Remembering Paul
Oct 16th, 2010 by Perry
Our friend Paul left this “veil of tears,” as I often heard him refer to it, on Monday October 11, 2010, after suffering almost two years of continuing decline in his faculties due to the effects of the stroke he suffered in early 2009. In the years between the time he and I met online in 1991 and last Monday, we became close personal friends, and I consider it a great honor to be able to call him “my friend Paul.”
That I was his friend at all was itself something of a minor miracle since he often chose the talented and famous as friends, but he justified my friendship I suppose by elevating me to the status of “crackerjack computer professional” who was able to help him up off the “floor in a pool of blood” as he bombastically would describe the occasional difficulties he encountered in using his computer. However those problems and questions occurred often enough that from about 2004 until his stroke ended our ability to communicate regularly, we spoke almost every day by Skype. He would often even call to ask me to hold his “virtual hand” as he opened some piece of correspondence he had received that he feared might contain ominous or unwelcome news.
The picture above at the right, taken by his friend Wayne Gallasch, was his favorite picture of himself. Holding Maxe in his arms and wearing that rakish, leather Aussie hat that Greg Dixon gave him and his favorite coveralls is the way I will choose to remember him for it was the quintessential Paul that I knew in happier times.
I invite you to read back through the entries he made here on this blog when you want to enjoy his brilliant writing and wit, and I encourage you, his other friends, to use the comments section below this entry to post your memories of him and to celebrate the unique soul that he was. I think we might all agree that the Heavenly Choir had better be on its toes and sing on key or he may just get up and walk out at intermission.
5 Responses to “Remembering Paul”
I became Paul’s friend by inheritance. My mother’s family had befriended him when he was a teenager in El Paso, so Paul knew me my whole life. I was always dazzled by the names he dropped. It seemed to me that he knew everyone important, including my hero, Dorothy Parker. Paul also informed my growing musical tastes, though he never quite approved of my fanatical love of Wagner. In 1993, he and my mom gave me Die Meistersinger in San Francisco: Mom paid for the plane ticket and Paul took me on his comp ticket and put me up for a two-day stay. In 2002 he hosted me at his apartment in Berlin so I could see all of Wagner’s operas performed within two weeks. Whenever I was with Paul he was always gracious and garrulous. I loved him and his dogs, especially his last dog, Maxe, with whom I bonded during the Berlin visit. I am sorry he was unable to sell his memoirs in the current publishing climate. The world has lost what would have been a beautifully written and fascinating book. Rest in Peace, Paul. So many people will miss you.
Kathryn (or, as Paul insisted on calling me, “Kitty”)
A wonderful person is gone. Rest in peace Moorchen.
I wish that you find now your freedom.
In lovely memory of you
Gaby
We will miss you terribly, Paul, and the world of music will not be the same without you! Thank you for your wonderful, critical and thoughtful insight and perspectives over the years.
In fond memory, Gabriele
Paul Moore was the most “looked for” guest at our home in Vienna in the mid 1950′s….then in Paris and Munich in the early 60′s. There was a piano in our living room in the Kalbekgasse in Vienna (none of us played) but oh he did! and there was singing!
Over the years my three sisters and I had sporadic encounters with Paul in the States and in Berlin. I thank Paul for introducing me to the playing of Sviatoslav Richter!
Paul and our parents were very, very close. I wish them all peace – together! I know there will be a party…
Lucien Jr.
In his response to a message informing him of Paul’s death, Maestro Kent Nagano made the following comment and he was kind enough to give his permission when I asked if I could post it here.
He said:
“We all, and I in particular, will miss him profoundly. With his technical skills, talent, and education as artist, a writer, intellectual — along with being one very, very curious and open minded soul – Paul made one hell of a journalist. He was of another generation where seriousness and integrity carried such weight, few could enter into the rarefied field of criticism. His work was of a quality which was so impressive and unique – work which will be sorely missed at a time when uncompromising quality seems to take less of a priority.”