Thursday, January 30, 2020

"On the Waterfront" Brings to Mind "Mrs. Dalloway"

I was recently re-watching, after several decades, the film "On the Waterfront" and at one point it brought to mind Virginia Woolf's novel "Mrs. Dalloway."

"On the Waterfront," directed by Elia Kazan, staring Marlon Brando and introducing Eva Marie Saint, was released in 1954. Considered a classic, it's about union violence and corruption on the New York waterfront.


Friday, January 24, 2020

More On The Topic of Art and Clarity

In my previous post, I talked about how clarity can be the enemy of art, or perhaps more accurately the enemy of those who desire to be viewed as important artists.

This is not a new idea. Sorting through some old clippings, I came across a "Bookends" feature from the Aug. 30, 2015 issue of the New York Times weekly book review section.


Thursday, January 23, 2020

Clarity Can Be An Enemy Of Art

If something can be easily understood, it can be easily dismissed, which may explain why many artists appear to get rather vague when asked to explain the genesis of their creations or what they mean.

"It means whatever it means to you," one often hears.


Wednesday, January 22, 2020

The Death of Jerry Herman and "Patricia"

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I have been attempting to have a neo-baroque operetta called "Patricia" composed.  This is an ongoing project, but if you would like to listen to demonstration recordings of two arias, you can find them here. Please feel free to comment on what you like or don't like about these songs, which have a feminist theme.

I mention this because Jerry Herman, the composer of "Hello Dolly" and other popular musicals recently died. As his obit in the New York Times noted, at a time when Stephen Sondheim and other contemporary composers were writing "dark, intricate melodies and witty, ambiguous lyrics, he (Herman) wrote song-and-dance music that stuck to the story line with catchy tunes and sunny phrases of hope and happy endings."

One of my gripes about contemporary opera is that it, like some contemporary musicals, doesn't have any memorable songs -- no melodies or lyrics that one can really remember or want to remember.  Indeed, it sometimes seems the singer comes last despite the fact that the main reason people go to the opera (as opposed to going to the theater, watching television or reading a book) is to hear great voices sing beautiful and/or powerful songs.

"There are only a couple of us who care about writing songs that people can leave the theater singing," Herman told the NYT at one point during his career.

Well, that's just what the composer with whom I am working and I are trying to do.