• Home
  • About
    • About Last Night
    • Terry Teachout
    • Contact
  • AJBlogCentral
  • ArtsJournal

About Last Night

Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City

You are here: Home / 2018 / March / Archives for 14th

Archives for March 14, 2018

No, the fat lady hasn’t sung

March 14, 2018 by Terry Teachout

In today’s Wall Street Journal “Sightings” column, I discuss James Levine’s firing. Here’s an excerpt.

* * *

It was all true. That’s the conclusion of the Metropolitan Opera, which fired James Levine on Monday, issuing a statement declaring that an outside investigation in which more than 70 people were interviewed has uncovered “credible evidence” that he “engaged in sexually abusive and harassing conduct toward vulnerable artists in the early stages of their careers, over whom Mr. Levine had authority.” The company also said that this conduct took place “both before and during” his tenure at the Met….

Now what? If the Met’s conclusions are correct, then firing Mr. Levine was self-evidently necessary. Call it good riddance to foul rubbish. But that alone will not be remotely sufficient to ensure the survival of the company that he has besmirched.

The Met appears to think otherwise. Its officers are behaving as if getting rid of its music director emeritus is the only step needed to clean house. In its statement, the company pointedly declared that “any claims or rumors that members of the Met’s management or its board of directors engaged in a cover-up of information relating to these issues are completely unsubstantiated.”

But it’s not good enough merely to issue a tight-lipped nothing-to-see-here-move-along statement in which you announce that you’ve investigated your star conductor, found him guilty as hell and given him the boot….

If the report of the investigation justifies firing Mr. Levine, then why is it not being released? The company claims that it must protect the privacy of those who spoke to its investigators. But this is one case where the interests of the institution as a whole trump those of any individual associated with it. By not explaining in detail why Mr. Levine is being fired, Peter Gelb is playing “trust me” with the public. The problem is that neither he nor his board have earned that trust…

* * *

Read the whole thing here.

Snapshot: the Dave Brubeck Quartet plays “St. Louis Blues”

March 14, 2018 by Terry Teachout

TV CAMERAThe Dave Brubeck Quartet plays “St. Louis Blues” on Belgian TV in 1964. Brubeck is the pianist, Paul Desmond the alto saxophonist, Eugene Wright the bassist, and Joe Morello the drummer:

(This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)

Almanac: G.K. Chesterton on beauty

March 14, 2018 by Terry Teachout

INK BOTTLE “There is a road from the eye to the heart that does not go through the intellect. Men do not quarrel about the meaning of sunsets; they never dispute that the hawthorn says the best and wittiest thing about the spring.”

G.K. Chesterton, “A Defence of Heraldry”

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...]

Follow Us on TwitterFollow Us on RSSFollow Us on E-mail

@Terryteachout1

Tweets by TerryTeachout1

Archives

March 2018
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  
« Feb   Apr »

An ArtsJournal Blog

Recent Posts

  • Verbal virtuosity
  • Jump-starting an arts revival
  • Replay: Alfred Hitchcock talks to Dick Cavett
  • Almanac: Tolstoy on happiness
  • Almanac: Ambrose Bierce on the President of the United States

Copyright © 2021 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in