The rumored surge in popular demand for yet another opera blog having failed to materialize, a few words about what can be expected here may be in order. That word “critical,” I’d say, is the key. In my dictionary, the first definition of “criticism” reads, “The act of making judgments; analysis of qualities and evaluations Continue reading…
The Met/Gelb/NYT/Vienna/Heather/Asmik/Yuval/A Future?, Pt. 2.
Today’s post concludes the article begun last week (published Nov. 29). If you missed Part One, I urge you to read it before proceeding to Part Two, below. The two constitute a continuous argument, but I felt that this consideration of the thought of the radical and influential operauteur Yuval Sharon, who challenges the fundamental Continue reading…
Publishing error correction
At least for some readers, this morning’s article did not post correctly, the text continuing unpaginated in email instead of going to the blog. We’re working to track this down. Meanwhile, here is a link directly to the blog post, properly paginated and footnoted. Apologies, CLO
Thoughts: The Met/Gelb/NYT/Vienna/Heather/Asmik/Yuval/A Future?
Following his NPR program devoted to Marston’s 10-CD Lawrence Tibbett release, for which I wrote the booklet essay, Joseph Horowitz has posted an article, The Baritone as Democrat, in The American Scholar, here. In addition to a concise narrative of the great baritone’s life and career, with its unequalled “crossover” triumphs (a “Star of Stage, Screen, and Continue reading…
Hoffmann’s Fantastic Tales Return
No presentation of Jacques Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann (at least none that I have seen or heard tell of) has escaped the complications attendant on the opera’s gestation and birth. Those originate in the mass of materials the composer left for his unfinished work, continue with the choices made among them by scholars, directors, and Continue reading…
Hoffmann’s Weird Tales
Fellow devotees, My article on this season’s Met revival of Les contes d’Hoffmann, originally scheduled for today, will be published on Monday, Oct. 28. I’ll be discussing the life and career of Jacques Offenbach; the music and dramaturgy of the opera itself; the choices to be made amongst the materials left at the time of the Continue reading…