Talk:Leonard Kastle

Please help expand this article
I would so love to expand this article, especially the section on his operas. As a former student of his, I was impressed with the thematic arc of his three major works that covered three very different aspects of distinctly American religious movements, Mormonism, New England Quakerism and Shakerism. I had the privilege to perform in excerpts from The Pariahs and the Mother Ann trilogy. They are beautiful and important works that I hope are someday better appreciated. If an editor with a background in music history would like to help me with this, please leave a remark on my talk page. I am wary of adding to many edits on my own lest they be considered original research.Lisapollison 07:45, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

Reversion by Scottandrewhutchins was inappropriate
reverted an edit whose summary was "add infobox, remove some categories not substantiated by the article or refs"; the reversion was a step back for the article. That edit introduced an infobox for the article, and doubled the number of cases where a reference was cited, among other improvements. The reversion was accompanied by the comment:
 * He's openly gay and all his students know. Undid revision 291382605 by 67.100.125.164

I don't know if he's openly gay or not, but that wasn't the point. The point is that there were two categories applied to the article that aren't substantiated by a reference. Perhaps the reference should be  ? I'm reverting his reversion, and looking forward to  or someone else going to the trouble to google for a reference. Since he's openly gay it should be easy to find one. Thanks. 67.100.126.197 (talk) 23:32, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Not only is he openly Gay, but in 1986 when he was let go briefly by the University due to publicity in the ALbany Times Union about his Palimony suit against his former lover, I led over 400 students in a sit-in at the Music building to demand his reinstatement. Back then, being openly gay was a huge thing and the Music Dept. had a number of homophobic old farts who resented all the attention Kastle got for his Operas.  They also didn't like that he didn't hold a PHD and that his classes were filled to capacity despite that.  I'm pleased to say that in short order, he was back as a lecturer and member of staff and ever since then, he's been a beloved member of the University and local community. Anyone looking for confirmation of that palimony suit may have a hard time because the Albany Times Union doesn't have all their pre-1990 files on digital access yet.  They are making progress but the suit was filed in 1985 and I don't think they've gotten back that far yet.  The suit had to be filed in order for Kastle to regain the publishing rights to his own compositions.  perhaps googling his name and the words "Palimony" and "suit" will bring something up. Leonard never went out of his way to say he was Gay but he never hid it.  The article on the Palimony suit kinds blew the lid off an obvios fact nobody bothered to talk about.  I doubt much has been said in print about it since then.  The Kastle papers referenced might say something about it because the suit enabled him to gain back the rights to a lovely musical of his called The Bird Watchers.LiPollis (talk) 00:15, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
 * If anybody has a pay membership to Highbeam, this might prove the point: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-158269149.html  It came up via goggle.LiPollis (talk) 00:19, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
 * FYI, The man he sued was named Warren Steibel. Steibel produced The Honeymoon Killers as well as William F. Buckley's Firing Line (how's that for an odd pairing?).Here is a link to a book on Scorcese that states Steibel and Kastle were live-in lovers: http://books.google.com/books?id=Vwsq4oFSAqQC&pg=PA99&lpg=PA99&dq=leonard+kastle++Warren+Steibel&source=bl&ots=g2YnEuk2KL&sig=y_q-x8-tHDkasEMmDZEzX-lrNLE&hl=en&ei=5vAVStSiCKOElAfDpqznCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4  That ought to be enough, yes? LiPollis (talk) 00:29, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Leonard Kastle passed away on May 18th, 2011
The info has been added under External Links Section in a link to the Albany Times Union Obit. This is not a funeral but a Memorial service. Leonard's Pastor told me he was cremated, according to his wishes. If any former students have photos of him teaching or documentation of the classes he taught, I'd be most interested in scanning that and hosting it online somewhere so it can be used as a repository of valid and verifiable info on Leonard for future editors here.

His life was so much more than just whether he was Gay or not even though I seem to have made a big deal out of it above. I apologize for that now. I see I was a little snippy due to my involvement in trying to save his job. I only emphasized the sources that proved it because it nearly cost him his job as a beloved Professor during the height of the AIDS scare and despite being celibate (during the time we were close and I was a frequent houseguest), he felt he could not nor should not deny his sexual orientation, because it was a known fact already. Also, by refusing to deny it, he felt he was setting an example for his LBGT students, about whom he worried very much. He feared they were growing up in an era of a new Witch-Hunt, the early to mid 1980s when AIDS was considered a diagnosis worth killing yourself over and people believed you could catch HIV from tears, hugs and even sitting too close to a gay person. We forget much of this now, but Leonard was thinking far ahead to how he wanted to be remembered by his students, many of whom admired him greatly for refusing to buckle under just to save his job. I appreciate the consensus that was reached about that and all that has done to help me with this article and his other editorial work.

What this article could use
What I would like to see here, with the help of former students now hearing the sad news, is verifiable sourced information about Leonard's early years of study, his close relationships with certain famous composers, more on his operas and critical reaction to them, information of some of the works that he was unable to get produced because of the ownership issue he sued to regain including his Musical, THE BIRD WATCHERS, documented information on the decades long popularity of his unique classes on Wagner, American Musical Theater, American modern Composers and so forth, Some information on his architecturally significant home and perhaps a list of prominent former students.

Photo requests
If any former students are reading this and have photos of Kastle teaching or conducting, I would really like to see one or more added to the article. I have a couple of screen captures I cannot use for Wiki Copyright & Fair Use reasons, but I do have one photo sent to me by Father Steve Hart of St, Michael's Church where Leonard was their Organist. He gave me explicit permission for the photo to be used in this article but I've long forgotten how to insert those into articles so they don't look out of place. There is some kind of infobox for composers & we need that as well.

Please help me enlarge the info available here on one of America's most significant and prolific modern Composers! I need your help! Thanks in advance for reading all this and for those editors who have helped in the past.LiPollis (talk) 01:03, 22 May 2011 (UTC)