If your Advent wreath has the traditional set of three purple candles plus one rose, then light that rose candle today! We’ve arrived at the third Sunday of Advent. Whoosh, that went quickly, yes? Advent’s third Sunday, known as Rejoicing Sunday, occurs between December 11th … Read more
We’ve featured the Moravian Star more than once in the course of the calendar. I find them irresistible. Last year I reported the excitement of buying a new star to replace the tattered one I’d had since the 1980s. The prospect of getting a new … Read more
I’m writing on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving while gazing directly at a ridge of snow-covered Alps. The sun is setting in a blaze of white-and-black glory here in Interlaken, Switzerland, the site from which the Holiday Market Tour begins, my last Smithsonian Journey of the … Read more
Grofé, Grand Canyon Suite (Sunrise) Ferde Grofé (1892-1972) is perhaps best known for the musical landscape Grand Canyon Suite, the opening movement of which (“Sunrise”) is featured here. But Grofé has much more on his resume that deserves attention, in particular his long history with … Read more
I had another topic in mind for today—one that would ease us graciously into the Thanksgiving Week, but I cannot get “projectiles”: out of my mind. I’m referring to plastic projectiles that pop out of super-hero toys—nothing more serious than that. But it turns out … Read more
If you are getting our Weekly Digest, then you will start receiving the Advent Calendar each day beginning December 1. But what about your friends? Maybe the daily essays that you have come to enjoy would brighten up their holiday preparations as well. If so, … Read more
Jerome Kern, I’m Old Fashioned Jerome Kern (1885-1945) was one of the principal forces shaping American music in the early 20th century. Professor Carol often points to his 1927 musical Showboat as establishing the Broadway musical, our American form of opera. Songs from that show … Read more
The words “new music” began to instill fear in listeners at the turn of the 20th century. Experiments in radical new styles puzzled the majority of concert audiences across the so-called classical world. These were the very people whose patronage supported orchestras, recital series, and … Read more
Khachaturian, Waltz from Masquerade The Russian/Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978) might be the poster-child for the Soviet arts policy. Although he was briefly denounced in 1948 along with Shostakovich and Prokofiev, that move has generally been attributed to “guilt by association,” and he quickly regained … Read more
My MacBook crashed last night. More accurately, the screen went dark after some emailing and would not turn back on. That’s not technically crashing, right? A disc drive crashes. A computer that won’t turn on is just not working. Yet “not working” seems old-fashioned as … Read more