Archives for January 27, 2006

“We all drew on the comfort which is given out by the major works of Mozart, which is as real and material as the warmth given up by a glass of brandy.”

Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon

“The truth is that Mozart, Pascal, Boolean algebra, Shakespeare, parliamentary government, baroque churches, Newton, the emancipation of women, Kant, Marx, and Balanchine ballets don’t redeem what this particular civilization has wrought upon the world. The white race is the cancer of human history.”

Susan Sontag, Styles of Radical Will

“There is no female Mozart because there is no female Jack the Ripper.”

Camille Paglia, interview, International Herald Tribune (April 26, 1991)

In today’s Wall Street Journal drama column I report on my recent playgoing in New Haven, Connecticut, where I saw the Long Wharf Theatre’s production of Private Lives and the Yale Repertory Theatre’s production of The People Next Door:

Is there a more perfect comedy than “Private Lives”? It’s not my favorite No

This just in from the Duplex Cabaret Theatre:

We’re continuing our CINEMA DUPLEX series this Monday, January 30th at 8 p.m. with a free screening of Broadway: The Golden Age. I’m thrilled to say that the film’s director, Rick McKay, will drop by before we see the film to chat and answer questions.

If you haven’t seen this acclaimed and enormously important documentary, or even if you have, I urge you to come. It’s an essential recollection of the history of the Great White Way, told by the people who were there. There are dozens of interviews from the likes of Stephen Sondheim, Barbara Cook, Bea Arthur, Elaine Stritch, Carol Channing, Angela Lansbury and the list goes on and on…

So come–Monday, the 30th, 8 p.m. Free with a two-drink minimum. These intimate screenings in our 70-seat theatre have been such fun, and the 30th will be no exception, seeing this film with a room full of theatre fans. I can’t wait to chat with Mr. McKay about putting this enormous undertaking together.

I couldn’t agree more. Not only have I raved
about the film, both here and in The Wall Street Journal, but I met Rick McKay
for the first time in December and can personally vouch for his capacities as a raconteur.

To make reservations, call 212-255-5438.

“Contentment is the drug of fools. I prefer truth. And the truth is that we are animals scratching and rutting under an empty sky. Here in this theatre we can pretend that our lives have meaning. But the pretence only holds if we are given the truth. That is why I wish to see you shine on this stage, that is why, selfishly, I wish to train you. The theatre is my soothing drug, and my cynic’s illness is so far advanced that my physic must be of the highest quality.”

Stephen Jeffreys, The Libertine (courtesy of twang twang twang)

I kept all my promises to myself (and to you), and had a delightful day.

Ha!

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born 250 years ago today, and everybody’s writing about him. Arts & Letters Daily has a roundup of links at the top of today’s page (including a link to my own essay in last month’s issue of Commentary, which will be available for free on line through the end of January). I especially like Tim Page, who quotes the ever-quotable Ferruccio Busoni:

He disposes of light and shadow, but his light does not pain and his darkness still shows clear outlines. Even in the most tragic situations he still has a witticism ready; in the most cheerful, he is able to draw a thoughtful furrow in his brow. He is young as a boy and wise as an old man–never old-fashioned and never modern, carried to the grave and always alive.

If you’re in the mood to listen to something beautiful, my Commentary essay ends with a list of ten of my favorite recordings of works by Mozart in minor keys. This is the one to buy if you’re only buying one.

UPDATE: Thanks to Modern Kicks, I found this link to a wonderful W.H. Auden poem about The Magic Flute that (horrors!) I didn’t know. It’s on PostClassic, Kyle Gann’s artsjournal.com music blog. (In addition to the complete text, Gann’s posting also contains a link to an audio file of Auden reading the poem.)

Just to keep you on your toes amid all the Mozart-related hoopla, here’s the first paragraph of an essay on Haydn I wrote for Commentary:

In 1945, Arturo Toscanini told the music critic B.H. Haggin that he preferred Haydn to Mozart. “I will tell you frankly: sometimes I find Mozart boring,” he said to his astonished interviewer. “Not G-minor [the G Minor Symphony, K. 550]: that is great tragedy; and not concerti; but other music. Is always beautiful–but is always the same.”

I don’t agree, but I do know what he meant.

(If you’re curious, this CD contains Toscanini’s recordings of the Mozart G Minor and Haydn “Surprise” symphonies.)