NYT: Joan Peyser, Bernstein and Gershwin Biographer, Dies at 80
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/25/arts/music/joan-peyser-bernstein-and-gershwin-biographer-dies-at-80.html
By ALLAN KOZINN
Joan Peyser, a prolific and lively writer about classical music
whose biographies of Pierre Boulez, Leonard Bernstein and George
Gershwin generated debate in music circles, died on Sunday in
Manhattan. She was 80 and lived in Manhattan.
She died after heart surgery, said her daughter Monica Parks.
As a biographer, Ms. Peyser tended to focus on the personal lives
and inner motivations of her subjects, an emphasis that attracted
considerable controversy. Her "Bernstein: A Biography" (1987), in
particular, was criticized for its emphasis on Bernstein's
bisexuality and the dark side of his personality, rather than on his
music.
The conductor Leon Botstein, who reviewed it for The Times,
characterized the book as "a kind of psychobiography" and wrote that
Ms. Peyser had "fallen prey to the lure of publicity and the
temptation to substitute superficial personal revelations for
analytic argument and coherence."
Ms. Peyser was undaunted by such criticism. In her introduction to a
paperback edition in 1998, she wrote: "The response was a small
price for me to pay for the pleasure of fitting together the
intricate pieces of this particular jigsaw puzzle. In the end, when
each of the pieces is placed where it belongs, it forms with the
others the picture of a man virtually everyone recognizes as
Bernstein."
While the debates about her Bernstein book were still raging, Ms.
Peyser began work on "The Memory of All That: The Life of George
Gershwin" (1993). Using letters, recollections of Gershwin's
associates and family, and his brother Ira's lyrics--which Ms.
Peyser described as a veiled biography of the composer--she
created a portrait of Gershwin as insensitive, narcissistic and
disappointed with his lack of acceptance in the world of serious
music. She also explored rumors of an unacknowledged son. Here
again, the music was not the point of the book.
"I don't go into encyclopedic detail about the songs and shows," Ms.
Peyser told The New York Times in 1993. "That information is
available in other books. I think of this as the first biography of
Gershwin. The rest are chronicles of what he did and whom he met."
Ms. Peyser wrote widely about contemporary musicians. Her interviews
with European and American composers, published mostly in The New
York Times between the late 1960s and the late 1980s, helped clarify
what those musicians considered most important about their work.
Articles she contributed to The Times and other publications were
collected in "The Music of My Time," a 1995 compilation that traced
contemporary music from Schoenberg to Charles Wuorinen and Tod
Machover, with pieces about Maria Callas, the Beatles and the New
York Philharmonic along the way.
Ms. Peyser was born Joan Goldstein in Manhattan on June 12, 1930,
but before she was 10 her father changed her surname and her
brother's (but not his own) to Gilbert, to shield them from
anti-Semitism. She began her musical studies, as a pianist, when she
was 5, and played a recital at Town Hall when she was 13. As a
student at the High School of Music and Art, she also studied the
viola and took courses in music theory and orchestration. She gave
up music briefly in her mid-teens, but returned to it in college.
She attended Smith College from 1947 to 1949, then transferred to
Barnard College to complete her bachelor's degree in music. She
earned a master's degree at Columbia, where she studied with Paul
Henry Lang, in 1956.
In 1949 she married Herbert S. Peyser, a medical student who became
a psychiatrist. Though their marriage ended in divorce in the early
1970s, Ms. Peyser acknowledged that their discussions about
psychology informed her own understanding of motivation, an
underpinning of her work as a biographer.
They had three children--Ms. Parks and Tony Peyser of New York
City and Dr. Kami Seligman of Scarsdale, N.Y.--all of whom survive
her, as does her brother, Robert Gilbert of Lancaster, Pa., and the
jazz historian Frank Driggs, her partner since 1990.
Ms. Peyser began writing about music in the 1950s, and submitted
articles about music to Opera News and other publications while
still a student. Her breakthrough was a 1966 article for the
Columbia University Forum about the way the composer Marc
Blitzstein's politics, personal life and musical ideas were
intertwined. Impressed with her analysis, the Delacorte Press
offered her a contract to write "The New Music: The Sense Behind the
Sound," published in 1970.
"Boulez: Composer, Conductor, Enigma" followed in 1976; in 1999, she
combined "The New Music" and "Boulez" and republished them as a
single volume, "To Boulez and Beyond: Music in Europe Since 'The
Rite of Spring.' "
Ms. Peyser was the editor of The Musical Quarterly from 1977 to
1984, and of "The Orchestra: Origins and Transformations" (1986), a
compilation of essays. Among the many prizes she won were six Deems
Taylor Awards for excellence in writing on music from the American
Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
Speaking about her Gershwin biography in 1993, Ms. Peyser described
an approach, as well as a conclusion, that could have applied
equally to her Bernstein book.
"What I've written," she said, "is an interpretation of a life that
was much sadder than anyone dreamed."
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: April 27, 2011
An earlier version of this obituary misspelled Tod Machover's given
name.
Paul
> Joan Peyser, Bernstein and Gershwin Biographer, Dies at 80http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/25/arts/music/joan-peyser-bernstein-an...
The lack of response seems to sum it up nicely. Seems her own life was
pretty empty and pointless too.
herman
>
> The lack of response seems to sum it up nicely. Seems her own life was
> pretty empty and pointless too.
well, she clearly was a tremendously hard worker. Her Bernstein en
Gershwin biographies may have sensationalized their pathologies a
little too much, but clearly she wrote a lot of good stuff about
contemporary composers too. In the end it is all ephemeral, but good
and useful in its time. And she never claimed to be a Shakespeare.
Paul
The Kitty Kelley of classical music biography.
herman
>
> The Kitty Kelley of classical music biography.
By my knowledge Kitty Kelley doesn't write about Charles Wuorinen and
such hard composers.
Sure the Bernstein and Gershwin books were sensational, and I'm
guessing Peyser had to make a living.
herman
>
> Sure the Bernstein and Gershwin books were sensational, and I'm
> guessingPeyserhad to make a living.
pictures of Peyser's Greenwich Village home FS:
http://www.observer.com/2011/real-estate/slideshow/its-free-look-joan-peysers-west-village-classical
isn't it wonderful to be able to afford this, just because people want
to read your stuff?
Kip Williams
> Sure the Bernstein and Gershwin books were sensational, and I'm
> guessing Peyser had to make a living.
It just seems goofy that she'd psychoanalyze George on the basis of
Ira's lyrics! Did she deduce he was gay? ("The Man I Love") Or that he
said "po-tah-to"? Or that he had a fierce attachment to the mythical
"Swanee" area?
She should have written one on Arthur Sullivan based on Gilbert's
lyrics. That would have made for a colorful case study!
Kip W
Joe Roberts
Exactly so! ... Type of true love kept under; and nothing swept under the carpet.
Joe
John W Kennedy
I think the several decades that guessed incorrectly that Sullivan was
gay are enough goofiness on that subject.
--
John W Kennedy
"When a man contemplates forcing his own convictions down another man's
throat, he is contemplating both an unchristian act and an act of
treason to the United States."
-- Joy Davidman, "Smoke on the Mountain"
Kip Williams
> On 2011-06-03 16:14:58 -0400, Kip Williams said:
>
>> herman wrote:
>>
>>> Sure the Bernstein and Gershwin books were sensational, and I'm
>>> guessing Peyser had to make a living.
>>
>> It just seems goofy that she'd psychoanalyze George on the basis of
>> Ira's lyrics! Did she deduce he was gay? ("The Man I Love") Or that he
>> said "po-tah-to"? Or that he had a fierce attachment to the mythical
>> "Swanee" area?
>>
>> She should have written one on Arthur Sullivan based on Gilbert's
>> lyrics. That would have made for a colorful case study!
>
> I think the several decades that guessed incorrectly that Sullivan was
> gay are enough goofiness on that subject.
If it's as rigorous as the Gershwin, they'll conclude that he's a
pirate, a barrister, and a human/fairy hybrid who likes to chop peoples'
heads off. Sexual orientation would have to take a back seat to
pan-species orientalism.
Kip W
laraine
> Joan Peyser, Bernstein and Gershwin Biographer, Dies at 80http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/25/arts/music/joan-peyser-bernstein-an...
I saw her Bernstein book in a Library discard
pile recently, so I looked at it because I generally do
like 'psychobiography'. This one, however, IIRC,
seemed to focus almost everywhere on the fact
(or is it a known 'fact'?) that he was gay.
One or two chapters about that would be enough
for me.
So, although it looked interesting and likely did have
a lot of useful information about his musical life, I
skipped it. Might look it up again someday, though,
and Gershwin with a son sounds interesting too.
C.
Peter T. Daniels
Yes, it's a known fact, and after his wife Felicia Montealegre died it
wasn't any kind of a secret.
Wotan
Was it ever a "secret"-even when he was married?
>-
Wotan
> > I saw herBernsteinbook in a Library discard
> > pile recently, so I looked at it because I generally do
> > like 'psychobiography'. This one, however, IIRC,
> > seemed to focus almost everywhere on the fact
> > (or is it a known 'fact'?) that he was gay.
>
> Yes, it's a known fact, and after his wife Felicia Montealegre died it
> wasn't any kind of a secret.
>
>
>
>
Was it ever a "secret"-even when he was married?
Peter T. Daniels
Like many men in that situation, he was sure she didn't know; but yes,
he was more discreet while she was alive.
I don't know when he married -- a girl in my class was friends with
one of his children (Jamie?), because her father was NBC's VP for NBC
Radio (I wonder if they were trying to lure him away from CBS), so
presumably ca. 1950.
His connections with Copland, Robbins, Adolph Green, and maybe
Laurents predated that, so she should have been at least aware of his
social circle.
Beaver Lad
<bdfa8382-2dcd-4cca...@a31g2000vbt.googlegroups.com>,
Peter T. Daniels <gram...@verizon.net> wrote:
> On Jun 29, 10:43�am, Wotan <Wota...@aol.com> wrote:
> > > > I saw herBernsteinbook in a Library discard
> > > > pile recently, so I looked at it because I generally do
> > > > like 'psychobiography'. This one, however, IIRC,
> > > > seemed to focus almost everywhere on the fact
> > > > (or is it a known 'fact'?) that he was gay.
> >
> > > Yes, it's a known fact, and after his wife Felicia Montealegre died it
> > > wasn't any kind of a secret.
> >
> > Was it ever a "secret"-even when he was married?
>
> Like many men in that situation, he was sure she didn't know; but yes,
> he was more discreet while she was alive.
--------
More discreet while she was alive? You could not be more wrong.
Bernstein left his wife to be with a man in 1976, and was rather public
about it. She was absolutely devastated by Bernstein's move and,
although they reconciled, her subsequent fatal illness was something
for which Bernstein felt personally responsible. Check Humphrey
Burton's bio.
--------
> I don't know when he married -- a girl in my class was friends with
> one of his children (Jamie?), because her father was NBC's VP for NBC
> Radio (I wonder if they were trying to lure him away from CBS), so
> presumably ca. 1950.
--------
September 1951.
--------
Peter T. Daniels
> In article
> <bdfa8382-2dcd-4cca-9e60-f7fee4073...@a31g2000vbt.googlegroups.com>,
> Peter T. Daniels <gramma...@verizon.net> wrote:
> > On Jun 29, 10:43 am, Wotan <Wota...@aol.com> wrote:
> > > > > I saw herBernsteinbook in a Library discard
> > > > > pile recently, so I looked at it because I generally do
> > > > > like 'psychobiography'. This one, however, IIRC,
> > > > > seemed to focus almost everywhere on the fact
> > > > > (or is it a known 'fact'?) that he was gay.
>
> > > > Yes, it's a known fact, and after his wife Felicia Montealegre died it
> > > > wasn't any kind of a secret.
>
> > > Was it ever a "secret"-even when he was married?
>
> > Like many men in that situation, he was sure she didn't know; but yes,
> > he was more discreet while she was alive.
>
> --------
>
> More discreet while she was alive? You could not be more wrong.
> Bernstein left his wife to be with a man in 1976, and was rather public
> about it. She was absolutely devastated by Bernstein's move and,
> although they reconciled, her subsequent fatal illness was something
> for which Bernstein felt personally responsible. Check Humphrey
> Burton's bio.
So he managed to keep it from her for 25 years, until after the
children were grown? That seems pretty discreet to me.
> --------
>
> > I don't know when he married -- a girl in my class was friends with
> > one of his children (Jamie?), because her father was NBC's VP for NBC
> > Radio (I wonder if they were trying to lure him away from CBS), so
> > presumably ca. 1950.
>
> --------
>
> September 1951.
>
> --------
>
> > His connections with Copland, Robbins, Adolph Green, and maybe
> > Laurents predated that, so she should have been at least aware of his
> > social circle.-
So you agree that she was like other women who married men they should
have known were gay, simply in denial? sure she could "cure" him?
Beaver Lad
<f9c062bf-fd23-443c...@gv8g2000vbb.googlegroups.com>,
Peter T. Daniels <gram...@verizon.net> wrote:
========================
I didn't say that "he managed to keep it from her for 25 years".
You did.
And you're wrong again.
Mr. Burton addresses this point in his biography, stating that she
certainly knew of Bernstein's bi-sexuality from the get-go. Long before
they got married.
The real point is that Bernstein was shockingly INDISCREET in a
fashion that publicly humiliated his wife. Even if he had "managed to
keep it from her for 25 years", which he did NOT, this callous act on
Bernstein's part would make such putative discretion rather moot.
========================
> >
> > > I don't know when he married -- a girl in my class was friends with
> > > one of his children (Jamie?), because her father was NBC's VP for NBC
> > > Radio (I wonder if they were trying to lure him away from CBS), so
> > > presumably ca. 1950.
> >
> > --------
> >
> > September 1951.
> >
> > --------
> >
> > > His connections with Copland, Robbins, Adolph Green, and maybe
> > > Laurents predated that, so she should have been at least aware of his
> > > social circle.-
>
> So you agree that she was like other women who married men they should
> have known were gay, simply in denial? sure she could "cure" him?
=============================
"Agree"? How could I agree to a point that has not been made until now,
by you?
It's irrelevant anyway, as the subject of my post was your inaccuracy.
ivanmaxim
>
> - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Sometimes I think they know they are gay but marry them anyway
because they love them - e.g. Nonie Phipps knew that Schippers was gay
when she married him but loved him very much anyway. Wagner fan
Peter T. Daniels
> In article
Since you know so little about the lives of gay men in the 1950s (let
alone the 1940s), perhaps you should stop being so insistent.
Beaver Lad
<8aa1ae2b-02b8-406a...@d1g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>,
Peter T. Daniels <gram...@verizon.net> wrote:
===========================
A complete non sequitur. I'm insistent only about your inadequacy as a
writer.
M forever
So, how was your gay life in the 40s?
Matthew B. Tepper
to be typed in news:8be2ec78-aa0f-4750-8740-70f04b466480
@o4g2000vbv.googlegroups.com:
> Sometimes I think they know they are gay but marry them anyway because they
> love them - e.g. Nonie Phipps knew that Schippers was gay when she married
> him but loved him very much anyway. Wagner fan
Well, look at Cole Porter and Linda Lee Thomas. Then of course there's
Johana Harris, who married Jake Heggie when she was 70 and he 21. Apart from
the teacher-student relationship, there was a close friendship, and she was
able to benefit from being included in his insurance coverage.
Nothing at all wrong with any of this, in my opinion.
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!!
"I don’t think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable
than left-wing social engineering. I don’t think imposing radical
change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free
society to operate. I think we need a national conversation to get
to a better Medicare system with more choices for seniors." Former
Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich on "Meet the Press" 15 May 2011
Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of my employers.
Peter T. Daniels
Nonexistent. I didn't come along until the 1950s. There are, however,
detailed histories and memoirs of the period.
M forever
So first you tell us that you didn't even know anything about
Bernstein's famous "I rescued Mahler from oblivion" narrative because
you are not "a Bernsteinian", and now you suddenly are a big Bernstein
expert who knows everything about his private life?
That's so funny because it is not only highly inconsistent, it also
makes it even more ridiculous that you replied to Herman's detailed
description of that Mahler narrative with the brainless "so you
believe in gossip?" and now it turns out all you know about Bernstein
is just celebrity gossip.
LOL!!!
Peter T. Daniels
And what makes you think Bernstein's private life was different from
the private life of any other closeted gay man of the 1940s and 1950s,
except that he was a celebrity and so had much more to lose?
> That's so funny because it is not only highly inconsistent, it also
> makes it even more ridiculous that you replied to Herman's detailed
> description of that Mahler narrative with the brainless "so you
> believe in gossip?" and now it turns out all you know about Bernstein
> is just celebrity gossip.
Try reading the literature about gay life in the 1940s and 1950s.
"Before Stonewall* was a documentary and a book made at a time when
lots of people were still around to reminisce about those times.
George Chauncey's *Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making
of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940* (1995) is perhaps the best-received
academic study of the milieu into which Bernstein moved, and a few
years later he brfought out a follow-up volume *The Making of a Modern
Gay World, 1935-1975 * (published by Basic rather than Chicago) that I
haven't seen.
pianomaven
Histories, unfortunately, do not do justice to history, alas.
TD