Albert Fuller and Hugues Cuenod

The legendary Swiss tenor Hugues Cuenod died on Friday (Dec. 3rd). I've posted a reminiscence on my blog, but wanted to add some photos of Albert and Huguie here, as well as some words about Huguie by Albert. The photos are either from Huguie's archive, or pictures I took when Albert and I visited Huguie in Morges in 2002 - the Cuenod centenary. Words are from the Translator's Note of Hugues Cuenod with an Agile Voice: Conversations with Francois Hudry, which Albert translated from the French in 1999. 

But first these words about Albert by Huguie, in the fifth of the conversations with Hudry:

The harpsichordist Albert Fuller...is one of my best friends. He is the most French of Americans. He knows Rameau and Lully at the ends of his fingers and lives his life constantly in the culture and the spirit of France. He used to load his harpsichord in a large station wagon and we crossed the country giving numerous concerts in many little and some large American cities. He is a very funny friend with whom I've enjoyed many amusing hours.

 




(AF) I first heard the riveting voice of Hugues Cuenod in New York in 1945; it was borne to my ear by the 1938 Parisian recording of Francois Couperin's Troisieme Lecon de Tenebres of 1714; it was also my introduction to the vocal works of Couperin. That combination of voice and composer remains to this day one of the unique pinnacles of my experience as a musician. The enduring power of Jeremiah's ancient, finger-wagging words, combined with the communicative musical power of Grand Siecle French classicism, was shocking in the extreme, perhaps especially because the entire experience opened a new door of expression, one I never knew existed.

As a graduate student at Yale in the early 1950s, I purchased Cuenod's Westminster recording of all three of Couperin's magnificent Lecons. These performances...bowled me over once again by their uncanny intensity. And then, Cuenod's bio on the jacket contained a striking sentence of hitherto unconsidered thought, at least by me. It read "Mr. Cuenod explains his artistic goal in these words: 'Though I earn my living by music I am not a professional who thinks primarily of business. I prefer the Epicurean way, to choose what is most interesting and musically rewarding.'" [Italics AF]




 






Well--this particular, and very personal idea so touched me that I began to understand how it resonated with my own still-green, graduate-student heart. Yet, I hadn't the slightest notion of how to realize such an ambition, or of even quite comprehending what his words had meant. As each of our lives represents in its own way a straight line, beginning with hindsight, it seems clear that the lines of Cuenod's and my life should one day intersect, at least professionally. 







When that happened, it was also clear that we were to become friends, and later, when we toured together as a duo, it was even clearer that our spirits meshed when we were most vulnerable as artists, that is, when we performed together in public. Neither of us did anything the same way twice. Since my part of our performances was all improvised, I could mirror the smallest new ideas that his performance would suggest to me. On the other hand, he, hearing everything I did, was always receptive to the new hints of interpretation that my accompaniments might suggest. Performing thus with him before our various publics resulted in the greatest musical fun, and transports de joie I ever experienced; my memory of that is as strong today as ever.

  

Albert at Huguie's 100th birthday party, Theatre de Vevey, June 2002

 

The Legendary First Aston Magna Group Photo

Aston Magna, June 1973 (click pic for larger image)

Courtesy of Anthony Martin, who writes:

Dear Paul, this might be worthy of posting, so that we can get corrective ID’s on the folks I have misremembered or misrepresented. This is from June 1973 after the two-week debauch that was the beginning of Aston Magna. Missing from the photo, among others, Michael McCraw.

[Editor's note: if you have an ID correction, please email me at paulfesta at gmail dot com and I'll update this post.]

Seated in front, left to right:
Deborah Robin
Frances Fitch
Ross Keiser
Mary Wyly
Jane McMahan

Next row, standing:
Nina Stern
James Wyly
(?)

Ray Erickson
David Behnke
Hannah Rose
Paula Stone
Judy Linsenberg
Anne Hornbostel
(?)
Jane Eston
Randee Berman

Next row, standing
Anthony Martin
Stanley Ritchie
Jay Bernfeld
Leland Tolo
Jaap Schroeder
Albert Fuller
Bernard Krainis
Robert Dunbar

Standing in doorway:
Edward Parmentier
Emily Romney
John Metz

Albert Fuller in the Washington National Cathedral

The executors of Albert's estate generously gave me Albert's framed program from his 1950 organ recital in the Washington National Cathedral, in which he gave one of the very first US performances of Messiaen's Ascension Suite. Below find an image of that program, preceded (above this text and below it) by some illustrated background from the just completed second edition of my book OH MY GOD: Messiaen in the Ear of the Unbeliever, which is based on my film Apparition of the Eternal Church, of which Albert is both star and muse.

As usual, remember to click on these images to get a larger and more legible version. Also, the director's commentary at the bottom of page 39, above, continues onto page 40, which isn't included in this blog post. Last, if you're in Dallas, Chicago, Sackville (New Brunswick), Austin, Concord, Washington D.C., Phoenix or London, check this page for screenings between now and the December 10th Messiaen centenary.

Albert Fuller photos by Paul Festa

Rummaging through old hard drives, I came across these photographs of Albert and friends:












In June, 2002, Albert and I were in Switzerland at Hugues Cuenod's summer chateau for his 100th birthday. I took a slew of pictures of him and Huguie and these are probably the best. We were on Huguie's lawn behind the chateau and Albert was reading Huguie something - what I don't remember.

Actually, I didn't take this photo - it was taken by my friend Anthony Lazarus over drinks at the bar I set up in my apartment - the Bar Nothing - which was modeled on Albert's Positive Bar. In the background is the portrait of me by Frank Yamrus, which would subliminally inspire the film I would later make starring Albert.

This picture was taken at Nick & Tony's, the restaurant down the block from Albert's place on 67th Street where he ate dinner more often than not in his last years. Albert and I had gone there for a bite after a few hours at the Positive Bar, and when we were finishing up, in walked friends. From left to right, above Albert: Paul Festa, Lowell Liebermann, Bobby White.

When my film Apparition of the Eternal Church screened in New York in February, Bill Trafka accompanied it live on the organ. The credits are set to Messiaen's Banquet Celeste, and the final chord sounds on this slow-motion clip of Albert at the moment he remembers the name of the work he's been listening to (Apparition de L'Eglise Eternelle). I got this shot of Albert and Bill during the dress rehearsal.

Potential Buyers Serenaded

From the "Big Deal" column in THE NEW YORK TIMES by JOSH BARBANEL

Published: February 17, 2008

You never know what a broker is going to find when showing a Manhattan apartment.

Sharon E. Baum of the Corcoran Group came across the unexpected when she opened the door of an apartment at 27 West 67th Street, owned by the estate of Albert Fuller, a harpsichordist and influential figure in the revival of early instrumental music. The co-op was as a haven for artists at the turn of the 20th century.

Ms. Baum and her client were greeted not by dirty laundry or even sweet-smelling cider bubbling on the stove, but by the strains of a work by Heinrich von Biber, a 17th-century composer, played on a Baroque-style violin with gut rather than steel strings by Colin Jacobsen, accompanied by a lute, harpsichord and cello.

Mr. Fuller’s apartment, a five-room duplex with a double-height living room and a barrel-vaulted 17-foot ceiling, had been used for decades as a musical salon and performance space, and while it was on the market, it was still being used for rehearsals.

Mr. Fuller died last September at the age of 81.

Since the first showing, Ms. Baum and James Roe, the executor of the estate and artistic director of the Helicon Foundation, which was founded by Mr. Fuller in the 1980s to support the early instrument movement, have been coordinating schedules. Now, musicians play when many potential buyers walk through.

“The kind of people who look at an apartment like this want to be near Lincoln Center and Juilliard,” Ms. Baum said. “Everyone who walks in doesn’t want to leave; they want to stay.”

The apartment, owned by Mr. Fuller since the 1970s, is decorated in an exuberant style. “The residence retains many prewar details awaiting restoration to their original glory,” Ms. Baum wrote in the listing.

Mr. Roe said that the foundation was supported in its early years by gifts from Alice Tully, a soprano and philanthropist, who died in 1993. Now, he said, a part of the proceeds of the sale will go to the foundation.

AF onstage at St. Bartholomew's Church

On November 9th, 2006, Rooftop Films, the Premiere Commission and Great Music at St. Bartholomew's Church gave the New York premiere screening of Apparition of the Eternal Church, my film about people's responses to the music of Messiaen of which Albert is both muse and star. After the film, Bill Trafka played the organ, and after that Albert, the rest of the cast and I took questions. I just discovered these pictures on the Premiere Commission Website, which Bruce Levingston was kind enough to let me have full-resolution copies of.

New Yorkers--mark your calendar and save the date: Apparition of the Eternal Church returns to St. Bart's Wednesday, February 27th, 2008, at 7:30PM.

AF onstage with Premiere Commission event sponsor Bruce Levingston, fellow Apparition cast members Ricky Ian Gordon, Wayne Koestenbaum, Shanti Carson, Nancy Anderson and Manoel Felciano, director Paul Festa, St. Bart's organist Bill Trafka, and Rooftop Films program director Dan Nuxoll. Be sure to click on the image so you can see, via people's expressions, how Albert is charming the pants off us.

AF tribute by Johan Stern

One time at Juilliard I had to take the baroque cello owned by the school to a violin maker for some adjustments and new strings. I was playing some chamber music with Albert and another student of his, the oboe-player Andrew Adelson, preparing some trio sonata for his recital. Albert suggested that I should take the cello to William Monical at Staten Island and he asked me if I would like him to join my trip – of course, I was delighted to accept his offer! From the first day I came to New York I was mesmerized by the city and used most of my spare time to explore it. In books like E.B White’s Here is New York or Singer’s Enemies unfolded all those typical New York stories of completely different worlds taking place just some blocks away from each other. It all felt so different from Europe, not to mention Sweden where I grew up!

We took the subway down to Battery Park, Albert lecturing about the history of the New York Subway, the different private lines long before the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. I couldn’t have found a better guide than Albert; with all his knowledge about the city he was the perfect companion, telling amusing stories, sometimes flavored with indecent details of the secret liaisons taking place in the empty driver’s compartments during roaring rides underground. We boarded the ferry and smelled the breeze from the sea and Albert’s stories changed, describing the sight of the QE and the other great ocean-liners and long before that, how poor and oppressed people from Europe approaching New York with hope of freedom.

Another great memory is how Albert in his Performance Practice class at Juilliard made a thorough analysis on Madonna and her Marie Antoinette remake of “Vogue” from the MTV Video Music Awards 1990. It was one of his many unique qualities – to see and understand a brief moment of what most of us would think was nothing more than superficiality, and understand the very human meaning of it as an expression – far out or "hot shit on toast under glass" as Albert would call it if it really was something very special. How an artistic statement always has many "historical siblings" – a direct link to history, and the need of generation after generation to retell it.

I am very grateful to have so many good memories around Albert's: all the discoveries in our coachings with the TestosterTones playing the Brahms trios, our sudden concerts! – his great trust in us, his warm hospitality, our exit subito when he suddenly felt tired and we, totally unaware of how time flies absorbing scents and sounds of the enchanted gatherings around the Rendezvous Lounge – overtaken and aroused scattering into the city night. I have written him many times over the years, just small notes on postcards from my tours and travel. It was always so natural to share a new moment of experience with Albert.

To put words to what Albert represents is very hard but I can honestly say that still 15 years after my great couple of years at Juilliard, he is still with me on a daily basis in my musical life.

Boston premiere of Albert's movie

Friday, October 12th, 8PM
Marsh Chapel
735 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston

The movie of which Albert was the genesis and remains the heart, soul and star, Apparition of the Eternal Church, will have its Boston premiere this coming Friday, courtesy of the Boston University Messiaen Project (BUMP--an acronym Albert enjoyed) and its international conference "Messiaen the Theologian." After the show, conference organizer Andrew Shenton will perform the Messiaen organ work of the same name, and there will be a round-table discussion and Q&A with Andrew, Boston Globe correspondent David Weininger and me, hosted by BU's Victor Coelho.

When I interviewed Albert for the movie (the first of 115 interviews), I had no idea he'd ever played a note of Messiaen. So it was one of my biggest surprises and the movie's happiest serendipities that he had been the first to perform Messiaen in the National Cathedral back in 1950, when this music was hot off the press.

Albert figures prominently in the trailer: apparitionfilm.com/assets/ApparitionTrailer20070209QTb.mov

This is the schedule for the BUMP conference ("Messiaen the Theologian"):
http://oliviermessiaen.net/bump/conference-2007/program
(The following night, with Messiaen scholar Luke Berryman, I'll be giving the Boston premiere of a newly published Messiaen work for violin and piano, the Fantaisie.)

Here's the link to the movie's official Website: apparitionfilm.com

Here's the poster for the Boston premiere: paulfesta.com/Boston.htm

And here's Albert's bio on the movie site: apparitionfilm.com/cast/fullerbio.htm

photo: AF with Paul Festa and Pedja Muzijevic

This was April 1993 after a Helicon symposium. If I ever find Albert's compendium of Helicon programs I'll look up what we played.

photo: Soigné gathering, 15 Sept 1957, Oak Room of the Plaza

The Washington Opera is born.

Of course, Albert is in the center of this lively bunch!

Left to right: Tommy Dunn, Connie Mellen, Peggy Smith, Day Thorpe, Albert Fuller, Margaret Cox, Gregory Smith, Elinor Douglas, Paul Callaway.

Update: See BG Thorpe's comment for details.

(update) Hannah Walsh, Gregory Smith's granddaughter

Anyone who knew Albert knew the late Gregory Smith (a.k.a. Grisha) through Albert' frequent and affectionate Grisha stories. In addition to being a great friend, Gregory was instrumental in launching Helicon and remains, with Alice Tully, a Helicon Muse (it's on the letterhead).

Here are some pictures and correspondence from the Smith family:

Hannah Walsh (fka Hannah Smith) writes: Gregory was a very dear friend of Albert's and I have no doubt they are now reunited in heaven. This has been the one happy thought that has gotten me through today after I stumbled this morning across Albert's obituary in yesterday's Boston Globe.

I have missed Albert deeply since leaving NYC in the summer of 2005. He has been a part of my life since I can remember, as a sort of second grandfather at first, and then a friend and storyteller who could keep my grandfather's memory alive in my mind and heart. I could go on and on about what Albert's stories of my family have provided for me.

I've attached a picture of Albert, me and my firstborn son (Jedidiah). I think this picture was taken in the spring of 2004 in front of Nick & Toni's (where else?).

Mardie Smith (Gregory's daughter-in-law) writes: Hannah was very close to her grandfather and developed a very close relationship with Albert after Gregory’s death. In this photo, she is pregnant with Gregory’s second great-grandson, Owen. It was taken two years ago in front of Shun Lee by Albert’s apartment. Jedidiah is now four years old.

(UPDATE)
Grisha was a certainly a fascinating father-in-law. Our visits with him usually coincided with visits from Albert, Zoltan, Bobby White, C. Ray Smith and a few others. Dana and I have been together for 35 years so I entered the scene at the summer home in Stonington, Ct and went on to those in Maine and East Hampton. You can imagine the settings, the dinners, the stories, and the laughter! But Albert was his best friend; Gregory once told me that he and Albert spoke on the phone every day, no matter where they happened to be in the world.

photo: Albert Welcomes Guests to Helicon

For 21 years, The Helicon Foundation presented a series of intimate chamber music concerts performed on period instruments in Albert Fuller's apartment near Lincoln Center. (The series moved across the park in 2006-7 and continues there in our new home, The Kosciuszko Foundation, 15 E. 65th Street.) His generous music room, which has 22 foot ceilings and seats upwards of 80 (70 comfortably, 90 when certain stars performed), took the appellation, The Helicon Studio for these events, becoming "The Rendezvous Lounge" afterwards, as musicians and music lovers mingled in the afterglow. (Cue the conga music, thank you Mr. Kozinn.)

Here is Albert welcoming guests at the second floor entrance probably around 1999. Vivacious Helicon Members Dennis Reiff and Patty Otis Abel took the photo.

photos from 1992 and 1993

In 1992, Albert led and played this concert by the Helicon Ensemble in Weill Hall.

Playing on gut strings in public scared the daylights out of me, but I was grateful to Albert for the opportunity nonetheless.

After Alice Tully's stroke in 1993, Albert brought his students the Italian pianist Marco Rapetti, the Swedish cellist Johan Stern and me (whom Albert had collectively introduced to his Helicon audiences as the "Testosterone Trio," or "The Testostertones") to Miss Tully's apartment in the Hampshire House to play for her. I'm almost certain we played Brahms, though Albert has it as Schumann on p. 147 of his Alice book, among other elaborate improvisations on the facts of that extraordinary afternoon.

photos: HELICON CONCERTS AT CARNEGIE HALL, c. 1990

photo: Zoltan Ovary, AF and Hugues Cuenod

I wish I could remember the story behind this picture. It was in the collection of Hugues Cuenod, who let me borrow and scan it. Pictured to the left of AF and Cuenod is the late eminent Transylvanian-American immunologist Zoltan Ovary.

photo: AF at work on his Alice Tully book

We were at Fire Island, where Albert had rented a place in the Pines--his very own writer's retreat--to finish his Alice Tully book. As you can see in the picture (click on the image for a larger version), it was then called "Alice Tully: A Period Instrument," which was in fact an improvement over "Alice Tully: Edwardian Supergirl." The third try, "Alice Tully: An Intimate Portrait," was certainly the charm.