World leaders who most loved music
NewsAngela Merkel’s retirement gives us the chance to run the rule over heads of government in modern times who made serious music their preferred leisure pastime.
1 Mikhail Gorbachev
A recording of Mahler 5th helped him stay sane during an attempted putsch.
2 Vladimir Putin
Is genuinnely interested. Sees musical success as indicative of Russian cultural superiority
3 Margaret Thatcher
Used to go to Salzburg, paying her own way. And paid homage to Bartok.
4 Theresa May
Another Salzburg attender and South Bank concertgoer
5 Emmanuel Macron
Got grade 8 piano
6 Helmut Schmidt
Was good enough to play in a recording of Mozart’s 3-piano concerto at Abbey Road.
7 Paul Keating
Australian prime minister, total Mahler fanatic
8 Vytautas Landsbergis
Musicologist, president of Lithuania
9 Ivo Josipovic
Composer, president of Croatia
10 Edward Heath
British prime minister, worst conductor ever
11 Ariel Sharon
Israeli PM, played Bach before breakfast each morning
12 Richard Nixon
Big fan of the Philadelphia Orchestra
Edward Heath, worst conductor ever? No, no, I must protest. There was once a choral conductor in Totnes who was even worse…
“There was once a choral conductor in Totnes who was even worse…”
Worst limerick ever.
“Putin”
He isn’t interested in anything besides his influence and legacy. And posing topless.
There you go:
There once was a choral conductor,
in Totnes he drove his eductor.
that’s all he would do,
his music – just boo.
So he quit and became a contractor.
As you say, Brettermeier: worst limerick ever. Howsabout this:
There once was a choral conductor
In Totnes, a hopeless seductor:
The poor man (like John Poole)
Was a dud with his tool.
And his wife? Well, the organist fuctor.
John Poole was no dud.
Cruel – even to make a poor limerick rhyme.
Hardly a cruel limerick, Tony: more mauvais goût. But yes, that rhyme is a lazy fill-in (fwiw, it does pick up on a very rude limerick about Poole that was widely circulated in choral circles). A bard should try harder, has done better. Neat pay-off, though.
And kind of dumb. Organists are gay.
Ah, but you had to google eductor, didn’t ya! 😀
(It’s supposed to be German “Schlammsaugwagen”, but I didn’t care enough to check it.
https://www.rewa-stralsund.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/rewa-schlammsaugwagen-1024×507.png)
(Oh, and neither do I know who that conductor might be nor did I ever heard of Totnes. Maybe he hasn’t even an eductor… *lookingshocked*)
I think you’ll get through life just fine without Totnes or Poole, sir. However, I Googled not neither did I eductorate (look again): no reason you should know, but there’s a tradition of limericks that derive their humour – such as may be – from facetious line-end neologisms/manglings.
And now 1) I’ve beaten the thing to a bloody pulp; 2) we are hopelessly off topic. But hey…
“no reason you should know, but there’s a tradition of limericks that derive their humour – such as may be – from facetious line-end neologisms/manglings.”
Thank you. I’m optimistic I’ll find some inappropriate setting around these parts of the internet to try it again soon.
“And now 1) I’ve beaten the thing to a bloody pulp”
You say that like it’s a bad thing.
” 2) we are hopelessly off topic. But hey…”
But hey exactly. 🙂
M. le President Macron holds Grade 8 piano cert??
Mon Dieu, pas qqch. francais??!
You forgot the remarkable Condoleeza Rice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGlrVLcqUQ
Rice is probably the best musician of the lot, but the list is restricted to heads of state or government.
Condoleeza Rice wasn’t a world leader. She was a stooge and a sycophant of the 2nd worst president in U.S. History.
Whilst there is no disputing that Madame Rice was an accomplished pianist, she was not a ‘head of government’ as per Norman’s stated criteria.
Not to mention Harry Truman, who played the piano all his life.
When President Nixon came over in 1969, at an official dinner Harold Wilson and he discovered that they had each been President of the G and S Society at their respective universities. Legend has it that they launched into a rendition of ‘I am the Ruler of the Queen’s Navee’.
When pop music pianist Roger Williams played at the White House, he asked Nixon what his favorite song was. Nixon said “Stella By Starlight” but Williams confessed that he didn’t know it. Legend has it that the Secret Service woke up the owner of a local music stores and got a copy of the sheet music so Williams could play it for Nixon.
I didn’t know Dick had such good taste. Stella is one of the best standards.
Richard Nixon also a pianist and sometime composer of a little morsel or two (see him playing his own “Piano Concerto #1” on YouTube).
I think Nixon had a rudimentary ability at the piano. His interest in the Philadelphia Orchestra was because they visited China when it was daring to do so, thus part of the Nixon/Kissinger diplomatic effort to ‘open’ China. On the other hand, I have read that Jimmy Carter used to listen to Wagner in the Oval Office.
JFK and Jackie once had Casals play at the White House, but I think it was more because of the cachet of high culture that they wanted to cultivate than any real devotion.
Jackie Kennedy at least was a genuine devotee of high arts, and the White House played host to many classical artists in their time there. The Casals appearance was particularly noteworthy because he had refused for many years to appear in any country that supported, or even recognised, the Franco government. He made the exception because he admired both Kennedys, who cleverly invited him to a dinner honouring the Governor of his mother’s native Puerto Rico.
The Kennedys held a dinner to honour Stravinsky, they had Copland’s Billy the Kid performed by ABT (with the composer in attendance), and they had a concert of Elizabethan music, Grace Bumbry’s White House debut, among many other things. Kennedy was less classically savvy than his wife, but was committed to the arts being an integral part of society. His own preference was for jazz, which he introduced to White House performance. And, like most presidents, he likes military bands. And pipes and drums.
How much did we ever hear about music in the White House during the terms of most other presidents? The Kennedys were friendly with Bernstein, who was commissioned to write a fanfare for Kennedy’s Inaugural gala, and was an occasional White House visitor.
They also encouraged interest in other musical forms, particularly American ones, from gospel and jazz to Broadway. While not narrowly nationalistic in their artistic taste — who got the Mona Lisa out of Paris for exhibition in the US? — they did feel the White House ought to be a showcase of American culture, from high to popular. That has rarely been the case before or since.
I’m sure you’ll find, if you go looking, that Jacqueline Kennedy was a real connoisseur when it came to music and art. And wasn’t she a publisher towards the end of her life? Any scintilla of class that John Kennedy might have had was courtesy of his wife. His own family background was bootlegging and tax avoidance.
So you believe in the sins of the fathers…? John F. Kennedy was less of a classical music admirer than his wife, but he was extraordinarily well-read, as was his brother Robert. Both could toss off quotations from serious literature at the drop of a hat.
Kennedy preferred jazz, and brought the first-ever jazz band to the White House. It was the Paul Winter Consort, one of the more interesting groups of the day.
A funny-ridiculous episode involving Nixon and the fabulous Philadelphians. For his second inaugural in 1973, Nixon brought them in and requested the ‘1812 Overture’. Several members of the orchestra asked to be excused, but were denied. For good measure, Ormandy threw in ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’.
There were complaints about snubbing the National Symphony. That week Dorati was conducting ‘Missa Solemnis’–so somebody suggested this be dedicated to Nixon. Dorati replied that the Missa is too big to be dedicated to any individual.
Meanwhile, over at the Washington National Cathedral, Bernstein was conducting Haydn’s ‘Mass in Time of War’.
Those were the days, my friend.
Nixon, like Truman, could play the piano – a little. But it is said Truman attended concerts of the National Symphony rather avidly AND asked if he could be provided with a copy of the score(s) being played so he could follow along.
I remember the public event (probably on a Philadelphia Orchestra broadcast) when President Nixon honored Ormandy and the Philadelphians and probably caused much wincing when he referred to it repeatedly as the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra. This suggests he was not in fact a huge fan. I rely on memory now but I think it was when Antal Dorati became music director of the National and evidently part of the protocol back then was to meet the President. He related that during the requisite small talk Nixon told him his favorite piece of classical music was Victory at Sea. Dorati diplomatically added that he appreciated getting an obviously honest answer. Too bad Nixon didn’t make a habit of it.
An inaugural composition for Nixon was commisioned from Vincent Persichetti, but never performed because the text from Lincoln was too “liberal”, or so those of us in the chorus were told:
https://cvnc.org/article.cfm?articleId=9902
As a child, Harry Truman studied the piano in Kansas City with a student of Leschetizky, and allegedly considered a career as a pianist. He was a huge fan of classical music throughout his life, with a sizeable record collection. He wrote fan letters to pianists like the Busoni pupil Augusta Cottlow, pushed the career of the pianist Eugene List (who performed at Potsdam for Truman, Churchill, and Stalin), and attended concerts regularly during his presidency.
His daughter performed as a coloratura with many American orchestras. I believe she was not particularly good — such career as she had may have been aided by her family connections — but it does attest to a strong affiliation with classical music.
Indeed. I suspect, after hearing one recollection of Ruth Slenczynska about a performance she gave at the WH, that Truman, for whatever reason, hid his light under a bushell when it came to the piano. She said that he played notably well in private.
Jimmy Carter was a passionate music lover, and his secretary was his DJ, constantly playing and flipping over records throughout the day for him. This passion was kept secret during his run for office, and the weekend after he won the election he was seen at the Washington Opera – which shocked everyone.
Jimmy Carter certainly deserves to be mentioned before Nixon, who just liked to wave his arms around to brassy loud music. Maybe with the exceptions of Jefferson and Harry Truman, Carter was the most discerning music lover in presidential history. Had classical music playing up to eight hours a day, according to one report. Bach, Beethoven, Wagner (Tristan!), Debussy among his favorites. Brought in Serkin, Horowitz to give concerts. A wasteland ever since.
Speaking of which:
A choral conductor of Totnes
Decided to programme Paukenmesse.
His arms he did flap,
The timps they were crap,
The groans could be heard in Caithness.
We must mention the two popes. Benedict loves Mozart and plays Mozart on the piano daily, at least when Benedict was younger.
And Francis is a fan of Wagner and several other composers.
I would add Pope Benedict XVI to the list when he lead the tiny domain of Vatican City.
Well, Heath was good enough to be an Oxford organ scholar – an excellent organist and pianist, who could have played professionally but turned to politics instead – and introduced music to No. 10, with many concerts and recitals there – and a grand piano in situ; and I imagine there are still many people in Broadstairs who enjoyed his annual carol concerts. Conducting the LSO before a worldwide audience as prime minister is quite another matter and he shouldn’t be musically damned for not quite getting to grips with that! Since when have we had quite so much musical culture in the higher reaches of British government? – think of the philistines of today and the recent past – never mind his politics.
Truman famously played the piano. And didn’t Hitler “owe it all” to Wagner and hearing Rienzi as a teenager?
Ignacy Jan Paderewski, big-time concert pianist (Rubinstein went to play for him when young), and later the Prime Minister of Poland!
In his time, Paderewski was one of the most famous concert pianists in the world. He was also a composer (not just the Minuet in G).
Heath was a keyboard player, and only conducted in a TV programme because the TV company thought it would make good viewing. The key music story about him is that he went home after signing the UK’s accession to the EEC and played piano in private in preference to going out to celebrate.
Lothar de Maizière, in 1990 the last prime minister of GDR (and the first who was democratically elected), had studied viola and been member of the (East) Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra before he turned to law and politics.
He says
“Mein beruflicher Werdegang war ein einziger Abstieg – vom Musiker zum Anwalt und dann zum Politiker.”
(my career has been a continuous professional descent – starting as a musician, then lawyer and finally politician.)
in this interview about music and politics:
https://www.rondomagazin.de/artikel.php?artikel_id=1074
Judging by an interview, Jimmy Carter seems to be genuinely knowledgeable about some opera singer recordings and has definite preferences. It’s tough to gauge actual interest in high arts from American Presidents because their man of the people image precludes seeming too interested. But Truman, Nixon, Carter, and Obama all seemed to have flashes of showing genuine interest and knowledge.
While not head of government per se, former Emperor
Akihito of Japan is a cellist. His son, Emperor Naruhito is a viola player.
https://www.thestrad.com/news/japans-new-viola-playing-emperor/8861.article