“Revamped and doubled in size at a cost of 20 million euros ($21.92 million), the museum for the first time displays Wagner’s anti-Semitic screeds, which he published in his youth anonymously, then under his own name before he died in 1883. It also depicts the close ties his widow Cosima, who died in 1930, and his descendants forged with Hitler.”
Tag: 07.24.15
Dallas Morning News Classical Music Critic Takes A Buyout
Scott Cantrell’s departure will be the most significant one for the future of North Texas culture organizations — because of whether the DMN will pursue another shared-academic appointment or keep classical music reviewing a full-time staff position.
They’ve Rediscovered Some Lost Pablo Neruda Poems
“The poems were found by archivists last June, in boxes kept at the Pablo Neruda foundation in Santiago, Chile. They were published by Neruda’s Spanish publisher, Seix Barral, but have not yet been released in English. … The collection, titled, Then Come Back: The Lost Neruda, will be translated by the poet and novelist Forrest Gander, and will include full color reproductions of the handwritten poems.”
How Poor Are Most Dancers? This Poor
“More than half of professional dancers [in Britain] earn less than £5,000 a year from their performance work, according to a new survey. The statistics also show that around 50% of dancers’ jobs pay less than the minimum wage, and that 70% of dancers have performed in ‘unsuitable work environments’ in the past 12 months.”
Anna Deavere Smith Takes On The ‘School-To-Prison Pipeline’
“As the term has gained greater currency – even the White House is using it – a belated spotlight has fallen on one of the key contributors to mass incarceration in this country.” In her latest documentary theater piece, “Smith transforms herself into the experts and witnesses she has consulted, including the late educational philosopher Maxine Greene, Councilman Michael Tubbs from Stockton, Taos Proctor, [and] a Yurok fisherman and former inmate.”
Watch Picasso’s 80th Birthday Party
A clip titled “Still Young at Eighty” – part of the enormous trove of historical video that AP is posting on YouTube – “shows the fresh octogenarian in 1961 at his French Riviera home surrounded by a swarm of guests … [and later] enjoying himself at a bullfight. … Fast-forward to 1973, and one can witness the funerary procession following the artist’s death at the age of 91.”
When John Cage Went On A Game Show
“In a typically Cageian manner, he announces he will make music out of seemingly unmusical objects. The piece, he explains, is called Water Walk ‘because it contains water and because I walk during the performance.'” When told that audience members might laugh, he said, “Of course. I consider laughter preferable to tears.” (video)
What Even Is Los Angeles? (To Find Out, Ask The Writers)
“‘Nature has done everything for it and man very little,’ wrote one correspondent of Los Angeles in 1867. ‘Beneath the wide verandas the people sit, and about two-thirds of the population seem to spend the day smoking in front of the hotel and going in for drinks.’ That same author then went on to catalog the region’s agricultural bounty in great detail: ‘the richest gardens, vineyards, orange groves, and lemon, fig and olive plantations which can be seen in America.'”
Falling Back In Love With City Ballet
“These extraordinary dancers have breathed new life into Balanchine’s legacy. And suddenly, once again, as in the old days, I want to follow what they’re up to.”
The Campaign To Keep Ballet Going
“After Ms. Homans’s book was published, her assessment burned through the industry, sparking arguments and some resentment. It also caught the attention of the Mellon Foundation, which began a series of conversations with Ms. Homans about what could be done to change things. The idea of actively drawing in new thinkers won because ballet, in its very nature, can be cloistered.”