Glenn Gould

by Peter F. Ostwald

The Canadian pianist Glenn Gould was a musical genius - a child prodigy whose rise to world fame was jump-started in 1955 by a sensational recording of Bach's daunting Goldberg Variations. As his career continued to blossom, Gould made his mark as a world-renowned pianist, composer, and conductor but also demonstrated his talent and intelligence as an influential critic, essayist, philosopher, actor, comedian, and filmmaker. But along with his charm, Gould was tragically disturbed - a recluse with nocturnal work habits, obsessed by physical and mental complaints, he relied heavily on prescription drugs. He consulted scores of doctors, avoided intimacy, and never married. Struggling against lifelong physiological and psychological problems that always threatened to overwhelm him, Gould neglected his health and died prematurely at age fifty of a massive stroke. Glenn Gould's life raises many questions about the phenomenon of genius. Was Gould's genius sponsored by his eccentricity or vic