Jack Beeson
by tristero
My great composition teacher, Jack Beeson, died on Sunday. I never wrote anything like him – in fact, we had, aesthetically, very little in common when it came to music. But I learned so much. His ability to hear what you wanted to do – but didn’t know how – was truly extraordinary. My God, talk about empathy!
Beeson affected a quirky, prickly persona, but it didn’t mean anything, at least in my experience as his student. If you played some music he liked, or if you talked with him about music with any kind of passion, you found yourself talking to a warm, sensitive, totally unpretentious man who treated you like a colleague. He had that rare ability to make his callowest student (ahem) feel as if he was as knowledgeable and talented as himself. I loved him dearly. Of his music, I especially loved The Sweet Bye And Bye , which is rarely performed – I heard what I think was a private live recording in the Columbia Music library.
The bio doesn’t mention it, but there was a reason Professor Beeson kept a large picture of Bela Bartok in his office (he also resembled him, I thought). I asked him once about it and he told me he was Bartok’s student for a while. My jaw dropped and he smiled. He knew exactly what I was thinking.