantly creative to, on occasion, outright eccentric. In popular usage eccentricity refers to unusual or odd Behavior on the part of an individual His piano playing had great clarity, particularly in contrapuntal passages. In Music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and Rhythm, and interdependent in Harmony He was considered a child prodigy and in adulthood he was also described as a musical phenomenon. List of child prodigies|Fictional child prodigies A child prodigy is a one who masters one or more skills or arts at an early age As he played, he often swayed his torso, always in a clockwise motion. A clockwise motion is one that proceeds 'like the Clock 's hands' from the top to the right then down and then to the left and back to the top [9]

When Gould was around ten years old, he injured his back as a result of a fall from a boat ramp on the shore of Lake Simcoe. [10] This incident is almost certainly not related to his father's subsequent construction for him of an adjustable-height chair, which he used for the rest of his life. This famous chair was designed so that Gould could sit very low at the keyboard with the object of pulling down on the keys rather than striking them from above — a central technical idea of his teacher, Alberto Guerrero, [11]seen in the above-right photograph from 1945. Gould's mother urged the young Gould to sit up straight at the keyboard,[12] which is how we see him with Guerrero in 1945 before he had fully developed his mature technique.

Gould developed a formidable technique. It enabled him to choose very fast tempos while retaining the separateness and clarity of each note. 2266-Tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl or TEMPO is the Chemical compound with the formula (CH23(CMe22NO His extremely low position at the instrument arguably permitted more control over the keyboard. According to the pianist Charles Rosen, however, a low position at the piano is unsuitable for playing the technically demanding music of the 19th century. Charles Rosen (born May 5 1927 is an American Pianist and music theorist. Romantic Music is a Musicological term referring to a particular period theory compositional practice and canon in European music history from about 1815 to 1910 Nevertheless, this did not seem to impede Gould, as he showed considerable technical skill in both his recordings of Bach and in virtuosic and romantic works like his own arrangement of Ravel's La Valse and his playing of Liszt's transcriptions of Beethoven's fifth and sixth symphonies. La Valse, un poème choréographique (a choreographic poem is an orchestral work written by Maurice Ravel from February 1919 until 1920 and premiered Ludwig van Beethoven 's Symphony No 5 in C minor Op 67 was written in 1804–08 Gould worked from a young age with his teacher Alberto Guerrero on a technique known as finger-tapping, a method of training the fingers to act more independently from the arm. Antonio Alberto García Guerrero (b La Serena Chile, February 6, 1886 – d

Gould claimed he practiced little on the piano, preferring to study music by reading it rather than playing it, a technique he had also learnt from Guerrero. His manual practicing was unusually attentive to articulation, rather than exercises for basic facility. He may have spoken ironically about his practicing, but there is evidence that he did practice Bach and Beethoven, in a way that was nuanced and efficient. [13]

He stated that he didn't understand the requirement of other pianists to continuously reinforce their relationship with the instrument by practicing many hours a day. [14] It seems that Gould was able to practice mentally without access to an instrument, and even took this so far as to prepare for a recording of Brahms piano works without ever playing them until a few weeks before the recording sessions. Johannes Brahms ( pronounced ˈbʁaːms (May 7 1833 &ndash April 3 1897 was a German Composer This is all the more staggering considering the absolute accuracy and phenomenal dexterity exhibited in his playing. Gould's large repertoire also demonstrated this natural mnemonic gift.

Regarding the performance of Bach on the piano, Gould said, "the piano is not an instrument for which I have any great love as such. . . [But] I have played it all my life and it is the best vehicle I have to express my ideas. " In the case of Bach, Gould admitted, "[I] fixed the action in some of the instruments I play on — and the piano I use for all recordings is now so fixed — so that it is a shallower and more responsive action than the standard. The action of a stringed instrument is the distance between the Fingerboard and the string, which determines how easy it is to sound Notes It tends to have a mechanism which is rather like an automobile without power steering: you are in control and not it; it doesn't drive you, you drive it. This is the secret of doing Bach on the piano at all. You must have that immediacy of response, that control over fine definitions of things. "[15]

Gould had a pronounced aversion to what he termed a ‘hedonistic’ approach to the piano repertoire, performance and music generally. For Gould, ‘hedonism’ in this sense denoted a superficial theatricality, something to which he felt Mozart, for example, became increasingly susceptible later in his career. [16] He associated this drift towards ‘hedonism’ with the emergence of a cult of showmanship and gratuitous virtuosity on the concert platform in the nineteenth century and later on. The institution of the public concert, he felt, degenerated into the 'blood sport' which he struggled with and ultimately rejected. [17]

Recordings

The Goldberg Variations (Gould Album), 1955
The Goldberg Variations (Gould Album), 1955

In creating music, Gould much preferred the control and intimacy provided by the recording studio, and he disliked the concert hall, which he compared to a competitive sporting arena. Bach The Goldberg Variations is the 1955 debut recording of the Canadian classical pianist Glenn Gould. A recording studio is a facility for sound recording. Ideally the space is specially designed by an acoustician to achieve the desired acoustic properties (sound After his final public performance in 1964, he devoted his career solely to the studio, recording albums and several radio documentaries. An album or record album is a collection of related audio or Music tracks distributed to the public A radio documentary or feature is a Radio documentary programme devoted to covering a particular topic in some depth usually with a mixture of commentary and sound He was attracted to the technical aspects of recording, and considered the manipulation of tape to be another part of the creative process. Although his producer at CBS, Andrew Kazdin, has stated that he was the classical artist least in need of splices or dubs, Gould used the process to give him total artistic control over a recording. CBS Broadcasting Inc ( CBS) is an American radio and Television network. Overdubbing (the process of making an overdub, or overdubs is a technique used by Recording studios to add a supplementary recorded sound to a previously recorded Artistic control or Creative Control is a term commonly used in media production such as Movies, Television, and Music production. He recounted his recording of the A minor fugue from Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier, and how it was spliced together from two takes, with the fugue's expositions from one take and its episodes from another. In Music, a fugue (ˈfjuːg is a type of contrapuntal composition or technique of composition for a fixed number of parts, normally referred The Well-Tempered Clavier ( Das Wohltemperirte Clavier in the original old German spelling BWV 846–893 is a collection of solo keyboard music composed by [18]

Gould's first major recording, The Goldberg Variations came in 1955, at Columbia Masterworks' 30th Street Studios in New York City. Bach The Goldberg Variations is the 1955 debut recording of the Canadian classical pianist Glenn Gould. Columbia Records is an American Record label founded in 1888 Columbia is the oldest surviving Brand name in pre-recorded sound being the first record company Although there was initially some controversy at CBS as to whether this was the most appropriate piece to record, the finished product received phenomenal praise, and was among the best-selling classical music albums of its time. Gould became closely associated with the piece, playing it in full or in part at many of his recitals. Another version of the Goldberg Variations, recorded in 1981, would be among his last recordings, and one of only a few pieces he recorded twice in the studio. The 1981 recording was one of CBS Masterworks' first digital recordings. In digital recording, the analog signal of Video or Sound is converted into a stream of Discrete numbers representing the changes in Air The two recordings are very different, the first highly energetic and often frenetic, the second slower and more introspective; in it, Gould treats the Aria and its thirty variations as one cohesive piece. There are also two other recordings of the Goldberg Variations; one is a live recording from 1954 (CBC PSCD2007) the other is a live recording from Salzburg in 1959 (Sony SRCR-9500).

Gould recorded most of Bach's other keyboard works, including the complete Well-Tempered Clavier, Partitas, French Suites, English Suites and keyboard concertos. The Well-Tempered Clavier ( Das Wohltemperirte Clavier in the original old German spelling BWV 846–893 is a collection of solo keyboard music composed by This is an article about the Musical Genre. For the game see Tarocchini. The French Suites, BWV 812-817 refer to six Suites which Johann Sebastian Bach wrote for the clavier ( Harpsichord or The English Suites, BWV 806–811 refer to a set of six suites written by the German composer Johann Sebastian Bach for Harpsichord and generally For his only recording at the organ, he recorded about half of The Art of Fugue. The organ (from Greek όργανον – organon "organ instrument tool" is a Keyboard instrument of one or more divisions each The Art of Fugue or The Art of the Fugue (original German Die Kunst der Fuge) BWV 1080 is an incomplete masterpiece He also recorded all five of Beethoven's piano concertos and 23 of the 32 piano sonatas. The Musical works of Ludwig van Beethoven ( 1770 – 1827) are known by various designations including by the Opus numbers assigned by The Musical works of Ludwig van Beethoven ( 1770 – 1827) are known by various designations including by the Opus numbers assigned by

Gould also recorded works by many other prominent piano composers, though he was outspoken in his criticism of some of them, apparently not caring for Frédéric Chopin, for example. In a radio interview, when asked if he didn't find himself wanting to play Chopin, he replied: "No, I don't. I play it in a weak moment — maybe once a year or twice a year for myself. But it doesn't convince me. " Although Gould recorded all of Mozart's sonatas and admitted enjoying the "actual playing" of them[19], he was a harsh critic of Mozart's music to the extent of arguing (perhaps a little puckishly) that Mozart died too late rather than too early. [20] He was fond of many lesser-known composers, such as the early keyboard music of Orlando Gibbons, who he claimed was his favourite composer in terms of Gibbons' spiritual quest in music, alongside his favouritism of Bach in general for his technical mastery. A composer (literally meaning 'one who puts together' is a person who creates Music, usually in the medium of notation, for Interpretation and Performance Orlando Gibbons ( baptised 25 December 1583 &ndash 5 June 1625) was an English Composer and Organist [21] He made recordings of piano music that was little known in North America, including music by Jean Sibelius (the sonatines, Kyllikki), Georges Bizet (the Variations Chromatiques de Concert and the Premier nocturne), Richard Strauss (the piano sonata, the five pieces, Enoch Arden), and Paul Hindemith (the three sonatas, the sonatas for brass and piano). Georges Bizet (25 October 1838 – 3 June 1875 was a French Composer and Pianist of the Romantic era Richard Georg Strauss (11 June 1864 &ndash 8 September 1949 was a German Composer of the late Romantic era and early modern era particularly noted Paul Hindemith (16 November 1895 &ndash 28 December 1963 was a German Composer, Violist, violinist teacher music theorist and conductor. He also made recordings of the complete piano works and Lieder of Arnold Schoenberg.

One of Gould's performances of the Prelude and Fugue in C Major from Book One of The Well-Tempered Clavier was chosen for inclusion on the NASA Voyager Golden Record by a committee headed by Carl Sagan. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA, ˈnæsə is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program The Voyager Golden Record is a Phonograph record included in the two Voyager Spacecraft launched in 1977 Carl Edward Sagan ( November 9 1934 &ndash December 20 1996) was an American Astronomer, astrochemist, author The disc of recordings was placed on the spacecraft Voyager 1, which is now approaching interstellar space and is the farthest human-made object from Earth. The Voyager 1 spacecraft is a 722-kilogram robotic Space probe of the outer Solar system and beyond launched September 5,

Collaborations

The success of Gould's collaborations with other artists was to a degree dependent upon their receptiveness to his sometimes unconventional readings of the music. His television collaboration with Yehudi Menuhin in 1965, recording works by Bach, Beethoven and Schoenberg[22] was deemed a success because 'Menuhin was ready to embrace the new perspective opened up by an unorthodox view'. Yehudi Menuhin Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE (April 22 1916 – March 12 1999 was an American -born Violinist and conductor who spent [22] In 1966, his collaboration with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, however, recording Richard Strauss's Ophelia Lieder, op. Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, DBE ( December 9, 1915 &ndash August 3, 2006) was a German -born Austrian British 67, was deemed an "outright fiasco". [22] Schwarzkopf believed in "total fidelity" to the score, but she also objected to the thermal conditions in the recording studio: "The studio was incredibly overheated, which may be good for a pianist but not for a singer: a dry throat is the end as far as singing is concerned. But we persevered nonetheless. It wasn't easy for me. Gould began by improvising something Straussian - we thought he was simply warming up, but no, he continued to play like that throughout the actual recordings, as though Strauss's notes were just a pretext that allowed him to improvise freely . . . ". [23]

Radio documentaries

Less well known is Gould's work in radio. Radio is the transmission of signals by Modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible Light. This work was, in part, the result of Gould's long association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, for which he produced numerous television and radio programs. Notable recordings include his Solitude Trilogy, consisting of The Idea of North, a meditation on Northern Canada and its people; The Latecomers, about Newfoundland; and The Quiet in the Land, on Mennonites in Manitoba. The Solitude Trilogy is a collection of three hour-long radio documentaries produced by Canadian Pianist Glenn Gould (1932–1982 Northern Canada is the vast Northernmost Region of Canada variously defined by Geography and Politics. Newfoundland and Labrador (ˈnuːfɨn(dlənd ən(d ˈlæbrəˌdɔr (Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador is a province of Canada, the tenth and latest to join the Confederation The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after Menno Simons (1496&ndash1561 though his teachings were a relatively Manitoba (English ˌmænɨˈtoʊbə French /manitoba/ is a province of Canada, spanning 647797 square kilometres (250116  sq mi of North America All three use a technique which Gould called "contrapuntal radio," in which several people are heard speaking at once, much like the voices in a fugue. In Music, a fugue (ˈfjuːg is a type of contrapuntal composition or technique of composition for a fixed number of parts, normally referred

Lost footage of a live performance

In 2002, during preparations for Queen Elizabeth II's Jubilee Tour of Canada, lost footage of a Glenn Gould performance was discovered. For the ship see RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Context States headed by Elizabeth II The Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II marked the fiftieth anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II 's accession to the throne It was part of a CBC program of various musical performances, which had followed the Queen's 1957 television address to Canadians from Rideau Hall, and featured a seven-minute live performance in which he plays the second and third movements of Bach's Keyboard Concerto in F Minor. Rideau Hall is since 1867, the Official residence of the Governor General of Canada, and of the monarch of Canada when in Ottawa. [24]

Composition

As a teenager, Gould wrote chamber music and piano works in the style of the Second Viennese school of composition. The Second Viennese School is the term generally used in English -speaking countries to denote the group of Composers that comprised Arnold Schoenberg His only significant work was the String Quartet, Op. 1, which he finished when he was in his 20s, and perhaps his cadenzas to Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1, which can be heard on his recording of the piece and have recently been recorded by the German pianist Lars Vogt. In Music, a cadenza (Italian for cadence) is generically an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist or soloists usually Ludwig van Beethoven 's Piano Concerto No 1 in C major, op Lars Vogt ( September 8, 1970, in Düren Germany) is a German Concert pianist.

Early works:

Slightly later works:

The majority of his work is published by Schott Music. Schott Music is one of the oldest German music publishers It is also one of the largest music Publishing houses in Europe and is currently the The recording Glenn Gould: The Composer contains his original works excepting the cadenzas.

As well as composing, Gould was a prolific arranger of orchestral repertoire for piano. His arrangements include his Wagner and Ravel transcriptions which he recorded, as well as the operas of Richard Strauss and the symphonies of Schubert and Bruckner, which he played privately for his own pleasure. Richard Georg Strauss (11 June 1864 &ndash 8 September 1949 was a German Composer of the late Romantic era and early modern era particularly noted Anton Bruckner (4 September 1824 &ndash 11 October 1896 was an Austrian composer known primarily for his symphonies, masses, and Motets [25]

Eccentricities

A replica of Glenn Gould's chair
A replica of Glenn Gould's chair

Glenn Gould usually hummed while he played, and his recording engineers varied in how successfully they were able to exclude his voice from recordings. Gould claimed that his singing was subconscious and increased proportionately with the inability of the piano in question to realize the music as he intended. It is likely that this habit originated in Gould's being taught by his mother to 'sing everything that he played', as Kevin Bazzana puts it. This became 'an unbreakable and (notorious) habit'. [26] Some of Gould's recordings were severely criticised because of the background 'vocalise'. For example, a reviewer of his 1981 re-recording of the Goldberg Variations opined that many listeners would 'find the groans and croons intolerable'. [27]

Gould was renowned for his peculiar body movements while playing, (circular swaying, conducting, or grasping at the air as if to reach for notes as he did in the taping of Beethoven's Tempest Sonata) and for his insistence on absolute control over every aspect of his playing environment. The Piano Sonata No 17 in D minor, Opus 31 No 2 was composed in 1801/02 by Ludwig van Beethoven. The temperature of the recording studio had to be exactly regulated. He invariably insisted that it be extremely warm. According to Friedrich, the air conditioning engineer had to work just as hard as the recording engineers. [28] The piano had to be set at a certain height and would be raised on wooden blocks if necessary. [29] A small rug would sometimes be required for his feet underneath the piano. [30] He had to sit fourteen inches above the floor and would only play concerts while sitting on the old chair his father had made. He continued to use this chair even when the seat was completely worn through. [31] His chair is so closely identified with him that it is shown in a place of honor in a glass case at the National Library of Canada. Library and Archives Canada (in French: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is a Canadian federal government department responsible for the collection

Conductors responded diversely to Gould and his playing habits. George Szell, who led Gould in 1957 with the Cleveland Orchestra, remarked to his assistant, "That nut's a genius. WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> George Szell (ˈsɛl ( June 7, 1897 &ndash July The Cleveland Orchestra, located in Cleveland, Ohio is one of the major symphony Orchestras in the United States. "[32] Leonard Bernstein said, "There is nobody quite like him, and I just love playing with him. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes "[32] Ironically, Bernstein created a stir in April of 1962 when just before the New York Philharmonic was to perform the Brahms D minor piano concerto with Gould as soloist, he informed the audience that he was assuming no responsibility for what they were about to hear. The New York Philharmonic concert of April 6[[ 962]] is widely regarded as one of the most controversial in the orchestra 's history The New York Philharmonic is the oldest active Symphony Orchestra in the United States, organized during 1842 Specifically, he was referring to Gould's insistence that the entire first movement be played at half the indicated tempo. Plans for a studio recording of the performance came to nothing; the live radio broadcast (along with Bernstein's disclaimer) was subsequently released on CD.

Gould was averse to cold and wore heavy clothing, including gloves, even in warm places. He was once arrested, presumably mistaken for a vagrant, while sitting on a park bench in Sarasota, Florida, dressed in his standard all-climate attire of coat(s), warm hat and mittens. [33] He also disliked social functions. He had an aversion to being touched, and in later life he limited personal contact, relying on the telephone and letters for communication. Upon one visit to historic Steinway Hall in New York City in 1959, the chief piano technician at the time, William Hupfer, greeted Gould by giving him a slap on the back. Steinway Hall is the name of concert halls housing Steinway & Sons piano showrooms and sales departments in one building The City of New York Gould was shocked by this, and complained of aching, lack of coordination, and fatigue due to the incident; he even went on to explore the possibility of litigation against Steinway & Sons if his apparent injuries were permanent. Steinway & Sons (often called Steinway) is a Piano maker since 1853 in New York City, USA. [34] He was known for cancelling performances at the last minute, which is why Bernstein's above-mentioned public disclaimer opens with, "Don't be frightened, Mr. Gould is here; will appear in a moment. "

In his liner notes and broadcasts, Gould created more than two dozen alter egos for satirical, humorous, or didactic purposes, permitting him to write hostile reviews or incomprehensible commentaries on his own performances. An alter ego ( Latin, "the other I" is a second self, a second Personality or Persona within a Person Probably the best known are "Karlheinz Klopweisser", the English conductor "Sir Nigel Twitt-Thornwaite", and the American pianist "Theodore Slutz". [35]

Fran's Restaurant was a constant haunt of Gould's. Fran's Restaurant is a restaurant in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. A CBC profile noted, "sometime between two and three every morning Gould would go to Fran's, a 24-hour diner a block away from his Toronto apartment, sit in the same booth and order the same meal of scrambled eggs. " [36]

Philosophical and aesthetic views

Image:Glenn Gould 1959.jpg
Gould in 1959.

Gould stated that had he not been a musician, he would have been a writer. He wrote music criticism and expounded his philosophy of music and art, in which he rejected what he deemed banal in music composition and its consumption by the public. Musical composition is an original piece of Music the structure of a musical piece the process of creating a new In seeming contrast to his geniality, open-mindedness and modernism, Gould's remarks on jazz and other popular music were mostly uninterested or oblique. He enjoyed a jazz concert with his friends as a youth, mentioned jazz in his writings, and once criticized The Beatles for "bad voice leading. The Beatles were a pop and rock band from Liverpool, England formed in 1960 In Music, voice leading is the relationship between the successive pitches of simultaneous moving parts or voices. "[37] He believed that the keyboard is fulfilled as an instrument primarily through counterpoint, a musical style which reached its zenith during the Baroque era. In Music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and Rhythm, and interdependent in Harmony Much of the homophony that followed, he felt, belongs to a less serious and less spiritual period of art. In Music, homophony (hoʊˈmɒfəni from Greek "homófonos" where ομοιο = the same and φωνή = a sound tone is a texture in which two or more

Gould was convinced that the institution of the public concert with audience en masse and the tradition of applause was a force of evil, and that these practices should be abandoned. This doctrine he set forth, half in jest and half seriously, in "GPAADAK," the Gould Plan for the Abolition of Applause and Demonstrations of All Kinds. [38]

Gould enjoyed solitude, and expressed that theme in his trio of radio documentaries, the Solitude Trilogy. The Solitude Trilogy is a collection of three hour-long radio documentaries produced by Canadian Pianist Glenn Gould (1932–1982

Having entertained a life-long fascination with the hereafter, with theories of reincarnation and mystic numerology akin to those of Arnold Schoenberg, Gould believed that he would be reincarnated two years after his death in the person of Sam Caldwell, a media theorist and contrapuntal poet. This belief was strengthened by Gould's regrets, expressed particularly in his 1980 interviews with Bruno Monsaigneon, that he had not brought his contrapuntal radio work to a satisfactory stage of completion. With plans to explore to its logical conclusion the application of Wagnerian leitmotifs and J. A leitmotif (ˌlaɪtmoʊˈtiːf (also leitmotiv; lit "leading motif" is a recurring Musical theme, associated with a particular person place S. Bach's contrapuntal textures in the medium of the spoken word, and particularly in poetry, Gould conceived of this fictional 'second go around,' toward the end of his already immensely productive lifetime.

Health

Early in his life Gould suffered a spine injury which prompted his physicians to prescribe him an assortment of painkillers and other drugs. Some speculate that his continued use of prescribed medications throughout his career had a deleterious effect on his health. Medication, also referred to as medicine, can be loosely defined as any substance intended for use in the diagnosis cure mitigation treatment or prevention of disease He was highly concerned about his health throughout his life, worrying about everything from high blood pressure, to the safety of his hands. Hypertension, also referred to as high blood pressure, HTN or HPN, is a medical condition in which the Blood pressure is chronically elevated It is often claimed that Gould never shook hands with anyone and always wore gloves. [39] However, there are documented cases of Gould shaking hands. [40]

Gould's experience with psychoanalytic treatment and medication is well documented. Psychoanalysis is a body of ideas developed by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and his followers which is devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behavior After his death, Dr. Timothy Maloney, director of the Music Division of the National Library of Canada, wrote about the possibility that Gould also had Asperger's syndrome,[41] commonly referred to as a high-functioning type of autism first described in a medical paper in 1981. Asperger syndrome (also called Asperger's syndrome, Asperger's disorder, Asperger's or AS) is the Autism spectrum disorder (ASD Language development. The terminology This idea was first tentatively proposed by Gould's biographer, Dr. Peter Ostwald, who argued that Gould's eccentricities, such as rocking and humming, isolation and difficulty with social interaction, dislike of being touched, and uncanny focus and technical ability, can be related to the symptoms displayed by persons with Asperger's, according to Maloney. Ostwald died before he could further develop his theory. However, other experts dismiss this theory as post-mortem diagnosis based on circumstantial evidence. Circumstantial evidence is a collection of Facts that when considered together can be used to infer a conclusion about something unknown Dr. Helen Mesaros, a Toronto psychiatrist and author, published a rebuttal to Maloney's paper suggesting that there are ample psychological and emotional explanations for Gould's eccentricities, and that it is not necessary to resort to neurological explanations. A psychiatrist (also archaically called an alienist) is a Physician who specializes in Psychiatry and is certified in treating Mental disorders

Relationships

Gould lived a private life: Yehudi Menuhin said of him, "No supreme pianist has ever given of his heart and mind so overwhelmingly while showing himself so sparingly. Yehudi Menuhin Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE (April 22 1916 – March 12 1999 was an American -born Violinist and conductor who spent " Showing little outward interest in love, Gould had a series of girlfriends in early adulthood. Despite these relationships there has been speculation that he was homosexual, asexual, or omnisexual. Homosexuality refers to sexual behavior with or attraction to people of the same sex or to a Homosexual orientation. Asexuality is a Sexual orientation that describes individuals who do not experience Sexual attraction. Pansexuality or anthrosexuality ( anthro- literally meaning human human sexual (sometimes referred to as omnisexuality) is a Sexual orientation

In 2007, Cornelia Foss, wife of composer and conductor Lukas Foss, publicly revealed in an article in the Toronto Star (August 25, 2007) that she and Gould had had a love affair lasting several years. Lukas Foss (born Lukas Fuchs, August 15, 1922 in Berlin, Germany) is an American Composer, conductor The Toronto Star is Canada 's highest-circulation newspaper though its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario. She and her husband had met Gould in Los Angeles in 1956. Cornelia was an art instructor who had studied sculpture at the American Academy in Rome; Lukas was a pianist and composer who conducted both the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

After several years, Glenn and Cornelia became lovers. Cornelia left Lukas in 1967 for Gould, taking her two children with her to Toronto, where she purchased a house near Gould's apartment at 110 St. Clair Avenue West. According to Cornelia, "There were a lot of misconceptions about Glenn and it was partly because he was so very private. But I assure you, he was an extremely heterosexual man. Our relationship was, among other things, quite sexual. " Their affair lasted until 1972, when she returned to Lukas. As early as two weeks after leaving her husband, she had noticed disturbing signs in Gould. She describes a serious paranoid episode:

"It lasted several hours and then I knew he was not just neurotic — there was more to it. I thought to myself, `Good grief, am I going to bring up my children in this environment?' But I stayed four and a half years. " Foss did not discuss details, but others close to Gould said he was convinced someone was trying to poison him and that others were spying on him. [42]

Awards and recognitions

Glenn Gould statue in Toronto
Glenn Gould statue in Toronto

Glenn Gould received many honors before and after his death, although he personally claimed to despise competition in music. In 1983, he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. The Canadian Music Hall of Fame honors Canadian musicians for their lifetime achievements in Music.

Gould won four Grammy Awards:

Media

Works by and about Gould

Books

Films about Gould

Films using Gould's music

Gould's recorded music has been featured in many other films, both in his lifetime and after his death.

Published music

Notes

  1. ^ a b Some sources list his birth name as "Glenn Herbert Gold", for example Encyclopedia of Music in Canada: Gould, Glenn and Ostwald, page 35
  2. ^ a b Otto Friedrich, Glenn Gould: A Life and Variations (Vintage Books, a division of Random House, New York, 1989), pp. The bassoon is a Woodwind instrument in the Double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and Tenor registers and occasionally 13-14. "Peter Greig, one of thirteen children of a Scottish farmer, emigrated to Canada in the mid-nineteenth century. He and his wife, Emma, had ten children, one of whom was Charles Holman Greig, who married Mary Catherine Flett, whose father, a carpenter from the Orkneys, died in a fall from the roof of the Bank of Montreal. One of their children, Florence, duly met and married Russell Herbert Gould, whose father's business card said: 'Thomas G. Gould, Fur Salon, Designers and Manufacturers of Quality Fur Garments. '"
  3. ^ Friedrich, 1990, p. 15.
  4. ^ Bert Gould, cited in Friedrich, Otto, Glenn Gould, A Life and Variations, Lime Tree, 1990, p. 15.
  5. ^ Ostwald 1997, p. 48 refers to a concert at this location on December 9, 1938 at which Gould performed a 'piano composition'.
  6. ^ Bazzana 2003, 229.
  7. ^ Glenn Gould as Patient. Retrieved on 2008-05-12. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1191 - Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre.
  8. ^ Ostwald, pages 325 - 328
  9. ^ He did this in music of medium to very slow tempo. The clockwise motion is associated with left-handedness(also cited in Wikipedia: "Clockwise," citing Theodore H. Blau, The torque test: A measurement of cerebral dominance. 1974, American Psychological Association,) and rather than mental abnormality suggests a musical function.
  10. ^ Friedrich, 1990, p. 27. Otto Friedrich dates this incident on the basis of discussion with Gould's father, who is cited by Friedrich as stating that it occurred 'when the boy was about ten'.
  11. ^ Ostwald 1997, p. 71
  12. ^ Ostwald 1997, p. 73
  13. ^ In outtakes of the Goldberg Variations, Gould describes clearly his practicing technique by composing a drill on Variation 11, remarking that he is "still sloppy" and with his usual humor that "a little practicing is in order. " He is also heard practicing other parts of the Goldbergs. Of earlier years it was recalled that "he would not come out [away from the piano] until he knew it" (of one of Beethoven's piano concertos, from a biographical documentary).
  14. ^ Interview with Gould by David Dubal in "The World of the Concert Pianist", p180-83. There are recordings of Gould practicing, but to what extent he did is difficult to determine.
  15. ^ From the liner notes to Bach Partitas, Preludes and Fugues, page 15: Sony CD SM2K-52597.
  16. ^ Friedrich, 1990, p. 147.
  17. ^ Friedrich, 1990, p. 100.
  18. ^ The Prospects of Recording - Resources - The Glenn Gould Archive
  19. ^ "Of Mozart and Related Matters. Glenn Gould in Conversation with Bruno Monsaingeon", Piano Quarterly Fall 1976. Reprinted in Page (1990), page 33. See also Ostwald page 249.
  20. ^ Ostwald 1997, 249.
  21. ^ He discusses this on the Bruno Monsaingeon film 'Chemins de la Musique'.
  22. ^ a b c Gould Meets Menuhin, Sony Classical, SMK 52688, 1993
  23. ^ Sony Classical, Richard Strauss, Ophelia-Lieder, et al, SM2K 52657, 1992, Liner Notes, p. 12
  24. ^ CBC's Dan Bjarnason reports on newly discovered film of Glenn Gould's live television performance for the Queen's 1957 visit to Canada (Runs 3:24). It also contained footage of a Quodlibet including the Star-Spangled Banner and God Save the Queen. " The Star-Spangled Banner " is the National anthem of the United States of America "God Save the Queen", or "God Save the King", is an anthem used in a number of Commonwealth realms It is the National
  25. ^ The Schubert can be seen briefly on Hereafter, the transcription of Bruckner's 8th symphony Gould alludes to in an article in The Glenn Gould Reader where he deprecates its "sheer leger-line unplayability"; the Strauss opera playing can be seen in one of the Humphrey Burton conversations and is referred to by almost everyone who saw him play in private. Anton Bruckner 's Symphony No 8 in C minor is the last Symphony the composer completed Humphrey Burton, CBE (born 25 March 1931) is a British classical music presenter broadcaster director producer and biographer of musicians
  26. ^ Bazzana, 2003, p. 47.
  27. ^ Greenfield, E. , Layton, R. , & March, I. , The New Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and Cassettes, Penguin, 1988, p. 44.
  28. ^ Friedrich, 1990, p. 50.
  29. ^ Ostwald 1997, p. 18
  30. ^ Friedrich, 1990, p. 51
  31. ^ Gould's chair
  32. ^ a b Bazzana 2003, p. 158.
  33. ^ Friedrich, 62.
  34. ^ Musicians' Musical Maladies
  35. ^ From the liner notes to Bach Partitas, Preludes and Fugues, page 14: Sony CD SM2K-52597.
  36. ^ Glenn Gould's eating habits
  37. ^ These comments can be found in essays in The Glenn Gould Reader.
  38. ^ Gould, Glenn. The Glenn Gould Reader. ISBN 0-5711-4852-2.  
  39. ^ This is discussed and can be seen on the film On And Off The Record.
  40. ^ Friedrich, 267. Interview of Timothy Findley: "[. . . ]Everybody said you never touched his hands, you never try to shake hands with him, but the first thing he did to me was to offer to shake hands. He offered me his hand in a very definite way, none of this tentative, 'don't-touch-me' stuff. "
  41. ^ see Timothy Maloney, "Glenn Gould, Autistic Savant," in Sounding Off: Theorizing Disability in Music, edited by Neil Lerner & Joseph Straus (New York: Routledge, 2006, pp. 121-135 (Chapter 9).
  42. ^ Toronto Star, August 25, 2007.
  43. ^ The Glenn Gould School
  44. ^ http://www.hedweb.com/bgcharlton/solitude.html complete text
  45. ^ In the novel, Hannibal is an eight-year old in 1941 (p. 5). At eighteen (p. 163) he is the youngest medical student in French history, the age at which the injection scene occurs. The book makes no mention of the Goldberg Variations, however. During this scene Lecter plays a 'scratchy record' of 'children's songs' on a 'wind-up phonograph' (p. 197). The film closely follows the novel's chronology, or at least attempts to. (Page references are to the 2006 William Heinemann edition).

References

External links

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