Talk:Felicia Montealegre Bernstein

Died of lung cancer?

Her widower was Leonard Bernstein. His page states that she had lung cancer, but it doesn't actually state whether that was the cause of her death. It has always been the case that the vast majority of people who contract lung cancer die of it, but I don't actually know that she died of it. Does anyone know if she died of lung cancer? If so, she should be added to the lung cancer deaths category. Werdnawerdna (talk) 04:34, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

Why Chilean and not Costa Rican?

We say she was born in Costa Rica, to a Costa Rican mother and an American father. Then she went to the USA etc. The only connection to Chile that I can see, and it's very tenuous, is that she took piano lessons with Claudio Arrau, but in New York. That doesn't make her a Chilean.

Why are we saying she was Chilean, and not Costa Rican? -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 21:13, 11 November 2012 (UTC)

We now have a link to a concert performance of Candide, in which LB is said to mention Montealegre was Chilean. Well, I've just had a browse at the link and found no such mention. LB does address the audience before the performance, and talks about the background to the work, but I heard zero mention of his wife.

If it's really there, can someone indicate exactly where? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 00:17, 15 August 2013 (UTC)

<:::It is there. I've watched the whole 2 hours performance. It is not in the beginning. Bernstein addresses the audience several times during the performance. At some point he mentions his wife helping him with a Spanish rhyme and mentions she is (was) Chilean. Watch the whole thing and you'll find it. If you think I'm going to watch the whole thing again just because you question the information I provided you are mistaken. You can either watch the whole thing and locate that bit or leave an incorrect information in Wikipedia. Fine by me. Life is short and I'm getting sick of this kind of Wikipedia nonsense. Contact Basemetal here 13:44, 15 August 2013 (UTC)Basemetal 16:05, 6 September 2016 (UTC)

Whoa, horsey! That's a really unhelpful attitude. This is like saying that Tolstoy used a certain expression somewhere in War and Peace but you don't know exactly where and can't be bothered to find out but we all have to just take your word for it. With respect, you can see that anyone could make such a claim. The whole point of references is that others are able to then go to them and see/hear for themselves what the original author/speaker actually said.

I understand your unwillingness to sit through the 2 hour performance again, but dumping the problem onto the rest of us is definitely not the way to go. Why would anyone else have the willingness you lack? You're the one making the claim; it's up to you to substantiate it. If you think that rigorous standards of referencing are nonsense, you really have no place at Wikipedia. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 20:40, 15 August 2013 (UTC)

Chilean

IMDB gives as Montealegre's birth date and place, February 6, 1922 and Santiago, Chile (http://www.imdb.es/name/nm1544478/).

--201.239.126.231 (talk) 13:39, 14 November 2012 (UTC)

IMDB is not considered a WP:Reliable source because, like Wikipedia itself, any registered IMDB user can edit it. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 23:04, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

Why did she use her mother's surname only?

The default would have been Felicia Cohn Montealegre, or Felicia Cohn for short. But like Pablo Picasso, whose father's surname was Ruiz and whose mother's surname was Picasso, and who chose the latter for his name, she seems to have become known by the maternal surname alone. Does anyone know why this was? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 23:12, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

Birth date

We say 3 March, but many other sources, including our sister WPs, say 6 February. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 05:31, 8 April 2022 (UTC)

Chilean again

In the movie Maestro, Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) refers to her having come from Chile. No mention of Costa Rica, that I heard. We know she had lessons with Claudio Arrau, but in New York. So there must have been some significant connection with Chile other than that. Maybe she lived there for a while, after leaving Costa Rica?? Is there any info about this, out there somewhere? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 01:36, 24 December 2023 (UTC)

I tend to believe what's written about her at https://leonardbernstein.com/felicia-montealegre. According to that, Montealegre has a strong connection to Chile, but IMO not enough to call her "Chilean". -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 02:06, 24 December 2023 (UTC)

OK, so she lived in Chile from when she was a "child" till age 21. She was never a Chilean citizen, simply a Chilean resident for a dozen-plus years. She was born a Costa Rican citizen, and later became an American citizen and lived in the USA for the rest of her life. That clears this up. Thanks. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 02:16, 24 December 2023 (UTC)

"Aristocratic European family"?

Is it correct, as stated in the film Maestro, that Montealegre was from an "aristocratic European family" on her mother's side? 76.190.213.189 (talk) 03:57, 30 December 2023 (UTC)

Take a look at Montealegre. It's a fair description. --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆𝄐𝄇} 17:20, 30 December 2023 (UTC)