Footprints in the Snow Quite a few years ago, my older sister developed a liking for Flatt & Scruggs. She wasn’t hanging out in Bluegrass circles, but picked up the fad from her boyfriend’s Georgia Tech fraternity. I suspect the budding engineers at the fraternity … Read more
April showers bring May flowers, but the month of May launches the Season of Festivities, especially graduations and weddings. And these festivities generally have a formal entry and exit that require music! For such occasions, iconic works like Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstances No. 1 and … Read more
Chausson, Le temps des lilas Ernest Chausson (1855-1899) entered the Paris Conservatory in 1879 to study with Jules Massenet. Already 24 years old at the time, this somewhat late move came after he had obtained a law degree and was sworn in as a barrister. … Read more
Songs My Mother Taught Me. Antonín Dvořák’s Songs My Mother Taught Me filled my mind while reviving a talk on Czech culture ten days ago intended for my group of travelers in Prague. That talk comes at the end of route I particularly love called … Read more
Schütz, Alleluia: Lobet den Herren Psalm 150 catalogues the many instruments to be used in praising God: trumpets, lutes, harps, strings, pipes, drums, and cymbals. I suspect there was no intent to exclude others that didn’t make the list. The Psalm is an open invitation … Read more
Ordinarily I do not write about performances, especially ones held far away from most of our readers. But an experience that came to me unexpectedly last week still glows in my heart, so I’d like to share it. Finding myself called to lecture on a … Read more
Morricone, Cinema Paradiso Ennio Morricone (1928-2020) was primarily a film composer with one of the most impressive lists of works. Not all of his more than 400 films were masterpieces, and many are foreign films that didn’t get much attention with English-speaking audiences. Among the … Read more
Looking across the Danube through sheets of rain at the creamy façade and dark dome of Budapest’s Parliament, I shake my head in amazement. I did not expect to be in Budapest this week, sitting before my room’s picture window in the Castle Hilton, a … Read more
J.C. Bach, Sonata for Two Keyboards Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782) was born to Johann Sebastian Bach and his second wife Anna Magdalena. The elder Bach was 50 years old at the time. He had married Anna Magdalena in 1721 after the sudden death of his … Read more
If you read this digest regularly, you know my essays tend to cluster around topics in the arts, history, language, and culture. Today, though, I have a question about technology, albeit a weird one. Still, I hope someone can answer it. The question concerns something … Read more