Archives for 2005

January 2004:

Ivy Compton-Burnett, the English novelist, told a friend late in life that she could no longer read Jane Austen with pleasure, not because her admiration for Austen had lessened but because she’d read her novels so many times that she had them virtually by heart, and hence could no longer be surprised by them. When I read that, I wondered: is it really possible to exhaust a masterpiece? Much less an entire art form? I can’t imagine being unable to hear anything new in Falstaff or the Mozart G Minor Symphony, though I suppose it could happen. And as for a person who came to feel that music or painting or poetry had nothing more to say to him, he’d be in dire straits indeed….

(If it’s new to you, read the whole thing here.)

January 2004:

Ivy Compton-Burnett, the English novelist, told a friend late in life that she could no longer read Jane Austen with pleasure, not because her admiration for Austen had lessened but because she’d read her novels so many times that she had them virtually by heart, and hence could no longer be surprised by them. When I read that, I wondered: is it really possible to exhaust a masterpiece? Much less an entire art form? I can’t imagine being unable to hear anything new in Falstaff or the Mozart G Minor Symphony, though I suppose it could happen. And as for a person who came to feel that music or painting or poetry had nothing more to say to him, he’d be in dire straits indeed….

(If it’s new to you, read the whole thing here.)

– Ticket price in 1916 for the inaugural concert of the current incarnation of the
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: 15 cents

– The same amount in today’s dollars, courtesy of Inflation Calculator: $2.74

(Source: Steve Hendry)

– Ticket price in 1916 for the inaugural concert of the current incarnation of the
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: 15 cents

– The same amount in today’s dollars, courtesy of Inflation Calculator: $2.74

(Source: Steve Hendry)

“A man who makes pictures like the one we were looking at is an unhappy creature, tormented day and night. He relieves himself of his passion in his pictures, but also in spite of himself on the people round him. That is what normal people never understand. They want to enjoy the artists’ products–as one might enjoy cows’ milk–but they can’t put up with the inconvenience, the mud and the flies.”

Henri Matisse, c. 1941 (quoted in Hilary Spurling, Matisse the Master)

“A man who makes pictures like the one we were looking at is an unhappy creature, tormented day and night. He relieves himself of his passion in his pictures, but also in spite of himself on the people round him. That is what normal people never understand. They want to enjoy the artists’ products–as one might enjoy cows’ milk–but they can’t put up with the inconvenience, the mud and the flies.”

Henri Matisse, c. 1941 (quoted in Hilary Spurling, Matisse the Master)

Here’s a taste of my latest “Sightings” column in the “Pursuits” section of the Saturday Wall Street Journal:

Talk about timely: “The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial,” a docudrama about the Scopes trial that is L.A. Theatre Works’ first show to go on the road, opens Oct. 11 at Humboldt University in Arcata, Calif., mere weeks after a judge in Harrisburg, Pa., began hearing arguments over whether the theory of intelligent design should be taught alongside the theory of evolution in local classrooms. You can’t pay for publicity like that. It’s a gift from … er, Charles Darwin? Well, someone, anyway….

“Inherit the Wind” is a work of fiction loosely based on the Scopes trial, one that takes huge liberties with the facts in order to make Bryan and the fundamentalists of Tennessee look like gargoyles and morons. Yet millions of unsuspecting playgoers know what they “know” about the Scopes trial from having seen it. Will those who see or hear “The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial” be better served, factually speaking?

The answer is yes, mostly. The bulk of Mr. Goodchild’s script is drawn from the official trial transcript. To be sure, the scene-setting (deck-stacking) narration leaves no doubt as to which side enlightened minds should root for, blandly informing us that religious fundamentalism circa 1925 was linked “in spirit if nothing else” to “the ultra-conservative and violent Ku Klux Klan.” But the trial itself is heard as it happened, and is all the more dramatic for being true….

No link, alas. To read the whole thing, pick up a copy of the Saturday Journal, or go here to subscribe to the Online Journal.

Here’s a taste of my latest “Sightings” column in the “Pursuits” section of the Saturday Wall Street Journal:

Talk about timely: “The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial,” a docudrama about the Scopes trial that is L.A. Theatre Works’ first show to go on the road, opens Oct. 11 at Humboldt University in Arcata, Calif., mere weeks after a judge in Harrisburg, Pa., began hearing arguments over whether the theory of intelligent design should be taught alongside the theory of evolution in local classrooms. You can’t pay for publicity like that. It’s a gift from … er, Charles Darwin? Well, someone, anyway….

“Inherit the Wind” is a work of fiction loosely based on the Scopes trial, one that takes huge liberties with the facts in order to make Bryan and the fundamentalists of Tennessee look like gargoyles and morons. Yet millions of unsuspecting playgoers know what they “know” about the Scopes trial from having seen it. Will those who see or hear “The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial” be better served, factually speaking?

The answer is yes, mostly. The bulk of Mr. Goodchild’s script is drawn from the official trial transcript. To be sure, the scene-setting (deck-stacking) narration leaves no doubt as to which side enlightened minds should root for, blandly informing us that religious fundamentalism circa 1925 was linked “in spirit if nothing else” to “the ultra-conservative and violent Ku Klux Klan.” But the trial itself is heard as it happened, and is all the more dramatic for being true….

No link, alas. To read the whole thing, pick up a copy of the Saturday Journal, or go here to subscribe to the Online Journal.