Reading the essay “Theorie des Café Central” by Alfred Polgar (in English here and in German here), I was struck by the demographic similarities between the Café’s regular customers and heavy users of modern social media: “The Café Central lies on the Viennese latitude at the meridian of loneliness. Its inhabitants are, for the most… Continue reading Theory of the Café Central
Month: March 2017
Sommers Weltliteratur
So in a previous post I mentioned that Lessing regarded his own play Emilia Galotti as “a model of how a stage play should be constructed.” But I’ve never actually read Emilia Galotti – in fact, my education was 100% Lessing-free. He was an important guy….but am I ever going to sit down and slog through all… Continue reading Sommers Weltliteratur
Recent projects
I did the English text for this recording of Bruckner’s 2nd, 3rd and 7th symphonies. Part of it is on the website; the rest you would have to buy the recording to see. And last year I did the English text for Austrian artist Cornelia Mittendorfer’s green line project. Her photos of divided Cyprus are truly… Continue reading Recent projects
The Lady in the Hymnal
I grew up in a mainline Protestant church, where my family always spent the organist’s intro to a given hymn checking on who wrote the words, who composed the music, what country they were from, and when they lived. If we spotted someone who was famous outside of church, like Haydn or Arthur Sullivan, there… Continue reading The Lady in the Hymnal