AN OPEN LETTER TO THE DIRECTOR OF THE CORCORAN GALLERY Dear Mr. Bollerer: As someone who writes frequently about the Gilded Age, I’ve long been eager to visit the Corcoran Gallery to study your most iconic painting: Frederick Church’s “Niagara.” I was recently in DC and seized the opportunity, arriving one Sunday in the late morning only to discover a cellist in the atrium playing movements from the Bach cello suites. The atrium is a resonant space and the cello was loudly audible in the galleries. A painting summons thought … [Read more...]
Teaching Music Across the Curriculum
Cross-disciplinary education is in fashion right now, but I have the impression it’s more honored in the breach than the observance, at least insofar as music is concerned. My vantage point is limited but informative. As readers of this blog know, I have for years espoused using the story of Dvorak in America to sneak the humanities into Social Studies and History classrooms by the back door. I have learned a few things in the process. One is that the usual obstacle is ostensibly curricular: learning standards and standardized syllabi … [Read more...]

Recent Comments
Joel Lee on A Status Report on City Opera
Again, we go on and on about the acoustics at the NY State Theater. Why were there not criticisms...william osborne on A Status Report on City Opera
Small music theater requires entirely new concepts of composition, singing and staging. NYCO wants to create a new form...Chuck Lavazi on Dvorak and Hiawatha
The first time I heard the Largo of the Dvorak 9th (then called the 5th, which shows what a geezer...Robert Berger on Ives the Sophisticate
Interesting article, but your dismissal of the Sibelius 2nd as "banal" and "cliched" could not be more...Mark Stryker on Ives the Sophisticate
Joe, Insightful post, thanks. Interestingly, in a review I wrote a couple days ago about the four Ives symphonies played at...J. Theakston on The Greatest Film Score You’ve Never Heard
Must disagree with you on one point, Joe. Modern accompaniment for classic films (silent films excluded) is walking a...richard on The Met’s New Parsifal
I saw the performance of March 5, and your description of the brillance of this production rings true. At last,...Geo. on The Met’s New Parsifal
I saw the HD-cast of this production rather than in person, so obviously my perspective is limited that way. ...msirt on The Met’s New Parsifal
Ah ha! I finally "get" François Girard's final interpretive thrust for this rendition : Parsifal's words (paraphrase of the poem):...Sixtus Beckmesser on The Met’s New Parsifal
Thank you for this thoughtful and insightful appraisal. I was fortunate to have seen the HD broadcast on Saturday,...