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About Last Night

Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City

Young voice, new lungs

November 1, 2017 by Terry Teachout

In today’s Wall Street Journal “Sightings” column, I write about Charity Tillemann-Dick, a singer who has just written a memoir about continuing to perform after surviving two double lung transplants. Here’s an excerpt.

* * *

To experience pain and suffering, it’s often said, is crucial to the making of an artist. But W. Somerset Maugham, who trained as a physician before becoming a novelist and playwright, wasn’t having any of it. He claimed to have learned from his internship in London’s poverty-wracked East End that “suffering did not ennoble; it degraded.”

Like all doctors, Maugham knew plenty about the damage that pain can do. But he must also have known that the music of Beethoven, which he loved, grew deeper and more profound after the composer became deaf. What’s more, the list of artists who have undergone similar transformations for similar reasons is very long. To cite just one example, the sculptor Mark di Suvero was put in a wheelchair by a near-fatal elevator accident that broke his back in 1960, the same year that he had his first solo show. Only after he recovered from his injuries did di Suvero emerge decisively as a major figure in modern American art. Might the accident have acted as a refiner’s fire for his still-developing talent? Only he can say—but it seems more than likely.

All this came to mind when a copy of “The Encore: A Memoir in Three Acts,” a newly published memoir by Charity Tillemann-Dick, turned up in my mailbox the other day. Ms. Tillemann-Dick is a coloratura soprano who has continued to perform after undergoing two double lung transplants, an achievement that is unique in the history of singing. I vaguely recalled having read about her horrific experiences, but knew nothing of the details. Now I know all about them, and I find myself in awe of her, not just because of her indomitable determination but because it turns out that in addition to being an excellent singer, Ms. Tillemann-Dick is also a very fine writer. “The Encore” is one of the best books I’ve ever read about the effects of chronic illness on the human spirit. Most of us, I suspect, like to think that we’d rise to a difficult occasion if forced to do so, but rarely are we put to the test. Ms. Tillemann-Dick was, and she faced it with a courage that I can scarcely begin to fathom….

* * *

Read the whole thing here.

Charity Tillemann-Dick sings “Simple Little Things” (from 110 in the Shade) in Kansas City in 2015:

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Terry Teachout

Terry Teachout, who writes this blog, is the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal and the critic-at-large of Commentary. In addition to his Wall Street Journal drama column and his monthly essays … [Read More...]

About

About “About Last Night”

This is a blog about the arts in New York City and the rest of America, written by Terry Teachout. Terry is a critic, biographer, playwright, director, librettist, recovering musician, and inveterate blogger. In addition to theater, he writes here and elsewhere about all of the other arts--books, … [Read More...]

About My Plays and Opera Libretti

Billy and Me, my second play, received its world premiere on December 8, 2017, at Palm Beach Dramaworks in West Palm Beach, Fla. Satchmo at the Waldorf, my first play, closed off Broadway at the Westside Theatre on June 29, 2014, after 18 previews and 136 performances. That production was directed … [Read More...]

About My Podcast

Peter Marks, Elisabeth Vincentelli, and I are the panelists on “Three on the Aisle,” a bimonthly podcast from New York about theater in America. … [Read More...]

About My Books

My latest book is Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington, published in 2013 by Gotham Books in the U.S. and the Robson Press in England and now available in paperback. I have also written biographies of Louis Armstrong, George Balanchine, and H.L. Mencken, as well as a volume of my collected essays called A … [Read More...]

The Long Goodbye

To read all three installments of "The Long Goodbye," a multi-part posting about the experience of watching a parent die, go here. … [Read More...]

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