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Found: A connection between Berlioz and Levi Stubbs
At the Free Library’s Fleisher Collection, I’m on an orchestra listserv, and the ophicleide came up for discussion. (This is what happens on orchestra listservs.) It’s a brass instrument that has been displaced by the tuba, and I was arguing for its continued use, at least in the Berlioz Symphonie fantastique. There are two tubas in the Symphonie — unusual enough— but Berlioz actually wrote it for two ophicleides, and one tends to believe that Berlioz knew what he was doing as an orchestrator.
True, it’s tough to find the instrument and a person to play it well. But I heard the Pottstown Symphony perform it last year with Jay Krush, an expert in historical brass, playing the first tuba part on ophicleide, and it was a revelation. Blew me away.
I wrote, "The sound of the ophicleide is hard to describe: not quite piercing, not quite rough, not quite raw, but some of all that." That was OK, but a description by negatives. And then the Broad Street Review arrived with Ted K. Hechtman’s memorial to Levi Stubbs: "A voice that was smooth and pleading and as full of gravel as a quarry all at the same time." I thought: Man, that’s the ophicleide! And I sent that line over to the listserv as the encapsulation of what I was trying to say.
Whatever you think about an inside-baseball discussion on obscure instruments, let me tell you: Stubbs yawping "Bernadette" after that measure of silence shocks and thrills like the “March to the Scaffold” in Symphonie fantastique with the ophicleide marching next to you, insanely growling and prodding and urging and threatening, almost but never quite, never ever, losing control.
Thank you, Mr. Hechtman, and thank you, Messrs. Berlioz and Stubbs.
Kile Smith
Curator, Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music
Free Library of Philadelphia
Logan Square
October 22, 2008
It’s interesting that every analysis of why Levi was so great always comes to that pause in “Bernadette.” In truth, it was the first thing that came to mind when I heard that he had passed. Very cool to be known for the silence that precedes or, rather, awaits your voice.
AJay McLaughlin
Philadelphia
October 22, 2008
Thanks for a wonderful tribute to Levi Stubbs. My only quibble is that Mr. Hechtman didn’t mention one of (for me) Levi Stubbs’s greatest performances: as the man-eating plant in Little Shop of Horrors (directed by Frank Oz, 1986). Mr. Stubbs’s singing and acting are what made the whole film work for me; it was a truly brilliant performance.
Rest in peace, Mr. Stubbs; you will be missed.
Ann Davidson
Philadelphia
October 25, 2008
The Barnes on the Parkway
Re: “Our Potemkin Village on the Parkway,” by Robert Zaller—
The Barnes is moving to the Parkway. Get over it. Now why don’t you go back to speaking out against subjects worthy of your ire and considerable rhetorical powers, like elimination of the death penalty?
Shirley Smith
Center City
October 22, 2008
Anybody want to take bets on whether or not the Barnes Collection will be broken up and some of the paintings will be sold— for whatever cockamamie reason the new directors can make up to convince the public that they know better than Barnes what he really should have bought?
Andrew Kevorkian
West Philadelphia
October 22, 2008
A composer checks in
Re “My Croatian piano debut,” by Maria Thompson Corley—
Great article. Maria Corley shows she’s a fine writer as well as a fantastic pianist. I’m also proud that she chose my work as part of her repertoire.
H. Leslie Adams,
Cleveland, Ohio
October 22, 2008
Who misses Mum?
Re “R.I.P., Mum Puppettheatre,” by Bob Cronin—
Mum Puppettheatre vanished with hardly a whimper? I believe the Inquirer published two feature-length articles about Mum’s demise (one written by me). They’ve been blogged about and talked about, but what can be done? They’re gone but certainly not forgotten.
In any case, if you’re missing Robert Smythe’s inimitable touch (and who in this city isn’t?), he’s directing Greg Giovanni’s The Ixiondae at the Painted Bride, October 31 and November 1. Check dates.
Wendy Rosenfield
Philadelphia
October 15, 2008
It is interesting, isn’t it?
It is hard to wonder why no one has really noticed that Mum has closed when few noticed when it was open. This site, for example, never wrote about a single Mum Puppettheatre performance or production, yet constantly has multiple reviews of other companies.
I suppose one could say one gets the culture one deserves.
Mum closed because not enough people cared to keep it open. Remember that the next time someone asks to have their show reviewed, or asks you for a donation, or— imagine it!— to buy a ticket.
Robert Smythe
Founder, Mum Puppettheatre
Swarthmore, Pa.
October 19, 2008
Opera Company’s Fidelio
Thank you for Jim Rutter’s review of Fidelio, which expressed my own reactions exactly. I felt the set, graphics and costumes distracted from the music. I hope Robert Driver pays attention to Jim and others who were turned off visually. All that money— for what?
Judy Drasin
Bala Cynwyd, Pa.
October 13, 2008
Thank you— very good review and very true. Exactly reflects my impressions.
Faina Goldenberg
Philadelphia
October 13, 2008
I too had to close my eyes, the set created such a dissonance against the opera. While the art might have been interesting in and of itself, its poor match to the music, story and dramatic form jarred badly.
One small example: The costumes were a disaster. Marzelline, for instance, wore a black legging and a white legging. The effect was to make her look peg-legged. Just bizarre and pointlessly distancing. But the music was glorious.
Colin Wolfe
Haddonfield, N.J.
October 16, 2008
I loved the opera and the set. For many years I disliked contemporary art. I wrongly considered it the realm of artists incapable of the real deal. For me, Kaneko’s sets provided the magic of emotion without sacrificing reality. The statements in an emotional form of bleeding color and stark contrasts added greatly to the experience of breathtaking sound and heavenly voices.
Warren Pasternack
Northeast Philadelphia
October 16, 2008
I am sure Robert Driver pays attention to every decision he makes. I have no doubt he knew exactly what he was doing when he engaged Jun Kaneko. He speaks for himself. Our Opera Company of Philadelphia is alive. Remember La Cenerentola, Hansel and Gretel and Mr. Driver’s own Die Zauberfloete?
John L. Baji
Center City
October 15, 2008
Normally I don’t read reviews, but I was curious as to what Mr. Rutter had to say. Over the years I have listened to Fidelio in such diverse houses as Covent Garden and the Colon in Buenos Aires and was reluctant to see it performed in vaguely modern costumes. However, I applaud Robert Driver.
Although I could have done without the bleeding head, I found that the starkness of the sets allowed me to listen closely to the music and ponder, especially, the prayer of the prisoners upon seeing light. I left retaining only the glorious singing on my hour and a half journey home.
Perhaps Mr. Rutter should come and sit somewhat uncomfortably in the family circle overlooking the orchestra, where, maybe, the visual effects aren’t so disturbing as they evidently were to him. An intolerant review, and a good reason for not normally reading them.
Aileen Kennedy
West Chester, Pa.
October 25, 2008
Editor’s comment: How are you harmed by contemplating views that disagree with yours?
Susan Babini’s recital
Dan Coren’s review of Susan Babini’s cello recital made me deeply regret missing it. If I monitor this website, will I be forewarned of her next performance in the Philadelphia area?
Janet Veitch
Cherry Hill, N.J.
October 26, 2008
Editor’s comment: For the moment, we’re merely a forum for arts lovers and critics to say what’s on their minds. Until we expand, try monitoring Astral Artists.
Orchestra’s new season
In his review of the Philadelphia Orchestra under Dutoit, Tom Purdom writes, "Charles Dutoit may have emphasized Berlioz in his pre-season remarks, but the Philadelphia Orchestra’s first three concerts indicated he’s prepared a more balanced menu." Tom, the whole season has been available in print for nearly a year, no matter what Dutoit may have said since. This advance knowledge was what made me cancel my subscription and write two articles on the subject. (See “Eschenbach’s last hurrah“ and “Let them eat chestnuts!“)
Dan Coren
Queen Village
October 15, 2008
Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll
Although I have not seen Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll, my wife and I, based on Jim Rutter’s review, will now promptly attend.
I was in Paris at the Sorbonne when Soviet tanks rolled into Prague. Two days after the invasion of Prague, three Czech students asked me to buy lunch for them at the university cafeteria because they were without funds and hadn’t eaten for two days. The anguish and hopelessness on their face is a visual memory I will never forget. Their eyes told a story of freedom grasped but lost to a brutal military force and a political system without a human soul or a human face.
Thank you for stirring the memories of that tragedy, and reminding me of the strangled voices of hope and the sheer fragility of freedom.
Bill Conville
Drexel Hill, Pa.
October 8, 2008
The vice-presidential debate
Re “Sarah Palin’s ‘American Idol’ audition,” by SaraKay Smullens—
Right on! Well said!
You and Katie Couric let the genie out of the bottle.
But who will put her back?
Re “Sarah Palin’s body mike” by Steve Cohen—
Say it ain’t so, Steve! I can’t believe you think any of Palin’s performance is a good thing.
Let’s see--
Re Palin’s line, “Can I call you Joe?”— Obama took a lot of flack for calling McCain "John" in the first debate. And they are peers and colleagues, accustomed to calling one another by their first names. Is Palin’s "Joe" thing a "gotcha!" or something else?
As for putting Gwen Ifill on the defensive and then being proud of the fact that she was not actually answering questions-— do you actually think that is good?
Clever and manipulative? These are attributes that I discourage in my children and certainly do not want in my government.
Joan Horvath
Jenkintown, Pa.
October 8, 2008
Editor’s comment: Re-read Cohen’s essay. He came not to praise Palin, but to bury her.
Baseball or Beethoven
Re “Baseball or Beethoven,” by Dan Coren—
I was there with you, Dan Coren, at the Perelman on Sunday afternoon, September 28 (though without the conflicting baseball dreams). What a wonderful concert! Solzhenitsyn was the star, caressing those two symphonies. Without a score, he conducted in a way that that each instrumental line was made clear to the ear and important to the whole of the symphony.
I felt like I was being given an art tour by a great docent, stopping for an afternoon at Beethoven’s Second and Seventh, and having every brush stroke shown individually and its essential place in the whole made clear. Thank you, maestro Solzhenitsyn.
Tom Blair
Perkiomenville, Pa.
October 11, 2008
Thomas Chambers, America’s first ‘modern’
Re “America’s forgotten first modern,”—
Andrew Mangravite has crafted a very nice review of Thomas Chambers’s work and wonders whether or not he is a fine artist or folk artist. That’s fairly simple: He’s a folk artist.
The test? Are his shadows black or nearly black? Check: Folk artist.
But Chambers does have vision, as indicated, and was a far more skilled draftsman than many folk painters (and is certainly a better "folk artist" in the broad sense than MacGonigal, who was a fairly awful, tin-eared poet).
The correct designation for Chambers is “(accomplished) romantic folk painter.” See his A View on the Hudson, Probably West Point from Garrison’s Landing, surely a title written by another, possibly MacGonigal. The color is wonderful.
Rick Soisson
East Falls
October 1, 2008
Andrew Mangravite replies: I have no complaints with Rick Soisson’s judgment on Chambers as folk artist, but he misses the point on MacGonigal as poet. If lyricism is the sole criterion of poetry, then Edgar Allan Poe is the greatest poet produced by America. MacGonigal’s "tin ear" notwithstanding (and apparently some of the Scotch like him enough to recite him still), his importance lies in his revealing to us what was important to Victorian and late-Victorian audiences— like beautiful bridges o’er the Tay and terrible disasters at sea. We read the works of poets as much to learn about the societies that produced them as to admire their craft. MacGonigal’s body of work is as much a social document as a thing of beauty, and as a social document, it does not have a tin ear.
nbsp; Congratulations to Andrew Mangravite on his perceptive review of the Thomas Chambers show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The topic of Folk Art is the subject of endless discussion, but the comparison with Henri Rousseau seems to be very apt. Like Rousseau, Chambers rarely painted what his eyes saw but rather what he wanted to show and knew was there. He developed a unique style that his middle-class customers liked, and it later turned out that what Chambers had achieved— a flat and hard-edged style using primary colors— was what many modern artists, using "primitive" models, were consciously trying to achieve.
Ralph Katz
New Hampshire
October 23, 2008
The debates
Re “Obama and the first debate,” by Dan Rottenberg, and “McCain’s body language,” by SaraKay Smullens—
You have made a very pertinent observation about our government’s missed opportunities to further friendly relations with Russia and Iran, one that all the candidates should take into consideration.
Thank you, and now let us know your analysis of the Biden-Palin debate. I found it difficult to tolerate Sarah Palin’s folksiness and mispronunciation of key words, such as Iraq and nuclear. She must have learned from our president.
Anne R. Fabbri
Wayne, Pa.
October 3, 2008
Both you and SaraKay made excellent remarks. Thank you.
Ruth Perlmutter
Center City
October 1, 2008
Would you be offended if I told you that Ronald Reagan’s line, "There he goes again," was in his debate with Jimmy Carter, and not Walter Mondale?
Elliott Curson
Center City
October 1, 2008
Editor’s comment: You’re right, but so was I. Reagan used that line against both Carter and Mondale.
Dance criticism
Re Myra Bazell’s letter on dance criticism—
I wonder Ms. Bazell would clarify the following phrases and points from her recent letter:
(1) Exactly what group of people constitutes the “peers” in the phrase “peer criticism”?
(2) Why are peers “bound to be more responsive?”
(3) What group constitutes the non-peers?
(4) What exactly is meant by “shark about”?
I thank you for your elucidation.
Steve Antinoff
University of the Arts
Center City
October 3, 2008
Sonata-form
Re Dan Coren’s series on sonata-form—
I have been a casual student of music for years, principally because I seek to understand why I love what I love in music. Dan Coren has a gift for putting classical musical theory into words for lay people like me. Does he teach any classes open to the public?
Ellen Foster
Villanova, Pa.
October 1, 2008
Editor’s comment: Not at the moment, although he formerly taught at Penn. His series in Broad Street Review represents an experiment in making music education accessible digitally.
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