Archives
Spring 2014
March 11 | A place at the table for Eastern Europe (Borodin and Dvorak)
Russia and the diverse lands that lie near its western flank came very late to the tradition we call “Classical music” — but very quickly claimed an astonishingly large role in its repertory. Why and how?
March 18 | More beautiful than one’s dreams (Bellini)
The title is a quote from Wagner, describing the melodies of the only Italian composer he fully admired. With both Sonnambula and Puritani coming up at the Met, we explore what made Bellini’s melodies so intoxicatingly new.
March 25 | Andrea Chenier and the Italian Tenor
Giordano’s beloved opera was written to showcase a certain equally beloved type of singer, from Tamagno and Caruso to Pavarotti and the current contenders.
April 1 | Arabella and the Symphonic Strauss
The return of Strauss’s late melodious comedy to the Met coincides with Lorin Maazel’s two-concert survey of his tone poems at Carnegie, and gives an occasion for looking into how the composer’s two worlds coincide.
April 8 | By request
Thanks to several members for suggesting this program: all registrants are invited to submit a favorite piece of music that has not been featured in our lectures; we will choose four or five of them (or excerpts from them) and analyze contrasting recorded interpretations. Please nominate your favorites by March 25!
April 29 | Worrying heights
There is something a little zany about concentrating on the highest part of the highest human voice, but 150 years of history testify to the enduring delight “canary fanciers” have found, and continue to find, in the charming acrobatics of the coloratura soprano.
May 6 | What do we know about musical talent?
What it means, who has it, how it works, and what – as best we can tell – are the roles of genetics, culture, and training.
May 13 | Beethoven’s Orpheus
The hidden story-line of the 4th Piano Concerto (played on May 17 by the incomparable Mitsuko Uchida at Carnegie Hall).
May 20 | When Donizetti met Verdi (with help from Victor Hugo)
Lucrèce Borgia and Le roi s’amuse are a “duology,” in their author’s words, and the two plays were turned into two sister operas, Lucrezia Borgia and Rigoletto, that show how one genius passed the torch to another.
Russia and the diverse lands that lie near its western flank came very late to the tradition we call “Classical music” — but very quickly claimed an astonishingly large role in its repertory. Why and how?
March 18 | More beautiful than one’s dreams (Bellini)
The title is a quote from Wagner, describing the melodies of the only Italian composer he fully admired. With both Sonnambula and Puritani coming up at the Met, we explore what made Bellini’s melodies so intoxicatingly new.
March 25 | Andrea Chenier and the Italian Tenor
Giordano’s beloved opera was written to showcase a certain equally beloved type of singer, from Tamagno and Caruso to Pavarotti and the current contenders.
April 1 | Arabella and the Symphonic Strauss
The return of Strauss’s late melodious comedy to the Met coincides with Lorin Maazel’s two-concert survey of his tone poems at Carnegie, and gives an occasion for looking into how the composer’s two worlds coincide.
April 8 | By request
Thanks to several members for suggesting this program: all registrants are invited to submit a favorite piece of music that has not been featured in our lectures; we will choose four or five of them (or excerpts from them) and analyze contrasting recorded interpretations. Please nominate your favorites by March 25!
April 29 | Worrying heights
There is something a little zany about concentrating on the highest part of the highest human voice, but 150 years of history testify to the enduring delight “canary fanciers” have found, and continue to find, in the charming acrobatics of the coloratura soprano.
May 6 | What do we know about musical talent?
What it means, who has it, how it works, and what – as best we can tell – are the roles of genetics, culture, and training.
May 13 | Beethoven’s Orpheus
The hidden story-line of the 4th Piano Concerto (played on May 17 by the incomparable Mitsuko Uchida at Carnegie Hall).
May 20 | When Donizetti met Verdi (with help from Victor Hugo)
Lucrèce Borgia and Le roi s’amuse are a “duology,” in their author’s words, and the two plays were turned into two sister operas, Lucrezia Borgia and Rigoletto, that show how one genius passed the torch to another.