Enough people on the real right demonize people on the left. Some see the comprehensive left-Cathedral conspiracy (a conspiracy of universities, media, corporations, and high politics). Some people describe a leftist “long march through the institutions” to explain the cultural dominance of the left in real politics. But a lot of things on the left work because of interpersonal relationships, shared ideology, idealism, but also lack of self-awareness, cowardice, psychological problems, psychological blackmail, fear, and the desire for profit. (more…)
Results for "gesamtkunstwerk"
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June 21, 2021 James J. O'Meara
Pierre the Frog: The Art of the Club
Peter Gatien
The Club King: My Rise, Reign, and Fall in New York Nightlife
Seattle: Little A, 2020Driving with my father one day, we passed an imposing building, the Cornwall headquarters of the Orange Lodge, the Grand Order of British North America. “What’s that, papa?” I asked.
“It’s like a club,” he answered dismissively. (more…)
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2,519 words
2,519 words
As you can see. . . girls, music, disease, heartbreak. . . they all go together. . .
About three months ago, I was asked to give one of those “four recommendations” type interviews for an eminent publication (an old buddy’s blog) in the old country. (more…)
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1,496 words
1,496 words
Trahndorff-by-way-of-Wagner’s concept, Gesamtkunstwerk, refers to a work of art that incorporates all of art’s mediums in its final incarnation. The word in German literally means “altogether artwork.” Wagner’s later operas are often cited as approaching the realization of this ideal, and modern cinema is often evaluated upon this concept or used as a barometer for it. (more…)
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4,445 words
4,445 words
Part 2 of 2 (Part 1 here)
Why does Scruton not examine the role of Melot in Death-Devoted Heart more closely?
Tristan und Isolde echoes themes from Romeo and Juliet and Othello, so it is unlikely that Wagner did not have both plays in mind when he composed his opera. The Othello theme is especially clear in the regrets expressed by King Marke that he could not clearly see, just as Othello could not clearly see. Melot, like Iago, faces death if he cannot make good the claim of adultery; (more…)
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Part 1 of 2 (Part 2 here)
Sir Roger Scruton, who died of cancer on January 12th, 2020 at the age of seventy-five, wrote more than fifty books, was the editor of the conservative publication The Salisbury Review, and in his final years was briefly chairman — dismissed and subsequently reinstated — of the Conservative Government’s “Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission.”
I once met Roger Scruton. He invited me to his flat in London in 1982 where I remember enjoying his excellent wine. (more…)
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Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was the most influential composer of the nineteenth century and one of the most influential composers in the history of Western art music. (more…)
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2,302 words
Stanisław Wyspiański
Acropolis: The Wawel Plays
Translated by Charles S. Kraszewski
London: Glagoslav Publications, 2017Stanisław Wyspiański was a Polish dramatist, painter, and poet and is widely regarded as the father of modern Polish theatre. He was a central figure in the Young Poland movement. (more…)
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Donna Zuckerberg
Not All Dead White Men: Classics and Misogyny in the Digital Age
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2018Homer
The Odyssey
Translated by Emily Wilson
New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2017 (more…) -
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When I discovered that the Slovene fascist/Communist/anarchist (depending on who you ask) band and art project Laibach was going to be performing in Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana – which, until a century ago, was known by its German name of Laibach – on September 7 with the Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra, as a longtime devotee, I knew I had to be there. (more…)
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1,693 words
Hans Pfitzner
Palestrina
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, conducted by Rafael Kubelík
Deutsche Grammophon, 1989Hans Pfitzner’s Palestrina is one of the unsung masterpieces of twentieth-century opera. (more…)