MEETING MUSLIM NEIGHBORS

St. James Episcopal Church

Six meetings were held at St. James Episcopal Church in Columbus, from late February until last night, called Interfaith Meeting with Muslim Neighbors and St. James.

The goal was to build bridges, to get beyond the nosiy political rhetoric, to meet and know PEOPLE.
Speaking for myself, I learned a lot and indeed, met some wonderful people.
Contact info is included here. Go build a bridge.




Here are some of the people we met:

Last night MAY 4

ZERQA ABID-  http://zerqaabid.blogspot.com/   http://www.myprojectusa.org/team

MYProject USA runs a food pantry and thrift shop on Sullivant Ave. Zerqa spoke to us  of her concerns regarding Somali children being lost to gangs, on the dangers of addiction, human trafficking,  and the difficulties plaguing the poor and displaced.

Her immediate need is for $5,000.00 to expand a door way in her shelter building facilitating easier-and more-food delivery. Does anyone know a company that would do this work  gratis or at a reduced rate? $5,000.00 could feed and clothe a lot of people. I’ll be looking around. Maybe you will , too?

One of our members from St. James asked if all of our speakers “asked for something”. They did not. He then said, “Well, it makes it easier to know who to help!”

Zerqa and her programs need our help.

FEB 16 OSU MUSLIM STUDENT’S ASSOCIATION   http://www.msaohiostate.com/ 

NABEEL ALAUDDIN  Alauddin.1@osu.edu

JERI MILBURN, CAIR Ohio  jmilburn@cair.com

  Jeri converted to Islam. She offered a very personal view of a Christian’s women’s conversion.

Nabeel Alauddin was my first meeting when I began setting up these talks. He came to our first session and recited to us from the Qur’an. He also gave a wonderful presentation on the Qur’an , particularly enlightening for those of us with no knowledge at all.

Note that the Muslim Student’s Association at OSU provide bag lunches for the homeless being served In the Garden at Trinity Church in downtown Columbus. Zerqa last night also spoke to us of the MSA’s help on Sullivant avenue.

MARCH 2 WOMEN AND ISLAM  NAHLA AL-HURAIBI    nahla_Huraibi@outlook.com

Nahla is a college professor and sociologist. Her research covers the role of Muslim women now living in this country. She spoke to us of the cultural challenges these women encounter. The point was made that Islam insists on the dignity of women. The Qur’an does not prohibit women working outside the home and does not mandate the veil. The latter remains a personal choice. The point was made that Muslim men, now living in this country can admit to needing help supporting the family. Thus, women leave the home and go to work. A step for them toward equality.

Members of the Muslim Student’s Association returned for this meeting. It was great having them! The talk covered  relationships and we learned about one of several APPS that facilitate Muslim dating!

MARCH 16 SHAR’IA LAW   Prof. ALIM PAYIND   payind.1@osu.edu   https://mesc.osu.edu/people/payind.1

Professor Payind is Director of the Middle Eastern Studies Center at OSU. For many of us, Shar’ia law mans the horrors we see on CNN. Professor Payind gave us context.

MARCH 30  HORSED NOAH    

ABUBAKAR ASIDDIQ ISLAMIC CENTER

Director · Columbus, Ohio

www.masjidabubakar.org

Horsed Noah brought some young  people with him. He shared with us his own journey in coming to this country with his family.  He directs an Islamic Center on the West Side and my impression is that he is a very gifted mentor/father figure. His perspective for us was one of teacher and leader.

AAIC is a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-lingual, non-sectarian, diverse, and open community committed to full and equal participation and involvement

APRIL 20  from the NOOR ISLAMIC CENTER

FAROUKI MAJEED fkimajeed@yahoo.com  NOORGUL DADA kamawaal@yahoo.com

Nicol Ghazi from the Noor Islamic Ctr sent us two of their board members, Faouki Majeed and Noorgul Dada. People had asked to learn more about the depiction of Jesus and Mary in the Qu'ran.

Noorgul recited from the Qur’an. More than one person told me later they could have listened to him all night. Me too. In the Qur’an Jesus is named Isa and Mary is Maryam.

From Wikipedia:

Mary (Arabic: مريم‎, translit. Maryam‎), the mother of Jesus (Isa), holds a singularly exalted place in Islam as the only woman named in the Qur’an, which refers to her seventy times and explicitly identifies her as the greatest of all women,[2][3][4] stating, with reference to the angelic saluation during the annunciation, "O Mary, God has chosen you, and purified you; He has chosen you above all the women of creation."[5] In the Quran, her story is related in three Meccan chapters (19, 21, 23) and four Medinan chapters (3, 4, 5, 66), and the nineteenth chapter of the scripture, the Chapter of Mary (Surat Maryam), is named after her. The Quran refers to Mary more than the entire New Testament.[6]

According to the Qur’an, divine grace surrounded Mary from birth,[7] and, as a young woman, she received a message from God through the archangel Gabriel that God had chosen her, purified her, and had preferred her above all "the women of the worlds."[7] This event, according to the same narrative, was followed by the annunciation of a child who was to be miraculously conceived by her through the intervention of the divine spirit while she was still virgin, whose name would be Jesus and who would be the "anointed one," the Promised Messiah.[7] As such, orthodox Islamic belief "has upheld the tenet of the virgin birth of Jesus,"[7] and although the classical Islamic thinkers never dwelt on the question of the perpetual virginity of Mary at any great length,[7] it was generally agreed in traditional Islam that Mary remained virgin through the entirety of her life, with the Qur’an's mention of Mary's purification “from the touch of men” implying perpetual virginity in the minds of many of the most prominent Islamic fathers.[8]

The Quran refers to Mary more than the entire New Testament. According to the Qur'an, divine grace surrounded Mary from birth, and, as a young woman, she received a message from God through the archangel Gabriel that God had chosen her, purified her, and had preferred her above all "the women of the worlds."

Thanks to NICOL HAZI Outreach director at Noor Islamic Ctr.,  nicol ghazi nic.3@live.com  She is a great resource for anyone wanting to know more.

That’s it. For now. Let’s build bridges and keep the dialogue going. Again, thank you.

And thank you particularly to our Muslim speakers and guests.

Thank you Emily Wendel for the refreshments.

Thank you St. James Episcopal Church for the use of the hall!

Christopher Purdy

C'est Thais! Really?

As I continue my rush into decrepitude, I enjoy looking back and using opera recordings to cite benchmarks in my life.

I can find no such benchmark for the RCA Red Seal production of  Massenet's Thais, recorded in London in 1973 and published as a three LP set a year later.

What I do remember is the exhaustive PR campaign surrounding this release and the incredulity once the recording was released.

Thais has a luscious high calorie score by French composer, bon vivant and amour des femmes  Jules Massenet (1842-1912). It's based on a novel by the same title Anatole
France, published in 1890.

Thais is lovely Catholic porn, yummy to the abbes and their friends running around between holy orders in the Parisian Cafes. Even Notre Dame closed at night.  Le coupole never did.

A grande horizontale, a courtesan in first century C.E. Alexandria is rescued from her life of debauchery and spirited away to a convent in the desert by a crazed holy man called Athanael. There she dies peacefully, with vision of the deity and his/her angels while Athanael orgiastic ally confesses his own lust for her. Curtain.

What's not to love? We have Massenet with his velvet jackets, sophisticated tunes and atelier complete with sopranos Sybil Sanderson (from Sacramento, California) and Mary Garden (Aberdeen out of Chicopee, Massachusetts). Sybil became a celebrated Manon and created Massenet's Esclarmonde.

Sybil Sanderson as Thais

Thais was also a vehicle for La Sanderson, known for her dazzling upper range. F above high C was her party note. She was a beauty, and Thais fit with her reputation for gambling, booze and morphine. Sybil succumbed to all of these at the age of 38. Mary Garden, who thought Massenet made love like a slob, lived into her 90s.

Mary Garden as Thais

Today, Thais is best known for its lovely Meditation for violin and orchestra, played to the curtain between scenes 1 and 2 of the second act. The rest of the opera is every bit as beautiful. This ain't exactly Cosi fan Tutte or Carmen, but Thais has a rich orchestration, some colorful choral orgies (literally) and a superb final duet for soprano and baritone. In every way, Thais is stage worthy.

In my youth this was an onstage vehicle for Beverly Sills in late career.  It was a mistake.  The lady retained her stunning coloratura but by the late 1970s the long, elegant lines Massenet required were a memory.

Beverly got there second. Thais had lived on the edge of the repertoire and no closer for a generation leading up to the 1970s. It was then that RCA decided Anatole France's whore-nun was the perfect vehicle for American soprano Anna Moffo.

To be fair, Anna Moffo (1932-2006) had been a star for RCA Red Seal since the late 1950s. Check out her recordings of Rigoletto, La traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, Luisa Miller and La rondine and you'll hear lots to enjoy. She was a gorgeous woman. That's not much help on records, but Moffo recorded sexy. Her physical charms and dramatic gifts made her an audience favorite. Anna Moffo was the real deal.

In the late 1960s there was a high profile divorce and a very high profile courtship and marriage to Robert Sarnoff of the RCA family. Wags suggested that this marriage was responsible for the spate of Moffo recordings dating from this period, as her voice rapidly eroded.

(The Sarnoffs were happily married for 25 years until his death in 1996)

RCAs production of Thais meant to be a spectacular come back for a much loved diva in distress. How could this lose? If the lady needed careful editing, she'd get it. The rest of the cast was magnificent. The French baritone Gabriel Bacquier lent authenticity and a fine voice. Jose Carreras had a supporting role in this, this first major recording. The golden honey of that voice was a joy. Justino Diaz, still quite young but no slouch himself was cast along with an authoritative conductor,  Julius Rudel. The maestro's production of Massenet's Manon with Beverly Sills remained a top tourist attraction in New York into the 1970s.

What happened? Magazines, newspapers and billboards everywhere carried a full length portrait of Anna Moffo in harem pants and Cleopatra wig hailing l'essence de Thais! RCA had her on the Merv Griffin-Mike Douglas talk show circuit. She flashed her engagement ring with its Volkswagen sized diamond. She was still lovely and everyone still loved her. There was little talk about Thais, or Massenet, or music, or opera (that's a shame, Anna Moffo was a Curtis trained musician) There were plenty of cheesecake photos, with a somewhat jowl-y lady. It wasn't even camp. It was tragic. And it was everywhere.

After the exhaustive and ridiculous PR campaign, RCA's recording of Thais, starring Anna Moffo, Gabriel Bacquier, Jose Carreras and Justino Diaz, conducted by Julius Rudel, was published with lurid cover art intact (To be fair the back of the  LP box had Miss Moffo costumed as a nun).

Eventually you had to listen to the records. The press was unmerciful. The PR assaults couldn't save a recording with a heroine whose performance was pieced together in bits of tape and over dubs. She crooned, she sighed and she shrieked. She rarely sang. The men were wonderful. But Thais with no soprano was like kissing your sister. This recording was not going to get you laid. Callas could get you laid. Tebaldi and Corelli could get you laid.  RCA's tug rag art stimulated no one.. 

Now in 2017, eleven years after her death, Anna Moffo's recording of Thais has been digitized for the first time and is back in circulation. The RCA catalog has reverted to SONY. I suspect no one at SONY has any idea of the history, controversy and sorrow of this recording. I'm sure its been digitally remastered and sounds better than ever. We can only hope the labored, desperate singing does not sound better than ever. Amazon calls this Moffo's "controversial" recording and adds, "Perhaps its time for a reassessment?"

I'm going to buy this. Even after all "that". I began to understand show business and fun house mirrors when this LP was new. The men sound great. Rudel was a wonderful conductor. I like Thais.
I've always loved Anna Moffo, a crush of my callow young manhood. Mowing lawn money bought me her recording of Madama Butterfly. She's in heaven now, hopefully forgiving us all for listening to Thais, and for even enjoying it.

Columbus Symphony Klezmer Showcase Jan. 13-14

The Columbus Symphony presents A Klezmer Showcase, with David Krakauer, clarinet and conductor Rossen Milanov, Friday and Saturday, January 13 and 14 at 8 PM in the Southern Theater. 

Csardas from Ritter Pasman by Johann Strauss is on the program, along with Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody 2. David Krakauer plays selections from Golijov's Dreams and Prayers of Issac the Blind, his own music and arrangements, and the Klezmer Concerto written for Krakauer by Wlad Marhulets.

Pre-concert interview with David Krakauer one hour before each concert.

Klezmer music, as understood by this elderly Irish boy from Boston, is the music if dance and the music of joy. It is the music of the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe. There's an influence form the Romany people of Romania. It's music for weddings, for celebration and bolts of light in what ca be a nomadic existence in a loveless world.

I was thinking of this music when recently watching Sidney Lumet's 1960 TV production of The Dybbuk. I don't think there's much in the way of klezmer music to be heard, but the village celebrations, even as done in a cramped NYC TV studio over fifty years ago, shouted for joy. I wonder if there are parallels with the African-American spiritual. Joy coming out of sorrow. There's happiness and laughter in the klezmer music I've heard, but tears are never far away.

"Joy" seems to be the operative word. The term klezmer means 'instruments of music' ;kli means tool or utensil and zemer, making music, or the tools for making music.

Klezmer music came to this country via the great wave of immigration from Eastern Europe . Its improvisation style made a connection American jazz inevitable. I often wonder just how much jazz, or klezmer music is truly improvised, of if part of the special talent to make this music involves making it sound completely spontaneous.

I'm saying "I wonder" a lot, because I don't know. I'm not doing a lot of reading up before these concerts. Instead, I'm listening to a lot of music I have not encountered before now.

David Krakauer will be joining the Columbus symphony this weekend. He's a clarinetist of such phenomenal technique that he can play anything. He's also a composer, and his on Synagogue Wail for Clarinet Solo is on the program

The clarinet was not an feature of the earliest klezmer music. Jews at the time were forbidden to play loud instruments. The violin was the dominant instrument, with added strings, a cymbalom, maybe a xylophone. By the 1850s the prohibition against loud instruments had been lifted-or people stopped caring-and the clarinet took its place as the voice of klezmer music. An instrument fully capable of tears and laughter.

We'll be meeting to composers at these concerts. Saad Haddad was born in Georgia in 1992 and raised in California. Manarah had its first performance on April 1, 2016, with the American Composer's Orchestra at Carnegie Hall conducted by George Manahan. The work is scored for two digitally processed antiphonal trumpets and orchestra.  I've heard it elsewhere. Manarah, indeed, makes a joyful noise.

We'll also hear a Klezmer Concerto by Wlad Marhulets. 
"Klezmer music came into my life when, as a sixteen year old living in Gdansk, Poland, my brother Damian brought home a CD by a band called Klezmer Madness, featuring the clarinetist David Krakauer. This was music that was so boldly Jewish,. so full of wild energy that a kind of madness enveloped my senses as I listened to it. And even though at the time I had high hopes of becoming a successful visual artist, I decided to become a musician on the spot."

Marhulets wrote his Klezmer Concerto for David Krakauer, who gave the premiere with the Detroit Symphony conducted by Andrew Litton on December 1, 2009.

The composer writes, "Numerous musicians combined klezmer with free jazz, hip-hop, drum and bass, concert and folk music. Hence, klezmer is not a distinct musical style but rather a mixture of multiple influences, It constantly evolves and reinvents itself."

Columbus Symphony Russian Festival January 6 and 7 2017

The Columbus Symphony performs a suite from Prokofiev's Romero and Juliet, the 1947 edition of Stravinsky's Petrushka, and Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D on Friday and Saturday January 6 and 7 in the Ohio Theater at 8 Pm.

Rossen Milanov conducts, with Elena Urioste, violin.

Pre concert talks one hour before each performance.

Most people enjoy their honeymoon. Tchaikovsky fled his. The composer married Antonia Miliukova on July 18, 1877. He described her as "a woman with whom I am not the least in love." Clearly, Tchaikovsky's was succumbing pressure to marry, and considered Miliukova little better than a stalker. Reminds me of my cousin Kathleen, who married her boyfriend of 20 years just to get rid of him. But that's another story.

Tchaikovsky fled Russia within weeks of this marriage. He never lived with his wife and seldom saw Kotek. The two enjoyed making music, and the latest hit from Paris, Lalo's Symphonie espagnole for violin and orchestra as a great favorite as the two passed the time playing music with Tchaikovsky working to recover his spirits.

her again. He went to Switzerland, where he was soon joined by his pupil, the young violinist Josef Kotek.

Dabbling with the Lalo work made Tchaikovsky admire his French colleague all the more, and led to a revealing comment: "It has a lot of freshness, lightness of piquant rhythms, of beautifully harmonized melodies. He, in the same way as as Leo Delibes and Bizet, does not strive after profundity, but he carefully avoids routine, seeks out many new forms, and thinks more about musical beauty than about observing established tradition as do the Germans.

(That was me adding the bold type.)

This may be another way of saying that Schumann, Brahms and certainly Wagner were always in their music striving for more. Listeners were meant to be moved, charged and overwhelmed, to take the listening experience with them. There were expectations of the audience.  Tchaikovsky, like Verdi and Bizet was writing to music to uplift, yes, but also to entertain. They wanted to tell stories.

Josef Kotek (l) with Tchaikovsky

Sight reading Lalo;'s music with Kotek led to some discussion and finally a planned concerto for violin and orchestra, Tchaikovsky's first (and last). There was a first draft that became his popular Souvenir d'un lieu cher the title perhaps a reference to the comfort having young Kotek nearby.

The Violin Concerto in D was completed in 1880 and dedicated not to Kotek but to Leopold Auer. It was not a successful dedication. "I don't know whether Auer was flattered by my dedication, or that despite his sincere friendship for me, he never wanted to master the difficulties of this concerto, deemed it too difficult to play..."

(A dedication to the young Kotek, gifted he may have been , would not have guaranteed performances)


Auer thought the piece was poorly written. He disliked what he considered the slashing and banging required of the solo instrument against a rumbling and fiery orchestra. The premiere went to Adolf Brodsky, in 1881 in Vienna. The audience cheered and the critics raged. Eduard Hanslick,  then the most influential music journalist since Berlioz, nailed the coffin shut: " The violin was not played but beaten black and blue."

This concerto to me is a celebration, a joyous one, between the violin and orchestra. I hear little of matching tones, of playing musical catch. I do hear drama, and virtuosity and pure entertainment. This concerto dazzles and rages along, with a second movement that sings, leading straight into the finale.

The two ballet scores on this program, Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet and Stravinsky's Petrushka give us music not to be heard but to be watched.

Romeo got Prokofiev into hot water with the soviet authorities and the literary world in general. He insisted the story should have a happy ending. Juliet would revive before Romeo takes poison, and rather than die graciously in each other's arms, they would dance off into the night. The composer was convinced that a tragic ending "could not be danced." " Live people can dance, but the dying can hardly be expected to dance in bed. " (Somewhere there is an opera where that happens, trust me)
The composer lost, at least with the ending. The young couple dies, graciously, but there;'s plenty of dancing throughout the two act spectacle.

As with Tchaikovsky's violin concerto being deem unplayable, so Prokofiev's music was decreed bloody well undanceable. The ballet's premiere was not in the Soviet Union, but in Czechoslovakia. Prokofiev had already fashioned three orchestral suites from the complete, two hour score. Still, it didn't do much for the Sophie author ties to have such a high profile premiere given outside of the Soviet Union. Romeo and Juliet  was introduced to Prokofiev's homeland at the Kirov Theater on January 10, 1940. The leads were f danced by Konstantin Sergeyev and Galina Ulanova

Petrushka brings us into Diaghilev territory. Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929) was the consummate showman, impresario, spendthrift, charlatan and genius. He knew what the public wanted and he gave it to them. Sometimes he gave the public performances and music they didn't know they wanted, but by and large the public was convinced. His choreographers were Nijinsky, Fokine, and Massine. His designers were Picasso, Benois and Bakst. His composers were Satie, Myaskovksy, Prokofiev, Ravel and Stravinsky. He was either rich or flat broke and never let a creditor get in his way. Diaghilev's Ballet Russes owned the world until his death, just after the market crash in 1929 (just in time?)

Petrushka is a Punch and Judy show complete with puppets, put on at a Shrovetide Fair. The puppets are the ballerina, the Moor and Petrushka himself. Petrushka loves the ballerina who loves the Moor, who opens a coconut and, convinced this is a God begins to worship...the coconut.

This doesn't keep the Moor from flirting with the ballerina.

Petrushka was first danced in the Theatre Chatelet in Paris on June 13, 1911. Diaghilev produced the premiere with the Ballet Russes, Nijinsky danced Petrushka, Michel Fokine was the choreographer and Alexandre Benois did the designs. Nijinsky was the star. Stravinsky, with his humorous blend of rhythm and color-he gives the ballerina a cornet!-made the first real sensation of what became a long career, and an influence in music and art equal to Mozart and Wagner.

By the way, the film Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky is on youtube, and is well worth a look, especially as it recreates the scandalous opening of The Rite of Spring

MUSIC HAS LOST IN 2016

Yes I know, Prince and George Michael but they are globally appreciated and their passings are widely mourned. 

Here are outstanding figures in classical music, artists who gave, and gave, and gave to the benefit of us all, who may have had less reach but touched so many:

For Columbus and the World

Anne Melvin, philanthropist

Donald Harris, teacher, composer, 'Uncle figure' former Dean of the OSU College of The Arts

Bill Conner, Impresario, CEO of CAPA, mensch

Donald McGinnis, clarinetist, teacher, artist, OSU music administrator

...and for the rest of the world:

Pierre Boulez, composer and conductor
Phyllis Curtin, soprano

Gilbert Kaplan, financier and conductor
Denise Duval, Poulenc's muse

Aurele, Nicolet, Swiss flautist

Saulius Sondeckis, Lithuanian violinist and conductor
Ulf Spoderblom, Finnish conductor
Louis Lane, American conductor
Steven Stucky, American composer
Robert Baustian, American opera conductor and teacher
Otto-Werner Mueller, German born American conductor and teacher
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Austrian conductor

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, British composer
Gegham Grigorian, Armenian opera singer
Royston Nash, British conductor
Elsie Morison, Australian soprano
Brian Asawa, American counter tenor
Gustav Meier, Swiss-born American conductor
J. Reilly Lewis, American conductor
Alberto Remedios, British tenor
Edoardo Muller, Italian conductor
Maralin Niska, American soprano
Gregg Smith,m American choral conductor and composer
Einojuhanni Rautavaara, Finnish composer

Patrice Munsel, American soprano

Johan Botha, South African tenor

Sir Neville Marriner, British conductor

Peter Allen, Canadian born American radio announcer and past host of the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts

John Del Carlo, American bass baritone
Pauline  Oliveros, American composer
Russell Oberlin, American counter tenor

Gigliola Frazzoni, Italian soprano
Karel Husa, Czech-American composer
Heinrich Schiff, Austrian cellist

60 members of the Russian Red  Army Chorus, killed in a plane crash

Thanks to the peerless critic, writer and friend of music Tim Page, for this list.

Books Read in 2016

Every year as a tip of the hat to my OCD nature I keep a list of all the books I've read.
This does come in handy hosting the occasional book show on WOSU.
Even better, I'm just nosy and I really want to know what everybody else has been reading. It becomes I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours.

So where's my list this year?
I've lost it (!)
New computers, new configurations, forgot to save some files, whatever.
OCD and senility.

But I do remember several of the titles that I Most enjoyed in 2016.

I still want to know what YOU have been reading.
Can you share on this blog?

My favorite reads of 2016:

All the Light we Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Nearly a fairy tale in the beauty of the writing, but the depiction of war and he aftermath of war makes it vivid and troubling.



Moonglow Michael Chabon

A man sits with his dying grandfather and wonders ensue!


Eileen Otessa Moshfegh

She has no redeemable qualities but Moshfegh is a writer who makes you care about and root for Eileen 

The Heavenly Table Donald Ray Pollock

Great characters, completely authentic diction and locales. Another winner from Donald Ray Pollock. So much fun to cheer on the bad guys!


Patient HM  Luke Dittrich

Part memoir part horror story. A troubling page turner.


The Underground Railroad  Colson Whitehead

You ARE there !

Hillbilly Elegy J.D. Vance

What it is to be poor fifty miles from where I am typing these lines, where drugs are a way out and a death sentence

Evicted: Politics and Profit in the American City Matthew Desmond




On my ten page per day journeys in 2016 I read

The Pickwick Papers Charles Dickens

The Idiot Fyodor Dostoevsky

Middlemarch George Eliot

and am hoping to begin Tom Wolfe's You Can't Go Home Again

 C'mon what did YOU read and love this year:

Classical 101's 2016 Holiday Programming! Merry Christmas***Happy Chanukah***Happy New Year

Late addition! The 2016 Lessons and Carols from St. Joseph Cathedral, Columbus airs at 8 PM Christmas Night on Classical 101..

Classical 101 presents the world's finest music "all day, every day"and all night too, and all through the holidays. Make Classical 101 a part of your family this Christmas, in the days leading up to December 25 and "all day every day".  We're proud to present local favorites: Columbus Symphony Holiday Pops, Carols for Christmas from First Community Church plus holiday favorites from around the world.

Listen locally at 101.1 FM or on line from anywhere, any time: www.wosu.org/classical101


Here are some of our 2016 holiday specials:

Monday, December 19

8 PM Advent Voices: Advent is a time of quiet contemplation and waiting.  It's waiting for darkness to become light and for hopes to be realized.  Throughout the centuries Advent has been observed musically in sacred and secular ways.  Join Lynne Warfel for an hour of the most beautiful vocal music inspired by and written for Advent.

Tuesday, December 20

8 PM Welcome Christmas! The perennial Christmas favorite from VocalEssence, one of the world's premiere choral groups.  An hour of traditional carols and new discoveries.

Wednesday, December 21

8 PM A Chanticleer Christmas A one hour program of holiday favorites, new and old, presented live in concert by the superb 12-man ensemble known as "an orchestra of voices".


Thursday, December 22

8 PM The Rose Ensemble live in concert; Christmas in Malta The Rose Ensemble's celestial voices team up with a Baroque band to present this unique seasonal program of glorious 17th century music from Italy, preserved in the Cathedral archives on the Island of Malta, and now being heard for the first time in hundreds of years.  Imagine the splendor of the great Baroque churches of Venice and Rome, resounding with choral music as opulent and ornate as the buildings themselves.  Now imagine that same music lost forever in Italy but miraculously preserved for centuries on the Island of Malta. The Rose Ensemble takes us on a fascinating journey to celebrate these musical treasures in a seasonal program featuring lush harmonies, prophetic poetry, a tender lullaby, and shepherds' songs bursting with exaltation.  Joined by a band of period instruments the voices of The Rose Ensemble invite us to spend Christmas in Malta, and welcome the season with Baroque majesty and joy!

Friday, December 23

8 PM A Handel and Haydn Society Christmas:  Celebrate the season with this hour-long special featuring Christmas choral music from America's oldest continuously performing ensemble, Boston's Handel and Haydn Society. Founded in 1815, the Society is celebrating their bicentennial season, including their 400th performance of Handel's Messiah. Join host Cale Wiggins for this program featuring music from the late 15th century to the late 20th; a Christmas for all times.


CHRISTMAS EVE

10 AM A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols: A great favorite, and a long standing tradition for our listeners, live from King's College, Cambridge

7 PM Columbus Symphony Holiday Pops: A Columbus area favorite, recorded in the Ohio Theater a few weeks ago. The Columbus Symphony Orchestra and Columbus Symphony Chorus conducted by Ronald Jenkins, with the Columbus Children's Choir, dancers from Ballet Met Academy and a special appearance by Santa! Your favorite carols, and music by Biebl, Respighi, Britten and our own Craig Courtney.

9 PM Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

CHRISTMAS DAY

12 NOON A Chanticleer Christmas

1 PM        Welcome Christmas!

2 PM St. Olaf Christmas Festival

4 PM Carols for Christmas from First Community Church: Boyce Lancaster hosts this annual presentation from Columbus's s First Community Church, conducted by Ronald Jenkins

8 PM Lessons and Carols from St. Joseph Cathedral, Columbus with the Cathedral Schola conducted by Richard K. Fitzgerald (recorded December 10 2016)

Monday, December 26

8 PM Candles Burning Brightly A one-hour celebration of Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, with an exploration of Chanukah foods and traditional activities, and plenty of music

NEW YEAR'S DAY

11 AM New Year's Live from Vienna: Gustavo Dudamel will lead the Vienna Philharmonic from the Golden Hall of the Musikverein for this traditional kick-off of the new year.

Sensory Friendly Holidays: New Albany Symphony Dec 17 and More!

The New Albany Symphony offers a sensory friendly holiday program this Saturday December 17 at 11:30 a.m. at the McCoy Performing Arts Center in New Albany.

SANTA AND THE SYMPHONY
A 45 minute concert of short holiday tunes with lots of clapping and audience interaction.  Perfect for young children, those of the autism spectrum, and our friends with dementia or Alzheimer's. Includes cookies and Santa! Tickets $12, $15.

http://www.newalbanysymphony.net/

rformance
I'm proud of this excellent community based orchestra, lead by Heather Garner and Luis Biava, who have been at the forefront of introducing sensory friendly performances .

What do I mean by sensory friendly?

There are people who find too much sound, too many lights, a lotta of movement and stimulus hard to take. No such caveat for pizza or chocolate in my view, but for many sensory over load is a problem. More and more we are hearing of 'sensory friendly offerings'.

Locally, movie theaters at Polaris, Crosswords and Lennox Town Center offer films with the volume turned down, the lights dimmed not darkened and  walking around and  welcomed for those who find longer than a few minutes to be a long sit.

The Columbus Children's Theater has long offered sensory friendly performances.

http://www.columbuschildrenstheatre.org/sfp.html

Opera Columbus, Ballet Met and the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra have all offered sensory-friendly performances, as has the Columbus symphony. Attach sensory friendly to any web search and you'll find untold riches! Perfect opportunities for kids and their friends who benefit from a little more show and a little less 'surroundings'.

And come to New Albany Saturday morning!

Celebrate the Holidays in Columbus: Music, Drama, Dance

"Too much of a good thing is wonderful" said the late Mae West.

Mae would have loved Columbus, Ohio especially during the holidays.

I'm delighted to offer information on holiday offerings in our area. This list is by no means all inclusive. I have attended and enjoyed a number of these presentations in the past but am not
intending endorsements here (well.....) Please be sure to regularly check listings in the Columbus Dispatch or Experience Columbus dot com.

For tickets and further information simply google the events of your choice.


New Albany Symphony SENSORY FRIENDLY PERFORMANCE of Holiday Music Saturday Dec 17 11.30 a.m.

New Albany Symphony Holiday Spectacular Sunday December 18 3 PM
     both at the McCoy Performing Arts Center,  New Albany


Chanukah Across Columbus find Facebook page of same name

: https://www.facebook.com/events/394431160637678/



Columbus Symphony Holiday Pops: Columbus Symphony and Columbus Symphony Chorus all conducted by Ronald J. Jenkins. Traditional holiday favorites. Audience carol singing. Dancers from Ballet Met, and a guest appearances by Santa and Mrs. Claus.  You'll hear everything from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Deo Gracias from Britten's A Ceremony of Carols, to Biebl's exquisite Ave Maria. This is rte proverbial "something for everyone" program. Quality is very, very high every year.  Ohio Theater Friday, December 2 at 8 PM; Saturday December 3 at 3 and 8 PM; Sunday December 4, 3:00 PM

Ballet Met: The Nutcracker What's not to love? Sugar plums, Chinese princesses, Christmas Trees, a magical Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky's music, the Columbus symphony and the glorious Ballet Met choreographed by Artistic Director Edwaard Liang. December 9-24 Ohio Theater.

ProMusica Chamber Orchestra and Lancaster Chorale Saint-Saens Christmas Oratorio  Handel Messiah (excerpts) Vaughan Williams Variants on Dives and Lazarus with Peggy Kriha Dye, soprano; Katharin Danzmayr, soprano; Laurel Semerdjian, mezzo-soprano; Benjamin Bunsold, tenor; Aaron Waddell, baritone. David Danzmayr conducts

Saturday December 10 5.30 PM Worthington United Methodist Church; Sunday December 11, 7 PM, Southern Theater

The Ohio State University: 24th Annual Music Celebration Concert. This is a terrific annual event showcasing all ensembles, large and small from the OSU School of Music. The OSU Symphony, Choruses, Men's Glee Club, Jazz Ensembles, flute troupe and chamber ensembles. This concert is NOT a holiday themed program, but is always a fun evening of great music making.  Friday December 2 8 PM Mershon Auditorium

Capital University Christmas Festival 2016 . This unabashedly IS a Christmas concert. Choral and instrumental ensembles from the Conservatory at Capital university. Always fantastic. December 1-4 Mees Hall Capital University.

Magpie Consort Christmas Echoes music by William Billings, Craig Hella Johnson, Hugo Ditler plus plainchant and carols form around the world. Magpie Consort is a mixed choir perfromnig mostly a capella. Artsitic Director is Christopher Dent. 

Wednesday December 7 7, 7:30 at Indianola Presbyterian Church, 1970 Waldeck Avenue; December 9, 8 PM Trinity Lutheran Church, 404 S. 3rd St., Saturday December 10 8 PM, St. John's Church, 700 High St., Worthington; Friday December 16, 7 PM Franklin Park conservatory



A Christmas Carol at the Columbus Civic Theater. Richard Albert and his colleagues do great work bringing theater to Clintonville from their intimate space on Indianola Avenue. Civic Theater's annual production of  Dickens's A Christmas Carol .  December 1-18 at 3837 Indianola Avenue

CATCO IS KIDS A Seussified Christmas Carol , get the kids out of the house during school break. CATCO is  KIDS  at the Columbus Performing Arts Center, 549 Franklin Avenue, December 2-11.

A Service of Lessons and Carols St. Joseph Cathedral, Columbus Sunday  December 11 3 PM

A Service of Lessons and Carols First Congregational Church, Columbus Sunday December 20 4

PM


Clintonville Community Band and Choir Sunday December 4  3 pm. Whetstone High School, 4405 Scenic Drive. Free. Canned goods requested for Clintonville-Beechwold Community Resources Center.

MESSIAH- Handel:

St. John's Church 59 E. Mound St., Columbus Sunday December 4 10:15 .a.m Offering taken. St. John's Festival Choir , Chamber Orchestra and soloists conducted by May Schwarz.

ProMusica Chamber Orchestra YOU ARE THE CHORUS "Side by Side Messiah Sing a long."David Danzmayr conducts Friday December 9 7.30 PM Southern Theater

Columbus Symphony "Last Notes"

The Columbus Symphony conducted by Rossen Milanov performs Mozart's Overture to Die Zauberfloete, Steven Mackey's Four Iconoclastic Episodes and the Symphony number 6, Pathetique by Tchaikovsky, November 18 and 19 at 8 PM in the Ohio Theater. Pre-concert talks at 7. Come early. I'm a hoot.

Steven Mackey born in 1956,  is Chair of the Department of Music at Princeton University. I'm hoping he will join me for this weekend's pre -concert talks, so we can all meet him and hear about Four Iconoclastic Episodes. I do know that this work, written in 2009 for the Irish Chamber  Orchestra and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, is a concerto for orchestra, violin and electric guitar. The electric guitar is Mr. Mackey 's primary instrument. He'll be on stage with the Columbus Symphony and violinist Anthony Marwood.

Here's Steve Mackey talking about Four Iconoclastic Episodes.

"I am fascinated by the sensation of movement in music. Journey metaphors are often aptly applied to my music, and I'm interested not only in the illusion of travel and arriving, but in delineating topographies and viscosities of the medium traveled through. Related...is a desire for transformation, for a sense that something-the material, me, the listener is changed by the journey. As a result, my music tends to be a one way trip"

Mr. Mackey is a composer worth knowing better: stevenmackey.com



Rumors, rumors! You conduct the first performance of your latest work, a sprawling symphony called Pathetique then die unexpectedly nine days later and the world calls your final work a forty minute suicide note.


About that term, Pathetique. The composer agreed to it. A catchy name is good for sales. He withdrew his consent the next day, but the plates had already been prepared, so the score was given to the world as the Pathetic symphony. Tchaikovsky understood this term as "passionate" or "emotional", certainly not as pathetic as we use that word today. Tragic some of the overtones may be, but pathetic? Pitiful, pitiable, piteous, moving (maybe) distressing"...not on your bloody life.

And why would Tchaikovsky commit suicide? We know he died of cholera after drinking a class of unboiled water in a St. Petersburg restaurant.  A Russian musicologist called Alexandra Orlova suggested in the late 1970s that Tchaikovsky had a liaison with a young nobleman who was a member of the Tsar's private guard. When this became known Tchaikovsky was told to kill himself to avoid public scandal, and did  so. Michael Steinberg doesn't buy it and that's good enough for me.
(I'm indebted to Steinberg's The Symphony, pp. 635-641)

This four movement symphony begins with a hushed figure for solo bassoon over tremolo strings. at Classical 101 we have to throw the pots up to the max) Then comes the first big tune, and no big tune is ever wasted:

The second theme of the first movement contains a four note figure rooted in the Orthodox Requiem, E,G, F#, A which has come to be called his 'crucifixion' theme, thus feeding the rumors.

There's a  flowing but off kilter waltz in 5/4 instead of 3/4 and the third movement is the famous march. At the end pf which people applaud vociferously and reach for heir coats. Except this is not the finale.  Keep your coat off. The finale is adagio lamentoso, not a big finish, but a dying away.
Don't leave early. This, after the brazen third movement, is not a fade down but a loving fade-out:

And no, Tchaikovsky did not consider this Symphony to be his final work. At his death fresh sketches were found for a third piano concerto. He fully expected to go on working and living.

Columbus Symphony Beethoven Festival

The Columbus Symphony presents a Beethoven Marathon in the Ohio Theater,
November 11 and 12.  Come early and stay late.
Today, more than ever, many of us need this music.
And there's never a bad time to hear Beethoven.

Here's the rundown for both evenings:

6 PM  Beethoven Quintet for Winds, Op. 16
7 PM  CP, that would be me, talks about Beethoven
8 PM  Columbus Symphony conducted by Peter Stafford Wilson

           Beethoven:
           Symphony 2 in D, Op. 36
           Concerto for violin, cello and piano in C, Op. 56

              with Alicia Hui violin; Luis Biava, cello and Caroline Hong, piano
         
Symphony 7 in A, Op. 92


10 PM:  String Quartet in c sharp minor, Op. 131 with Joanna Frankel, Robert Firdman, Karl Pedersen and Pei-An Chao

Joanna Frankel is the Columbus Symphony's new first chair violinist, or concertmaster.

Conductor Peter Stafford Wilson says,  "No matter how often I visit these works, I always discover something new in them music of Beethoven.. I think  its as relevant now as when it was written. And what a treat to explore the Triple Concerto with Caroline, Alicia and Luis!"
        
Beethoven's Second Symphony was completed in the summer of 1802. By this time, the composer was thirty two years old. He had been complaining of a roaring in his ears, and the idea of impending deafness weighed heavily. Beethoven made his living as a pianist/conductor/composer, as had Mozart and Haydn. A deaf composer can still write down what he hears in his head. What he cannot do is perform with other musician. Thus an important avenue of public acclaim and money was becoming unavailable. Difficulties with the publisher Breitkopf and Hartel continued. Composers made their money from sales of their music. Chamber music sold because it was perfect for home use. Symphonies brought applause, but little money.

The Heiligenstadt Testament is a letter Beethoven addressed to his brothers. He had come to this village outside Vienna on doctor's orders, thinking that quieter surroundings would treat his troubled hearing. Such was not the case,

  "Though born with a fiery, active temperament, even susceptible to the diversions of society, I was soon compelled to withdraw into myself, to life live alone. If at times I tried to forget all this, oh, how harshly was I flung back by the doubly sad experience of my bad hearing. Yet it was impossible for me to say to people, "Speak louder, shout, for I am deaf."

In the midst of despair came the rollicking Second Symphony. Beethoven was still able to step outside of himself to craft music that may have been devoid of Mozart's elegance, but which possessed a stronger kind of grace and proportion. It is wrong to call Beethoven a romantic. He was still bound to the traditional forms Haydn loved. Still, the muscular textures of Beethoven's music looked forward.

The second movement, the larghetto (not as slow as slow!) of the second symphony was encored at the first performance. This was a monster concert, given in Vienna on April 5, 1803. Beethoven conducted his First symphony and his oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives, along with the Third piano concerto.

The final allegro molto begins with a loud, syncopated figure. It's been called a hiccup, and worse:

   "Beethoven's gastric problems, particularly in times of great distress, like the fall of 1802, were legendary. It has been understood almost since the day of its premiere that this is what this music is about . Beethoven never refuted it. In fact, he must have encouraged it. Otherwise, how could such an interpretation become common coin? And common coin it is."--Robert Greenberg  author, musicologist, San Francisco Conservatory of Music

One critic wrote, "this symphony is a wounded, writhing dragon that refuses to die, but writhing in the last agony, in the final movement, is bleeding to death." This critic needed to get over himself. The D Major symphony is filled with dance, light and humor. OK, there's along, dark and wonderful intro to keep us off kilter, but tinta here is one of delight.

The piano trio is a much loved genre in chamber music, not least by Beethoven. The Triple Concerto, Op. 56, for violin, cello and piano was completed in 1803 and introduced the following year. I find this a more intimate work than the symphony. The dialogue, a sort of "catch the ball" between the cello, violin and piano humanize the music for this listener. The finale is alla polaca-a Polish dance movement in 3/4 used in a later generation by Chopin.

The Seventh Symphony was completed in 1813 has been called the symphony of rhythm more than tunes.There are tunes a-plenty, but they are almost beside the point.  This A Major symphony is all about forward momentum. From a lesser composer, this 'race to the finish' would be a bore. Beethoven infuses it with drama, not least from moving through keys distant to A Major. Michael Steinberg writes, of " great harmonic spaces....The excursions to C and Fare entered upon with startling bluntness"  "The forward momentum becomes evident the first big tune. The contrasting allegretto-lively, not really faster than fast-does a lot with one note and repetition. It's like watching a flower slowly bloom and prosper. It was cheered to
the walls by the first audience in Vienna. An encore was demanded.

Composer Ludwig Spohr was a young violinist who reproved from the first night of Beethoven's conducting, "At a sforzando he tore his arms with great vehemence asunder. At the entrance of the forte, he jumped in the air!"

 As for the wild finale, its good to recall the words of conductor Thomas Beecham "What can you do with this? It's like a lot of yaks running about!"

What can you do? Peter Stafford Wilson and the Columbus symphony will know. join them this weekend and find out.

About Mrs. Roosevelt: An Interview with Blanche Wiesen Cook

The third and final volume of Blanche Wiesen Cook's Cook's biography of Eleanor Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, The War Years and After, 1939:1962 is now out from Viking.

Ms. Cook is distinguished professor of history at John Jay College and Graduate Center, City University of New York. In addition to her biography of Eleanor Roosevelt, her other books include The Declassified Eisenhower and Crystal Eastman on Women and Revolution. 

Eleanor Roosevelt volume I was a winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and both volumes
were New York Times bestsellers.

I spoke with Ms. Cook yesterday from her publisher's office.

CP: Should I call you professor Cook or Doctor Cook, how would you like me to address you?
BC: Call me Blanche
CP: That makes it easy. Could you tell me what your initial attraction was to Mrs. Roosevelt?

BC: Joe Lash said Eleanor Roosevelt is infinite. She never stopped growing and changing. Her vision of the needs of the people was prescient, and enduring.

For me I was most moved by the fact that she identified with the people in want, in need, in trouble. People like her own family.

Blanche Wiesen Cook

Her mother died when Eleanor Roosevelt was eight. Her father died of alcoholism at the age of thirty-four when Eleanor Roosevelt was ten. And you really have to pause and think, how much you'd have to drink, to die at the age of thirty four of alcoholism. This was really was formative for Eleanor Roosevelt. She wanted to make life better for all people. And devoted her life to trying to do that. Education for all. Heath care for all. Housing for all. Dignity for all.

"Men hate women with power"

CP: I was very surprised that during her lifetime, during her work she was very often unpopular and reviled. Here was someone who was trying to get health care and housing for everyone and people called her a socialist. A lot of people did not like her. That's hard for me to grasp.


BC: J. Edgar Hoover hated her. He called her the old cow, and the old hen. He monitored her phone. He bugged her hotel rooms. He always called her a communist because she was against racism. The largest proportion of her file, which is over 3000 pages, is everything she said against lynching, against degradation.

I think we need to pause to realize that all integrationists in the 1940s and 50s were called Communists. Everybody who wanted civil rights was called a communist. Eleanor Roosevelt's commitment to ending segregation, and for building a civil rights community was particularly reviled. Also, Eleanor Roosevelt would say, "Men hate women with power". And Hoover, in particular, hated Eleanor Roosevelt. And her women allies who campaigned for more democracy and decency for everybody.

My Day

CP: She wrote a newspaper column for may years called My Day. It began as I understand it as kind of a diary. But eventually it became an outlet for her. How important was that daily column?

BC: It was very important. It started out by her writing these letters to great friend Lorena Hickok as to how she spent her day. I think this became her therapy. She really needed to write and express herself, and Hick said, Why are you sending me all these letters? The whole world wants to know how you spend your day. From 1936 to the end oh her life, she wrote a daily column. It was widely syndicated, in newspapers around the country. And then after 1946 around the world. People read her column in which she talked about the issues of the day, as well as her own day. It became very popular and influential, and then she became the first lady of radio. She had a radio program. Spoke all over the country and then all over the world. She had really a very important voice in which she called for civil rights and human rights.

From the 1930s on she does something called trouping for democracy. She really believed we needed to build movement for social change.  One politician and allies are not going to do it. We need movement. And that was her goal.

Marriage of Eleanor and FDR 

CP: The marriage of the President and Mrs. Roosevelt was troubled. FDR had an affair with Lucy Mercer. Do you think if there had been no Lucy Mercer and everything had been copacetic, she would have had the same kind of career?

BC:  I think she probably she would not have had the same kind of career. She would have been much more the handmaiden to FDR. But the fact that they had two separate courts, she had a lot of freedom. FDR trusted her to go around the country and be his eyes and ears. He really had great respect for her. He said, people are willing to tell anything to my wife.. So he really trusted her to go around and get information, and bring it back to him, and support his programs, She always believed they shared an ultimate vision. Even when she didn't approve of his priorities or compromises . She always believed they shared an ultimate vision for what was good and right . They were really partners and allies.  But I think the fact that they led two separate lives gave her a lot of freedom  to do what she wanted to do.

Legacy

CP: My mother loved Eleanor Roosevelt. I was a little kid when Mrs. Roosevelt died but I remember my mother sitting in front of the TV being upset, and talking about Mr.s Roosevelt. What is Mrs. Roosevelt's legacy today?

BC: It's so immediate. Eleanor Roosevelt would always say she's rather be chloroformed than run for office. What she meant was that women at the time were not yer organized to run for office. And Eleanor Roosevelt wanted equal pay for equal work. She wanted equal citizenship, equality for women and equal power for women.

Her legacy is, okay, now we're more organized, now we understand, that we need to build a community of activism to support the things we care about, and the women in leadership we believe will make the country a better place. And restore democracy.

"Heartbroken"

CP: Lastly, I;'m sure everyone is asking you this, what would Eleanor Roosevelt make of the current presidential election?

BC: I think she;d be heartbroken. That we have a man who speaks with such hate. Who is calling for violence. For people who are calling to disrupt the peace of election polling places and is a racist. I think she'd be appalled. And I think she'd fight for what she fought for all her life, which is dignity,  justice, civil rights, and human rights.  FDR said in 1940, We will have the triumph of democracy , or we'll return to the dark ages.

Sidney Homer and Samuel Barber: Letters to a Young Composer

I'm reading Barbara Heyman's magisterial book about Samuel Barber, a must -read for anyone who loves music and wants to know about process.

Barber (1910-1981) best known for Adagio for Strings, Knoxville Summer of 1915, Essays for Orchestra, School for Scandal Overture, the operas Vanessa and Antony and Cleopatra,  and magnificent concerti for piano, for violin and for cello, was the nephew of the great contralto Louise Homer (1871-1947).

As much as an influence as 'Aunt Louise' must have been, she was Toscanini's Orfeo at the Met, it composer and educator Sidney Homer (18965-1953) that young Sam Barber found a nurturing influence. Heyman's book features many letters from 'Uncle Sid', filled with the kind of advice, encouragement and occasional kick in the pants any young person would be lucky to have from a mentor.

Don't miss Barbara Heyman's book. Sidney Homer's autobiography My Wife and I is a wonderful look at top level music making a century ago. There's alsoa  good discussion of Louise Homer's career in Andrew Davis's The American Opera Singer. Not to be missed is Anne Homer's biography of her mother, Louise Homer and the Gold Age of Opera. 

I can't date these letters from Sidney to Sam. Barber wrote to his Uncle from age 10 until shortly before Sidney Homer died in 1953.

Letters to Samuel Barber from Sidney Homer
c. 1925-1945

From Samuel Barber, the Composer and his Music  by Barbara Heyman

There are three things you must aim for definitely. The first is the development of taste that should, in time, amount to a passion for the best music in all forms.  Your whole life will be influenced by the forming of your taste in the next few years.

Taste is formed by coming into close and intimate contact with the great works of the masters. The way to do this is to look ahead and see what programs are to be given ...you can't attend all the concerts, therefore you pick the best. Suppose for instance, the Flonzaly Quartet is going to play a Beethoven Quartet. You get your ticket and you buy a copy of the quartet beforehand. You then learn more in an hour at the performance than you possibly could learn in any other way in a year.

Everything depends now on the development of your taste and the refinement of your sensibilities. If you think of music from the point of view of sensationalism and publicity, your work will show it. If you learn to love the poetic undercurrent and the subtleties of beauty  and spirituality which have been expressed in music, your work will show it just as much.

____


The wonderful thing about art is that a man can conceal nothing; it reveals him as naked and unadorned...Sincerity and beauty seem to stand the test, but love for mankind and willingness to serve humbly seem to fill the world with joy.

_____

You don't need opinions. A little praise is pleasant if you don't have to go too far out of your way to get it, but you will have to learn to get along without opinions.  Opinions don't change a note of add to your stature. If you can give pleasure, well and good. Your work is your own affair and yours only.  Depending on opinion means less independence in your work. It also means laying yourself open to pinpricks which may be boresome. It can result in uncertainty. Even too much praise can do things, introduce a smirk and too much gush in your style.
_____

The paucity of titles in the musical world is alarming. It indicates a lack. Perhaps language is inadequate. If so, then young men like you must invent something and not go on serenading and suite-ing.

____

I can imagine how Beethoven felt when they stormed at him for writing the third symphony. If he believed all they said he could feel like a criminal, a debaser of public taste. I do not know a single man who hasn't had rocks in his life. Brahms had plenty. A good deal depends on how we handle them. They may not be so serious in themselves, but if we get flustered and lose our heads we can force them to do us considerable harm...Poise, equanimity, philosophy, a sense of proportion, gratitude for what we have, a "calm center", fixed determination and an inflexible purpose are all to the good.

Resentment, impatience, self pity, exaggerated self deprecation, an intense consciousness of the need of making good in the eyes of others, a lack of grit in meeting emergencies, a general complaining of spirit and weak sporting blood are all to the bad.

Take some boy you know and put him in your place. He wrote your sonata, and your serenade, and struggled with your concerto. How do you regard him, dispassionately? Do you congratulate him on his gifts and what he has achieved and feel that, with good sense and intelligent self-control, he can carry his powers to a high state of development, or do you feel that he is a broken reed, a cracked canoe, smashed on the rocks of a difficult concerto, a hopeless wreck because his teacher does not agree with his opinion of his latest work? Take a sincere, objective view of your friend and make up your mind how  you wish him to feel and proceed. Then act accordingly. Don't dodge. Be as strict with yourself as you would be with him.

____

There is one thing that I want to make clear  to you and that is that resentment does not get us anywhere. It only eats the heart out of the resenter, and what good is there to that? I often think that a good friend could have saved Bizet's life at the time Carmen was produced. Patience and a sense of humor are wonderful lifesavers...Through it all a rhinoceros hide is a good thing. The bigger the talent the tougher the hide, say I....Resentment eats the heart, but philosophy is an armor that protects the source of future work which is the one thing that must be kept inviolate.

Mother Teresa

Watching the canonization mass for Mother Teresa of Calcutta, I realize there are many who do not think well of her. She took money from dictators.. She did not provide adequate medical care. She traveled the world fostering her own cult of personality and left the destitute behind her. I've heard these things said about her, and worse. In particular there are medical personnel who have been appalled at the conditions at the House of the Dying in Calcutta. The Church in desperate need of positive PR has glommed on to her.

I've never been to Calcutta and what I know about Mother Teresa I've heard from sympathetic reports. It has never been my understanding that Mother Teresa intended to take the dying destitute off the streets and cure them. In 1949, there were no cures. Except the need of a cure for poverty and loneliness, and we are still not there. Instead, I always thought Mother Teresa's goal was to insist that all persons when they come to die do so in love.

I have worked in hospitals and I have worked among the dying. It is often sad, exhausting, messy, gross and disgusting work. How many doing this work have been repelled, even as they work so hard toward compassion?

Mother Teresa got the most unloved people in India off the streets, into shelter and in surroundings far better than they would ever had had. Far worse than most of us can imagine, but far better than the streets to which they had been abandoned. People were washed and fed and cared for. Was this revolutionary in India, anywhere in 1949?

Her point was not medical cure but spiritual comfort. That's hard to understand but I believe this to be at the center of her mission.

It's a comfort to know that Mother Teresa herself struggled for years with doubt an loneliness. Acknowledging these doubts may have allowed this tiny woman to persevere. I'm not sure I believe in saints, or heaven, or sometimes even in God. Maybe I have that in common with Mother Teresa. I can't imagine what she'd make of being called a saint.

But somehow she was energized to do what no one had done before in taking in that first dying man .
She found mission where others found abhorrence. She channelled despair of her own crises of faith into service. And she kept doing it until she died, and she got others to do it, and continue doing it. Call it sainthood or call it charity or call it nuts. I watched the canonization of Mother Teresa with a full heart.