"Bernstein" Movie Throws Spotlight on Gay Musicians

[PeterRS]

The Steven Spielberg/Martin Scorsese co-produced movie Bernstein is due to open with much fanfare in cinemas at the end of the month and then on Netflix. This true tale about the love affair between the acknowldged gay orchestral conductor Leonard Bernstein and his wife will almost inevitably throw the spotlight on to other gay men and women partcularly in the world of classical music. That world has tradtionally been closeted when owning up to some of its personalities who are gay and still not out. It is almost as though the older generation who tend to make up the audiences for most classical concerts still do not want to believe that their idols are anything but average straight men and women.

They are of course wrong, and more and more classical musicians are coming out. We know that in his late teens and early 20s Bernstein mixed with a clique of American classical composers almost all of whom were gay. We know that some of those he mentored are gay - or at least bisexual. One, Michael Tilson Thomas, was Music Director of the London Symphony and for the last 28 years has been Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony. Sadly he is now very ill with brain cancer. Marin Alsop recently MD at the Baltiore Symphony is one of the few openly gay women conductors. The Canadian Yannick Nezet-Seguin is openly gay and is Music Director at both the Philadelphia Orchestra and New York's Metropolian Opera.

Of soloists, the great super-virtuoso pianist Earl Wild who died in 2010 aged 94 was also openly gay throughout his long life and distinguished career. Another piano virtuoso, Vladimir Horowitz, had married conductor Toscanini's daughter.  But in the music business he was known by most to be at best bisexual although another great pianist Arthur Rubinstein said of him, "everyone knew and accepted him as a homosexual." Britain's finest pianist Sir Stephen Hough has been openly gay and happily partnered since his mid-30s. French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet is also out and lives with his partner in Los Angeles.

The other day I was flipping through youtube videos for a recording of the little-known Pergolesi Stabat Mater conducted by that great - and not at all gay - conductor Claudio Abbado. I then discovered what I consider a far better and more modern version with as one of the soloists the French counter-tenor Philippe Jaroussky. Today the world seems awash with counter-tenors - that developed, mostly-falsetto head voice that replaces in many concerts and recordings a voice somewhat akin to the castrati of 300 years ago. Many are thought, wrongly, to be gay, although some are. I had heard of Jaroussky but never listened to the voice. He is openly gay and has lived with his partner for about 17 years. Now a superstar in the counter-tenor firmament, he his very good loooking and his voice has been described as "that of an angel". Perhaps this short excerpt of the Handel aria "Ombra mai fu" - popularly known as Handel's Largo - made at a ceremony marking his award as Opera SInger of the Year will give an idea.

I can recall only one instance where a gay counter-tenor has overstepped the boundaries of decency and morality. Back in 2007 I saw a glorious production of Handel's opera Giulio Cesare in Chicago. In it were no less than 3 counter-tenors, led by David Daniels as Caesar. Daniels was then arguably the finest singer in that genre. He and his partner were married in 2014 with Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsburg officiating. Counter-tenors almost invariably have a relatively shortish career if only because there are not so many roles for that voice. So it was not surprising that he also took up a teaching post as Professor of Voice at the University of Michigan Music School. Not only was he caught on a gay dating app offering students $300 for blow jobs, on a guest engagement with the Houston Opera in 2019, he and his partner were accused of drugging and raping a young singer. 3 months ago both pleaded guilty to sexual assault. The career of a once great singer is now dead. 

[unicorn]

We found the movie a bit slow and in need of editing. The acting was good, though. 

[Riobard]

On 12/26/2023 at 9:29 PM, unicorn said:

We found the movie a bit slow and in need of editing. The acting was good, though. 

Not especially for this film, due to the music  as a central character, but this is why I like the options of speed adjustment for molasses in Jan filler scenes on Netflix and Apple, not available on Prime or Disney.