The final rites for the great pianist were celebrated yesterday at Broadway Baptist Church in his home town of Fort Worth, Texas.
George W Bush, a friend of long standing, recalled that Van Cliburn had played for every US president since Harry Truman. ‘Members of the presidents’ club could have taken a lesson from him in diplomacy,’ he added. ‘He was gracious and humble, beloved even by the enemy. I was blessed to have befriended this remarkable man.’
President Obama, in a statement read at the service, said, ‘I am confident that the enduring beauty of his art will sustain his legendary status for years to come.’ Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, in a further read-out statement, said: ‘Over the course of many years, during the most difficult historical times, the art of Van Cliburn brought together people from different countries, different continents and united them… We shall always remember Van Cliburn as a true and sincere friend of the Russian people.’
Some 1,400 people attended.
How can a moral monster like George W. Bush dare utter these words about the great pianist: “Van Cliburn brought together people from different countries, different continents and united them”?
Oh, that’s right, Bush is a moral monster. That’s how.
Calm yourself; it was Putin who said that.
Pootie-poot, as “W” liked to call him.
First hand, from a personal White house appearance, I can assure you Van Cliburn was VERY close to LBJ as well. Any Texan President would be his friend, whatever his politics. His Texan pride would make him so pleased to have a Texan President give him a tribute, I would not be surprised to hear he was unaware of LBJ’s or Bush’s Presidential decisions
Van Cliburn was a miracle, for his personality as well as for his music-making. He stood tall (literally!), way above the level of down-and-dirty, nitty-gritty realism of the political world. His message was relevant to all, however opposite they might have been. Of course, he would have gotten along splendidly with any U.S. President from Texas, as indeed he did ever since Eisenhower and the days when he won the Tchaikovsky prize in Moscow. After all, he was the “local boy who done good.”
Here’s a somewhat rhetorical question coming from a Texan expat who has lived in Europe for most of his life:
Can anyone name one Texan who was President of the United States and who served during a time when the USA was not actively involved in a war (or some other substantial military conflict)?
Hmmm…
President Eisenhower.
Elizabeth, Eisenhower was President when the CIA overthrew democratically-elected governments in Iran and Guatemala. Not war, strictly speaking, but…
………oh, and Mr. Putin is up for canonization himself?
Don’t talk about the arts and get castigated by our precious aesthetes as a philistine. Speak fondly of a pianist friend and our precious aesthetes erupt in hysterical fulminations. A guy can’t win!
I’m shattered. Just shattered. I just found out this hour…iv been so involved in my own problems. I’m jjust speechless
Too bad none of Van Cliburn’s dignity and humanity rubbed off on GW.
or Putin.
Van Cliburn deserves the accolades. Concerning the words of his friend George W. Bush, any blemishes on the soul of the preacher don’t diminish the effectiveness of the service.
I was disappointed to see Yo Yo Ma play with Condoleeza Rice and to see Duke Ellington celebrate his 7Oth bithday at the White House with Nixon. To associate with such thugs is to be disgraced, especially for an artist.
Those kinds of appearances are done out of respect for the office. Moreover, a performer does not want to make waves by insulting a statesman by turning down his invitation.
Eartha Kitt did, didn’t she?
The repercussions weren’t nice, but she survived with her ethics intact and her head held high.
Anon, the decision to appear or not is an individual one. I do not want to judge someone else’s motives for appearing or staying on tour or at home.
Pity that Libs have to utter their partisan pablum in every possible venue. Can’t it be enough that a friend honors a friend at his memorial service? Will you next be blaming Mr. Cliburn’s death on Mr. Bush? At least GW had a relationship with VC. Obama interjecting himself into the proceedings is totally unwarranted. I’m sure he needed an aide just to brief him on who VC was.
How so? Because the black guy can’t know classical music? Do you also think he was born in Kenya and he faked his Harvard records?
i’m am utterly appalled at the political vitriol directed at ex-president GW Bush as well as Condoleeza Rice and Richard Nixon – who died years ago, in the last century in fact – upon the occasion of Van Cliburn’s funeral. You idiots, it is you! who are moral monsters. It is you who lack the simple dignity worthy of the man who enhanced all of us ever since that long ago day in Moscow when he won first prize at the first ever international Tchaikovsky piano competition. So warped is your vision that you fail utterly to even mention the man who many people gathered to honor. A pox on your house for the vial utterances you have posted here. Even George W Bush knew who was the really important person in Broadway Baptist Church this Sunday. And it was not him, As for the rest of you, may you drown in your own bile before you write another word not worth reading
Thanks for the kind Christian sentiment at the end. You outdid us all.
What would a vial utterance be? perhaps a spilled elixir
Una furtive lagrima in the vial would a vile retort to this elixir (not) of love.
Corrected version: Una furtiva lagrima would be a vile retort to this elixir (not) of love.
I agree with Mr Bateson. The supercilious sneers voiced by some contributors are utterly shameful and nothing less than an insult to the memory of Van Cliburn.
So well said, Mr. Bateson. Thank you.
I’m wondering if Bush ever even listened to Van Cliburn before taking office. I understand his musical tastes run more along the lines of Ozzy Osbourne.
Oh please, those of you unleashing your bile on Bush sound like nothing more than an old Soviet Useful Idiot who would use the death of a good man just to step up on a political platform to howl like good little political lapdog. Get a grip and get lost.
No, no, I’m afraid there has been a terrible misunderstanding. My comment was about the musical preferences of the former President, not his politics. I certainly didn’t mean to “unleash bile” against Mr. Bush by suggesting he listens to Ozzy more than Van Cliburn. Some of my best friends listen to Ozzy more than they listen to Van Cliburn.
Well, whatever. Personally, I don’t really care to know what Van Cliburn means to GWB but of course politicians seem to serve as the voice of the citizens.
“.. beloved even by the enemy…” – nice for him to continue the myth.
As an unreconstructed liberal and piano music lover, I have to say some people really do need to get a life.
You guys are right, it is Van Cliburn who was special and the one there that should be remembered……the only one.
Oh my God. How did this happen so quickly?! I am just in pieces. I am devasteated by this loss. I am so lost in my own life…I lost track. GOD bless all that cared enough to be there for him and his. I’m so sorry