Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:32:35 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Benjamin Ivry :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Benjamin+Ivry istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/mahlers-song-of-the-earth/74755/ Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST In Stephen Sondheim's 1970 musical "Company," Elaine Stritch raspily sang a toast to the trendy "ladies who lunch," who fill their days with a "matinee, a Pinter play, perhaps a piece of Mahler's." Since then, the Austrian composer and conductor Gustav Mahler (1860–1911) has grown even more fashionable, for his artistically elaborate works which capture the emotional highs and lows of human life. Mahler depicted his worldview in majestic sound, inspired by what he called Naturlaut, or "nature's... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/masur-brings-the-passion/73110/ Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST The "Saint Matthew Passion" by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) is a dramatic oratorio, requiring a double orchestra and chorus, and containing a dozen solo vocal roles (usually handled by five singers). Today's early music specialists, aspiring to an "authentic" approach close to Bach's own time and resources, usually use intimate, underpopulated chamber ensembles and choirs. As a result, most brand-new recordings of the "Saint Matthew Passion" — by one count at least 21 have been released... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/searching-for-radu-lupu/69288/ Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST The Romanian-Jewish pianist Radu Lupu has been a star in the music world since 1966, when he placed first at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and then placed first at the 1969 competition in Leeds, England. Yet he remains one of the most misunderstood of great musicians. His upcoming solo recital at Carnegie Hall on January 14, and his concerto dates with the New York Philharmonic led by Riccardo Muti on January 23–26 at Avery Fisher Hall, seem unlikely to clarify matters. For... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/norwegian-dostoyevsky-gone-to-seed/65242/ Thu, 25 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST Who says that great writers have to be great human beings? Norway's Knut Hamsun (1859–1952) won the 1920 Nobel Prize for Literature, and during the Nazi occupation of his country during World War II, Hamsun was an ardent supporter of the fascist politician Vidkun Quisling (1887–1945), an army officer who ran the country from 1942 until the end of the war. Quisling was known as "Norway's Hitler." Hamsun also loved the real Hitler, describing him in 1945 as a "warrior for mankind … a prophet of... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/candid-chameleon/64986/ Mon, 22 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST Europe and America are currently enjoying a golden age of pianism, with masters such as Murray Perahia, Richard Goode, Maurizio Pollini, Peter Serkin, and others playing at their artistic peak. Yet even amid this distinguished company, Hungarian-born pianist András Schiff, born in 1953, offers some qualities that separate him from the pack and that will be on display when Mr. Schiff performs at Carnegie Hall on October 24, with further installments scheduled for next April. Mr. Schiff's most... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/daviss-golden-years/64605/ Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST The British conductor Sir Colin Davis will be coming to New York this month to lead the London Symphony in the first of three scheduled concerts beginning October 17 as part of Lincoln Center's Great Performers season. At 80, Sir Colin has lost none of the charisma and ability that have made him one of the most consistently invigorating and inspiring conductors of the past half-century. Part of Sir Colin's persuasiveness is due to his fizzy sense of rhythm, which enlivens everything from a... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/returning-home-somewhat-changed/63996/ Fri, 5 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST New York could sometimes use a little nonjudgmental love and forgiveness. So the upcoming representations of the New Testament parable of the prodigal son are especially welcome. Yesterday, the Museum of Biblical Art opened "The Art of Forgiveness: Images of the Prodigal Son," featuring 56 sculptures, prints, textiles, and other media by artists including Rembrandt, Jules Pascin, and Duane Michals. Then in January, New York City Ballet's winter repertory season will include a revival of George... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/roberto-alagnas-rocky-road-to-the-top/64012/ Fri, 5 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST When French tenor Roberto Alagna replaced the ailing Rolando Villazón in Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette," the Associated Press declared Mr. Alagna a "triumph," proving that a tenor in need is a tenor indeed. This month Mr. Alagna looks likely to reach similar heights in Puccini's "Madama Butterfly," which he sings at the Metropolitan Opera beginning October 8. This represents quite a change of destiny for the tenor, whose path has been as rocky as that of any opera hero. In 1998, under previous... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/classical-song-in-stuttgart/63833/ Wed, 3 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST For a southern German city of just over 500,000 inhabitants, Stuttgart, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, shows remarkably little signs of a relaxed, dolce far niente attitude. As a center for high tech industry, the presence of such corporate heavyweights as Daimler, Porsche, and Bosch ensures that the city's pace remains rapid and businesslike. Mornings, a slew of grey-garbed office employees scurry across Stuttgart's peaceful parks, frenetically chain-smoking, too busy to stop and... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/music-in-your-head/63410/ Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EST The British-born neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks has been newly appointed by Columbia University as a "Columbia artist," as well as professor of clinical neurology and clinical psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Mr. Sacks, 74, has written 10 books, including "Awakenings," about sleeping sickness patients who were animated by new drugs decades after fell ill. Mr. Sacks's 1985 essay collection, "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," looked at various... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/search-is-on-for-the-next-pavarotti/62949/ Wed, 19 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EST Two weeks ago, politicians, soccer stars, and performing artists crowded the cathedral of Modena, Italy, to pay public homage to the erstwhile "King of the High Cs," tenor Luciano Pavarotti, who died recently at age 71 of pancreatic cancer. Now the question arises, who among the tenors vying for Pavarotti's crown is most worthy? Since Pavarotti attained superstar status in 1972 at age 37 by singing Donizetti's "Daughter of the Regiment" at the Met, the opera world has become a more perilous... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/paradoxes-of-pavarotti/62071/ Fri, 7 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EST In England, where his international singing career began in the less politically correct 1960s, the press called him "Fat Lucy" and even "Lucky Luciano." In his homeland Italy, headlines referred in Italian to "Big Luciano," in homage to his fame in the English-speaking world. Yet the lyric tenor Luciano Pavarotti, who died of pancreatic cancer this week at age 71 in Modena, Italy, was a complex entity, impossible to sum up in a nickname or a headline. First among the paradoxes of Pavarotti was... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/bellicose-subjects-in-art/61914/ Wed, 5 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EST HBO's documentary "Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq," which airs September 9, spotlightsyoung, well-intentioned Americans with body parts missing as a result of military service in Iraq. The program's interviewer and executive producer, James Gandolfini, has said he wanted the stark reality of their suffering to be heard: "We need to pay attention to them. They're not just disposable people." Even more suffering may be expected with the inevitable blitzkrieg of publicity for Ken Burns's... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/eclipse-of-antonioni/59627/ Wed, 1 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST The Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni, who died in Rome on July 30 at age 94, was one of the most perplexing of modern cinema masters. His most celebrated films, including "L'Avventura" (1960), "La Notte" (1961), "L'Eclisse" (1962) "Il Deserto rosso" (1964), and "Blow-Up" (1966), divided viewers. Ingmar Bergman, who died fewer than 24 hours before him, accused Antonioni in 2002 of being artistically "suffocated by his own tediousness." Bergman went on to admit that "Blow-Up" and "La... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/new-englands-joyous-composer/59570/ Wed, 1 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST Charles Ives (1874–1954) was a delightful American paradox. The composer of such moving, Brahmsian orchestral works as "Three Places in New England" and Symphony no. 3 "The Camp Meeting," could also be a rip-roaring Connecticut Yankee. Early on, Ives combined a successful career in insurance with avant-garde composition, at a pace that eventually took its toll. Diabetes led to other physical problems, and after a health crisis in his early 40s, he stopped composing and doing business. Now a new... BENJAMiN iVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/bergman-was-more-than-a-filmmaker/59496/ Tue, 31 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST When the death of the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman at age 89 was reported in yesterday's news outlets, the attention focused on his 50-or-so films, including masterpieces such as "Smiles of a Summer Night" (1955); "Wild Strawberries" (1957); "Scenes from a Marriage" (1973); "The Magic Flute "(1975); "Autumn Sonata" (1978); "Fanny and Alexander" (1982); and "Saraband" (2003). Yet Bergman, who reportedly died at his home in Fĺrö, Sweden, prized his theater work first, and directed more than... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/man-of-characters/59095/ Wed, 25 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST France can be slow to give its literary greats their due. Only in 2004 were the fascinating letters of the French prose poet, novelist, doctor, and archaeologist Victor Segalen (1878–1919) published by Fayard in Paris, in an edition containing some 1,500 letters of which around 1,300 were previously unpublished. In America, Segalen's available work has been the novel "René Leys" (New York Review Books, 240 pages, $14), translated by J.A. Underwood and prefaced amusingly by Ian Buruma. Now... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/new-face-for-the-phil/58745/ Thu, 19 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST The news that conductor Alan Gilbert, a 40-year-old New York native who serves as chief conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, has been named the next music director of the New York Philharmonic, comes as a surprise, and a rather mysterious one at that. Mr. Gilbert, who will succeed the venerable current music director Lorin Maazel, is the first native New Yorker to win this job, which has been held by such world-famous musical legends as Arturo Toscanini, Willem Mengelberg... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/painting-with-the-energy-of-the-city/58384/ Fri, 13 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST On July 26, the Neue Galerie opens "Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: Berlin Street Scene," an exhibit centering around a celebrated oil on canvas from 1913–14, which is prescient in its view of the urban experience. Kirchner's proudly garbed scissor-people slash their way through the street with vibrant energy. The two men and two women in the forefront of "Berliner Strassenszene" (Berlin Street Scene, 1913–14) crowd us, imposing their physicality upon us, much as a tourist in today's Berlin may... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/wilfrid-sheeds-musical-house-of-cards/58142/ Tue, 10 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST One of the great aspects of America's popular songs is that everyone has the right to hum them, whether they are by Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, or Harold Arlen. This truly democratic music belongs to us all, and any listener can enjoy its tunes. Hence the veteran journalist Wilfrid Sheed has every right to publish "The House That George Built: With a Little Help From Irving, Cole, and a Crew of About Fifty" (Random House, 339 pages, $29.95). Mr. Sheed, born in... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/barreling-through-lifes-obstacles/57971/ Fri, 6 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST The American soprano Beverly Sills (1929–2007), who died this week of lung cancer at age 78, won national fame by her dauntless following of Hollywood stereotypes. From a childhood spent performing on radio and film as a Shirley Temple wannabe, she grew into a trilling iron butterfly in the Jeanette McDonald, Deanna Durbin, and Lily Pons tradition. Trained for decades by the vocal coach Estelle Liebling, Sills, who was born Belle Miriam Silverman of Romanian-Ukrainian Jewish ancestry, developed... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/outsize-operatic-life/57705/ Mon, 2 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST Wagnerians often complain that in the 1930s and '40s, opera goers could thrill to voices such as the Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad and the Danish tenor Lauritz Melchior, the likes of which have vanished from the earth. While this is doubtless true, some exceptional singers bridge the gap between the Golden Age and today by being able to sing operasthatrequireheroicvocalstamina. The Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson (1918–2005),who said that the key requirement for singing Wagner's Isolde was... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/piafs-pain-was-the-worlds-pleasure/55995/ Wed, 6 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST It makes sense that the French torch singer Édith Piaf (1915–63) should be the subject of the much buzzed-about new film, "La Vie en Rose," which opens Friday. After all, Piaf's remarkable career has always benefited from sentimental mythologizing, notably in "Piaf," the 1978 British stage play by Pam Gems, starring Jane Lapotaire in the title role, later filmed for TV. There was also the 1983 film "Édith and Marcel" by the noted director Claude Lelouch, which immortalized Piaf's tragic romance... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/squabbling-over-schumann/55115/ Thu, 24 May 2007 00:00:00 EST The 19th-century German composer Robert Schumann (1810–1856) is beloved for his music evoking romantic love, as in the song cycle "Dichterliebe," and the love of children and childhood, as in the piano work "Kinderszenen." There are also many pieces by Schumann which sound at times like they are teetering on the brink of madness; his life sadly ended with a period of insanity, following a failed suicide attempt. The passionate relationship between Schumann and his wife, Clara, a noted pianist... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/translating-corneille/54537/ Wed, 16 May 2007 00:00:00 EST Many are called to translate French literary masterpieces, but few are chosen. Among the few wholly admirable versions of French classics produced by American poets of today are Richard Howard's translations of Baudelaire, Marie Ponsot's La Fontaine, and Richard Wilbur's Moličre. Mr. Wilbur, born in New York City in 1921, was initially inspired by a 1940s visit to Paris during which he saw a lively production of Moličre's ferocious comedy "The Misanthrope" directed by and starring the French... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/what-made-slava-run/53444/ Mon, 30 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST The multitude of tributes to the late Russian cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich, who died last week in Moscow at age 80, dealt with the "public myth" of this famed musician, as Italy's Il Giornale put it. In November 1989, after the Berlin Wall was breached, Rostropovich hopped on the private jet of his friend the French tycoon Antoine Riboud, founder and CEO of the food giant Danone, in order to play the cello beside the Wall, a moment that was televised around the world. In 1991, in... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/giddy-letters-of-the-mozart-family/52925/ Fri, 20 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST Some great composers were also great letter writers, producing correspondence that makes gratifying reading for everyone, not just musicologists. Yet in the book world today, where translations of letters can be anathema to publishers, dazzling epistolary artists like the Flemish composer Roland de Lassus (1532–1594) and the Frenchman Emmanuel Chabrier (1841–1894) remain untranslated into English. Fortunately, Mozart (1756–1791) does not labor under the same obscurity. Doubtless because of... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/scavenger-of-classical-music/52835/ Thu, 19 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST In zoology, scavengers commit necrophagy, feeding on corpses or carrion. Music journalism too has its decomposers, and the British author Norman Lebrecht has long profited by declaring classical music dead. Currently Arts Editor and columnist at the London Evening Standard, Mr. Lebrecht has now published "The Life and Death of Classical Music: Featuring the 100 Best and 20 Worst Recordings Ever Made" (Anchor, 307 pages, $14.95). Death and dying are integral parts of Mr. Lebrecht's personal... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/so-vonnegut-goes/52508/ Mon, 16 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST The novelist Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922–2007), who died last week, was an original literary tinkerer, fusing together genres like science fiction and satire in masterfully rhythmic prose in his best books, such as "Slaughterhouse-Five" and "Cat's Cradle." His jokey, tricky style was peppered with repeated phrases as a kind of punctuation, such as "so it goes" and "hiho." These exclamations — others included "I had to laugh" and "small world" — seemed deliberately designed to prevent academics from... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/in-this-exhibit-its-hello-dalai/51515/ Fri, 30 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST Religious portraiture is a delicate subject in our day. The heads of major religions more often appear to be bureaucrats than heroes, pen pushers rather than warrior saints. It would be hard, for example, to imagine a museum show of images inspired by Rowan Williams, the Welshman currently serving as Archbishop of Canterbury, who is head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Besides, to accurately depict the current schisms in the Anglican Church, any such exhibit would also require images of... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/high-priestess-of-ideals/51415/ Thu, 29 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST Critics tend to discount political advocacy when it is inspired by sexual desire. Jean Genet's support of causes ranging from Arab rights to black power has been ascribed to that writer's libido, while E. M. Forster's objections to the abuses of colonialism were recently discounted in the Literary Review by V.S. Naipaul, who in 2001 called Forster a "nasty homosexual" whose only interest during his passages to India was procuring "garden boys." Never mind that the timid, tiny Forster was in... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/music-of-bach-we-didnt-know/51038/ Fri, 23 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST The music of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) gives us a unique earful of divine glory and omnipotence. Whether the mighty "Saint Matthew Passion," the poignant "Goldberg Variations," or the mystical "Musical Offering," Bach's works retain their essential mystery and surprise. The more we listen to Bach, it seems the less we know about him. The familiar "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" for organ fervently played by everyone from the Phantom of the Opera to Erich von Stroheim in "Sunset... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/glimpses-into-the-polish-sublime/50234/ Mon, 12 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST An old saying asserts that the English take their pleasures sadly; by contrast, Poles often leaven the abundant tragedies of their lives with irony and even wit. This attractive sensibility survives translation, which makes it a pity that more fine Polish literature has not yet been translated into English. Efforts to redress this lack should be applauded, even flawed ones like "Polish Writers on Writing" (Trinity University Press, 263 pages, $60). Alissa Valles, who most recently translated... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/prokofievs-joyous-dynamism/49999/ Wed, 7 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST Few modern composers have created more enchanting melodies than Sergey Prokofiev, who wrote the sprightly "Peter and the Wolf" for narrator and orchestra, the swaggeringly romantic ballet "Romeo and Juliet," and the zesty, ultra-Russian "Lieutenant Kijé" suite. Yet in his "Memories and Commentaries" co-written with Robert Craft, Igor Stravinsky refers to Prokofiev's "lack of intellect and culture" and quotes the ballet impresario Serge Diaghilev as believing that Prokofiev was "stupid." Part of... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/curb-your-anti-semitism/48976/ Wed, 21 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST Voltaire once famously called Shakespeare a "drunken savage" who created a "crass and barbarous" play. He was referring to "Hamlet," but he might have had "The Merchant of Venice" (1597) in mind. The so-called "comedy" of a tantrum-throwing Jewish moneylender, Shylock, who demands a pound of flesh from a Gentile borrower, still disturbs audiences, as it did in 1600 when the play was first published with a lengthy title excoriating the "extreame crueltie of Shylocke the Iewe." Sixty years after... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/menottis-bizarre-legacy/48739/ Thu, 15 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST Except for such rare examples as Verdi and Monteverdi, opera composers continue working into old age at their own peril. Such is the conclusion to be drawn from the hasty obituaries of Gian Carlo Menotti (1911–2007) who died earlier this month at age 95. Misunderstandings were rife, as when Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb told the Associated Press that Menotti was "one of America's greatest composers." Menotti was, of course, not an American composer at all; born near Lake Lugano... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/new-generation-embraces-the-theremin/48711/ Thu, 15 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST During Armen Ra's last concert at the Gershwin Hotel, a concert audience sat transfixed at the sight onstage. Wearing heavy makeup and a simple black evening dress, the Armenian Mr. Ra stood in front of an odd machine with protruding antennae, his outstretched hands trembling, causing a weirdly compelling wailing, recognizable as tunes by Bizet, Chopin, and Puccini. "I also throw in things like the 'Laverne and Shirley' theme song," Mr. Ra said to one interviewer. This unexpected mix of... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/woody-guthries-hard-rock/48616/ Wed, 14 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST Posthumous cults can be dangerously misleading. Such is the message, whether intentional or not, of "Prophet Singer: The Voice and Vision of Woody Guthrie" by Mark Allan Jackson (University Press of Mississippi, 303 pages, $50). This new study analyzes the legacy of Guthrie (1912–1967), who wrote the famous populist empowerment anthem, "This Land Is Your Land." Guthrie, a scrawny, frizzy-haired folkie from Oklahoma whose lack of personal hygiene was a joke among musical colleagues, sang with an... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/sparring-poet-zbigniew-herbert/48150/ Wed, 7 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST To an extent rare in our age of pampered poets who are tenured professors, the Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert (1924 –1998) combined a life of torment with writings distinguished by equanimity, indeed ataraxia, a term from Stoic philosophy which describes transcendence of material things. Herbert was a bellicose Stoic who bragged about fighting duels over matters of honor in life, and did the same in his poems. An overdue assemblage of his published verse, "The Collected Poems: 1956-1998" (Ecco... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/francis-bacons-ghostly-presence/47931/ Fri, 2 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST When a modern painting tops $20 million at auction, a certain Rubicon of fame and prestige has been crossed. On February 8 at Christie's in London, "Study for Portrait II" (1956) by the British painter Francis Bacon (1909–1992) is expected to sell for about $23 million, a record for the artist. One of a series of Bacon works depicting somber popes on thrones, "Study for Portrait II" — which according to the Daily Tele graph belongs to Sophia Loren — will handily top the record $15 million paid... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/family-circle-of-hell/47359/ Thu, 25 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST To paraphrase Tolstoy, "Every happy family snapshot is the same, but unhappy family photos are all different." Such might be a tentative conclusion from "Family Pictures," which opens February 9 at the Guggenheim Museum. The exhibit, which includes work by Gregory Crewdson, Loretta Lux, and Robert Mapplethorpe, among others, aims to explore the "representation of families and children in contemporary photography and video." It also raises the question: Is it acceptable to use one's own family... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/say-it-with-flowers/46323/ Tue, 9 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST Fifty years ago, at the 100th anniversary of Charles Baudelaire's 1857 poetry collection "Les Fleurs du Mal" (Flowers of Evil), the French writer Pierre Jean Jouve stated, "'Les Fleurs du Mal' is no centenarian!" In 2007, on its 150th birthday, the book retains its freshness. A new prose translation by avant-garde American author Keith Waldrop (Wesleyan University Press, 228 pages, $24.95) and "The Writer of Modern Life: Essays on Charles Baudelaire" by Walter Benjamin (Harvard University... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/emperors-new-libretto/45330/ Mon, 18 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST Fans who relished the Chinese novelist Ha Jin's "Waiting" (1999) and "War Trash" (2004), both of which won the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction, may be surprised to see his name listed as co-author of the libretto for Tan Dun's much ballyhooed opera "The First Emperor," which will have its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera on December 21. Mr. Jin, who has already announced in interviews that his first opera libretto will also be his last, seems the most surprised at all. Yet this writer's... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/george-gershwins-rhapsody-of-life/45072/ Wed, 13 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST "Fascinating Rhythm" is more than just the title of a hit song by George Gershwin. It encapsulates the gracefully entrancing, endearingly catchy quality of his songs written for stage and screen like "Lady be Good," "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," "Nice Work If You Can Get It," and "'S Wonderful," each deservedly a permanent part of American culture. During his brief lifetime — he died of a brain tumor aged 38 — Gershwin, who also wrote "Rhapsody in Blue," "An American in Paris,"and "Porgy... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/winnie-and-the-wolf/44918/ Mon, 11 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST Adolf Hitler — apart from his graver sins — had lousy taste in the arts, applauding mediocrities like the sculptor Arno Breker and writer Gerhard Hauptmann, with the partial exception of music. Hitler adored Schubert, Mozart, Franz Lehár, and most famously, Wagner. Boycotting these great composers today because Hitler favored them would be like branding all vegetarians Nazis because Hitler professed to be a herbivore. Richard Wagner, an indubitable Nazi favorite, had Bayreuth, an entire village... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/brittens-queen-for-the-ages/44150/ Mon, 27 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST The Queen, it seems, is all the rage. First it was television, on which Dame Helen Mirren made her wildly successful acting turn as Elizabeth I in the eponymous Golden Globe-winning TV film. Then it was the movies, in which Ms. Mirren played Queen Elizabeth II in film director Stephen Frears's much buzzed about "The Queen." Now such royal mania may extend to the opera stage, where there are signs that a longdismissed opera by Benjamin Britten about Elizabeth I,"Gloriana," may finally be gaining... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/free-market-mozart/42237/ Wed, 25 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST Like most birthday celebrations, the hoopla surrounding the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birth in Salzburg, Austria, has had its highs and lows. For me, the apogee was a series of three concerts this month at Alice Tully Hall. Mozart's concertos and symphonies were performed with grace and emotion by the Hungarian-born pianist/conductor András Schiff and his instrumental ensemble, the Capella Andrea Barca. At the other extreme, there have also been kitsch exports, ostensibly... BENJAMIN IVRY http://www.nysun.com/arts/feminine-mystique/41208/ Tue, 10 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST Franz Schubert is — alongside Bach — my favorite classical composer, for the range of his supremely moving works, including his songs and piano pieces; his String Quintet in C; and his Symphony 9 in C major, subtitled "The Great." Schubert's music, whether for large or small forces, flows clearly and naturally like a mountain stream. It is noble, heartfelt, eloquent, and unaffectedly direct. Because Schubert, a roundfaced and amiable character, died at age 31, many of his works were only...