“Before you get mad at me for saying that anything Beethoven wrote has problems, you should know that Beethoven himself was unhappy with the opera. He drastically rewrote it several times over the course of many years, each time tasking a new librettist to fix what the last had written. When the opera originally premiered in 1805 it even had a different name – Leonore, or the Triumph of Conjugal Love. Beethoven ended up writing four Leonore overtures; every time he rewrote the opera he wrote a new one.” – The Guardian
Tag: 01.10.20
UK Puts New Regulations On Art Trade, Combating Money Laundering
Britain, with London as its hub, is the second-biggest art trading nation after the United States, with 21 percent of global auction and dealer sales in 2018, according to the report. But will the new regulatory framework put British-based dealers and auction houses at a competitive disadvantage? – The New York Times
These Big Movie Stars’ Superpower? They Dance
Who better to portray godlike aliens, aerial crime-stoppers and lethally elegant badasses than dancers? Dance training is excellent preparation for the bodily toll of action films and long days on the set. Perfectionism, physical presence, a taste for adrenaline — these attributes are par for the course for dancers. – Washington Post
What One Working Musician Earns On Different Streaming Platforms
Cellist Zoe Keating publishes her yearly streaming earnings in an effort to spark conversation about music royalties and help other artists better understand their finances. “I wanted people to see the difference between all of the services,” Keating said. “Down at the lower levels, no one knows what everyone else makes and no one knows what services pay. How can you make decisions if you don’t know what the numbers are?” – Business Insider
Major German Arts Construction Projects Are Careening Out Of Control
Ballooning budgets and years of delay are becoming a regular feature of prestigious cultural construction projects in Germany. For a country that thrives on a reputation for efficiency and engineering prowess, its recent record is sobering. – The New York Times
Worldwide Movie Box Office Breaks Record In 2019
This is the first time worldwide exceeds $42B and the first the international box office climbs past $30B. The results come in a year when domestic dipped by 4%. – Deadline
Experts: Don’t Blame Digital Effects For “Cats” Bomb
While the digital technology that helped create realistic fur in both films is “advancing all the time,” it can’t rescue a flawed approach to a project. “The techniques [you use] can’t do it. All movies are fake. There’s nothing real in them, and the illusion of that world that you’re building is created by the sum total of everything – not just one item in that.” – Variety
How “The Irishman” De-Aged Its Stars With Artificial Intelligence
When it came to de-aging De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino for The Irishman, the $140 million Netflix production opted for a specific kind of fountain of youth, created from artificial-intelligence software, first-of-its-kind motion-capture technology, and an experimental three-camera rigging system that rendered the Oscar-winning trio of septuagenarian actors as eerily smooth-skinned incarnations of their younger selves. – New York Magazine
*What* Teutonic Efficiency? Germany’s Cultural Building Projects Plagued By Delays, Budget Overruns, And Shoddy Construction
The gut renovation of Cologne’s opera house is running eight years late and more than double the original budget — and that’s only up to now, since the basements are full of ductwork, cabling and pipes that were badly coordinated and may need to be completely redone. Munich’s Deutsche Museum renovation, Berlin’s Humboldt Forum and the Pergamon Museum are all similarly late and roughly half a billion euros or more each; the Stuttgart opera house renovation may cost a billion. “For a country that thrives on a reputation for efficiency and engineering prowess, its recent record is sobering.” Catherine Hickley looks at why things are going so wrong. – The New York Times
He Left The Philadelphia Museum Of Art After Hitting On Subordinates. Now He’s Running Another Pennsylvania Museum
Joshua Helmer, 31, had been an assistant director at the PMA and was viewed as a rising star in the art world when, in early 2018, he “was separated” from the museum. Several female staffers say that he both asked them out (some said yes) and belittled their abilities, and two months ago he was actually barred from the PMA building. Just a few months after leaving Philadelphia, though, he was named director of the Erie Art Museum at the other end of the state — and he’s already been accused of trying to date an intern there. – The New York Times