When the Music Stopped: Discovering My Mother

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Overview

This is the story of one woman's decision to forfeit a brilliant career for the sake of motherhood. Once a child prodigy, Gitta Gradova traveled the world as an internationally acclaimed concert pianist, performing recitals as well as appearing with prominent orchestras of her era. Her son Thomas J. Cottle uses written records, interviews, and personal reminiscence to reconstruct her life, as well as their own mother-son relationship. He is at times a storyteller, at times a psychologist, at times a son seeking ...
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Overview

This is the story of one woman's decision to forfeit a brilliant career for the sake of motherhood. Once a child prodigy, Gitta Gradova traveled the world as an internationally acclaimed concert pianist, performing recitals as well as appearing with prominent orchestras of her era. Her son Thomas J. Cottle uses written records, interviews, and personal reminiscence to reconstruct her life, as well as their own mother-son relationship. He is at times a storyteller, at times a psychologist, at times a son seeking to uncover those aspects of his mother's life he could never know, or perhaps, chose not to know until it was too late.
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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher
“This book is a work of extraordinary brilliance. Cottle brings his mother to life mainly through the use of her dialogue, including her colorful Yiddish expressions. In addition to being a remarkable writer, Cottle is a clinical psychologist, and he offers us a complex view of his mother, one that incorporates psychodynamic, cognitive, and familial explanations. It is a story I will never forget.” — Jeffrey Berman, author of Risky Writing: Self-Disclosure and Self-Transformation in the Classroom

“Anyone who studied or enjoys classical music will feel privileged for these glimpses into the personal and professional lives of our beloved musical icons … Cottle’s writing in this biographical book is lyrical … It is musical, like a piano concerto … Compared to other personal memoirs, this one is right up there with the best.” — Massachusetts Psychological Association

“…a poignant exploration of the conflict between love of art and love of family in any significant artist.” — Ploughshares

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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780791459973
  • Publisher: State University of New York Press
  • Publication date: 3/28/2004
  • Pages: 280
  • Product dimensions: 5.78 (w) x 9.78 (h) x 0.59 (d)

Meet the Author

A clinical psychologist and sociologist, Thomas J. Cottle is Professor of Education at Boston University. The author of thirty books, published in several languages, including At Peril: Stories of Injustice and A Sense of Self: The Work of Affirmation, his articles have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, and the New Republic, as well as the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the London Times, Chicago Tribune, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

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Table of Contents

Preface xi
1. Hawthorne Place 1
2. The Pianist 21
3. My Mother's Couch 53
4. The Physician 75
5. On Soirees and Skirmishes 99
6. Identical Sensibilities 129
7. Gone in the Moment 151
8. Merely Two People 187
9. Giant Shadows 207
10. Final Concert 233
Notes 265
About the Author 279
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