I spent about 45 minutes today talking with Bunita Marcus. We first went over the standard group of questions I ask all the composers I interview in about 30-35 minutes, and then at the end I brought up the article and Italian interview.
Okay, there was no confusion, she did feel that Feldman crossed the boundary from mentor/colleague into inappropriate and unwanted romantic advances. But what I got from her description was that it wasn't "sexual abuse" so much as his desire to have a relationship that she did not want, and him not desisting when she repeatedly asked him to. In fact, several other musicians also asked him to back off as well. She is very bitter because it caused trouble in her marriage, which ended in divorce. I can't help but feel that there is more to the story, but I did not press her since the whole thing felt sordid.
The business about him appropriating her music and passing it off as his own, was a bit more complicated. She does feel that she was not credited with her creative work, and because he was the "star" on the NY scene it was assumed that she could not have influenced him. She described a complex set of emotions leading to his "stealing" as part of his romantic obsession, i.e. him trying to "woo" her with music and part of that writing music which he thought would appeal to her, including some rather crude artistic thievery. An example of the "highest form of flattery" ... that went too far.
It is an unfortunate set of events - and I do feel that the article sensationalized the facts - but there they are. I did not ask about the specific comments posted under her name.
I feel I must apologize to the forum since I took such a firm stance of doubting the facts.
None of this will appear in my interview/profile of Marcus when I publish our conversation.
The real tragedy is that her music was overlooked and a big part of her motivation for telling this story is about getting credit for her work.