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Neil Kurtzman
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Comments and reviews of opera, music, and medicine
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Puccini 100 Years After
Nov 26, 2024Tap to summarizeSunday was the 100th anniversary of the death of the last great master of Italian opera – Giacomo Puccini. So great is the composer’s hold on opera’s audience that of the seven most performed operas at the Met three are by Verdi, three by Puccini – the remaining one is Carmen. There is nothing I can add to the accolades heaped on the composer. He had almost everything: a unique melodic gift, a sense of the dramatic, and a mastery of stagecraft. The only attribute that separated him from opera’s supreme master, Giuseppe Verdi, was a narrower focus. But what he touched turned to musical gold. He could grasp the emotional core of his listeners with an intensity granted to very few composers The three top Puccini operas mentioned above are La Bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly. A century is a long time to await the arrival of another lyric genius. It may well be that opera’s time as a living art form has permanently passed. All it will take to prove this prophecy of artistic doom wrong is the appearance of a genius. One can always hope for an operatic messiah, but such an appearance is beyond rare. The best way to commemorate Puccini’s death is with some of his music. Butterfly Love Duet Natalya Romaniw and Freddie De TommasoButterfly Humming Chorus
Transcribe →Tosca in HD 2024
Nov 24, 2024Tap to summarizePuccini’s political melodrama was presented at the Met for the 1017th time. This performance was the fourth presentation of the opera on the Met’s HD series. All three leads sang their roles for the first time at the Met in this season’s run. David McVicar’s traditional staging works very well. Presenting a Puccini opera as he intended may be out of vogue, but he knew more about drama and staging than any stage director since David Belasco. The opera works or not depending on the three leads and the conductor. Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen is a vocal phenomenon. She has a voice reminiscent of Birgit Nilsson at the top of its range. But she has the wrong personality and style for Tosca who is definitely not a Nordic type. Nevertheless, the sheer power of her singing compensated for the coolness of her acting. Oddly when she sang pianissimo her voice tended to evaporate She is due to sing Fidelio at the Met later in the season. The role of Leonora is ideal for her talent. The Puccini opera she should be singing is Turandot. The British tenor Freddie De Tommaso made his Met debut as Cavaradoss this season. He started as a baritone and his sturdy tenor still has baritonal overtones. In Act 1 his tone was a little dry, but it loosened as the show progressed. His high notes have ping and he phrases very well. ‘E lucevan le stelle’ was sung with style and pathos – a strong delivery of the uber-famous aria. He sounds ready for the big spinto Verdi roles – which apparently are already in his repertoire. A welcome addition to the Met’s roster. At age 31 the opera world should be his for the next 20 years assuming Fortune stays on his side. His only problem during this show was that standing next to Davidsen, who’s over six feet tall, he looked like Tiny Archibald alongside Wilt Chamberlain. This height disparity required even more suspension of disbelief than is typical of opera which always requires a lot. Quinn Kelsey has been at the Met since 2008. At first, he sang comprimario roles, but rapidly moved to the big baritone parts. He has a large beefy baritone which had just the right combination of menace and smooth vocal line to depict the villainy of one of opera’s most evil characters. He foreswore mustache-twirling for real acting. A superb performance by a baritone who is now at the top of his class. The Met’s orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s direction played beautifully except for a tiny mishap in the horns during Te Deum that ends Act 1. The orchestra is so good that an occasional blip is necessary to remind us its players are human. Nézet-Séguin’s tempi were sometimes a bit on the slow side, but in general, he created excitement at the appropriate times. The supporting players were all outstanding. Kevin Short has been playing small parts at the Met since 1991. As Angelotti, he displayed a booming voice that made me wonder why he hasn’t been given larger roles. Tony Stevenson has sung over 1,000 performances at the Met since 1993. He was smoothly deferential as Scarpia’s chief henchman Spoletta. Patrick Carfizzi, another Met comprimario regular, was both jolly and frightened during his Act 1 appearance as the Sacristan. In summary a fine performance mostly due to the brilliance of Puccini’s score and stage direction. It had exceptional voices marred only by the casting of a great soprano in a role not well suited for her temperament and vocal type. Worth catching the encore presentation next week if you missed today’s telecast. Tosca Giacomo Puccini | Luigi Illica/Giuseppe Giacosa Tosca……….Lise DavidsenCavaradossi……….Freddie De TommasoScarpia……….Quinn KelseySacristan……….Patrick CarfizziSpoletta……….Tony StevensonAngelotti……….Kevin ShortSciarrone……….Christopher JobShepherd……….Luka ZylikJailerWilliam……….Guanbo Su Conductor……….Yannick Nézet-SéguinProduction……….David McVicarDesigner……….John MacfarlaneLighting Designer……….David FinnMovement Director……….Leah HausmanVideo Director………..Gary Halvorson
Transcribe →Religion and Politics
Nov 20, 2024Tap to summarizeReligion, regardless of form or complexity, has been a constant in all human societies for as long as we can recall. Politics is likely just as ancient. I’ll define religion as the belief in and worship of a superhuman power or powers, especially a God or gods. The reader can extend the definition if so desired. I’ll also use the simplest definition for politics. The activities associated with the governance of any group, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power. Thus religion and politics can involve groups as small as a family or as large as multiple countries. The literature on each subject is vast and beyond the capacity of one person. My topic is not either of them, but rather the inner human need that requires their presence. Though clearly different they are often intertwined. I could give numerous examples of the interplay of the two from antiquity to the present, but Gibbon’s grand sentence sums up the combination. So intimate is the connexion between the throne and the altar, that the banner of the church has very seldom been seen on the side of the people. What happens when a large and increasing portion of a society or multitude of societies chooses to discard religion? People can make various decisions that run counter to their inner needs or desires. When religion is eschewed something must take its place. One can change one beverage for another, but fluid intake cannot be abandoned. The same is true for the need to believe in something beyond the concrete. Abandon religion and something else beyond the precise measurement of science will fill the vacuum. Increasingly, this substitute has been politics. Politics need not be necessarily irrational or the fulfillment of some inner need for spiritual satisfaction, yet it has increasingly moved to that spot. The purpose of national politics, expanding on the simple definition given above, is to organize the regulation of society by whatever system prevails in the involved country. The system can be tight or loose, central or diffuse, or relatively free or totalitarian. Regardless of what prevails large groups of people will oppose it either silently, begrudgingly, or actively sometimes to the point of violence. Up until comparatively recently, the two have acted as independent entities, though often in concert. The United States is atypical in that it has no state religion and even has a constitutional prohibition against the establishment of such a religion. It does, however, have more religions than Joseph’s coat had colors. Nevertheless, the adherents to these religions are shrinking. That politics can be a serious subject is attested by Aristotle’s work on politics. There are of course many more. They range from the scholarly, dispassionate, and erudite to the nefarious – Das Capital and Mein Kampf. But there has always been an emotional dimension to politics. This facet has been a feature since before the emergence of our species. The roles of faith and reason as adjudicators of our behavior have been both coordinated and opposed in the workings of society. Assigning a proper place for each is a sign of a healthy polity. But when religion is discarded or suppressed the need it satisfies is unassuaged. Those who have given up on religion may not even be aware that something important is missing. A substitute must be found even if the search and replacement are unconscious. When the search lands on politics discord is the result As indicated above, politics should be based on reason and analysis. But even the most careful examination of the rules that should govern people will yield different solutions from different minds. There will always be sharp disagreements as to how we should be governed. But even as emotions will inevitably creep into anything human, politics should be based as much as possible on reason rather than passion. Of course, that’s as much a wish as reality. Politics had always been a rough business. Clausewitz’s dictum that war is a continuation of politics by other means shows how hot the mechanics of governing can get. But even at its most extreme and error-filled, it should be based on an analysis of what’s best for the country and its citizens. Thus, the government and those who elect or appoint it may be terribly wrong but only because they made bad decisions that they thought were best at the time they were made. As the best and brightest of minds will inevitably disagree, establishing the rules of politics inevitably is a messy process. Religion, by contrast, is based on revelation and faith. To a believer, its truth is beyond question. Societies function best when religious toleration is ingrained into the fabric of life even when dispute is pushed to the edge of civil discourse. How does a society adapt when religion disappears spontaneously or by fiat? This vanishing act seems to be ubiquitous in much of the world. In some totalitarian states religion is a threat and it is suppressed and replaced by forced devotion to the state. In others, it is captured by the state and effectively becomes another bureau. In countries with real elections, political fervor increases as religious devotion diminishes. Humans, in the main, can’t function without irrational beliefs. The portion of mental activity previously directed to religious belief when transferred to politics results in vicious disputes over the best way to order society. Substituting politics in place of religion is not only harmful to mental equilibrium it results in angry and ineffective governance. Is there a solution? I can’t see one consistent with liberty. Asking people to calm down and be more tolerant likely won’t hurt but it is also just as likely to be without result. Life is full of problems without solutions. Santayana’s advice seems the only ready solace. No cure for life and death save to enjoy the interval.
Transcribe →The Greatest Musical Composition Ever – VI
Nov 16, 2024Tap to summarizeBeethoven’s Missa Solemnis is one of art’s mightiest thunderbolts. Written about the same time as the 9th Symphony, it was first performed in Saint Petersburg, Russia on April 7, 1824. The mass is scored for a quartet of vocal soloists, chorus, and orchestra. The first three parts were performed in Vienna a month later. A performance of the entire mass took place in a liturgical setting in 1830 in the Church of St. Peter and Paul in the Bohemian town of Varnsdorf. I’ve written about this work before, but its greatness is so acute that it deserves a return. Beethoven’s Solemn Mass is one of the supreme achievements in religious choral writing. Many critics rank it as supreme in the genre. In my opinion, there are only two other settings of the standard mass (requiem masses are in another category) that approach it in inspiration and compositional merit – Bach’s B-Minor Mass and Haydn’s Mass in Time of War (aka Paukenmesse). The five sections of the Beethoven Mass are the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Credo, and Angus Dei. The famous Benedictus is the final part of the Credo. Its justly earned renown is due to the beauty and intense feeling of its music. But in truth, these descriptors could be applied to any of the parts of Beethoven’s celestial creation. The entire mass sounds as if Beethoven had created a universe of his own. The Agnus Dei which I will present here is a setting of the plea “miserere nobis” (have mercy on us). It starts with the bass singing “Agnus Dei”, he is soon joined by the men’s chorus followed by the other soloists and the whole chorus. The music set to “Miserere” is especially beautiful. After a fugal passage, the music turns martial as in Haydn’s Mass in the Time of War. It ends with the word ‘pacem’ – peace. The recording of the Agnus Dei linked here was made in performance by the Cleveland Orchestra, soloists, and chorus conducted by George Szell. Beethoven Missa Solmnis Agnus Dei Why is this composition so great? Musicologists will offer erudite reasons that while accurate don’t get to the core of what makes a work of art supreme. Donald Tovey the esteemed British commentator on music wrote: “Not even Bach or Handel can show a greater sense of space and of sonority. There is no earlier choral writing that comes so near to recovering some of the lost secrets of the style of Palestrina. There is no choral and no orchestral writing, earlier or later, that shows a more thrilling sense of the individual colour of every chord, every position, and every doubled third or discord.” True, but completely inadequate as to why Beethoven’s famous note on the score that he gave to its dedicatee Archduke Rudolf of Austria is fulfilled – “From the heart – may it return to the heart!” A great artist works through a mysterious process. Great skill in the techniques of the particular art form practiced is needed, but it’s not enough. It’s inspiration that’s needed along with technical prowess. But what is inspiration? It’s the ability to touch the human heart. Like Potter Stewart and Conan-Doyle before him, we know it when we see or hear it, but words fail us when we try to define it. Great art touches the ineffable. There is some primitive center in whatever organ we choose to place the core of humanity that responds to art in proportion to its worth that we can experience but not articulate. Beethoven had a key that unlocked that center. Only a very small number of those keys have been made over the past two millennia.
Transcribe →The Ghost of COVID
Nov 11, 2024Tap to summarizeNiall Ferguson is a brilliant historian and commentator on current events. The following fragment of a sentence is from a recent article on the election. […the Covid vaccines that saved a significant number of older voters’ lives in 2021.] Ferguson’s topic is not the COVID vaccine, it’s politics. But he obviously thinks the vaccines were safe and effective. He likely hasn’t thought very much about the subject and has accepted the opinions of those around him. His area of expertise is not medicine or public health. The question here is did the COVID vaccines save the lives of older people during the late epidemic? If one believes they did what is the evidence that supports that conclusion? There are no controlled studies comparing age and sex-matched subjects who did or did not receive the vaccine. Thus, one must reach a conclusion on the effectiveness of these vaccines on less than ideal data. The epidemic lasted just a few years – roughly from 2020 to 2022. But that’s the same duration as the flu epidemic of 1918 to 1920. It subsided without a vaccine and during a time when its viral etiology was unknown. As I’ve repeatedly remarked, the natural history of an epidemic due to a respiratory virus is for the causal virus to become more contagious and less lethal over time. These conditions will favor the survival of such a virus compared to other strains that kill their host before they can spread. The conclusion that a virus appeared, a vaccine was developed and administered, and the epidemic subsided thus the vaccine was the cause of the epidemic’s disappearance is an example of post hoc ergo propter hoc reasoning. We know that vaccines against respiratory viruses are weakly effective at best. Dr Fauci himself has recently published a paper demonstrating this property of vaccines designed to guard against these viruses. The most likely explanation for the weak or absent effect of these vaccines is that respiratory viruses mutate so rapidly that by the time a vaccine is available for widespread use, the virus it was intended to prevent may have changed so much that the vaccine is not effective. This property is why the annual flu vaccines seem to do little to prevent the flu. The linked study examines the possible bias of studies that support administration of the flu vaccine. Evidence of bias in estimates of influenza vaccine effectiveness in seniors. So, is there any solid evidence that the COVID vaccines worked? There isn’t. Everyone is familiar with the famous people who were vaccinated on what seems like a continuous basis and who repeatedly contracted COVID. Dr Fauci and President Biden are likely the most prominent COVID repeaters. The vaccine has side effects. How frequent and serious is still up for debate. The general craziness that spread more rapidly than the virus has inhibited study of these side effects. Also antithetical to the acquisition of knowledge was the cry of ‘anti-vaxxer’ against anyone who questioned the safety and/or efficacy of the COVID vaccine. These issues should have been settled by dispassionate scientific examination of the relevant data rather than name calling. That a vaccine not subject to a large clinical trial might prove ineffective is not startling. Similarly, a vaccine with not even a short history might have serious side effects is also possible. Why we quarantined the healthy rather than the sick and demanded that those with little risk from the SARS virus be inoculated will be a source of wonderment in the future. The forfeiture of civil rights and employment against those at minimal risk from the virus who refused vaccination is a marker of disgrace among the so-called democratic countries. Sir Niall’s offhand remark that the COVID vaccine saved the lives of millions of seniors reminds me of Beethoven’s remark that away from his music he was no different from anyone else. Richard Feynman, the great physicist, made a similar remark about the opinions of scientists on subjects removed from their area of specialization. Ferguson has gone with the flow without examining the source of the current. Aside from the efficacy of the COVID vaccine, we don’t even know how many people died from the virus. Anyone who died from whatever cause and who had a positive COVID test was counted as a COVID death. Excess mortality did increase during the epidemic, but one can’t be sure if the virus was the cause or if the general decay and delay of medical treatment for other diseases that resulted from the mania caused by the epidemic was responsible. Thomas Sowell wrote a 422 page book on knowledge and decisions (Knowledge And Decisions) detailing the difficulty of both assessing the state of knowledge and the gap in getting it to both the decision makers and the public. In the more than half a century since he wrote the book the problem seems to have become even more acute. The mishandling of the COVID epidemic appears to have left disfiguring scars.
Transcribe →
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