Monthly Archives: February 2025
Finale 44 – Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 27th February 2025Beethoven’s C minor Symphony, built around the universally known four-note phrase, transitions quietly from its third movement to its fourth. The brief journey over the orchestra explodes in a burst of C major, unusual for a symphony that began in a minor key. The four-note figure occurs repeatedly in different guises as it does in…
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Gottfried Benn and the Philosophy of Mind
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 23rd February 2025Gunter Wolf is a German physician who has long been interested in the interaction of medicine and the humanities. His latest publication is about the author and physician Gottfried Benn (1886-1956). He is not nearly as well known to English-speaking audiences as he is in Germany. Wolf’s essay, which can be downloaded below, is intended…
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Met Announces 25-26 Season
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 20th February 2025The Met has announced the repertory for next season. It can be viewed in the PDF below or on the Met’s website. A few observations about the upcoming season: While there is only one opera by Verdi and one by Wagner there will be two by Bellini. Both La Sonnambula and I Puritani will be…
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Federico’s Lament
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 17th February 2025Francesco Cilea (1866-1950) had the misfortune of attempting a career as an opera composer during the period dominated by Giacomo Puccini. His modest compositional skill forced him to abandon opera after 1907, mostly for pedagogy. He is best known for L’arlesiana (1897) and Adriana Lecouvreur (1902). Both operas benefited from the presence of Enrico Caruso…
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The Press Loses What’s Left of Its Mind Over NIH Cuts to Indirect Costs
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 12th February 2025The news that Elon Musk and the Trump administration want to cut indirect costs on NIH (National Institutes of Health) grants has caused a tsunami of hysteria not seen since the year 2000 craze. NIH Budget Cuts Are the ‘Apocalypse of American Science,’ Experts Say. Much of the outcries are the result of ignorance, but…
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Grieg String Quartet Op 27
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 10th February 2025Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) had three goes at the string quartet. The first try was a student exercise that is lost. The second is the subject of this article. He abandoned the third after completing the first two movements. The Op 27 is confusingly often listed as his String Quartet No 1. The only extant and…
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Rigoletto – Cortigiani
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th February 2025The title role of Verdi’s Rigoletto is the greatest role ever written for a baritone. That’s saying a lot, given that the composer wrote more great parts for the baritone than any other composer of opera. Of his 26 operas, five have the baritone’s name as their title. All the rest of the composer’s operas…
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