Remembering Robin Williams and Tenor Jerry Hadley

“All is ephemeral, fame and the famous as well” – Marcus Aurelius

It was a shock to learn today that Robin Williams, known no doubt worldwide for his many talents, died at the age of sixty-three, an apparent suicide. It was impossible not to hear about it – it was splashed all over the social media and on all evening newscasts. What we are told is that Mr. Williams was, and had been, suffering from depression.

In one of those life is stranger than fiction parallels, I had recently been researching a very fine American singer, tenor Jerry Hadley, who also took his own life not many years ago, and apparently for the same reason, depression. Hadley had one of the loveliest voices I have ever heard. He was opera’s Golden Boy for a time, and sang all over the world for nearly a quarter of a century beginning in 1979. From what I have read about him, he was a generous and caring colleague, with charm and wit. He was a very good-looking man. He was a fine musician and was equally at home in the standard operatic literature and in contemporary works. He was also comfortable in musical theater.

He was married to a pianist, Cheryll Drake, whose photos show her to be as lovely as Jerry was handsome. She was his accompanist and mother of his two sons. It would seem Jerry Hadley had it all. Though his fame was not as widespread as Robin Williams, he was well-known and admired by opera lovers. 

And yet. In 2002 Jerry and Cheryll were divorced, and for five years he did not perform. Apparently he stopped singing, and suffered from a deep depression. Whether the depression preceded the divorce or the reverse was true, the result was the same: a beautiful voice was stilled. I read that in 2007 Jerry had begun a comeback, and it seemed he was on the threshold of a second career. There was a new woman in his life. And then on July 10, 2007, he apparently shot himself in the head, suffering irreversible brain damage. He was put on life support for a time, and after being taken off the machines died two days later, on July 18.

I’m sure we will hear a great deal more about Robin Williams’ death in the days to come, and perhaps learn more about the depression he suffered that caused him to end his life. Williams was a genius. It would be difficult to find anyone in this country who was not familiar with his work. Of his many films, two I admired greatly were Awakenings and Dead Poets’ Society. In recent years I don’t recall hearing much about his impromptu comedy, but for those of us who saw him on various television variety shows and watched him launch into an impossibly funny and brilliant routine, it can only be described as “awesome.” He was one of a kind.

So here were these two gifted men, still young (Hadley was fifty-five when he died), famous on at least some level, seeming to have all the things so many people aspire to. Yet both in such despair they chose to leave the world they seemed to have at their feet. Hadley’s depression we know was of long duration; it’s possible Williams’ was as well.

I’d like to think there may be a lesson here. Mental illness still carries far too much of a stigma. If we have friends we think may be in trouble, we have to learn to reach out to them. We have to learn to reach out to them.

Depression is a terrible disease, as we learned to our sorrow once again today. Godspeed, Robin Williams. You gave us much joy. How sad that it seems you had lost it.

Passion and Classical Music

THE BEAUTY OF CLASSICAL MUSIC AND “ELI’S HEART”  

You may have heard me say this before, but I grew up … many decades ago … in a home where classical music was often heard. My parents had a large collection of recordings which continued to grow. It began with orchestral music, primarily, and eventually included music from ballets (much by Tchaikovsky), piano music … both solo and with orchestra, and my contribution was the opera that I discovered by hearing a Met Opera broadcast when I was thirteen. My dad played trumpet, and he played everything from jazz to big band to marches to classical.

During the “golden age of films” … I guess prior to television becoming so much part of our culture … there were a number of films made about the lives of classical musicians, primarily composers. I recall a film about Rimsky-Korsakov, and one about Robert and Clara Schumann. I recall a film about a woman who has to choose between her love for a classical pianist and a classical violinist (Rhapsody, starring the stunningly beautiful Elizabeth Taylor).

The most recent film about a composer was the very excellent Immortal Beloved, in which Gary Oldman gave to my mind a stunning performance as the fascinating composer. He had quite a life. That was twenty years ago. Through that film, people heard the performances of a great classical pianist, Murray Perahia.

They heard works of the composer who, my late husband liked to say, “left the classical era in a cloud of dust.” Beethoven’s work was epic, and he opened many doors for generations of composers to come.

I wish there were some way to introduce the beauty of classical music to more people. I try to do that in my novel Eli’s Heart, by describing the music that is so meaningful to my two young people who love each other so much, Eli and Krissy. In the book, Eli has an opportunity to provide music for a film sound track. It was great fun to write that part of the story. 

Eli and Krissy are denizens of the last century, though, and realistically I wonder if and when another such film will make it to the movie theaters. It’s very sad. Most people have no inkling how much passion there is in classical music. Henri Duparc wrote some of the most suggestively sensual songs imaginable, not through the lyrics, but through the incredibly gorgeous music. Krissy comments on one of those songs the morning after her wedding night. She and Eli are very passionate. Duparc’s song “Extase” unabashedly describes the wonderful act of lovemaking which Krissy has just experienced for the first time.

Yes, this is a shameful self-promotion for Eli’s Heart, because I love the book and people who read it tell me they do as well. Right now … I mean right now, as in today, July 31, 2014 only … the Kindle version of the book is on sale for $.99. You read that correctly. Tomorrow, August 1, it will be on sale for $1.99, and the following day for $2.99.  

Listen to some classical music, folks. You might be very surprised by how it moves you. It can be thrilling, passionate, soothing, ethereal, and altogether wonderful.