Moscow Nights
Page 44
158“fourteen year old boy”: Heinrich Neuhaus, untitled article, SK, July 7, 1960.
158“whatever your soul tells you”: Ibid.
9: “WE ARE IN ORBIT”
159Max Frankel: For his lively account of his three-year posting in Moscow, see TOML, 147–88.
160Glavlit: The “Main-Lit” agency was the Soviet government’s censorship vehicle and also monitored domestic publications.
160“boyish-looking”: Frankel, “Russians Cheer U.S. Pianist, 23.”
161long dispatch marked “URGENT—SECRET”: “Report from the Deputy Minister of Culture of the USSR S.V. Kaftanov on Awarding the First Prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition to the American Pianist Van Cliburn,” April 12, 1958, reprinted in CCCP&C, 47–48.
162“That’s good playing”: Ella Vlassenko, interview with the author.
163clenched up: Kirill Kondrashin, “An Extremely Hard Competition,” SK, April 16, 1958.
163by common consensus, fared less well: Ibid.
163“Apart from brilliant musical gifts”: Ibid.
164spoke to . . . Mikhailov, who . . . went to Khrushchev: Sergei Dorensky, interview with Lyuba Vinogradova. Dorensky is the source for the following exchange; see also VC, 117.
164While he was in Hungary: Van more than once remembered that Khrushchev had been in Romania, but records confirm that he was in Hungary April 2–10. Nikita Khrushchev, Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev, ed. Sergei Khrushchev, vol. 3, Statesman (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007), 1013.
164pushed back to the following afternoon: Contestant Guide, Fonds 96m, Nos. 159–60, GM; undated press release, Tchaikovsky Competition Album, F.45, dm4No292/74, SHM.
165“Van, you’ve won . . . conservatory now”: VCL, 112.
165strode up to the piano: The episode is described in E. Gobrynina, “Once Again in Moscow,” Muzykalnaya Zhizn 12 (1960), 12–13. See also VCL, 112–13.
166“Van’s won”: VCL, 113.
166“WE ARE IN ORBIT”: Ibid.
166New York Times front page: This and the next two pieces ran on April 14. See also “Texas Pianist Wins in Moscow Over Reds” (AP), New York Herald Tribune, April 14, 1958; William J. Jorden, “Fruitful Exchanges: Triumph of U.S. Pianist in Moscow Provides Lessons in Building Goodwill,” NYT, April 17, 1958.
167Allen Spicer stared wonderingly: SH.
167Dulles ordered officers to report: Dulles to Moscow embassy, telegram, April 15, 1958; Box 2182, RG59, NACP.
167KGB . . . FBI: Khrushchev later told Van that the Soviets had been watching him: see chapter 18. The FBI’s interest in Van began before his return from Moscow, and he soon became aware that agents were interviewing his friends; see chapter 15.
168leaked to the American press: See for example Gazette and Daily (York, PA), April 15, 1958.
168“use his good offices”: VC, 119.
168“if I go in one day”: “All-American Virtuoso.
10: “AMERICAN SPUTNIK”
169gone to sleep: Harriet Wingreen, interview with the author.
169devotees swarmed over: “‘Vanya’ Cliburn: Popular Does Not Mean Good”; Ellen Barry, “Basking in Russia’s Love Long After a Musical Triumph,” NYT, July 1, 2011; “Kilgore Pianist Rests After Wooing Moscow” (AP), ST, April 13, 1958; VCL, 118.
170“So Cliburn didn’t win”: Shtilman, “In That Memorable April.”
170“Dear comrades and guests”: Undated press release, Tchaikovsky Competition Album, F.45, dm4No292/74, SHM. The ceremony can be seen in Soviet newsreel footage: http://www.britishpathe.com/video/festival-of-tchaikowsky-music/.
171“What is your father”: Van recalls the conversation in VC, 125.
171“Money doesn’t mean anything to me”: “Word Leaks Out: Kilgore Pianist Wins Moscow Contest” (UP), ST, April 14, 1958.
171basking in the attention: Max Frankel, “U.S. Pianist Plays for Soviet Chiefs,” NYT, April 15, 1958.
171Paul Moor snapped him: Life, April 28, 1958.
171Norman Shetler watched Moor: Interview with the author.
172“Oh it’s you”: VC, 125; Harriet Wingreen, interview with the author.
172“Have you heard the news”: “Word Leaks Out.”
172“Honey, she already knows”: VCG. There are several variants on this story. In the same interview, Van says he called home after the ceremony; Chasins has him call directly upon hearing of his victory, which seems unlikely, as he was urgently required at the conservatory for the filming session and not even fame could work miracles with the international calling system.
172“But I’ll be taking you”: VCG; “Nobody Dares Speak Badly of Russia in Front of Me.”
173“Khrushchev is here”: VCG.
173“Why are you so tall”: The conversation was widely reported in the American press on April 15 and is reprinted in VCL, 114–15.
174“I was listening to you”: In an interview with Trud, Van quoted Khrushchev as saying, “Vanya, I listened to the second round of the competition on the radio, and I loved Chopin’s F minor Fantasy in your performance.” Van also recalled to Tim Madigan and Peter Rosen that Khrushchev said he had heard him playing the Chopin Fantasy on the radio, though not where, and he told Argumenty I Fakty that Khrushchev had heard him playing on the radio, though not what. In an interview with Paul Holdengräber, Van said that Khrushchev heard the Fantasy on the radio while in Romania. However, Abram Chasins reports Khrushchev as saying, “I have heard so much about your wonderful interpretation and wonderful playing of the Chopin F minor Fantasy . . . I love that work, and I am disappointed I didn’t get to hear it in the second preliminary.” And James Roos quotes Van as saying, “[Khrushchev] told me, ‘I’m so sorry I didn’t get to hear you in the semifinals. My daughter was there, and she told me what a beautiful performance you played of the Fantaisie in F Minor of Chopin. It’s one of my favorite pieces.’” As previously noted, Khrushchev was in Hungary, not Romania, at the time, but it is impossible to establish whether he heard Van. “Nobody Dares Speak Badly of Russia in Front of Me”; Tim Madigan, “Van Cliburn: Mementos of the Musician,” FWS-T, May 13, 2012; VCG; “‘Vanya’ Cliburn: Popular Does Not Mean Good”; Van Cliburn interviewed by Paul Holdengräber; VCL, 115; James Roos, “Stalled Van,” Times-Picayune (New Orleans), April 24, 1983.
175Shostakovich opened the session: The order of events and transcriptions of speeches are taken from “Winners of the International Tchaikovsky Competition,” undated press release, Tchaikovsky Competition Album, F.45, dm4No292/74, SHM.
175guilty and discomposed: VCG.
176drop of bad taste: Heinrich Neuhaus, untitled article, SK.
176called him a genius: M. Teroganyan, “Yesterday at Cliburn’s Concert,” SK, June 4, 1960.
176“competition has demonstrated”: “Winners of the Competition Speak.”
176through a back door: Mark Schubart, “Moscow Rolls Out Red Carpet,” NYT, April 20, 1958. Another time, says Schubart, the crowds were so great that he was unable to leave at all.
177“Now you really have a sputnik”: Frankel, “U.S. Pianist Plays for Soviet Chiefs.”
177“American Sputnik, developed in secret”: “American Sputnik.”
177“Why did you let”: Ella Vlassenko, in Lev Vlassenko: Articles, 8.
177“Great man”: Liu Shikun, interview with the author.
178eagerly questioned Liu: “Winners of the Competition Speak.”
178“with grave courtesy”: “American Sputnik.”
178“You’ve been a very good politician”: “Cliburn Continues as Toast of Soviet,” NYT, April 16, 1958.
178“Here we are without a round table”: Ibid.
178“I really don’t care for any”: “American Sputnik.”
178Belgian queen left for home: “Reception at the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR K.Y. Voroshilov in Honor of the Belgian Queen Elisabeth,” undated press release, Tchaikovsky Competition Album, F.45, dm4No292/74, SHM.
178a
bout to be arrested: Norman Shetler, interview with the author.
178telegrams and letters: Quoted in “Let the Tchaikovsky Competition Play as a Joyful Anthem of Peace and Friendship,” undated press release, Tchaikovsky Competition Album, F.45, dm4No292/74, SHM.
179piece for Pravda: Published April 20. “Shostakovich Hails Cliburn’s Success,” NYT, April 21, 1958.
179workable spin: See also M. Sokolsky, “Fame That Was Born in Moscow,” Sovetskaya Rossiya, May 31, 1958.
179“better than Rachmaninoff’s”: “All-American Virtuoso.”
180“I dwell on these points”: Simonov, “On the International Piano Competition.”
180leading critic: Z. Vartanyan, quoted in “Hero’s Return,” Time, June 2, 1958. See also Howard Taubman, “Soviet Assesses Cliburn Victory,” NYT, May 23, 1958.
180lengthy report: Mikhailov, “Report from the Ministry of Culture,” CCCP&C, 50–57.
180“erroneous behavior”: Ibid., 52.
180wanting to begin lessons: Donald J. Raleigh, Soviet Baby Boomers: An Oral History of Russia’s Cold War Generation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 124. Some children forced into piano lessons by their parents were none too pleased.
181crowded into the small house: Annette Morgan, quoted in Brittani Pfau, “Van Cliburn Dies at 78,” The Flare (Kilgore College), March 1, 2013. Morgan took piano lessons with Rildia Bee from 1952 to 1962.
181“The best single word . . . lower middle class”: TM2.
181“so overwhelmed with joy”: “Word Leaks Out.”
181regular church prayer meeting: Annette Morgan, quoted in VC, 128.
181eighty acres around Moody: TM2.
181“That’s one of the things”: Ibid.
182“borrowed from time to time . . . left to be paid”: Ibid.
182compared Van to Marilyn Monroe: SH.
182Mrs. Steve Roland: Donna and Steve married in March 1956 and divorced in 1965. Her stage career, which never progressed beyond a few musicals, in which her husband also had parts, ended at the same time. She remarried and died in 2001.
182nosed around Juilliard: Mark Schubart to Patricia Berman, May 14, 1958, Folder 5, Box 14, JAD.
182“ALL OF US”: William Schuman to Van Cliburn, April 15, 1958, Folder 16, Box 2, JAP.
183“The biggest problem”: William Schuman to Mark Schubart, April 17, 1958, Folder 16, Box 3, The Joseph W. Polisi: William Schuman Research Papers, JA.
183a friend phoned: VCL, 119.
183“I am afraid”: Schuman to Schubart, April 17, 1958. Chasins (VCL, 114) suggests that Schuman (and Rosina) got through to Van in Moscow, but this letter makes it clear that they failed to reach him.
183Steve Allen Show: Val Adams, “Cliburn Is Signed by Allen TV Show,” NYT, April 25, 1958; Jack Gould, “TV: Van Cliburn Plays,” NYT, May 26, 1958.
184“Georgie”: Gary and Naomi Graffman, interview with the author. Judd was sitting on the Graffmans’ floor when he made the call. George Judd Jr. became managing director of the New York Philharmonic in 1959 but died at thirty-six of stomach cancer in 1961.
184“I want Kondrashin”: VC, 144.
184booked to tour Bulgaria: Sound Recording 306-EN-G-T-5781, “Van Cliburn Washington Press Conference,” May 23, 1958, RG 306, NACP.
184Judd called the State Department: “Proposed United States Tour of Van Cliburn with Soviet Conductor,” Memorandum of Conversation, April 17, 1958, Box 2182, RG 59, NACP.
11: THE LAST ROMANTIC
185flowers arrived from Khrushchev’s wife: “All-American Virtuoso.”
185confided to an embassy official: Richard H. Davis to Department of State, “Chaikovsky International Violin and Piano Competition: Success of American Pianist, Van Cliburn,” dispatch, April 24, 1958; Box 4060, RG 59, NACP.
185“PLEASE DELIVER FOLLOWING TO PIANIST”: Dulles to Moscow embassy, telegram, April 15, 1958, Box 2182, RG 59, NACP.
185“DEAR MR. AMBASSADOR”: Dulles to Moscow embassy, telegram, April 16, 1958, Box 2182, RG 59, NACP.
186Tommy Thompson . . . wrote: Thompson to secretary of state, telegram, April 17, 1958, Box 2182, RG59, NACP.
186Van quickly composed a reply: Thompson cabled the State Department with the text of Van’s letter:
Dear Mr. President:
I am most grateful for the message which you conveyed to me through Ambassador Thompson and it will be with great pleasure that I accept your invitation to call upon you and Mrs. Eisenhower at the White House upon my return to the United States. Signed Van Cliburn.
Thompson to secretary of state, April 18, 1958, Box 2182, RG 59, NACP.
186two hundred rubles a minute: Davis to State, “Chaikovsky International Violin and Piano Competition.”
186holy relic: Yuri Okov, “It’s a Pity to Leave Russia . . .” SK, May 17, 1958.
186made a pilgrimage: Davis to State, “Chaikovsky International Violin and Piano Competition.” The trip took place on April 17. The often-repeated story that though Tchaikovsky’s piano was played only on his birthday, the day was exceptionally moved forward several weeks for Van’s benefit is spoiled by the fact that newsreel footage shows Klimov’s accompanist playing it, too. See http://www.britishpathe.com/video/winners-of-tchaikovsky-competition-visit-the-comp/.
187“I really don’t think I’m in a daze”: Moor, “Sviatoslav Richter: Sequestered Genius.” The concert was on Wednesday, April 16.
187“a word . . . I do not use lightly about performers”: “All-American Virtuoso.”
187Van cried again: Ibid.
187“wildly pushing crowd”: “Moscow Again Hails Cliburn” (AP), NYT, April 19, 1958. Van’s performance of the Rachmaninoff is preserved in volume 3 of Van Cliburn in Moscow, video recording, Video Artists International, 2008, DVD.
187nearly derailed: Thompson to secretary of state, telegram, April 16, 1958; Dulles to Moscow embassy, telegram, April 16, 1958, Box 2182, RG 59, NACP. See also Davis to State, “Chaikovsky International Violin and Piano Competition.”
188returning to Vienna: In October, Pollack was welcomed back to the United States with a draft call; January 1959 found him a private at Fort Dix, New Jersey, serving in the six-month Army Reserve program. Ross Parmenter, “World of Music: Cash and Sherry,” NYT, January 11, 1959.
188“I said to Mr. Khrushchev”: Madigan, “‘The Texan Who Conquered Russia.’”
188“Because of his immaturity”: Thompson to secretary of state, telegram, April 16, 1958, Box 2182, RG 59, NACP.
188“There are no political barriers”: Brownsville Herald, April 18, 1958; et al.
189“Among Moscow teenagers”: Davis to State, “Chaikovsky International Violin and Piano Competition.”
189schoolgirl who had watched his finals: Klepikova, “Triumf i molchanie.”
189others openly wept: “All-American Virtuoso.”
189pilgrimage to Tchaikovsky’s grave: Ibid.; “Cliburn in Salute to Rachmaninoff,” NYT, June 1, 1958. The grave was not at Klin, as Chasins suggests (VCL, 121).
189called Rildia Bee: Fredrickson, “Van Cliburn Remembers His Remarkable Mother.”
190“NEW YORK AGENTS”: Herter to Moscow embassy, telegram, April 21, 1958, Box 2182, RG 59, NACP.
190he explained: Thompson to secretary of state, telegram, April 22, 1958, Box 2182, RG 59, NACP.
190“DEPARTMENT HAS RECEIVED REPORT THAT MANAGER”: Herter to Davis, telegram, May 9, 1958, Box 2182, RG59, NACP.
191J. Edgar Hoover: R. R. Roach to A. H. Belmont, memorandum, “Van Clibern [sic]—Internal Security,” May 8, 1958, FBI (FOIA).
191“would play it very cautiously from now on”: A. H. Belmont to L. V. Boardman, memorandum, “Van Clibern [sic] Internal Security,” May 9, 1958, FBI (FOIA). Hagerty’s identity, redacted from the previous file, is confirmed here.
191his embassy day: Van explained this sequence of events at a press conference held at Steinway Hall on his return to New York. Sound Recording 306-EN-G-T-5703, “Van Cliburn Press Conference,” May 19, 1
958, RG 306, NACP.
191lengthy telegram: Davis to secretary of state, May 12, 1958, Box 2182, RG 59, NACP.
192pink floral telegrams: Daily Courier (Connellsville, PA), June 24, 1958.
192Faculty for History and Philology: F.45, dm16No185/76, SHM.
192Faculty of Soil Science: F.45, dm16No185/39, SHM.
192forestry engineer . . . geographer: F.45, dm16No185/74, 93, SHM.
192“Soviet telegraph operators”: F.45, dm16No185/60, SHM.
192“tearful verses”: F.45, dm16No185/14, 72, SHM.
192“Vanyusha my dear”: “‘Vanya’ Cliburn: Popular Does Not Mean Good.”
192“You set our hearts on fire”: F.45, dm16No185/28, SHM.
192“How hard it is going to be to say good-bye”: F.45, dm16No185/88, SHM.
192“to all honest Americans”: F.45, dm16No185/86, SHM.
193“living in this nasty place”: F.45, dm16No185/37, SHM.
193“I would like to express”: F.45, dm16No185/41, SHM.
193“Look at it in your bad moments”: VCL, 143.
193“I tell you”: “All-American Virtuoso.”
193“Oh sure,” Van thought: VC, 147.
193Central Music School: Olesya Larchenko and Lena Varvarova to Van Cliburn, Moscow, October 1959, Folder 23, Box 9, RLP.
194half past five in the morning: VC, 143.
194“We have something for you”: Ibid., 144–45.
194message in Russian: Mikhailov, “I’m Going to Miss Russia.”
194perform in America: VCL, 127.
194“Today,” he ended: Shtilman, “In That Memorable April.”
195next day they talked: VC, 146.
195reporter for Sovetskaya Kultura: Okov, “It’s a Pity to Leave Russia . . .”
195fourteen extra suitcases, and one six-foot lilac shrub: “People,” Time, May 28, 1958. See also “Cliburn Leaves Soviet” (AP), NYT, May 16, 1958.
1954,800 rubles: Sound Recording 306-EN-G-T-5781, “Van Cliburn Washington Press Conference,” May 23, 1958, RG 306, NACP.
196Khrushchev allegedly ordered his death: David Pryce-Jones, “What the Hungarians Wrought: The Meaning of October 1956,” National Review, October 23, 2006.
196tit-for-tat revenge: Harry Schwartz, “Why Soviet Is Taking Tougher Line,” NYT, June 22, 1958.