James Levine Dead

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James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/17/21 at 10:22am

The former Met Opera maestro, whose career was ended with sexual abuse allegations, apparently died on March 9th at 77. No cause has been confirmed.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/17/obituaries/james-levine-dead.html

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/18/21 at 7:50am

Perhaps they should hold an open-air memorial concert on the Plaza for the eight or nine people who show up. "O Tempora! O Mores!"

Well-well-well-what-do-you-think-of-that-I-have-nothing-here-to-pay-my-train-fare-with-only-large-bills-fives-and-sevens....

Updated On: 3/18/21 at 07:50 AM

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/18/21 at 8:09am

He was an amazing conductor.

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/18/21 at 9:16am

Good.

"I know now that theatre saved my life." - Susan Stroman

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/18/21 at 10:59am

Me Too destroyed him
Me Too Cuomo Zzzzzzzzz

Poster Emeritus

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/18/21 at 11:13am

Hey, Roxy. Do us all a favor and stop. Stop posting your ignorant nonsense here. None of us want to hear it.

I was sexually molested as a kid and it has for ever changed my life. James Levine destroyed the lives of young men who will never feel normal because of him. They’ll never truly sleep peacefully again because of him.

Me Too didn’t destroy him. He destroyed himself because he was a PEDOPHILE. How dare you.

And as for your nonsense about Cuomo, please spare us your opinions on current events in politics. Go sit with Miss Roxy in front of Matlock, and leave us alone.

"I know now that theatre saved my life." - Susan Stroman

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/18/21 at 3:31pm

May he rest in peace.

From reading articles about the lawsuit it looks like they settled where MetOpera and its insurer paid him $3.5 million since there was no morals clause in his contract.

https://deadline.com/2021/03/james-levine-dead-obituary-metropolitan-opera-conductor-sexual-abuse-allegations-1234716857/

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/18/21 at 4:57pm

Wick3 said: "From reading articles about the lawsuit it looks like they settled where MetOpera and its insurer paid him $3.5 million since there was no morals clause in his contract."

The settlement was undisclosed so the amount is gossip in the truest sense. There were two parts of the case, defamation and contract damages. Almost all of the former were dismissed so this is a payout of the contract. The insurer would have been mostly along for the ride.

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/18/21 at 6:09pm

https://www.vulture.com/2021/03/james-levine-obituary-talented-monstrous.html?fbclid=IwAR1noT7C8CuyAXuaaE6W1uS3hJomMAhLUGH_ByfqiT9YYWv5-QL63E288eM

#10

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/18/21 at 11:35pm

Levine's pedophilia was an open secret in the opera community akin to the Catholic Church's treatment of priests. For years.

He can rot in hell truly.

#11

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/19/21 at 12:54am

I guess it shows how far he'd really fallen, since I have not seen one post about his death on social media, even from singers I know who worked at the Met during his tenure.

#12

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/19/21 at 1:38am

iluvtheatertrash said: "Hey, Roxy. Do us all a favor and stop. Stop posting your ignorant nonsense here. None of us want to hear it.

I was sexually molested as a kid and it has for ever changed my life. James Levine destroyed the lives of young men who will never feel normal because of him. They’ll never truly sleep peacefully again because of him.

Me Too didn’t destroy him. He destroyed himself because he was a PEDOPHILE. How dare you.

And as for your nonsense about Cuomo, please spare us your opinions on current events in politics. Go sit with Miss Roxy in front of Matlock, and leave us alone."

I was sexually abused as a child myself. Doesn't stop me from being able to assess the difference between art and the artist. Levine was both a great conductor and an abuser. The idea that only one of those things is worth remembering or referencing is more than a bit off.

Shakespeare has Mark Antony say "The evil men do lives after then; the good is oft interred with their bones." That was meant to be a criticism. Somehow in our society, it has become an ideal.

#13

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/19/21 at 8:47am

I don’t need to separate the art from the artist. You do you. I hope he rots in hell where he belongs.

"I know now that theatre saved my life." - Susan Stroman

#14

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/19/21 at 8:48am

And I don’t let Shakespeare dictate what my feelings are. Neither should you.

"I know now that theatre saved my life." - Susan Stroman

#15

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/19/21 at 8:48am

And I don’t let Shakespeare dictate what my feelings are. Neither should you.

"I know now that theatre saved my life." - Susan Stroman

#16

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/19/21 at 10:36am

In this case at least I think it is a distinction without a difference. When someone dies, all that is left is their legacy. In Levine's case, that legacy (as judged by the obits) leads with the infamy. Whether one wishes to listen to recordings is as noted up to each of us and whether they are listened to a century from now is anyone's guess. Unlike musical theatre, where there may be only one definitive recording, most of opera has an abundance (and probably even more so in the case of his repertoire). Also, he was not very interesting to watch like some others so I doubt there will be a great clamor for video. The important thing to me in his case is that he was deprived of his oxygen during his lifetime. Whether we make some records into frisbees really is just about what makes us feel best.

#17

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/20/21 at 5:30am

Big difference between being "dictated to" and recognizing wisdom when one hears it. Fran Lebowitz feels the same--indeed made the point specifically about Levine.

Updated On: 3/20/21 at 05:30 AM

#18

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/20/21 at 4:40pm

joevitus said: "I was sexuallyabused as a child myself. Doesn't stop me from being able to assess the difference between art and the artist. Levine was both a great conductor and an abuser. The idea that only one of those things is worth remembering or referencingis more than a bit off.

Shakespeare has Mark Antony say "The evilmen do lives after then;the good is oft interred with their bones." That was meant to be a criticism. Somehowin our society, it has become an ideal."

Well put. I agree.

Just give the world Love. - S. Wonder

#19

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/20/21 at 6:14pm

Really could give two sh*ts what Liebowitz says.

"I know now that theatre saved my life." - Susan Stroman

#20

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/20/21 at 6:42pm

There seems to be a persistent double-standard with regard to holding sexual predators accountable when the victims are male vs. female. James Levine's legacy can rot into obscurity as far as I'm concerned. What he did for decades was objectively worse than the sins of many people who have been "cancelled" in the last several years, and there are far too many other conductors in the operatic catalog to waste any obeisance on this gross man. Solti, Beecham, Gergiev, Bonynge, Abbado, even Bernstein, et al. have covered the same material and often done it better.

An excellent essay by conductor Kenneth Woods: James Levine was not a great man with a single tragic flaw. He was an almost completely horrible person, with a single, tragic talent.

"It astonishes me that some on the internet have chosen to defend Levine on the basis that he was a victim of ‘cancel culture.’ And that it’s not fair to disregard a life of ‘great’ music making because of a single character flaw or error of judgement. But let’s be real for a moment. We call misconduct misconduct because it is, by definition, improper. Sexual misconduct is particularly insidious, and always a serious matter, but on the scale of seriousness, spending fifty-plus years serial raping children is about as bad as it gets. Really, what could be worse? Chopping up grandma with an axe? At least she’s had a life, and her suffering was brief. Levine’s victims had their childhoods and their futures stolen from them, and they’ve had to live with the trauma of his acts for their entire lives. They will take the memory of the true face of James Levine to their graves. The dark face that many in the American musical firmament knew existed, but chose to conceal for decades."

Updated On: 3/20/21 at 06:42 PM

#21

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/20/21 at 7:54pm

The thing is, I don't choose opera recordings for the conductor, with rare exceptions (Der Ring). I choose them for the singers. So I'm not going to refuse to listen to one of Jessye Norman's albums because Levine conducted it.

#22

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/20/21 at 7:59pm

You can listen to Levine, even appreciate him, without hand-waving or minimizing his monstrosity. I listen to Karajan's La Boheme with Pavarotti and Freni while still condemning the fact that he was a fervent Nazi.

Updated On: 3/20/21 at 07:59 PM

#23

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/20/21 at 8:26pm

> I listen to Karajan's La Boheme with Pavarotti and Freni

but, Mike, *really* are you listening for Karajan, or for Pavarotti and Freni?

I am a long-time lurker on parterre.com, where a lot of super-smart opera fans post regularly. the ones whose opinions i respect the most pretty much don't think Levine was all that and a bag of chips. i go to a lot of operas (well, did go in the Beforetimes, and can't wait til it's safe to go again), but i'm not discerning enough to know how much was Levine and how much was the fact that the Met employs an astounding company of instrumentalists. at the end of the day, i strongly suspect Levine was not as great as his behavior was awful.

"You, sir, are a moron." (PlayItAgain)

#24

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/20/21 at 8:26pm

MikeInTheDistrict said: "I listen to Karajan's La Boheme with Pavarotti and Freni while still condemning the fact that he was a fervent Nazi."

Obviously only a sidebar here, but my recollection is that he was characterized post-war as (the german word for) a tag-along, someone who joined the Nazi party for career-related reasons, but without fervor. Still worthy of disdain, but unless I am mistaken, had there been evidence that he was "a fervent Nazi" he would not have been permitted to resume his stature.

#25

James Levine Dead

Posted: 3/20/21 at 9:06pm

whatever2 said: "> I listen to Karajan's La Boheme with Pavarotti and Freni

but, Mike, *really* are you listening for Karajan, or for Pavarotti and Freni?

I am a long-time lurker on parterre.com, where a lot of super-smart opera fans post regularly. the ones whose opinions i respect the most pretty much don't think Levine was all that and a bag of chips. i go to a lot of operas (well, did go in the Beforetimes, and can't wait til it's safe to go again), but i'm not discerning enough to know how much was Levine and how much was the fact that the Met employs an astounding company of instrumentalists. at the end of the day, i strongly suspect Levine was not as great as his behavior was awful."

You are, of course, correct. I'm listening for Pavarotti and Freni. Karajan just happened to luck out to have two of the greatest singers of the 20th Century on his recording. In fact, I find Karajan's conducting usually overwrought and lacking Italianate style. Same for his very unidiomatic Carmen, which benefits from having the ravishing Leontyne Price and Franco Corelli as leads.

I think that appraisal of Levine from Parterre is pretty accurate. IMO, he had very few original ideas as a conductor. Granted. I never heard him conduct a bad performance, but neither were they ever transcendent, or particularly idiomatic. You're right about the instrumentalists. There were tremendously talented musicians in that pit. They sounded good under pretty much any conductor that took up the baton. Levine's greatest asset was that he played servant to his singers, allowing them to get away with interpretive indulgences that other conductors would reign in. Speaking of singers, like Karajan, Levine was the beneficiary of generations of unsurpassed talent. He was lucky enough to preside over the Met pit during the careers of singers the likes of which we may never see again. No doubt, the contribution of many musicians fell in his favor.

Updated On: 3/20/21 at 09:06 PM

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