Sunday, June 18, 2017

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra wins the Stanley Cup!



Baltimore Symphony Orchestra music director, Marin Alsop

Well, almost. Maybe, they won the Symphony Cup.

The crowd was so enthusiastic and vigorous at Strathmore Saturday night, I thought I was at a Caps' game or the Nats, either one, take your pick, this was not a dry, sophisticated, ho hum, la-dee-daa audience, but one which fell head over heels for violin soloist Gil Shaham who played Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61, and, of course, for the second act, the orchestra performed Camille Saint-Saëns' Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78, famously known as the "Organ Symphony" (and the reason for my being...there). 
Camille Saint-Saëns/All Music

Audience members leapt to their feet and screamed "Bravo!  Bravo!" so many times, it was like the last of the Caps' games, in the playoffs, in the Stanley Cup race when, at last, they finally made it past the Evil Monsters Pittsburg Penguins, and the Caps won!

No quite, but coming down to Earth, I was at the Baltimore Symphony which thrilled the audience, in love with their orchestra and conductor Marin Alsop like no other.

Last year was the orchestra's 100th birthday! Celebrate!  

And it did with a fine program to thrill any music lover, beginning with The Game commissioned of Christopher Theofanidis, who was on hand to introduce the work, a loud, energetic, delightful piece filled with horns and gaiety, perfect for a birthday commemoration.  Not one of those dull, stifling, silent pieces often associated with contemporary drama.  Baa humbug.

And to add to the celebration was the recognition of three retiring musicians who together have played for the BSO more than 100 years! 

It was the first I have seen scalpers outside a symphony hall pre-performance trying to sell tickets to a sold-out show.

Congratulations, Baltimore!  Let the band play on next season!  Bravo! Bravo! Just in time for subscribers to sign up.

patricialesli@gmail.com

Saturday, June 10, 2017

Movie 'Obit,' a must for political junkies


Jeff Roth in Obit/Green Fuse Films, Inc.
Dear Junkies,

You'll love it.

As everyone knows (or, at least, the dwindling number who read newspapers), "obit" is short for "obituary," a place formerly reserved for neophytes at newspapers of yesteryear but, as portrayed in this clever documentary of the same title, a place where senior newspapermen go to produce their craft, turn out their stories, and capture the lives of notables in generally 800 words or less.

A handful of white male writers (okay, there is one white female writer) describe
individually "A Day in the Life of an Obituary Writer at the New York Times," how their subjects are chosen, how they find out details about the deceased, and how they put it all together before deadline.

They discuss reasons for choosing particular subjects. (Does the word "died" have to appear near the top of the story if the word is in the headline?)

They search the Times' morgue where 30 employees used to work, and now, there is one. (Sigh: technology.)

What was surprising in this era of "fact checking" was the lack of fact checking (unless I missed it, but Sheila says I didn't) by the writers who probe families for information about the deceased. They just accept everything that's handed off as the truth?

One writer says he presumed a dead man was a Democratic congressman from Illinois since the family was Democratic, however, the writer's presumption was wrong, which he learned the next day when the obit ran and he received a email notice of error. Which means a correction in the paper.

Also, I presumed that advances were prepared for all notables, but how could that possibly happen when there are so many?

They come and go, and what exactly defines a "notable"? (A Wikipedia writer I met a few months ago at Chilean President Michelle Bachelet's talk at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told me Wikipedia's writers and researchers frequently wrestle with this topic: Who are the notables? And where did they go?)

Anyway, I believe the NYT department head said they had about 1,500 advances done, with the oldest from 1931 and the person is still living! (Kirk Douglas? He's only 101.)

Advancing age and known illnesses (an editor picked up on an imminent death by a trailer running along the bottom of the television screen) mean an advance may be prepared, but the department is often surprised by "untimely" deaths, like Michael Jackson's and Prince's.

Moviegoers who are not political/news junkies will probably find Obit a bit dull, and even for a junkie like me, it dragged.

Nevertheless, it is a fascinating look inside the "old gray lady" whose large coterie of obit writers strike an outsider as chiefly down-to-earth types looking to write the best about life. 


An obit is not a story about death:  It's a celebration of life.

A film not to miss!

Congratulations to the female director, Vanessa Gould!

patricialesli@gmail.com

Monday, June 5, 2017

Free Bach Brandenburg concert, Wednesday, St. John's, Lafayette Square


Mary Bowden/Photo by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco

Classical trumpeter Mary Bowden will join the 20 members of the U.S. Air Force Strings Ensemble Wednesday to play Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in a free noontime concert at St. John's Episcopal Church at Lafayette Square.

Ms. Bowden, who has accompanied Adele on tour, began fulltime college music studies at the age of 14. Gramaphone has called her "brilliant" and “radiant in new repertoire for trumpet,” an adaptation of "radiant" which appears in the title of her recently released first album, "Radiance."  

A worldwide performer, Ms. Bowden has placed first in many competitions.
 The U.S. Air Force Strings Ensemble


Air Force Strings is one of six musical ensembles of the U.S. Air Force Band. The Strings' portfolio includes wide-ranging styles from classical to rock, bluegrass, Broadway, and patriotic selections, played without a conductor. 


Also on Wednesday's program is "Serenade for String" by George Antheil (1900-1959), an avante-garde composer and inventor (Wikipedia).

The concert is the last of this year's First Wednesday Concerts series at St. John's.
St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie

St. John's was founded in 1815 and is known to Washington residents as the yellow church at Lafayette Square. It's often called the “Church of the Presidents” since beginning with President James Madison, who was president from 1809 to 1817, every president has attended services at the church


A plaque at the rear of St. John's designates the pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by the church during the Civil War. 

Benjamin Latrobe, the "father of American architecture" who designed the U.S. Capitol and the White House porticos, created the plan for St. John's Church using a Greek cross.  

 
The church bell, which weighs almost 1,000 pounds, was cast by Paul Revere's son, Joseph, in 1822 and hung at the church that year where it has rung since. Wikipedia says two accounts report that whenever the bell rings on the occasion of the death of a notable person, six male ghosts appear at the president's pew at midnight and quickly disappear. (Who's counting?) 


Dolley Madison, wife of President Madison, was baptized and confirmed at St. John's which is "one of the few original remaining buildings left near Lafayette Park today,"
according to the National Park Service.

Following tradition, President Donald J. Trump and his family began his presidency on the morning of January 20, 2017 with private services at St. John's.

For those on lunch break, food trucks are located nearby at Farragut Square.

 

Another concert not to miss!
 
Who:  Mary Bowden and the U.S. Air Force Strings presenting Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 and Antheil's "Serenade for Strings"

What:
First Wednesday Concerts

When: 12:10 p.m., June 7, 2017

Where:
St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16th, Washington, D.C. 20005

How much: No charge

Duration: About 35 minutes

Wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square (White House exit), Farragut North, or Farragut West

For more information: Contact Michael Lodico, St. John's director of music ministry and organist, 202-270-6265 or
Michael.Lodico@stjohns-dc.org.
 
 

patricialesli@gmail.com




Sunday, June 4, 2017

Today is the last day for Della Robbia in the U.S. and Washington

Outside the West Garden Court, the Della Robbia exhibition welcomes visitors at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie
Giovanni della Robbia (1469-1529-1530), Resurrection of Christ, 1520-1525, loaned by the Brooklyn MuseumHundreds of years ago this hung on a garden gate at the Antinoris' villa near Florence, Italy, the family who helped sponsor the exhibition and made possible the year-long conservation project of Resurrection which was moved for the first time in more than 100 years from Brooklyn for the show. The sculpture is 12 feet wide.  (Writer's note:  These photos do not convey the size, scope, and depth of these pieces.)/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525), Prudence, c. 1475, Metropolitan Museum of Art. She is the cover of the catalog, a double-faced head who gazes into the future on the left while an old man on the right who bears a resemblance to Prudence, considers the past, his beard mixing with her hair. The snake here is "a biblical symbol of wisdom," the label says.  The diameter is about 5'4"/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525), Bust of a Boy, 1475, Museo Nazionale del Bargello which welcomes visitors to the exhibition.  The boy glances to his left, yearning to hear what is happening behind him where visitors chat and admire The Visitation, c. 1445 by Luca della Robbia (1399/1400-1482)/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Luca della Robbia (1399/1400-1482) The Visitation, c. 1445, Church of San Giovanni Fuorcivitas, Pistoia. The National Gallery of Art says The Visitation is "a masterpiece of 15th-century art in any medium" which came to the U.S. for the first trip for this exhibition.

"The nearly life-size composition depicts the emotional moment from the Gospel of Luke when the pregnant Virgin Mary is welcomed by her elderly cousin Elizabeth, pregnant with St. John the Baptist. Formed fully in the round, the two figures were fired in four individual pieces that fit securely together," the National Gallery explains/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Luca della Robbia (1399/1400-1482) The Visitation, c. 1445, Church of San Giovanni Fuorcivitas, Pistoia/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Luca della Robbia (1399/1400-1482) The Visitation, c. 1445, Church of San Giovanni Fuorcivitas, Pistoia/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Luca della Robbia (1399/1400-1482) The Visitation, c. 1445, Church of San Giovanni Fuorcivitas, Pistoia/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525), Adoration of the Christ Child (the Ruskin Madonna), after 1477, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.  Known as the Ruskin Madonna due to its ownership by the writer and art critic, John Ruskin (1819-1900) who called it "quite one of the most precious things I have." In his study Adoration hung over the mantle/Photo by Patricia Leslie
From left are works by Girolamo della Robbia (1488-1566): the Bust of a Man, 1526-1535, Bust of a Woman, about 1530, Francis I (1494-1547), King of France, 1529, and Bust of a Classical Hero or Emperor, c. 1530. Lenders were the J. Paul Getty Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Cleveland Museum of Art/Photo by Patricia Leslie
These five feet tall saints made by a Della Robbia competitor, Santi Buglioni (1494-1576) "are impressive for their scale and charismatic presence," according to the National Gallery, "but proved difficult to fire, as indicated by the large cracks and peculiarities visible in the glazed surfaces." Lenders were an American private collector, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Gallerie degli Uffizi/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Andrea della Robbia, Rondel with Head of a Youth, c. 1470-1480, Detroit Institute of Arts/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Luca della Robbia the Younger, 1475-1548, Adoring Angel, 1510-1515, private collection. This artist is called "the younger" to distinguish him from his uncle, the Della Robbia art style founder /Photo by Patricia Leslie
Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525), Cherub, c. 1500, private collection. This is one of two similar statues, both likely made for the frame of a church.  Andrea and his wife had 12 children and he was well versed in their expressions, the label copy notes/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Giovanni della Robbia (1469-1529-1530), Dovizia (Abundance), c. 1520, Minneapolis Institute of Art. Note the similarities with Judith (below) which stands at the entrance to the exhibition with Dovizia/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Giovanni della Robbia (1469-1529/1530), Judith, c. 1520, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The biblical Judith, who risked her life to save Florence, holds the head of the enemy commander Holofernes, whom she enticed with wine/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Luca della Robbia (1399/1400-1482) The Visitation, c. 1445, Church of San Giovanni Fuorcivitas, Pistoia/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Luca della Robbia (1399/1400-1482) The Visitation, c. 1445, Church of San Giovanni Fuorcivitas, Pistoia/Photo by Patricia Leslie


Today is the last day of display at the National Gallery of Art
and in the United States of the colorful Italian Renaissance terra cotta sculptures of the famously known Della Robbia.

In Italy the pieces graced public spaces, gardens, courtyards, and private homes, including hundreds of years later, some American homes whose owners, like Isabella Stewart Gardner of Boston, traveled abroad and collected them.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston  organized the 40 pieces in the show which hung there first before coming to Washington.
  
Three generations of Della Robbia artists are associated with the art form beginning with the inventor, Luca della Robbia (1399/1400-1482) who founded the glazing technique that combined baked clay with brilliant colors to produce the pieces which have endured 600 years and more.

Following Luca were his nephew, Andrea (1435-1525) and Andrea's sons, Giovanni (1469-1529/1530) and  Girolamo (1488-1566).  Some of the show's art comes from competitors

Della Robbia: Sculpting with Color in Renaissance Florence is the title of the 176-paged catalog with 130 color pictures, many which cover entire pages. Written by Marietta Cambareri, a senior curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and one of the two curators for the show with the National Gallery's Alison Luchs, the book is available at the Gallery's gift shops or here.

The American people are grateful to the sponsors which made the exhibition possible including the Altria Group on behalf of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, the Antinori family, Sally Engelhard Pingree, the Charles Engelhard Foundation, the Buffy and William Cafritz Family Foundation, and the Exhibition Circle for their generous support."
 
What: Della Robbia: Sculpting with Color in Renaissance Florence

When: The National Gallery of Art is open 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sunday. The exhibition closes today.

Where: West Building, the National Gallery of Art, between Third and Ninth streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. On the Mall.

Admission charge:
None

Metro stations for the National Gallery of Art
:
Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: 202-737-4215

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