Monthly Archives: May 2020
Domenico Viglione Borghese
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 31st May 2020Domenico Viglione Borghese (1877-1957) was an Italian baritone who was active at a time when there was an abundance of first rate Italian baritones. This unusual confluence of fine singers explains why Viglione Borghese is virtually forgotten today. Born the same year as Tita Ruffo, his path to the top of the operatic world was…
› Read the full entry
COVID-19 Mortality
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 29th May 2020Below are the latest CDC mortality rates for the coronavirus . The Five Scenarios The five COVID-19 Pandemic Planning Scenarios represent a range of possible parameters for COVID-19 in the United States. All parameter values are based on current COVID-19 surveillance data and scientific knowledge. Scenarios 1 through 4 are based on parameter values that…
› Read the full entry
Livin’ the Dream – Governments, Polls, and Other Blunders
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 23rd May 2020The current state of societal and economic collapse is completely the governments fault. Yet what’s seen as the solution? More Government action. Since the viral epidemic was recognized, we warned here that locking down the economy would make things a lot worse, which sure enough it did. We’ve had worse viral outbreaks, some within living…
› Read the full entry
Lethal Tenors
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th May 2020Serious operas typically end with one or more of the principals dead. The tenor is more often victim than perp. The following excerpts are from operas where the tenor is the killer, an unusual occurrence in an art form where tenors are usually the good guys. First Verdi’s Luisa Miller. The following description is adapted…
› Read the full entry
COVID-19: Back to Square 1
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 16th May 2020The country is gradually starting to reopen, but not before 33 million Americans are out of work. Millions more have or soon will lose their businesses. But if you stop and think about the difference between reopening and staying open from the start you’ll realize that except for the carnage there is no difference. Of…
› Read the full entry
COVID-19: A Medical Example of How Science-Guided Policy Goes Wrong
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 10th May 2020COVID-19: A Medical Example of How Science-Guided Policy Goes Wrong is the title of an article by me published on the National Association of Scholars website. Among other topics its discusses the problem of false positives test for the virus. The issue has largely been ignored. Consider the five soccer players in Spain who have…
› Read the full entry
Maria Stuarda Not in HD
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 9th May 2020Today was to be the final HD telecast of the Met’s 2019-20 season. But the company is as closed as an open mind. To compensate the Met broadcast, no TV, a 2013 performance of the opera that was to have been on had not the virus paralyzed the world. Maria Stuarda was Donizetti’s 100,345th opera…
› Read the full entry
Finale 23 – Otello Act 3
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th May 2020I’ve previously written about this finale, but it’s so good that I thought I’d post another version of it to compliment the three posted in June 2018. The great concertatos that fill Verdi’s operas return in a spectacular conclusion to Act 3 of Verdi’s Otello. Though Verdi’s great ensembles are glorious and unsurpassed, they had…
› Read the full entry
On Retirement
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 2nd May 2020Embalming fluid – the only cure for presidential fever* Forced retirement is now imposed on much of the world, I thought it of interest to comment on the retirement of four great figures, three of whom are not usually thought of as ever being retired. The fourth is a strange case of premature retirement. The…
› Read the full entry
