Jacqueline du Pré: A Life

by Carol Easton

Carol Easton, who knew Jacqueline du Pré well, draws on this friendship to create a moving and insightful portrait of a singularly complex person. Jacqueline du Pré (the subject of the recent film Hilary and Jackie) was the music world's "golden girl," with what appeared to many to be a fairytale career and storybook marriage to Daniel Barenboim. But away from her cello, du Pré was achingly human. As a child, she was isolated by her phenomenal talent. As an adult, she was confined to the rarefied, insular concert world. And during the last fifteen years of her life, she lived in the inexorably shrinking world of the invalid, as multiple sclerosis took its toll. The Baltimore Sun said, Carol Easton tells this extraordinary story "with feeling befitting du Pré's own."

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Musicians

224 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 1989

Reviews

[Edith · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are two major biographies of Jacqueline du Pre, the cello genius whose performing career essentially ended at age 28, and I wanted to compare what a biographer had to offer with what Jackie’s sister and brother wrote in “A Genius in the Family”.

This book provided a comprehensive record of all the concerts and music Jackie played over the course of her short career, and it quoted heavily from some of the people in her life - virtually all of it in an adulating manner - but it did not mention a peep about Jackie’s sojourn with her sister Hilary’s family and the relationship she had with her sister’s husband. Jackie’s husband, sister and brother declined to be interviewed for this book. Nonetheless, I was surprised that almost no mention at all was given to Hilary or Piers and their relationship with Jackie, while the book written by them details considerable off-and-on again communications. It was a strange disconnect.

Nor does this book explain why Jackie turned against her parents later in her life in a very unpleasant manner. It seems to me that her parents did all they could to accommodate her genius talent. Perhaps that book would have to come from her analyst whom she saw several days a week for years until the very end of her life and he’s not talking! What is certain is that Jackie was massively conflicted about her family.

There were those who felt there was a connection to Jackie’s converting to the Jewish faith and her illness- and they actually told her so. Late in life, Jackie’s brother, Piers, and his wife, and then her parents, became “born again” Christians and this author suggests that they held this opinion (although her parents flew to Israel on a moment’s notice for her marriage to Barenboim immediately following the 1967 Six Day War). During the final years of her life, Jackie did not see a lot of her parents and they maintained a very thin relationship. She actually turned against them - I speculate that the difference between her low-key, 'proper’ English parents and the almost hedonistic Jewish world of the Barenboim’s was just so vast that she had to decide on one or the other- there was just no way to make them fit well together.

I personally think that she embraced Judaism because the love of her life, Daniel Barenboim, was Jewish and most of his friends in the music world were fellow Jews, and they comprised one big happy, outgoing, action-packed, music-loving, globe-trotting bunch. Barenboim’s world was a huge, fun-filled arena where the party never stopped and everything in Jackie’s large, emotional, wild personality wanted to be a part of that circle of excitement. A friend said that Barenboim had “the energy of ten men" and all he needed was 2-3 hours of sleep a night. (At age 69, he is still going strong and continues conducting around the world) And if her illness had not set in, I think Jackie would have rollicked along and continued the high life, making astounding cello music all the while.

The fact of the matter is that Barenboim, late in her illness when she was totally confined to a wheel chair, actually began a relationship and established a family with another woman in Paris while still married to Jackie. His friends ‘understood’.

This book was helpful in providing a full portrait of Jackie’s activities and personality. It provides a large window into her unusual story. But questions still remain....

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a well-written biography, but some parts were sort of confusing because there were many different people in Jacqueline's life, and sometimes I forgot who was who. The end was abrupt.
Reading this book helped me realize that although Jacqueline DuPre was amazing at cello, she was only human. Being a child prodigy made her feel isolated and different from everybody else, and she wanted to be loved for who she was and not just for being famous. Even though I often wish I was really amazing at cello, I realize that being an ordinary person is probably a good thing.

[Connie Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This biography of an amazing child prodigy cellist, whose career is cut short by MS (also my mother's demise) is deeply moving. It is entirely engaging due to the author's sensitivity and emotional understanding of her subject. Carol Easton has the ability to insert all the facts into the story without taking away from the story itself. It is nothing short of brilliant! You don't have to be interested in classical music - this is the telling of the life of a remarkable human being...

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written and interesting bio, very interesting for a musician, but with lots of details of concerts and recordings that might get tedious to others. It was interesting that the author chose to omit any of the “Hilary and Jackie” part of her life, portrayed in the film, and didn’t quite explain the negative family dynamics of Jackie’s family. The sadness of the MS diagnosis and decline is poignantly portrayed.

[Joann Im · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent biography about one of my favorite musician of all time!

[Lady An ☽ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente biografía de una de las más grandes chelistas de la historia de la música, quien fuese la mujer de Daniel Barenboim y quién moriría a la temprana edad de 42 años a causa de una enfermedad incurable y que la dejó imposibilitada de seguir con su vida normal y de tocar su instrumento a los 28. Inolvidable su versión de el Concierto para Cello de Edward Elgar.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

One thing leads to another. I came across Daniel Barenboim's name when doing some research on Claude Debussy. That led me to Christopher Nupen, whose book ("Listening Through the Lens") I reviewed recently. That led me to Jacqueline du Pré, whose name I was familiar with, but whose story I was not.

Carol Easton was a friend of Jacqueline (and most people called her Jackie), and fills this biography with personal accounts from dozens of friends and acquaintances, all of whom were enchanted by her unpretentious charm and generosity of spirit. Jackie bonded with the cello at an early age, was indeed a child prodigy, and the darling of the music critics. Her marriage to the pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim was described as fairybook, as the two of them toured the world to the applause and adulation of millions.

This book explores the dark and lonely side of living out such a life, as well as its short-lived joy. Daniel and Jackie had only about five years of personal and professional bliss together before she began to have trouble playing. Doctors and friends initially wrote it off as the stress of a high-powered life, but it was eventually diagnosed as multiple sclerosis. She spent the last 14 years of her life in slow, painful decline.

One of the best things about this book is that the author knows both the music and the instrument that Jackie played. I learned a lot about the cello through this book. Her signature piece was the Elgar Cello Concerto, although she played Dvorȃk's frequently as well. And she loved Schumann's cello concerto, too, a somber but reassuring piece. As she slipped into unconsciousness on her last day of life in 1987, a friend put a record of her performance of the Schumann, and she passed away listening to that. As I said, one thing leads to another, and my next read is a biography of Robert Schumann.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of Du Pre's talent, life and tragic decline in her health is very compelling, but the focus of this book feels slanted towards the author's perspective, and perhaps her friendship with Du Pre. Much of the book is an ongoing list of the programs of her various concerts and the glowing reviews she received. The mother is portrayed as being incredibly supportive to her daughter, until she married her husband and then grew ill, but the impact of a parent so intensely focused on the "performance" of one talented child to the exclusion of her other children is not something to slide over in a biography. There was clearly a rivalry between her and her sister and other accounts indicate that Jacqueline may have had an affair with her sister's husband. Lastly, although her husband stayed involved in supporting her physical care by others, once she was ill, the author does not delve into the devastation it must have caused her to have him move to Paris, and it is hard to believe that she did not discover that he had another family there.

[Caroline Barron · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well written biography of one of this century's greatest cellists, who died, tragically, of complications relating to MS, in 1987 at the age of forty-two. With lyrical prose and balanced observation author Carol Easton captures the rise of du Pre's star, the torment of loneliness versus celebrity, her rather odd family relationships, her marriage, and the heart breaking slide from diagnosis to death. Imagine not being able to do the very thing you believed you were born to do; your work, your happy place, your antidote to sadness and stress, the root of your marriage and your friendships. So very sad. I listened to a recording of du Pres playing the Schumann Cello Concerto as I read the last few pages concluding with her death—don't do this, unless you've a box of tissues handy!

[elettra marziani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very moving

Jacqueline du Pre was an amazing player and this biography gives a very vivid image of the person she was. And the person she could have been. It is very heartbreaking because of course you know from the beginning it is not going to end well. What makes t worse is that while reading you get to know the person behind the Davidoff and to love the girl that never really grew up.

[Linda Catterall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was quite interesting, although quite often the author fell into the trap of listing concerts, places and conductors. I also felt that too many reviews by the press were included. I have read the De Pré's own biography of Jacqueline (A Genius in the Family) and felt it was a much better read if you want to get at the heart of who Jacqueline really was. This book left out some big chunks.

[ellen stephanie ley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put this down!

A very detailed and interesting life story of one of Britain's greatest
musicians struck down by the cruelty of muscular sclerosis. A brave and strong woman born too early and in less informed times.

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

1989 biography, based on dozens of interviews but NOT with Barenboim or with the mother or sister or brother.

Tries [and succeeds] to be an even-handed account of her life and musical career, upbringing and marriage.
Leaves open [and rightly so] many questions about Why. Suggests shortcomings without actually blaming anyone.

Helpful references throughout the text to when and how various of the recordings were made.

I hadn't known anything about the housekeeper/carer her last 11 years, apparently very controversial.

Author suggests at end that too much money may be unhelpful, that de Pre may have been better off in a home/facility with many other similar inmates, rather than isolated in a house with only 1 or 2 carers and no self-help group.

[Sarah Ellison]

Heartbreaking inciteful biography of the great cellist and her tragic inability to play as MS gripped her.