tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89972497187370678742012-02-16T03:02:12.507-05:00Observations on Philosophy, Culture, Art, Music, and LiteratureT. Northcutthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397072269412527123noreply@blogger.comBlogger3281100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-68790960913535549222012-02-06T20:26:00.000-05:002012-02-06T20:26:27.942-05:00

More fun! Again, I think I made it moderately difficult. All answers are last names. Click to enlarge. It's an 8.5x11 image if you want to print it out. As usual please post any questions, comments, or corrections in the comments section below. Have fun and good luck!

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-34660123223187301002012-02-06T15:55:00.003-05:002012-02-06T15:58:02.921-05:00

Is 1921 really so long ago? It doesn't seem so. They had motorcars and electricity, indoor plumbing and pantaloons. Alright, clearly much has changed but so much so that a speech given 90 years ago would be shocking today? Apparently. There is little in Calvin Coolidge's 1921 speech at the Second Annual meeting of the American Classical League at the University of Pennsylvania that wouldn't

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-80695642727713881372012-02-05T01:32:00.001-05:002012-02-06T20:55:58.593-05:00

Directed by Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein. 2012. If I admit to being a rather picky filmgoer I hope you will trust me when I tell you that I'm rather forgiving of the action genre. This past autumn's Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol was not fine cinema but it worked. It had some action, some gadgetry, some sex appeal, a liberal dose of humor, Tom Cruise looked like he meant business, and the

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-90065559433748538122012-01-27T17:47:00.000-05:002012-01-27T17:47:11.979-05:00

A Mozart Crossword Puzzle. I think I made it moderately difficult. Click to enlarge. It's an 8.5x11 image if you want to print it out. As usual please post any questions, comments, or corrections in the comments section below. Have fun and good luck!

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-50040180599129129702012-01-27T14:04:00.001-05:002012-01-27T17:47:20.270-05:00

Through the years since his death in 1791 the image of Mozart has worn many masks: the traditionalist, the avant-garde, the idiot-savant, the eternal child, the near-autistic, the font of the muses, the bawdy giggler, and so forth. Scholarship has likewise tread many paths through his full, if short, life, with analysis of his music, his finances, his family relations, his travels, teachers,

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-79241714651944008102012-01-27T14:03:00.000-05:002012-01-28T15:42:13.078-05:00

The point of Figaro is not that the Count repents, or that contrition is a virtue. The point is not that he is forgiven, nor even that forgiveness is a virtue. The point is that forgiveness is beautiful.

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-45950968287694398612012-01-15T21:58:00.000-05:002012-01-15T22:01:28.693-05:00

Quia fecit mihi magna, qui potens est. One of the most brilliant and  bafflingly simple moments of music and an example of Bach's oft-cited "one-part" counterpoint, this is a priceless gem. Yes it is a masculine moment for the Magnificat, but has any other piece ever so captured the personal element of the Christian faith? Has one ever felt so guided, so gently rocked, so nestled, has

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-32139514513966001112012-01-01T18:46:00.001-05:002012-01-16T19:23:02.331-05:00

with apologies to Dr. Seuss Would you sing it on a boat? Would you sing it on a float? Would you sing it in a theater? Would you sing it in a meter? Would you sing it with vibrato? Would you sing it all staccato? Is it sung with bounds and leaps? Is it sung in mumbles and peeps? Is the song most long and gangly? Is it short and jingly jangly? Do you play it on guitar? Do you

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-39681546836648379582011-12-26T21:08:00.002-05:002011-12-31T22:31:45.353-05:00

an inquiry into anecdotal evidence It is an annual goal of mine to attempt, throughout a year, to observe one particular idea in detail throughout the many circumstances a year will provide. This past year of 2011 I observed the ways in which people compliment each other and I must say the inquiry has proved rather revealing. This year I noted that people tend to praise others as "smart." Now I

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-57820271077109314512011-12-26T20:52:00.000-05:002011-12-26T20:56:13.333-05:00

Having just "unfollowed" someone on Twitter for the first time I thought I would share a few thoughts on what drove me to unfollow a blogger whose writing I often read and liked but whose Tweets had me regularly thinking what an unpleasant presence he had become in my feed. (The horror, I know.) So without further delay 10. Don't act surprised or exasperated. Superficial surprise is annoying

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-76507630113905120242011-12-22T10:45:00.000-05:002011-12-26T21:03:04.574-05:00

Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven greatly admired George Frederick Handel. That ought to be enough to convince the rest of us, no? It does not seem so. Praise of Handel usually takes the form of "appreciation" of "effects" and "craft" and "harmoniousness" rather than awe at inspiration. Indeed in our recent installment of our "Sacred Music" series we praised Handel for a most appropriate setting

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-46357306823288325992011-12-03T19:10:00.001-05:002011-12-26T20:59:21.874-05:00

A gift is a beautiful thing. Whether of congratulation, commemoration, celebration, or thanks, a gift reflects a bond between people. The gift represents shared values, shared duties, and a shared life. Above all it reflects gratitude for the relationship for all it has been, as it has been, and as it endures. A great gift shares in both the uniqueness of the occasion and the uniqueness of both

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-23659445262609054982011-11-24T08:29:00.001-05:002011-11-24T10:21:05.102-05:00

In this year's Thanksgiving list, thanks for inherited wisdom, some if it wrought from philosophical rigor and some culled from simple reflections on long lives. These are reflections not on the great philosophical problems but simply on living, and they are thoughts which grow ever dearer to your aging and still humble blogger.  On Life and Living The purpose of art is not the release of a

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-10133381728605761572011-11-19T22:38:00.001-05:002011-11-19T23:51:53.395-05:00

Directed by Glenn Ficarra & John Requa. 2011. I waited for something to go wrong with Crazy, Stupid, Love. I waited for a parade of quirky people instead of characters I could relate to. I waited for gratuitous sex and profanity. I waited for the movie to settle into a comfortable genre and adopts its cliches and tropes. I waited for a tidy ending to wrap things up. None of these cropped up to

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-60093715488278687142011-11-12T02:30:00.001-05:002011-11-13T18:50:12.468-05:00

Directed by Tarsem Singh. 2011. Spoilers within! But first, a vocabulary lesson brought to you by the letter I. pas·tiche [pa-steesh, pah-] 1. a literary, musical, or artistic piece consisting wholly or chiefly of motifs or techniques borrowed from one or more sources. 2. an incongruous combination of materials, forms, motifs, etc., taken from different sources; hodgepodge. Origin: 1700–10;

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-87444681885522568442011-11-05T21:30:00.000-04:002011-11-14T19:19:09.382-05:00

In our first essay on Sacred Music we looked at chant and discussed some of the properties which make it uniquely appropriate for the liturgy. In our second essay we looked at one short section of the liturgy and examined its treatment by various composers. Now I would like to look at some of the choices a composer has when setting a text. In articulating and observing them it is my hope we will

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-11971908573056994752011-10-15T21:39:00.000-04:002011-10-15T21:39:12.702-04:00

To those who wish to get to know these priceless works [i.e. Bach's cantatas] in bulk, [Albert] Schweitzer's advice is invaluable---to gather a few friends together round a pianoforte and sing them through. The inadequacies of performance are compensated for by the intimacy of common music-making. Let all the sopranos sing in unison the recitatives and arias for that voice, and so on. Afterwards

T. Northcutthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397072269412527123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-45077606493702708362011-10-01T17:48:00.003-04:002011-10-01T17:50:22.962-04:00

Please note that our "Around the Web" roundup column (formerly linked to in the upper right of the navigation bar) has been replaced by our Tumblr Feed The page linked to in the navbar lists our Tumblr posts on a separate page on this site and the link directly above links directly to our Tumbler page at Tumblr. So you can either check the Tumblr feed by visiting the page linked to in the navbar

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Directed by Steven Soderbergh. 2011. *Spoiler Warning* The structure of Contagion must have scared a few producers. Nothing else can explain why A-list actors fill the supporting roles of this movie. They are well-filled, to be sure, though not one is particularly distinct or memorable and none called for a particular screen talent or presence. Matt Damon, though, is an especially convincing

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-65611844383866884182011-09-25T00:47:00.003-04:002011-09-25T14:38:48.308-04:00

In our first look at sacred music last month we discussed some concrete principals and why they functioned as the essence of good sacred music. It is, however, often said that taste is subjective. This I do concede to a point, and as an experiment I would like to make a less scientific comparison. We may say certainly that people have reactions to music but of course it is something in the music

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-32440740406961059532011-09-06T18:05:00.009-04:002011-09-06T18:44:33.701-04:00

Sometimes my lists spiral into large projects. This is not one of those times. I offer only one word of clarification, that I restricted myself to one movement per work. I only mention those other parts of Figaro because the implied "and see other movements of the same work" is not so helpful for an opera. Complaints/Suggestions welcome! (Did I miss anything?) Oboe by Grundemann, 1784 10.

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-61929752907066902472011-09-05T15:05:00.001-04:002011-09-25T14:21:19.648-04:00

Aristotle and the Neuroscientists The NY Times is running psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker's review of the new book, "Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength," by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney. Pinker's review is one of those pieces, of which the Times specializes in, that makes me wince. Not because it is poorly written or even wrong but because it is liable to leave

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-85919838642789579002011-08-27T22:03:00.001-04:002011-08-27T22:04:00.011-04:00

– J. S. Bach. Passacaglia & Fugue in C minor, BWV.582 For most of us, there is only the unattended Moment, the moment in and out of time, The distraction fit, lost in a shaft of sunlight, The wild thyme unseen, or the winter lightning Or the waterfall, or music heard so deeply That it is not heard at all, but you are the music While the music lasts. These are only hints and guesses, Hints

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-73531621275052934402011-08-27T21:59:00.002-04:002011-08-27T22:02:14.181-04:00

The other day we spoke of sibling themes throughout Mozart's oeuvre. Since you will be deprived of my review of the finale concert to this season's Mostly Mozart Festival due to said concert having been prematurely and peremptorily cancelled, I assembled a few of Mozart's sibling themes here. Is it tremendously significant to point them out? Perhaps not, but I've always found such musicological

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-47989013215560050712011-08-25T23:30:00.004-04:002011-09-25T14:13:25.688-04:00

Part I | Part II | Part III In Part III of our series on presidential rhetoric we will look at the inaugural address of Thomas Jefferson, delivered in the Washington, D. C. Wednesday, March 4, 1801. As with the the previous speeches we will not be addressing the truthfulness of the assertions but rather we will consider primarily two questions: what is it trying to persuade us of and how does it

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-16708031468287685542011-08-22T14:49:00.001-04:002011-09-30T20:15:22.353-04:00

We have discussed the wonderful structural features of Mozart's music many times in this space. From fugues and fugatos, canons, themes and variations, rondos, sonatas, arias, Mozart mastered all of the forms of his age and wrote masterworks in each. Yet one aspect of these pieces we have not looked at so much, or looked at only incidentally, is that of the themes themselves. Perhaps this is due

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-85865331046742591152011-08-14T22:24:00.000-04:002011-08-14T22:24:33.933-04:00

Directed by John Frankenheimer. 1964 I always stop myself after thinking "they don't make movies like this anymore." Why should any age or generation make movies exactly like those of another? Yet even as style changes the essence of film, regardless of the genre, usually remains: drama and narrative. At least there is an interesting premise, however poorly it may be developed. Perhaps the spate

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-34045656500674499852011-08-12T15:42:00.001-04:002011-08-16T22:46:11.745-04:00

Since I will have the opportunity to introduce Greek and Roman philosophy in my courses, I've been giving some thought to the books that formed my own philosophical outlook. It occurred to me that many people, who want to do philosophy, may lack an entrée into the discipline. As the ancient, medieval, and modern canon* is (or ought to be) well-known to the liberally educated person, I've

T. Northcutthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397072269412527123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-88392247999586973822011-08-10T01:09:00.000-04:002011-08-10T01:09:24.309-04:00

Iván Fischer I just stepped in from my first Mostly Mozart concert of the season. I do not know who programmed the Ave Verum Corpus, Symphony KV.551, and Vespers de Confessore into one concert, or why, but the evening was terrific. The utmost credit to Iván Fischer. The Ave Verum was delicate and affecting and the final symphony came to glorious life. Jupiter's first movement fugato was

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-20518510922744616782011-08-08T21:58:00.003-04:002011-08-08T22:12:39.658-04:00

Directed by Joe Johnston. 2011. Contains Spoilers! Captain America sort of works. I think. Maybe. I don't know. I find it frustrating, infuriating even, when so much is wrong with a movie that you have a hard time deciding whether as a whole it even works or not, qua movie. Persevering, let us start with what works. Captain America has one heck of a chorus line with more wagging gams than any

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-79752224225699656182011-08-08T14:41:00.061-04:002011-08-08T17:31:22.228-04:00

"In order to write true church music, look to the plainchants of the monks." Ludwig van Beethoven [1] The problem is clear. Anyone who has long pondered sacred music knows it. Music lovers evade it as long as they can but eventually the rift becomes undeniable. Of sacred music, there is chant and everything else. Foremost this admission seems a blasphemy of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven to say

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-45671745793523826712011-07-30T19:31:00.003-04:002011-07-31T00:40:25.387-04:00

The Remorse of Orestes, by William-Adolphe Bouguereau Euripides' Orestes (Ορέστης) was produced in 408BC, 50 years after Aeschylus' Orestia and its topsy turvy plot takes place between the Libation Bearers (Χοηφόροι, Choēphoroi) and the Eumenides (Εὐμενίδες.) Here Orestes, son of King Agamemnon, has just wrought vengeance on the murderer of his father. Yet it was his own mother, Clytmnestra,

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-65045294376494798142011-07-23T20:07:00.004-04:002011-07-23T20:34:39.984-04:00

The shade of Bach over Beethoven's gentle fughetta infuses a pathos to the sublime andante dance through time. (Compare to the similar but more abstract Contrapunctus XIII of Bach's Art of Fugue.) Here there is an element of dialogue, of longing, of tenderest and ineffable joy, but fundamentally of the human element to the passage through time and the human connections through past, present,

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-92185585752635223952011-07-23T16:55:00.059-04:002011-07-23T20:12:40.995-04:00

In Part I of our series on presidential rhetoric we look at President Obama's Inaugural Address. Today we will look at John Adams', delivered in the city of Philadelphia on Saturday, March 4, 1797. As with the first speech, we will not be addressing the truthfulness of the assertions but rather we will consider primarily two questions: what is it trying to persuade us of and how does it do so.

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-47858730196679880962011-07-22T15:18:00.000-04:002011-07-22T15:18:05.573-04:00

Gould wrote this fugue as the finale to, "The Anatomy of the Fugue," a television program he also wrote and directed. Airing in the early 1960s, it discussed the concept and construction of fugal music. The four-voice fugue is terrific fun, quoting and demonstrating as it does some bad contrapuntal practices. Years later in a 1974 interview with Bruno Monsaingeon, Gould would reflect on

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-45147244783657307302011-07-21T00:42:00.002-04:002011-08-08T14:48:18.934-04:00

The common, perhaps predominant, concept of the artist is someone who expresses himself in his art, both as virtuoso and an individual with unique ideas. The art, in turn, is a reflection of him. He is the star of his art, which reflects his ideas about the world, his character, his style, his theories, and so forth. Art is particular instead of universal. In contrast to this conception, seen

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-79704891821698977892011-07-20T17:28:00.059-04:002011-07-22T21:08:54.420-04:00

In light of our recent discussion of political moderation in our look at Harry Clor's book On Moderation, it seemed prudent to try to apply, or at least consider, its role in current political discourse. Sven Wilson's article at Pileus and the recent discussions about pragmatism at Ricochet have prompted me so do go at both. For the most part here I just want to bandy the ideas around and see

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-60037242160430332032011-07-19T14:43:00.000-04:002011-07-19T14:43:27.106-04:00

Pianist Glenn Gould in conversation on his 1981 recording of J. S. Bach's Goldberg Variations. Part I | Part II | Part III

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-31404008922645485322011-07-19T14:39:00.000-04:002011-07-19T14:39:01.330-04:00

On Moderation: Defending an Ancient Virtue in a Modern World by Harry Clor. 2008. In everything it is no easy task to find the middle. . . therefore goodness is both rare and laudable and noble. –Aristotle I have tried to imagine a reader who would not benefit from Harry Clor's On Moderation, to find someone for whom this volume is of no use. Surely this book must be redundant for the

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-3504290465223723902011-07-18T15:53:00.000-04:002011-07-18T15:53:37.669-04:00

The documentary "Vivaldi's Women" on BBC Four presented the story of an extraordinary creative partnership between one of history's great composers–Antonio Vivaldi–and an all-female orchestra and choir. In the early 18th century, Father Antonio Vivaldi was a violin teacher, musical director, musical instrument procurer and in-house composer for a Venetian institution called La Pietà, a home

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-5053229686621726282011-07-17T19:41:00.001-04:002011-07-17T19:41:39.815-04:00

Cello Concerto in C Major Op. 40 written in honour of Pau (Pablo) Casals by his friend, Donald Francis Tovey. Rondo-Allegro giocoso Pau Casals, Cello; BBC Symphony Orchestra; Sir Adrian Boult, conductor Queen`s Hall. 1937.

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-19376641822320012212011-07-17T19:41:00.000-04:002011-07-17T19:41:27.723-04:00

Sir Donald Francis Tovey (17 July 1875 – 10 July 1940) Still over 135 years after his birth, few, if any, have written about music with as much love, sagacity, and good humor as Donald Francis Tovey. His modestly titled "Essays in Musical Analysis" is in fact a six-volume collection of his program notes for the concerts under his baton at the Reid Orchestra in Edinburgh. Since publication in

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-90732552767026563582011-07-09T14:45:00.001-04:002011-07-09T14:50:42.817-04:00

Long-Overdue Edition 1) Celebrating the Art of Italy: A show in Turin reflects on 2,000 years of cultural heritage 2) This is Your Brain on Art 3) Interview: Frank Gehry 4) Interview: David McCullough 5) A 40 Megapixel 360 Degree Panorama of The Strahov Philosophical Library 6) But Is It Art? 7) My Uncle, Oscar Hammerstein 8) Off With Their Coattails: Investigating the mysterious

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-64605235112026154202011-07-07T21:53:00.000-04:002011-07-07T21:53:33.956-04:00

Nine great Don Giovannis sing the famous Champagne aria. Only one will emerge victorious. . . A fun treat, enjoying as we do comparisons amongst versions of a piece. (Always interesting to see what they do what that rising bassoon phrase, amongst other features.) Fin ch'han dal vino calda la testa. . .

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-78160661577147401712011-07-07T21:46:00.000-04:002011-07-07T21:46:11.330-04:00

One of the many throw-away jewels in T. S. Eliot's 1961 essay To Criticize the Critic is a distinguishing between fashion and taste. The point is worth developing particularly because of the trope that "taste varies." Let us begin as Eliot does, distinguishes between fashion, "the love of change for its own sake" and taste, which "springs from a deeper source." The former seems a sensible

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-2180035709617797412011-07-06T14:12:00.000-04:002011-07-06T14:12:13.270-04:00

Directed by Al Pacino. 1996. Al Pacino walking around Manhattan asking people what they think about Shakespeare was not such a bad idea. It could have been played as a cheap trick setting up some point about how no one today appreciates Shakespeare or how we need to pedestrianize the Bard to make him "more accessible." These strolls through the city, though, avoid such tempting alternatives and

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-35691267426497088412011-07-04T00:35:00.000-04:002011-07-04T00:35:36.956-04:00

Directed by Tom Hooper. 2008. There is a great deal to admire in HBO's John Adams. Foremost perhaps is how well the screenplay fits the story to the medium. I often watch a program and conclude that the movie might have been better suited as a miniseries, or vice versa. Many television shows are not more than films stretched out unnecessarily, and usually inelegantly, to many times their proper

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-73692890632791974212011-07-02T21:39:00.001-04:002011-07-02T21:39:48.625-04:00

Here is a brief round up of the sacred music texts I use, two of which were just released this past week and which have already and thoroughly impressed me. This is obviously not a comprehensive list but simply one of what I use and like. Two are wonderful introductions, one a good for transition away from certain tendencies and practices, two are good companions, and the last is a timeless

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-73636029816576587772011-07-01T14:47:00.000-04:002011-07-01T14:47:04.646-04:00

There exists a discrete genre of journalism native to the internet. This writing, of the short and pointless variety, is too vapid to find a way into even the most fluffy or pandering papers. I do not mean to suggest this species of writing is usually poor, for in fact it is not. In fact I often find the pieces well-crafted. To what end, you surely ask. These pieces must conform to a few rules.

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-49356514311709960192011-06-28T14:17:00.001-04:002011-06-28T14:19:59.024-04:00

Reflecting this past Father's Day on the thought of the Roman poet Statius on his son and fatherhood I shortly thereafter came upon yet another discussion of national standards for education. Already with one great Roman in mind my mind drifted to another and his thoughts on education. These too center on fatherhood and family life. Let us consider them in brief, as reported by Plutarch*: When

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-2409909155461945362011-06-24T18:36:00.000-04:002011-06-24T22:27:08.987-04:00

A preliminary version of a timeline I created as part of a larger Mozart project. Hopefully this chart and similar will give a clearer sense of who were contemporaries. Included are prominent family, friends, collaborators and librettists, students, employers, and composers. The red-shaded area is the life of Mozart, who as you can see came and went in the lives of many of these people.

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-79281734999381013342011-06-19T19:30:00.000-04:002011-06-19T19:30:25.618-04:00

   From their father may your children learn peaceful ways and from their grandfather may they learn generosity, and from them both eagerness for glorious virtue. –Statius, to Julius Menecrates    He was mine, mine. I saw him lying upon the ground, a new-born baby, and I welcomed him with a natal poem as he was washed and anointed. When he demanded air for his new life with trembling cries, I

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-38958165454999870372011-06-17T21:57:00.003-04:002011-06-17T22:08:42.532-04:00

Mini-Review of "The Waste Land" App for iPad Title Page (click to enlarge) No, not quite, but a new iPad app is dedicated wholly to T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land has arrived. Unlike simple digital versions like .txt files, more elaborately formatted .pdfs, and even indexed and hyper-linked eBooks this app achieves more than providing a digitized version of the text. Yes, you can perform all of

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-12452444033120357122011-06-16T14:50:00.000-04:002011-06-16T14:50:44.677-04:00

Some choice stills to accompany our review of Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange on the 30th Anniversary of its filming. click to enlarge 1. "There was me" 2. fire-breathing Alex 3. post-civilization ultra-violence   4. #1. Mass in G? 5. Lad about town 6. new and improved 7. replaced 8. old droogies' revenge 9. nicht diese töne! 10. allied 11. "I was cured."

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-32110372998796738182011-06-16T14:08:00.001-04:002011-06-24T18:37:55.433-04:00

Directed by Stanley Kubrick. 1971. Part I | Part II | 10 Frames of Clockwork The central act of Clockwork revolves around Alex's punishment, of which we might make three distinctions: incarceration, his study under the prison chaplain, and his medical treatment. The significance of the first is obvious enough but worth mentioning. Yes, the prison functions first to keep Alex away from "ordinary

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-58226291909212759422011-06-15T19:58:00.000-04:002011-06-15T19:58:18.239-04:00

Paul Cantor, Clifton Waller Barrett Professor of English at the University of Virginia and author of Shakespeare's Rome, leads a discussion on Shakespeare and the Roman Regime.

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-80845316010393929192011-06-13T20:08:00.002-04:002011-06-24T18:37:24.064-04:00

Directed by Stanley Kubrick, 1971 Though A Clockwork Orange is certainly Kubrick's most controversial film, it is so for a rather banal, if legitimate, reason: that it depicts extreme violence. Clockwork should be controversial for the questions it poses (and does not answer) about man and about his society. This is especially true for a society which prides itself on being free. Kubrick

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-54223916319894080692011-06-11T19:44:00.000-04:002011-06-11T19:44:06.458-04:00

Leon Botstein talks about the relationship between music and architecture in a natural setting and how different periods show the different connections between the two seemingly distinct fields.

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-56982751193196705722011-06-11T18:31:00.000-04:002012-01-27T14:09:36.327-05:00

How do you capture an individual? How do you condense an essence into an expression? Not over the course of a novel or film but in as short a time as possible? What medium do you choose: word, image, or sound? Are they all even possibilities? Perhaps I have made the task sound unduly difficult for surely we all have favorite photographs of ourselves and others. How often, though, are these

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-57944419716832087182011-05-29T19:14:00.000-04:002011-05-29T19:14:53.062-04:00

Last year we discussed in a pair of essays works of art which we said created the experience they depicted. We saw some which pulled the viewer into the experience. In our discussions regular reader Tom suggested Macbeth as a candidate for this unique group of works. Having finally revisited the play I say: indeed! Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow Macbeth: She should have died hereafter;

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-45458044407071842982011-05-27T23:59:00.000-04:002011-06-16T15:07:37.673-04:00

Modern Education and the Classics These ten pages of excellent and admirable reflection on the ends of education are so filled full with throw-away insight one wishes on every page Eliot had elaborated. It ought to be much longer. Cutting to the quick of the multitudinous debates on education Eliot states the overlooked obvious: to know what an education must be one must know what it ought to do

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-86772908572625596932011-05-15T16:42:00.001-04:002011-06-16T15:15:34.274-04:00

As regular readers may be aware, every Thanksgiving here at APLV we compile a list of music, paintings, et cetera, we are especially grateful for. Last year the theme was Sacred Music. That was six months ago. Now as you might well imagine, in a sense that list generates its antithesis and it seems fitting that the antithetical list make its appearance now. Henceforth and forthwith the "Anathema

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-7137781781165293332011-05-14T23:10:00.000-04:002011-05-14T23:10:42.434-04:00

Directed by Philip Grabsky. 2006. Phil Grabsky's In Seach of Mozart is probably a satisfactory movie. I offer such oblique praise because while I cannot say I enjoyed the film, In Search of Mozart clearly has something to offer. (What that is and for what audience. . .) There are numerous interviews with today's foremost scholars of Mozart, talented musicians passionate about Mozart's music,

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-28948130172029062992011-05-04T19:19:00.000-04:002011-05-04T19:19:44.707-04:00

With a hat tip to Jeffrey Tucker at Chant Café for video no. 1, I point to the videos below and observe that You can turn a slight, even silly, theme into something interesting or at least entertaining when you actually develop it. (Video 1) Indeed, without a glitzy video to accompany it, actual musical development is required. A pop theme sounds far more natural, somehow more "human-friendly,"

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-11342212040180748622011-04-27T21:31:00.000-04:002011-04-27T21:31:55.159-04:00

A sequel of sorts to Manners, Duties, and Society. Bill McGurn has a noteworthy piece in yesterday's Wall Street Journal in which he treads into a thorny thicket of issues all centering on how colleges deal with sex crimes. He concedes that a collapse of traditional morality has a part to play but his argument is this: [the] real threat to civility and common decency is this: the substitution of

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-47869767396924877962011-04-26T00:21:00.001-04:002011-04-26T00:22:36.953-04:00

– Schubert. Schwanengesang - Ständchen (Rellstab) [German & English Text via lieder.net] – Mozart. Das Veilchen, KV.476 (Goethe) [German & English Text via lieder.net] – Mahler. Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen: Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz (Mahler) [German & English Text via lieder.net]

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-27822784866452789202011-04-25T19:02:00.002-04:002011-04-25T19:12:20.367-04:00

From the Unanswered Questions Norton series of talks at Harvard, given in 1973. The series, happily, is available in paperback and on DVD. On Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 18, op. 31, in E-flat major and Musical Semantics On Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor, op. 550 Part I | Part II | Part III

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-78467465033692145492011-04-25T19:02:00.000-04:002011-04-25T19:02:12.493-04:00

Martin Amis has a column in yesterday's Guardian in which he puts contemporary intellectual, author, and famed debated Christopher Hitchens on par with Cicero and Demosthenes. Now first please try to understand how difficult it was for me to write that. It is nearly inconceivable for anyone who has in fact read Demosthenes and Cicero in Greek and Latin to compare anyone to them. Yet in this case

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-42042634260976267242011-04-23T20:52:00.001-04:002011-04-23T20:55:30.542-04:00

Christos anesti! Khristos voskrese! Christus resurrexit! Part 2

T. Northcutthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397072269412527123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-81567884087246460762011-04-23T13:00:00.001-04:002011-04-23T13:01:35.747-04:00

From the 1997 BBC Documentary narrated by Kenneth Branagh and featuring Georg Solti, Charles Rosen, Zuzana Parmova, and Michael Tilson Thomas. Part I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-37207731214848321352011-04-17T21:20:00.000-04:002011-04-17T21:20:47.360-04:00

J.S. Bach: Cantata BWV.182, Chorus 'Himmelskönig, sei willkommen' Himmelskönig, sei willkommen, King of heaven, welcome, Laß auch uns dein Zion sein! let us also be your Zion! Komm herein, Come within, Du hast uns das Herz genommen. You have taken our hearts from us. More information on this cantata via Bach-Cantatas.com Not nearly as famous as No. 140, "Wachet auf. . ." this cantata too is a

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-47455669458469130502011-04-15T18:21:00.000-04:002011-04-15T18:21:23.474-04:00

Another wonderful and enlightening discussion of temperament with Trevor John Stephenson. Part I | Part II

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-31831774109518990322011-04-15T16:02:00.000-04:002011-04-15T16:02:46.394-04:00

Medievalist and scholar of modern fantasy and science fiction Tom Shippey on J. R. R. Tolkien and "filling the gaps" of medieval English literature. Part I | Part II

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-2478507114244063902011-04-15T16:01:00.000-04:002011-04-18T12:42:46.701-04:00

It is curious the following pair of articles came across my desk in the same week, Terry Eagleton's encomium for Marx in The Chronicle of Higher Education and Wendy McElroy's reflection on values and economics at Mises Daily. I would certainly wager the authors are not in communication. While Eagleton's essay, a condensed version of his book sans the scholarship, I would assume, embraces more

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-73533960292021637652011-04-09T18:39:00.000-04:002011-04-09T18:39:48.533-04:00

Salomon Rossi was an Italian Jewish composer of the late Renaissance and Baroque. The above is a setting of the Kaddish (sometimes known as the Mourner's Prayer); the text is in Aramaic, not Hebrew as many non-Jews believe.

T. Northcutthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397072269412527123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-74345673265847792932011-04-09T18:33:00.001-04:002011-04-09T18:33:05.378-04:00

T. Northcutthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397072269412527123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-41083114458071135972011-04-08T21:51:00.001-04:002011-04-08T21:51:25.474-04:00

Speaking at the National Archives in downtown Washington, D.C., esteemed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns commented today on the recent popular criticism of public funded broadcasting. Patrick Gavin reporting for Politico carries parts of the talk which I think would perk the ears of any libertarian, not so much because of any particular policy suggestions from the director but rather because of

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-36520039932911440532011-04-03T20:54:00.000-04:002011-04-03T20:54:32.470-04:00

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-70896049722264385322011-04-03T20:53:00.000-04:002011-04-03T20:53:29.522-04:00

Nowhere is there a more idyllic spot, a vacation home more private and peaceful, than in one's own mind, especially when it is furnished in such a way that the merest inward glance induces ease. . .–Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. IV.3 To what might one owe peace of mind? To a hard day's work or the satisfaction of a job well done? To feats and victories, heroism and valor? To the forbearance of

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-41074446086403358772011-04-03T20:21:00.001-04:002011-04-03T21:15:30.661-04:00

For February 26 through April 3. 1) Thomas Merton and Confucianism 2) On Not Being Young 3) Chant For Children 8-11 4) On Teachers and Others 5) Condemned to Joy 6) The Power of Lonely 7) Dancing the Body Electric 8) On the Doorstep of Valhalla 9) Who Killed the Queen of Film Noir? 10) Inflation and the Value of Gold Explained 11) Embracing Morals in Economics: The Role of Internal

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-52574446591432508712011-04-02T16:50:00.000-04:002011-04-02T16:50:19.132-04:00

Specifically, visualizations of counterpoint. J.S. Bach, Fugue in G minor, BWV.578 Steve Reich's "Vermont Counterpoint"

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-48360669100506241852011-03-21T21:10:00.002-04:002011-04-01T20:00:13.625-04:00

Mozartian CounterpointPart I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII Having discussed already the Overtures to La clemenza did Tito, [24] and Die Zauberflöte [25] we have left to discuss the scene from Act II of The Magic Flute with the "two armed men" and Tamino's trial and the Requiem. 37. Die Zauberflöte, KV.620. Act II, Finale: Der, welcher wandert diese Strasse voll Beschwerden The laws of

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-75312078951418189422011-03-15T18:01:00.004-04:002011-03-15T21:02:20.427-04:00

Pianist András Schiff on Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, op. 13.Listen to more of this series here Part I | Part II | Part III

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-29301913994116073102011-03-15T18:01:00.000-04:002011-03-15T18:01:13.318-04:00

A brief inquiry with no answers into some moral and epistemological issues of politics. Two Definitions The notion of "moral authority" carries two associations one of which by far predominates. In this common conception someone by his own observance of a particular law or virtue is said to have the "moral authority" to pass judgment on someone else's violation of that principle. For example, a

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-42188238197568269372011-03-12T20:14:00.000-05:002011-03-12T20:14:44.170-05:00

The role of the conductor is unique insofar as the position may in fact garner as much attention as it deserves. (Is that the snicker of chamber musicians I hear?) This may seem an outlandish claim given the rock star status conductors have had for some time. The position has certainly come a long way from the generations of anonymous conductors throughout the Christian churches in the

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-17895840945377968632011-02-26T17:30:00.000-05:002011-03-01T20:43:04.645-05:00

Once again we will be considering Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Last time we considered it in the context of epistemology. This time I would like to consider it in the light of ontology. I offer a pair of ideas, the first via quotations from Thomas Aquinas (from his Summa Contra Gentiles) and then, from Nietzsche. In Kubrick's spirit of not forcing an interpretation of the film I will

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-3083702574902372792011-02-25T13:03:00.004-05:002011-02-25T15:35:15.334-05:00

For January 1 through February 25. 1) Interview: Violinist Janine Jansen. 2) Perlman Leaves Westchester Orchestra. 3) Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony Orhcestra 4) The New World Symphony's new $160 million Miami Beach home opens [Video] 5) The Overture to Guillaume Tell: The Splendid Start to a Farewell to Opera 6) Beating Time: Just what is the role of the conductor? 7)

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-29932836774945155062011-02-24T14:11:00.000-05:002011-02-24T14:11:15.622-05:00

Written and directed by Preston Sturges. 1948. Unfaithfully Yours is a much odder movie than I expected and just why it works I am not precisely sure. Yet it does work and it is very funny. All of the performances are pitched nearly to the point of caricature, from Rex Harrison's cocky and stubborn conductor to Darnell's turn as his impossibly devoted wife to Edgar Kennedy as the music-loving

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-42413710022266957762011-02-23T16:21:00.000-05:002011-02-23T17:21:57.634-05:00

Maestro James Levine on his start, conducting, teaching, getting into opera, and a lifetime of music. Since his start in 1971 Levine has conducted over 2,400 performances at the Metropolitan Opera, including works by Berg, Berlioz, Debussy, Mascagni, Mozart, Puccini, Satie, Schoenberg, Strauss, Stravinsky, Verdi, and Wagner,

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Intelligence in War: The Value–and Limitations–About What the Military Can Learn About the Enemy.  by John Keegan. 2002.  "Intelligence is the handmaiden, not the mistress, of the warrior." The ten or so reviews on the cover of and in John Keegan's Intelligence in War all puzzle me a bit. The book is "witty," "wise," "well-written," and "sharp." It will be "an object of study" and it contains "

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-30192104729404860802011-02-08T20:21:00.001-05:002011-02-08T20:21:29.771-05:00

T. Northcutthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397072269412527123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-75419403319784002322011-01-27T01:37:00.007-05:002011-04-03T20:59:10.891-04:00

Mozartian CounterpointPart I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII Mozart's so-called late style has not been consistently well-received or understood. It has been glossed over as "neo-classical" and "bare." Many detect an autumnal quality to the character of the pieces, but the style still perplexes: what is Mozart doing here? What is the relation between style and content? Cliff Eisen states what is

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-17257516940611715752011-01-20T16:15:00.010-05:002011-07-22T20:58:57.509-04:00

Demosthenes. Rhetoric is among the oldest and most venerated of Western traditions. The ability to express yourself well and persuade your audience has been the mark of a great man since Achilles railed against Agamemnon. Training in the rhetorical arts has formed the center of all education for just as long. History is decorated with the speeches of great orators and literature with their

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-73327892079649404912011-01-20T16:15:00.008-05:002011-01-20T16:43:50.209-05:00

Selections from  Playing Shakespeare, a series of workshops conducted by John Barton, co-founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company and featuring Sheila Hancock, Patrick Stewart, Donald Sinden, Michael Williams, and Ian McKellen among others. The whole series is available on DVD via Amazon.com Playing Shakespeare Selection I | II |  III | IV

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-59901011079938843842011-01-12T20:57:00.001-05:002011-01-12T20:58:06.055-05:00

Dr. von Hildebrand is a retired philosophy professor. She taught for many years at Hunter College in New York City. She is the widow of Dr. Dietrich von Hildebrand, an Italian-born German philosopher, who, fleeing from the Nazis, set up shop at Fordham University, my alma mater, where he taught for several years before retiring. Both husband and wife distinguished themselves in their academic

T. Northcutthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397072269412527123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-60979491977487815052011-01-12T15:51:00.003-05:002011-01-12T17:55:12.184-05:00

It's probably apparent from the authors I cite and my infrequent musings that I am anti-liberal. By liberal, I mean not the ideology or policies of the American left. Rather, I mean the whole gamut of English-speaking liberalism (as the Canadian philosopher George P. Grant defined it), which includes the American Right no less than the American Left. I don't have the sufficient time to work out

T. Northcutthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397072269412527123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-29926306318422301922011-01-11T22:55:00.000-05:002011-01-11T22:55:01.922-05:00

A philosophy professor in my last semester taught me a great deal. She introduced me to a number of authors I've highlighted here: Pierre Hadot, Ivan Illich, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Heidegger, and she elucidated a number of authors I'd read prior to her class: Plato and Nietzsche. Above all, I learned from Dr. Babich that philosophy is not only dialectical hair-splitting but truly a way of life.

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One of the pleasures of getting on in years is getting to revisit art. How different a work can seem after more living. How much more truthful, inspiring, and unique they can seem. Everyone has, I think, a variety of relationships with art. Some works become thoroughly internalized and part of one's mental furniture, others seem to grow right alongside you. Some we neglect, unfairly, and others

N. Vertuccihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13151069197682776555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-73619358977790134352011-01-10T17:30:00.000-05:002011-01-11T17:14:08.464-05:00

In conjunction with the recent publication of Dr. Hubert Dreyfus's new book, All Things Shining, co-authored with Sean Dorrance Kelly, I'm posting a trailer for a movie produced by a former student of Dr. Dreyfus.  You can read Eric Ormbsy's WSJ review of the book here.  Do listen to Dr. Dreyfus's lectures on Heidegger.  

T. Northcutthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09397072269412527123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8997249718737067874.post-62568578606496853582011-01-09T23:34:00.000-05:002011-01-09T23:34:05.594-05:00

 "A cloud of incense is worth a thousand sermons"  ---#2,551 of Don Colacho’s Aphorisms.

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