Prince Eduardo Tovar, in spite of his regal designation
was born to a thoroughly middle-class family in Monroe, Michigan in 1988. He
was the first of six children to Maria and Steven Tovar who were both employed
by the Monroe School District. The oldest by five years, Prince spent most of
his adolescence taking care of his five younger sisters while his parents were
away at work. Though the school year brought its share of turmoil and Prince
had to balance, even at a young age, the demands of school and surrogate
parenting. The summers however, were a different animal. Released from their
obligations as English teacher and nutrition consultant, respectively, his
mother and father made it a point to take their brood on at least one vacation
a year.
In 1998, Prince found himself hiking with his father in
the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park. Buffeted by mountains and
carpeted by sage, the valley seemed the most idyllic place the young man had
ever found himself. The pair hiked for an hour in silence as the stunned Prince
lacked the words to describe his experience. Back at the hotel later that
night, a still shaken Prince ducked out amid the cries of his younger sisters
and made his way down to the lobby. There he found an empty room and an
abandoned grand piano. Though he had done little more than pluck away at a few
keys over his lifetime, the boy sat and began to tap away making rudimentary
melodies. To an outside observer, the results would have been little more than
controlled chaos. To the young Prince, the instrument was a revelation; an
outlet for the unexpressed thoughts and emotions.
Years later, Prince would explain to his college
newspaper: “When I heard the sounds coming out of that beautiful, old
instrument I felt I knew what human hands were meant to do. Even now, when I
hear a performance, I feel we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing. We’re
creating when all the rest of the world is destroying. We’re touching upon the
work of the Creator rather than wallowing in the filth of earth.”
The even touched Prince and when they got home he
implored his parents to let him take up the piano. Though it meant adjusting their
work schedules, they made it so that their son could not only have a place to
play, but even to procure the services of an instructor for a season. The boy
himself was a revelation. After a rocky start due mostly to attendance issues,
he quickly established himself as the star of the music program. His skill only
increased as he progressed into middle school and later high school. By then of
course he was already well on his way to college preparation. Never and
outstanding student he made it his personal quest to finish high school with
good enough grades to further his musical and academic progression. By the time
he graduated in 2005 he had raised his GPA to 3.4 and was accepted to Wayne
State.
If Prince’s discovery of music had shaped his adolescence,
it was in college that his talent and particular determination began to shape
his future. He spent the majority of his time at Old Main in the practice rooms
though, it should be noted, that he did have a inner circle of friends he spend
considerable time with. He was not what anyone would describe as a loner.
Rather, he possessed a rare combination of determination and affability rare
among highly focused individuals. He enjoyed other disciplines in particular
finding interesting in philosophical and historical interests.
It was performing where his heart lay however. His
performance of Chopin’s Barcarole in F sharp major, Op. 60 at his junior
recital was something of a coming out party as it invited numerous alumni and
dignitaries of his caliber. One such visiting dignitary of was Claudette Marais
of the Philadelphia Orchestra who passed along her approving review of the
young pianist to colleague Leonard Slatkin of the Detroit Symphony. Though they
would not meet for a full year later, Slatkin kept a keen eye on the young
musician and upon his graduation, offered him a contract for the 2009-10
season.
We may here summarize the next few years of Mr. Tovar’s
life as it was a period of adjustment and flourishing. In the confines of his life
as a performer Prince found purpose and direction. He also found an inner voice
that found its outlet in the musician’s strike of 2010-2011. Though he
persevered through it, emerging from it as not only one of the most talented in
the company (he had nearly always been that) but also one of the most vocal. A
natural leader, he developed powerful and forceful demeanor that married inexplicably
with his naturally modest personality. It was a strange mix to say the least
but in this remarkable man it was nonetheless true. Friends who knew him at the
time spoke to the fact that while they tended to respond to his words, they
never felt bullied, strong-armed, or even particularly resentful. Prince Tovar
simply was, in their estimate, of the most humble yet commanding people they
had ever known.
Readers will of course know that sometime in late summer
of 2016, Prince Eduardo Tovar disappeared. Following several days of absence,
police, having been contacted by friends and fellow performers, entered his
apartment in the Sugar Hill Historic District to find it largely empty of
personal belongings. Remaining was a strange effigy of a man made out of
clothing arraigned in the outline of a well-dressed professional (shirt, tie,
pants, shoes, etc.) and his vast collection of vinyl records. Even linens and
window dressings had been removed. Police, family, and friends could make
little sense out of the strange leavings. There were no signs of distress or
struggle and because of the state of his affairs, none was expected. The
investigation into Tovar’s departure was kept open though no new leads were
found.
Over the years, many of those who knew him claimed to
know why the young, seemingly well-balanced musician would disappear. We will
recount the primary two theories posited here supported by some of those who
knew him best.
The first comes by way of Rebekah Saille, a fellow
student at Wayne State who kept up with Tovar after their graduation, meeting
every few months with a group of former classmates. “Prince really was
disturbed by all the disruption in the world,” Saille told investigators in the
months after Tovar’s departure. “He didn’t know how to deal with it all. He
felt like he should. With all the terrorist attacks in Europe and racial
injustice here he felt like there was something that he should be doing. It
really troubled him. Sometimes when we got together it was all he could talk
about. He was desperately trying to find some way to rationalize his own life
within the context of so much suffering worldwide.” When asked how this might
have led to Tovar’s disappearance, Rebekah conjectured, “Right before he left
[note that she never said ‘disappeared’] it was when Belgium got hit with that
string of attacks in Brussels, the one at the EU. I know how those kinds of
things had affected him before. I think that was it, that was what pushed him
over the top. He felt like he had no choice, that he had to do something.”
When pressed on how she could be so certain of Tovar’s
motivations and indeed his actions, which at that time were still very much
uncertain, Saille could offer no logical explanation.
Another explanation was given via an email received only
several months ago. Delivered anonymously, a source who wished not to be
identified contact this writer to set up a meeting. Sitting at coffee shop in
downtown Monroe on a sunny June day, the source asserted that Tovar’s flight
and subsequent actions were not taken as frustration to the state of the world
but rather a rejection of the state of his own soul. “He couldn’t live with
himself. That’s the part that nobody knew. To everyone else he was this immensely
talented musician- a celebrity really, in the arts world. Everybody knew what
he was and no one knew what he was.” When pressed for details, the source
declined but continued. “He couldn’t live with the darkness in himself. Sure,
he was troubled at the darkness in the world, but what he couldn’t escape was
the darkness in himself. He always saw music as an escape, as the purest form
of beauty. It was what we were made for- to create beauty. I think for a long
time that music was enough pacify himself, to justify his actions. Music was
his way of atoning for his sins. Eventually though something pushed him over
the edge, some action he took and in the end the music wasn’t enough anymore.
He had to take extreme action.”
We will never know the true reasons Prince Tovar took
the actions that he did. The truth lies buried with him now. We are left with
only conjecture and speculation as to his motivations. Whether the history we
now know was the result of feelings of impotence to affect change in a rapidly destabilizing
world rife with violence and oppression or whether it was some kind of personal
penance over past misdeeds hidden from the light to this this day we cannot
ascertain. We have now only the myopic gaze of history. We put our trust in proofs
as much as Tovar put his trust in beauty and the act of creating. Will our
faith be found wanting as some claim Tovar’s was? These are questions for
philosophers and speculators. While we still may, we deal in ink and fact.
Until September 4th,
2020, Tovar’s disappearance was a deeply troubling mystery for the arts
community in Detroit and for those who knew him. The pain lingered. The mystery
endured. It was not until that tragic day that the fate of Prince Eduardo Tovar
was known to the public. It was not until that day that his own story found its
conclusion. Yet even with the finality we now possess, there are deep mysteries
and questions that linger.
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