Concert Notes
Hungary Torn
Hungary Torn By Leon Botstein Written for the concert Hungary Torn, performed on May 2, 2013 at Carnegie Hall. The consequences of the rise of fascism in the 1930s and the Second World War have continued to command our attention, despite the passage of time. The reasons are largely obvious. During the war, millions of…
Read MoreThe Hungarian Jewish Composers of WWII
The Hungarian Jewish Composers of WWII By Péter Bársony Written for the concert Hungary Torn, performed on May 2, 2013 at Carnegie Hall. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Liszt Music Academy had the highest ratio of Jewish students among all Hungarian universities. Between 1915 and 1919, almost half of all music students…
Read MoreErnő Dohnányi, Szeged Mass
Ernő Dohnányi, Szeged Mass By Peter Laki Written for the concert Hungary Torn, performed on May 2, 2013 at Carnegie Hall. “Musical life in Budapest today may be summed up in one name—Dohnányi.” These words were written by Béla Bartók in a 1920 article for the New York Musical Courier. A decade later, when the present…
Read MoreThe Vampire
The Vampire By Leon Botstein Written for the concert The Vampire, performed on March 17, 2013 at Carnegie Hall. The great novelist Vladimir Nabokov ridiculed the common impulse to find symbolic meaning, particularly of a Freudian kind, in any narrative or witnessed event. But he might have made an exception for the long-standing fascination in…
Read MoreMusic and the Romantic Vampire
Music and the Romantic Vampire By Thomas Grey Written for the concert The Vampire, performed on March 17, 2013 at Carnegie Hall. While the vampire as a figure of folklore or legend goes back to ancient times and can be traced around the globe, the modern literary vampire was born in the company of Doctor…
Read MoreMusical Expression and the Challenge of Twentieth Century History
Musical Expression and the Challenge of Twentieth Century History By Leon Botstein Written for the concert Truth or Truffles, performed on Feb 10, 2013 at Carnegie Hall. 19th-century Europe witnessed unprecedented social and economic transformations. Among the most lasting (albeit erratic) of these was the expansion of literacy, most noticeable in Europe’s rapidly growing cities.…
Read MoreKarl Amadeus Hartmann, Gesangsszene
Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Gesangsszene By Byron Adams Written for the concert Truth or Truffles, performed on Feb 10, 2013 at Carnegie Hall. Karl Amadeus Hartmann is a shining example of the composer as a principled dissident. As Michael H. Kater has observed, “we must continue to accept the hitherto reported version that Hartmann was opposed…
Read MoreRichard Strauss, Schlagobers
Richard Strauss, Schlagobers By Byron Adams Written for the concert Truth or Truffles, performed on Feb 10, 2013 at Carnegie Hall. To say that Karl Kraus, the radical Viennese essayist and founder of the satirical journal Die Fackel, disliked Richard Strauss’ ballet Schlagobers, op. 70 (“Whipped Cream”) would be an understatement: “But now even his…
Read MoreWhat Makes a Masterpiece
What Makes a Masterpiece By Leon Botstein Written for the concert What Makes a Masterpiece, performed on Jan 25, 2013 at Carnegie Hall. It is rare that one gets to match wits with a distinguished colleague before the public on a subject, and debate a matter of importance. As a reader of the program notes…
Read MoreA Master, a Protégé, and an Epigone
A Master, a Protégé, and an Epigone By David Brodbeck Written for the concert What Makes a Masterpiece, performed on Jan 25, 2013 at Carnegie Hall. Tonight’s program brings together a familiar symphony by a canonic composer, an unfamiliar symphony by another canonic composer, and a forgotten symphony by a forgotten composer. This may at…
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