Patrick Giles, the Gandolf of Opera
(Patrick Giles, opera fanatic in excelsis, lost his battle with cancer on October 13, 2005)
"If he weren't so brilliant it would have been unbearable but I actually learned an enormous amount from him" -a pianist on Walter Legge
You have your friends, and then you have your opera friends. You have the friends you're nice to, and then you have the friends with whom you have knock-down-drag-outs about obscure Eastern Europran sopranos. If you spoke to your other friends that way, you'd never hear from them again; if you didn't talk to your opera friends that way, you'd never hear from them again.
Patrick Giles was my opera friend. Since opera is the most passionate of art forms, it's only logical that opera should inspire one's most tempestuous relationships. Our friendship was based upon two truths: (1) opera and (2) that each of us knew infinitely more about opera than the other one. It would have been cruel to have kept a good friend ignorant or mis-guided about so many things, right? And, of course, this rationale would apply into non-opera subjects too. Simpy put, I would tell Patrick how he should live his life, and he would tell me how to live mine. I don't know if either of us ever followed the other's sage advice but, so long as we each had equal time on the pulpit, our friendship chugged along.
I can tell you this NOW. Sometimes during one of Patrick's phone-pontifications, I'd put down the phone, go about my business (for example, adding a Ring opera or two to iTunes), and return to the phone with Patrick still yapping, never the wiser. Amazing indeed since I'm sure he did it all on one breath too. Patrick really should have been an opera singer with phrasing and breath control like that. He could have been the male Montsy!
Patrick was perhaps the closest thing to a Renaissance man, I've known. While I could at least pretend to know as much about opera as he did, I'd have to defer to Patrick on literature or movies (did they invent the Criterion Collection just for him???). Here's a short list of his successful missionary work on one Texas bumpkin:
William Christie. les Arts Florrisants. Baroque Opera. Virginia Woolf, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (the greatest joy I've ever seen on Patrick's face was when I told him I had taped the BBC Schwarzkopf tribute; I saved him money --always a good thing in Patrick's world --since he was in the midst of negotiations to purchase a copy with a clerk from Academy for an undisclosed amount!), Douglas Sirk beyond Imitation of Life, Margot Fonteyn (he helped me along anyway once I'd had that great revelation on my own), Sylvia Plath. and, of course MAWDREW CZGOWCHGZ (sp?)
Patrick wasn't so successful in brainwashing me about the Simpsons, Sex and the City, Cecilia Bartoli or Sacred Harp Music (what IS that stuff, anyway?)
2 interesting items, as an aside:
(a) I posted about Diana Vreeland on my blog, maybe two days before Patrick died.. Patrick adored Diana Vreeland and GAVE me ONE of his copies of her memoirs (that was a great compliment from a book-horder like Patrick). Now I am certain it was the divine DV who inspired me!
(b) Remember my recent Snake Pit post about that infamous Gioconda at the Met. Patrick claimed he was there (and I believed him that time). He had described it to me in great dramatic detail long before I even knew what a blog was. That Gioconda performance was 1982 - OCT 13!
Patrick expressed his passion for opera in his essays and articles in the New York Sun, Opera News, and many other publications. Often one could find his very intelligent observations in one's program. I called Patrick, "the Gandolf of Opera" and I think he was grudingly pleased. While we may not have always seen eye-to-ear on...Renee Fleming, for example, I was always humbled by Patrick's talent as a writer and a critic. I've learned a great deal from his example, and still need some more training. HELLO!? In an ideal world, Patrick would have been chief Opera Boy at a big-wig New York City newspaper. He was THAT strapping!
Here's to Patrick, Here's to Life and Opera and Uncut Handel! Pace Pace.
It's not like I'm losing an opera friend.... I'm gaining a cat.
if you feel the need, there is ample evidence that Patrick was a devoted Met b'cast listener. Save the broadcasts for the Patricks of future generations.
"If he weren't so brilliant it would have been unbearable but I actually learned an enormous amount from him" -a pianist on Walter Legge
You have your friends, and then you have your opera friends. You have the friends you're nice to, and then you have the friends with whom you have knock-down-drag-outs about obscure Eastern Europran sopranos. If you spoke to your other friends that way, you'd never hear from them again; if you didn't talk to your opera friends that way, you'd never hear from them again.
Patrick Giles was my opera friend. Since opera is the most passionate of art forms, it's only logical that opera should inspire one's most tempestuous relationships. Our friendship was based upon two truths: (1) opera and (2) that each of us knew infinitely more about opera than the other one. It would have been cruel to have kept a good friend ignorant or mis-guided about so many things, right? And, of course, this rationale would apply into non-opera subjects too. Simpy put, I would tell Patrick how he should live his life, and he would tell me how to live mine. I don't know if either of us ever followed the other's sage advice but, so long as we each had equal time on the pulpit, our friendship chugged along.
I can tell you this NOW. Sometimes during one of Patrick's phone-pontifications, I'd put down the phone, go about my business (for example, adding a Ring opera or two to iTunes), and return to the phone with Patrick still yapping, never the wiser. Amazing indeed since I'm sure he did it all on one breath too. Patrick really should have been an opera singer with phrasing and breath control like that. He could have been the male Montsy!
Patrick was perhaps the closest thing to a Renaissance man, I've known. While I could at least pretend to know as much about opera as he did, I'd have to defer to Patrick on literature or movies (did they invent the Criterion Collection just for him???). Here's a short list of his successful missionary work on one Texas bumpkin:
William Christie. les Arts Florrisants. Baroque Opera. Virginia Woolf, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (the greatest joy I've ever seen on Patrick's face was when I told him I had taped the BBC Schwarzkopf tribute; I saved him money --always a good thing in Patrick's world --since he was in the midst of negotiations to purchase a copy with a clerk from Academy for an undisclosed amount!), Douglas Sirk beyond Imitation of Life, Margot Fonteyn (he helped me along anyway once I'd had that great revelation on my own), Sylvia Plath. and, of course MAWDREW CZGOWCHGZ (sp?)
Patrick wasn't so successful in brainwashing me about the Simpsons, Sex and the City, Cecilia Bartoli or Sacred Harp Music (what IS that stuff, anyway?)
2 interesting items, as an aside:
(a) I posted about Diana Vreeland on my blog, maybe two days before Patrick died.. Patrick adored Diana Vreeland and GAVE me ONE of his copies of her memoirs (that was a great compliment from a book-horder like Patrick). Now I am certain it was the divine DV who inspired me!
(b) Remember my recent Snake Pit post about that infamous Gioconda at the Met. Patrick claimed he was there (and I believed him that time). He had described it to me in great dramatic detail long before I even knew what a blog was. That Gioconda performance was 1982 - OCT 13!
Patrick expressed his passion for opera in his essays and articles in the New York Sun, Opera News, and many other publications. Often one could find his very intelligent observations in one's program. I called Patrick, "the Gandolf of Opera" and I think he was grudingly pleased. While we may not have always seen eye-to-ear on...Renee Fleming, for example, I was always humbled by Patrick's talent as a writer and a critic. I've learned a great deal from his example, and still need some more training. HELLO!? In an ideal world, Patrick would have been chief Opera Boy at a big-wig New York City newspaper. He was THAT strapping!
Here's to Patrick, Here's to Life and Opera and Uncut Handel! Pace Pace.
It's not like I'm losing an opera friend.... I'm gaining a cat.
if you feel the need, there is ample evidence that Patrick was a devoted Met b'cast listener. Save the broadcasts for the Patricks of future generations.
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