Product Description

Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center is one of the most famous performing spaces in New York City, and the woman behind it was one of the city's most private philanthropists. This intimate memoir is an engaging encounter with a gracious and influential supporter of the arts. Albert Fuller's close friendship with Miss Tully over a period of more than thirty years allows him unique insight into her eventful life and colorful personality. The daughter of a Corning heiress and a state senator, Miss Tully trained as a singer in Europe before turning her love of music toward enlightened philanthropy. Chair of the board of directors for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for nearly twenty-five years, she also served on the boards of the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, and The Juilliard School, and as a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Pierpont Morgan Library, and the Museum of Modern Art. For her cultural contributions, New York City awarded her the Handel Medallion, and France conferred on her the three steps of the National Order of Merit as well as the prestigious Legion of Honor. A charming woman whose activities influenced the musical tastes of New York City and the nation, Alice Tully reveals herself here for the first time. Through this privileged portrait we discover an individual whose public generosity was matched by private courage, a quick intelligence, unfailing social grace, and a fierce and fearless love for life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2417660 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

Review
"A powerful and moving book. May it inspire more Alice Tullys!" - Donald W. Krummel "Fuller has written an absorbing and convincing portrait of [Tully], and while she might not have appreciated some of the revelations in it, she could scarcely have wished for a more devoted chronicler." - Allen Hughes, Chamber Music

Customer Reviews

Alice Tully: An Intimate Portrait
Those looking for a complete and insightful portrait of Alice Tully will have to wait for a biography yet to come. While Mr. Fuller's book is intimate, as its title suggests, it is not really a portrait. While there are glimpses of Alice Tully's life, even sketches of her personality, it is perhaps more revealing about Mr. Fuller himself. A more appropriate subtitle would be "a personal memoir."

Reading this book is a bit like looking through a friend's scrapbook or photo album. Events assume an importance as a particular memory is triggered, but there is no sense of their importance to the life as a whole. In this book, if there are revelations, they appear not to be from an intimate friend, but rather a drinking pal: 30 years of casual conversations and gossip almost in slow motion, punctuated with "my dear Albert", this, "my dear Alice" that, always with champagne (her) and gin (him) in hand. It becomes almost insufferable over the course of the book. It is difficult to imagine these conversations actually took place; there is such a stilted, otherworldy quality to them. And while we are told repeatedly of their depth and meaning, the details provided are strictly surface. How many conversations verging on something important end with "Why don't we have some more champagne dear, and change the subject." There are a few salacious details, behind-the-scenes workings in the music world, but not much meaningful information. Where certain topics show no insight or importance in themselves - Miss Tully's visit to a discotheque - time and again Mr. Fuller evinces his sympathy in thoughts not spoken, by relating tales from his own life, few of them very flattering to himself. There is a sense of struggle between his desire to be a friend, and his need to be obsequious to a rich and powerful woman.

Does he truly miss the irony (let alone the bad writing) in the following passages? "Once, at my bar, Alice had said, "Do you know, dear, that it is often very easy for rich women to corrupt men?" "Alice, I am startled to hear you say such a thing." "Oh yes, dear. That can happen." "You must have had an experience or two that has shown you such a thing is possible." "Yes, dear, I have." "Well, Alice, whatever your experience with others may be, for my part I want you to understand that my innermost being resists any further corruption, beyond what I myself have already brought about. You as a source for some such effort or result is unthinkable. That's not possible." "No dear, I have never thought that possible."

This appears in a chapter with the unfortunate title "Dillon In, Mennin Out," in which he relates a conversation he has with Peter Mennin, the late President of Juilliard, whose sudden, untimely death (the "Mennin Out" part) was a great shock to that institution. Mennin says, "If you didn't know so many important people, I would fire you right this minute." One suspects this means if it weren't for Alice Tully...

Mr. Fuller bonds initially with Miss Tully when she senses an inner sadness in him. Much of this is laid bare in the course of this book, Taken from this aspect, the book is at times poignantly touching. This clearly was not intentional on the author's part. But it does add some interest to what might otherwise be a tedious read.