You get, for instance, a “focus on the connotations of what Hamilton in 1788, now thinking of ‘politics by analogy to architecture,’ called the ‘erection of a new government.’ This is a pity, but for a literary scholar … the image of ‘erection’ is too tempting to resist.” Or you get the suggestion that the issue of slavery and human rights is “more legible and meaningful when seen in the context of aesthetic disputes over neoclassicism.”
Tag: 07.11.09
Strike Could Derail Bayreuth Festival Opening
“One of the highlights of the classical music season, the Bayreuth Festival, which celebrates the music of Richard Wagner, may be played out in darkness this year. The scenery may also be shifted by members of the Wagner family because workers are fed up with being paid little more than €4 (£3.40) an hour.”
The End Of “Art-That-Isn’t-Art”?
“What we are seeing is the simultaneous collapse of politics that isn’t politics, and art that isn’t art. Both of them had managed, with quite startling effectiveness, to replace the actual substance of their occupation with superbly professional public relations, dazzling, but meaningless rhetoric and brazen self-justification which was sustainable so long as it did not over-reach itself. But with over-confidence came the fall. The palpable failures have been followed by public outrage.”
In New York: Dance Parties Take To The Streets
“Aficionados of dance music are used to waiting until the wee hours to catch top-of-the-line talent. But especially in summer an array of early parties, some outdoors, offer a respite from late nights and expensive clubs, allowing people with day jobs the opportunity to hear the latest in experimental beats and still be at the office on time in the morning.”
First Time In Memory: No American Orchestras At This Year’s London Proms
“The rising cost of air freight and the sudden scarcity of corporate sponsors (at least $3 million is needed to tour a US orchestra in Europe) have made matters worse. So have tighter security requirements, which mean that vital hours are forfeited in tight schedules while expensive musicians hang around airport check-ins.”