Barenboim, Borrowing

It's been more than a month since Daniel Barenboim delivered the Norton Lectures at Harvard University. But the conductor and pianist's performance continues to reverberate. At issue is Barenboim's use of material in his Norton Lectures that he'd delivered earlier in 2006 during the Reith Lectures in England. Bear in mind, Barenboim's Harvard talks were not just another stop on the speaker circuit. The Norton Lectures, delivered so famously by Leonard Bernstein in 1973, are considered one of the most prestigious lecture gigs in the academy. They're also published later in book form.

Example 1:
Reith: "But my contention is that music has another weapon that it delivers to us, if we want to take it, and that is one through which we can learn a lot about ourselves, about our society, about the human being, about politics, about society, about anything that you chose to do."

Norton: "But my contention is that music also offers another weapon, and that is one through which we can learn about ourselves, about our society, about politics, in short, about the human being."

Example 2:
Reith: "And maybe in a strange way I've found some answers to all this, not in music but in philosophy, especially from reading regularly and for many years the ethics of Spinoza. Spinoza was a religious scholar, a political architect, a philosopher, who aspired to geometric demonstration of the universe and the human being in it, and he was a biological thinker who advanced the science of emotion."

Norton: "I have found many answers to these questions not only in music but also in philosophy, especially from reading regularly, and for many years, the ethics of Spinoza. Spinoza was a religious scholar, a political architect, a philosopher who aspired to geometric demonstration of the universe and the human being in it, and a biological thinker who advanced the science of emotion."

A Harvard spokesman refused to comment on Barenboim, or provide the letter of guidelines sent to Norton lecturers. But we've learned that questions are being asked within the Department of Music.

"He's a very famous and important distinguished person and certainly an excellent choice for Harvard," said musicologist Joseph Kerman, a past Norton lecturer. "But if the lectures were essentially the same, I think that's not right. But you know, such things happen in the academy. As in the rest of the world."

Harold Bloom, the Yale professor who has also delivered the Nortons, said he didn't have time for an interview. But I sent him an e-mail explaining how Barenboim used the Reith material, and asked to comment.

"I wrote six original lectures for the Norton," e-mailed Bloom. "They were published by Harvard as a book called Ruin the Sacred Truths."

As for Barenboim, he sent a response through his assistant at the Berlin State Opera.

"Some of the subjects were dealt with in both series of lectures, but Mr. Barenboim was not concerned about duplicating material because they were in different contexts and with a different purpose in mind."