Venetian Cat Bauer - The Venice Blog

It's Carnival! Nardini Cocktails at PalazzinaG

2012-02-17T18:12:00.006+01:00

Cat Bauer sipping a Nardini Mandorla Sour at PalazzinaG
Photo: Marina Breeze

(Venice, Italy) I finally have a cocktail! It's called a Mandorla Sour, and it's made with Nardini Mandorla grappa. It tastes like almonds and cherries, two of my favorite flavors. It is divine.

Meredith O'Shaughnessy
of Meredith Bespoke

Normally, I don't drink hard alcohol because it goes straight to my head, although I can consume plenty of red wine without a problem:) So when Meredith O'Shaughnessy of Meredith Bespoke, the luxury events organizer, offered me a cocktail at the PalazzinaG carnival party last Friday night, I initially refused and asked for red wine. The next night, I was more daring, and decided to try the Nardini Mandorla Sour cocktail, mostly because it was made with grappa, and grappa comes from grapes -- plus it had other ingredients; I am such a wimp that I have a hard time even drinking grappa straight. I took a sip, and proclaimed, "It's fantastic! I love it! I am going to sincerely write about it because I sincerely love it!" In fact, I ended up having two.

Grappa is an everyday drink here in Italy, but many people in other parts of the world have never experienced it. From Wikipedia:

Grappa is made by distilling the skins, pulp, seeds, and stems (i.e., the pomace) left over from winemaking after pressing the grapes. It was originally made to prevent waste by using these leftovers. A similar drink, known as acquavite d'uva, is made by distilling whole must.

Grappa is now a protected name in the European Union. To be called grappa, the following criteria must be met:

(1) Produced in Italy, or in the Italian part of Switzerland, or in San Marino
(2) Produced from pomace
(3) Fermentation and distillation must occur on the pomace—no added water

So, you can see that the production of grappa and acquavite is strictly controlled here in Italy. Add the name Nardini to that, and you get one of the finest beverages you can drink. (Nardini is a distiller who does not use stems in their pomace.)

Bortolo Nardini founded Acquavite Nardini back in 1779 in Bassano del Grappa, where grappa itself was invented. He bought an inn at the entrance of the famous Ponte Vecchio, the covered wooden bridge on the River Brenta, which was designed by the renowned architect Andrea Palladio in 1569. From the Nardini website:

Nardini is also a member of Les Hénokiens, an international group of family-owned companies that are at least 200 years old. Here is an excerpt from a December 16, 2004 article in The Economist entitled The World's Oldest Companies - The Business of Survival - What is the Secret of Corporate Longevity:

Antonio Nardini
Photo: Marina Breeze

ACCORDING to the book of Genesis, Enoch (or Henok), son of Cain and father of Methuselah, walked the Earth for 365 years and then ascended to heaven without dying. Inspired by this feat, a club was formed in France in 1981 that took his name. Les Hénokiens is a fraternity of companies that are at least 200 years old, have stayed in the control of one family throughout, are financially healthy, “modern” and are still run by a family member.

Each year representatives of the 33 member companies, from seven countries, gather for three days of fun and discussion. This year's host was Ditta Bortolo Nardini, an Italian grappa distillery founded in 1779.

To me, it was fitting that I should discover a cocktail made by Nardini, Italy's oldest distillery, during Carnevale, one of Venice's most ancient celebrations, at PalazzinaG, a hotel that transports the magic of past centuries into a contemporary setting. Here are some more photos:

Nardini Mandorla Sours are Poured
Photo: Marina Breeze

Angeline & Brad - NOT!
Photo: Cat Bauer

Dancers in Masquerade
Photo: Marina Breeze

Group at PalazzinaG Bar
Photo: Marina Breeze

Sharla Ault - Nardini rep
Photo: Marina Breeze

Cat Bauer wears mask by La Bottega dei Mascareri
Photo: Marina Breeze

Jewellery by Ganesha - Gems of Venice

Masks by La Bottega dei Mascareri

Go to Acquavite Nardini: http://www.nardini.it and I Love Grappa blog

Go to PalazzinaG: http://www.palazzinag.com

Ciao from Venice,

Cat

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Too Much Fun! 3rd Venice International Carnival for Kids

2012-02-14T16:15:00.003+01:00

La Biennale di Venezia 3rd International Kid's Carnival

(Venice, Italy) Tales and Thoughts, the third Venice International Carnival for Kids, blasted off on Saturday, February 11, 2012. Inside La Biennale's Central Pavilion down at Giardini, the opening ceremony was filled with youth and the young at heart, cheering, hooting and whooping it up. People were hanging from the bleachers, listening to La Biennale President Paolo Baratta's remarks. From the program:

The theme of Tales and Thoughts engages the imagination and encourages thinking. It's a Carnival! Yet with an ambition: to stimulate the imagination and the joy of creation while having fun. This is another step towards the construction of a great meeting place for projects and energies that in various parts of the world -- inside and outside the school system -- are dedicated to the very particular goal of enriching the education of the coming generations with their direct creative commitment.

This project is part of the Educational activities of La Biennale, activities that are meant to develop in young people a direct knowledge and experience of art, and more generally, of the world of artistic creation.

The Central Pavilion overflowed with enthusiasm, that joyful energy that brings people to life, as Baratta introduced the participating schools, nations and organizations. After the ceremony, the Arsenale della Danza Playground Bollywood performed the colorful "Bombay Express" conceived by Ishmael Ivo, the artistic director of the Dance Biennale. The audience was riveted as the young dancers put on a high-energy show. A man standing next to me asked, "Who are those dancers? Are they Italians?" I said, "They are international. They are students from all over the world who are part of the Arsenale della Danza."

The Arsenale della Danza is now in its fourth edition, and this year's dancers are off to a dynamic start. I've often written about the company. Click the link below to read more from last year:

Othella Dallas & Ismael Ivo Hit Grand Slams out of the Park

After the performance, the audience wandered through the Central Pavilion and got down to the business of creating, stopping along the way to enjoy a lasagne lunch, complete with beverages, all for free. If you missed the previous Venetian Cat - Venice Blog giving more details, you can read that here. As you can see, I have gotten my hands on a camera. Here are some photos from the event:

WARM up-cycled Fashion
from the Stitchery Collective, Australia

Future Stars

ElettrizzARTE! - USA - Peggy Guggenheim Collection

Beasts & Superbeasts - Romania - Soap Art Kollectiv

Future Graffiti Artist

I didn't have the chance to visit the HURRAY FOR MUSIC! program created by the Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello of Venice, but I did hear the Conservatory play last evening at the Giorgio Cini Foundation -- it appears that the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory of Venice has been working very hard to bring music to our ears.

In honor of the 129th anniversary of the death of Richard Wagner -- he died February 13, 1883 -- and in honor of the 20th anniversary of the foundation of the Richard Wagner Association of Venice, Maurizio Dini Ciacci conducted Siegfried-Idyll in mi maggiore WWV 103 (which Wagner dedicated to his wife, Cosima Liszt Wagner, in honor of her birthday) and Sinfonie in do maggiore WWV 29 to a packed house. The concert was in memory of Bruno Visentini, an anti-fascist Italian politician who reformed the tax system, as well as being President of the Giorgio Cini Foundation, who also died on February 13, 1995. That's a lot of memorials packed into one show!

Here's a romantic little anecdote from Wikipedia about the piece Wagner wrote for Cosima:

On 25 December of that year (the day she usually celebrated her birthday, although it actually fell the day before), Cosima woke to the sound of music. She recorded the events in her diary:

"When I woke up I heard a sound, it grew ever louder, I could no longer imagine myself in a dream, music was sounding, and what music! After it had died away Richard came in to me with the five children and put into my hands the score of his "Symphonic Birthday Greeting." I was in tears, but so, too was the whole household; Richard had set up an orchestra on the stairs and thus consecrated our Tribschen forever! The Tribschen Idyll - thus the work is called!"^[23]

This was the memorable first performance of the chamber piece which was later renamed the Siegfried Idyll.

Click to go to the entire program of La Biennale di Venezia 3rd International Kids' Carnival, which has activities every day until Carnevale ends on Marti Gras, February 21, 2012.

Cat wearing new Vascellari Sunglasses

Ciao from Venice,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Posh PalazzinaG Launches Carnival

2012-02-06T18:40:00.001+01:00

(Venice, Italy) Since its inauguration, the list of celebrities who have turned up and danced on the tables at PalazzinaG reads like a who's who of Vanity Fair cover stars. Madonna has taken to the decks, George Clooney has popped in, and couples Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie -- along with Johnny Deep and Vanessa Paradis -- have stayed in. Queen of New York nightlife, Amy Sacco, has hosted a series of legendary parties, James Franco threw a dinner and Al Pacino didn't want to leave...

That is from the press release sent over by the glam gals at Meredith Bespoke, the luxury events agency in London. PalazzinaG is not only one of my favorite hotels in Venice, but on the planet itself, so I am happy to let you know what they are up to during Carnevale. The renowned Philippe Starck designed PalazzinaG, mixing the contemporary with the ancient, the sensual with the cozy. Located on the Grand Canal right next to Palazzo Grassi, it will be The Place to Be during the opening Carnival weekend, so book now, especially if you want to sleep in -- there are only 16 rooms and six suite apartments. And the mirrors... the mirrors... the mirrors... the mirrors will take you right through the Looking Glass.

There will be a VIP masquerade opening party on Friday night at 11:00PM with cocktails mixed by Nardini Grappa, nominated as Harrod's February 2012 "Spirit of the Month." Entrance is 35 euros, including one cocktail; tables are 600 euros and includes two bottles of Krug or spirits.

On Saturday night at 8:00PM, it's the Veuve Clicquot Gala, the champagne of nobility, with a five-course decadent dinner and luxurious libations at 250 euros per person. The VIP Masquerade Afterparty featuring international DJ Anthony Scott-Lee kicks off at 11:30PM. Entrance is 35 euros; tables start at 600 euros.

For all events the dress is code is impulsive elegance and deconstructed glamor. Now, doesn't that sound delicious? Reservations are essential. The full invitation is below.

Hotel PalazzinaG, San Marco 3247, 30124 Venezia - ITALY
Telephone: +39 0415284644
Website: www.palazzinag.com
Email: reservations@palazzinag.com

Ciao from Venice,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

La Biennale's 3rd Venice International Carnival for Kids

2012-02-04T19:46:00.003+01:00

(Venice, Italy) Children of Other Lands was the first book I ever wrote at age six. It was inspired by a deck of playing cards I had been given, embellished with images of children from all over the world in their native dress. It was a non-fiction book, complete with illustrations, well-researched, very thick -- about ten pages -- and cost five cents. Even at age six, to me, writing was a business, although I have no idea how I arrived at that concept since there were no writers in my middle-class/working-class childhood world. I organized a neighborhood book sale. An older girl named Cookie who lived down the block scribbled a couple of pages, stuck two lollipops on the cover, and charged six cents. Everybody wanted her book and nobody wanted mine. It was my first lesson in marketing.

I have always been fascinated by foreign lands -- perhaps because of that deck of playing cards -- which is one of the reasons I live in Venice. Another is La Biennale, an organization that is a hub of international creative activity. One of the newer activities of the Venice Biennale is the Carnevale Internazionale dei Ragazzi, or The Venice International Carnival for Kids, and if you are planning to come to Venice for Carnevale this year with your munchkins, you have got to go. This is what I wrote about it last year in a post entitled:

OTTOCENTO - From Senso to Sissi - The City of Women - Venice Carnival 2011

Photo La Biennale

For the second year, La Biennale presents Carnevale dei ragazzi, or the Kid's Carnival down at Giardini. Unfortunately, I went with a dog, not a kid, who was not allowed inside, so I didn't spend as much time as I would have liked. I loved it! The kids were creating things the old-fashioned way -- with their own hands -- just like real children, and they seemed perfectly content not to have a computer in front of them. Different rooms inside the Italian pavilion with names like "The enchanted forest" "The prarie of sounds" "The painted desert" "The city of visions" "The fluorescent depths" were bursting with creative activities and plenty of kids intent on the act of creation.

The principle: "having fun by creating." Remember that? Remember how you could spend hours simply with some crayons, or some mud? As well as visitors to Venice, schools from all over the Veneto arrived. Paolo Baretta, the President of La Biennale, wrote: "I would like to thank the teachers of all the schools at every grade and level, from Venice and the Veneto region, our intelligent ambassadors and precious partners. I would like to thank the parents who will accompany their children, and those will allow themselves to be accompanied by their children." This year's edition was the first time there was international participation, with Austria, Great Britain, Holland and Poland contributing to the fun.

The theme of this year's Carnevale is La Vita è Teatro. Tutti in Maschera, which sort of translates to Life is Theater. Everybody Wears a Mask, and the official program says the preview starts today, February 4, 2012, although there are just a handful of things gearing up. The fountain is spewing wine in Piazza San Marco, and there are some costumed revellers posing for photos. Everyone is primed for next weekend and for the official opening, which will be Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 11:00AM in Piazza San Marco. Fat Tuesday, the last day of Carnival is February 21, 2012. Click for the official program at Venezia Marketing & Eventi.

Photo La Biennale

The theme of this year's Venice International Carnival for Kids is Favole e Pensieri, or Tales and Thoughts, and will run from February 11 to February 21, 2012, every day from 10:00AM to 6:00PM with workshops and activities galore. In addition, on February 11 and 18, Playground Bollywood! will feature Indian dance workshops and performances conceived by La Biennale Dance Director Ishmael Ivo with the 25 young dancers from the Arsenale della Danza. The Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello in Venice will present musical activities in their workshops Hurray for Music! UNICEF Italia will address childrens' rights with games and activities in their workshops Hurray for Children!

In addition, the Kid's Carnival is growing ever more international with the participation of the "Magnificent 7"countries:

Photo: Stitchery Collective

1. Australia. WARM - Thanks to Skype, Kathleen Cattoni from the Stitchery Collective in Brisbane, Australia spoke at the press conference yesterday, even though she was on the opposite side of the world. The Stitchery Collective "connects the unlikely bedfellows of fashion and social welfare," and will be at the Kid's Carnival from February 11 to the 15th. "The stitchery will be running ‘WARM’ t-shirt upcycling workshops, where with our pint-sized helpers we will transform the pre-loved T-shirts of Brisbane into much-loved custom-made beanies, scarves and ponchos for our chilly European friends." Click to go to The Stitchery Collective blog. Initiative organized by The Collective Stitchery, with the support of Arts Queensland and the Australia Council for the Arts.

Central Pavilion from 11 to 15 February

2. Great Britain - STORYTELLING - A family workshop to show parents how to help their children learn a foreign language (English, no doubt:) through storytelling. Conducted by an English native-language teacher, assisted by a member of the Biennale staff. February 11 and 12. Initiative made possible by the support of the British Council Italia.

Central Pavilion 11 and 12 February.

3. Germany - THE TALES OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM - MASK AND COSTUME WORKSHOP - Two hundred years ago, in 1812, the Brothers Grimm published their first collection of fairy tales, which I read to the point of obsession when I was a kid. Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Rumpelstiltskin -- they all come from the Brothers Grimm. Two set designers from Munich are going to head the workshop, which will open the door to "fairies, witches and fairytale characters" so the kids can create their own Carnival costumes. The German contribution is a project by the Embassy of Germany in Rome and the German Centre for Venetian Studies, with the support of the Goethe Institut.

Central Pavilion from 12 to 14 February.

Photo at Soap Art

4. Romania - BEASTS AND SUPER BEASTS - Soap Art Kollectiv (Raluca Arnautu and Suzana Dan) create stuffed animals inspired by fairy tales of their own creation. Animal Stories! will bring the imaginary Romanian beasts to life. The exhibition and workshops are organized by the Romanian Institute of Culture and Humanistic Research in Venice, with the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Bucarest, and in collaboration with the Anaid Art Gallery, Global Mindscape and with Australians Studying Abroad (Melbourne).

Central Pavilion every day.

5. United States - ElettrizzARTE! - Artists who work with light - neon, lasers, LEDS, optical fibers and xenon projections -- are the focus of this workshop where the kids will get to play with light and lighting devices. The programme by the United States of America was made possible by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

Central Pavilion 11, 12, 18, 19,21 February.

6. Netherlands - DANCING IN RIETVELT'S PAVILION - Tweetakt is Holland's international theater and art festival for people who are not grownups. You'll get to create your own show, mix your own music and make your own animated flipbook. The programme at the Dutch Pavilion has been made possible by the contribution of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Italy, the City of Utrecht, the Province of Utrecht, the Treaty of Utrecht Foundation, and in collaboration with the Rietveldpaviljoen Foundation.

Netherlands pavilion every day

7. Belgium - ABC TOY WORKSHOP - ABC House (Art Basics for Children) is a new creativity center in Brussels. They will lead the way in making toys out of everyday and recycled materials. An initiative organized by ABC – ART BASICS for CHILDREN, a non-profit organization based in Brussels which operates in the field of arts and education to create stimulating environments and projects that encourage children and adults of all ages to experiment with their imagination and explore their creative potential.

Belgium Pavilion every day

Everything is free. Can you imagine? All that fun and creativity for free. Who knows what wonderful memories the kids will have from such an event, and what kind of future projects it might inspire. There will even be a spaghetti lunch at 1:00PM after the inauguration at 11:30 on Saturday, February 11, 2012. Head down to Giardini where all the action will take place. Click for more information at La Biennale website.

Ciao from Venice,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Lou Salomé at La Fenice and Il Giorno della Memoria

2012-01-30T23:16:00.001+01:00

Photo: Michele Crosera for La Fenice

(Venice, Italy) In a post entitled Don Giovanni and the Man of Stone, I wrote the following sentence on October 6, 2010:

Or, perhaps, someone should make an opera out of the life of Lou Andreas-Salomé, novelist, poet, and psychoanalyst, friend to Freud and mistress to both Rainer Maria Rilke and Friedrich Nietzsche, and someone who could teach Don Giovanni a thing or two.

Angeles Blancas Gulin as Lou Salomé

Obviously, at the time I wrote that, I had no idea that, in fact, someone had written an opera about Lou Andreas-Salomé -- and that someone was a Venetian, no less! I can just imagine the amusement the above sentence must have provoked for those in-the-know, especially since I had written a somewhat forceful critique of what I thought was wrong with the Don Giovanni and the Man of Stone production. Not only that, but Giuseppe Sinopoli, the composer of the opera Lou Salomé, studied music at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory here in Venice, the very venue where Don Giovanni and the Man of Stone was performed. The Lou Salomé production at La Fenice was an impressive touché, and I am chuckling as I write this.

Giuseppe Sinopoli was born on the Day of the Dead, November 2, 1946 in Venice. He died, spectacularly, of a heart attack on April 20, 2001 at the age of 54 while on stage at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, conducting Verdi's Aida -- the same opera with which he made his debut in Venice in 1978. In addition to being a composer and conductor, he had a degree in medicine, wrote books, and was just about to receive his Laurea in Archeology. From Wikipedia:

Giuseppe Sinopoli

On 20 April 2001, Sinopoli died of a heart attack while conducting Giuseppe Verdi's Aida at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. The performance was dedicated to the memory of the company's late chief director, Goetz Friedrich. Two nights later, Marcello Viotti stepped in to direct Aida, and dedicated his performance to Sinopoli's memory. His funeral in Rome on 23 April was attended by the Italian President and Prime Minister, as well as a large contingent from La Scala. He was survived by his wife Silvia and two sons....

Every October since 2005, Taormina Arte has dedicated a festival to Giuseppe Sinopoli, the artistic director of the Music section of the Taormina Festival from 1989 to 1997. The Giuseppe Sinopoli Festival does not only celebrate the man as a musician and as a conductor but also as a composer, a doctor, an archaeologist and intellectual, with a variety of events from music and literature, theatre and art to conferences, exhibitions, publications and, of course, concerts.

Now that I have seen the opera, it seems obvious that someone who was raised in Venice would find the subject matter of Lou Salomé fascinating enough to create an opera based on her life. There is an intellectualism particular to Venice, which other parts of the world might find difficult to relate to. In fact, Sinopoli's obituary in the British newspaper, The Guardian, highlights just that unique quality -- although David Nice, the author, describes it as "Italian." Sinopoli was the principal conductor for the Philharmonic Orchestra in London from 1984 to 1994.

His compositions, like his later conducting, combined structural rigour with sensuous textures. Yet few of them have been heard in this country; and after the 1981 Munich premiere of his opera Lou Salome, taking as its protagonist the far-from-bluestocking colleague and muse of Nietzsche and Freud, composing took a back seat to conducting.

The players, of course, remained baffled by Sinopoli's peculiarly Italian brand of intellectualism; London musicians never like too much talk, let alone an analytic seminar on the work in question. The Philharmonia relationship, buckling under the weight of the critical opprobrium, nearly came to an end in early 1990; but Sinopoli stayed on in his ennobled capacity as music director until 1994. There was too much at stake - the ever-fruitful contract with Deutsche Grammophon and tours to countries such as Japan and Germany, which idolised the maestro as Britain never did.

Photo: Michele Crosera for La Fenice

For Lou Salomé, the opera, helmed by the German conductor, Lothar Zagrosek, the interior of Teatro La Fenice had been utterly transformed, turned into a theatre in-the-round thanks to the Faculty of Design and Art at IUAV di Venezia (Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia), which was responsible for the set, direction, lights and costumes. A tree was in the center of the theater; a sofa and desk on stage, surrounded by tumbling books. A small section of the audience was seated on the stage itself. Performers entered and exited from various locations, most interestingly, from one of the lower theater boxes.

The opera was in German with Italian subtitles, which were projected behind the orchestra, who were seated onstage -- which sometimes made it difficult to view the action in the center and the words at the same time, but that is a minor quibble. The performers were excellent; the lighting superb; when La Fenice started burning, the theater boxes slowly consumed in flame, up, up, up towards the ceiling... there was a silent gasp... even though it was a lighting trick, it brought back too many familiar memories of when La Fenice had really burned to the ground on January 29, 1996, sixteen years ago.

Salomé, Reé & Nietzche

Lou Salomé, the opera, brought to life the Russian psychoanalyst and author, Lou Salomé, (played by Angeles Blancas Gulin), her younger self (Georgia Stahl) and a few of her distinguished lovers and companions. Salomé was born on February 12, 1861, the only daughter of a Russian army officer in a family with five additional male offspring, who grew up to be a true independent woman and original thinker. She died on February 5, 1937. Her circle included the renowned German philosopher Friedrich Nietzche (1844-1900) (played by Claudio Puglisi); the German writer, Malwida von Meyensbug (1816-1903) (played by Julie Mellor), friend of Nietzche and Wagner; the German author and philosopher, Paul Kleé (1849-1901) (played by Gian Luca Pasolini), also a friend of Nietzche, who would become part of a ménage à trois; the renowned Bohemian-Austrian poet, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926); and the professor Friedrich C. Andreas, whom she married with the understanding that theirs would be a platonic relationship. Salomé also had an impact on Sigmund Freud, and we all know who he was.

To me, the opera was about a daring, intelligent woman, daughter of a General, who came together with group of profound thinkers before, during, and after great European wars -- World War I: 1914-1918 and World War II: 1939-1945 -- wars of destruction that the United States has not experienced on its own soil for a very long time. Salomé was 52-years-old when World War I broke out; she died a week before her 76th birthday, two years before World War II officially began.

From Wikipedia:

A few days before her death the Gestapo confiscated her library (according to other sources it was an SA group who destroyed the library, and shortly after her death). The pretense for this confiscation: she had been a colleague of Sigmund Freud's, had practiced "Jewish science," and had many books by Jewish authors in her library.

What was the SA? They sound a bit like today's "Special Forces." Again, from Wikipedia:

The Sturmabteilung (SA) English: Storm Detachment; or English: Stormtroopers) functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (or Nazi Party). It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. SA men were often called "brownshirts" for the colour of their uniforms (similar to Benito Mussolini's blackshirts).

Giuseppe Sinopoli's opera about Lou Salomé, to me, could only have been written by a European intellectual, and it needed a Venetian intellectual in particular to do it justice. It made me aware, once again, what a rich cultural texture is missing from the United States of America. Those great minds, all together, at the same time... loving each other, having sex with each other... operatic material...

Lou Salomé played to packed houses here in Venice all last week, the week of the Giorno della Memoria. On January 27, 1945, the Russians liberated the survivors of Auschwitz. Later, the Americans, too, liberated more death camps. General Eisenhower and General Patton (remember when we used to have real generals?) ordered that as much as possible be documented so we would never forget what horrors human beings are capable of. Here is an especially poignant tale from Jewish Life entitled, 'It Was Skin and Bones: Soldiers Remember Auschwitz by Heather Robinson:

Anatoly Shapiro, 92, has never forgotten what he saw at Auschwitz on Jan. 27, 1945. That was the day Shapiro, who says he is the first Russian officer to enter the infamous concentration camp, led his battalion to liberate it.

In an interview Saturday in his apartment in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, where he sits alongside his wife, Vita, his tall, thin form is upright and his eyes are clear as he describes, through a translator, the things he says he still sees in nightmares 60 years later.

"We saw German soldiers, and when we opened the gate, we saw one barrack, then the next, on and on for a hundred barracks," he recalled.

"When I saw the people, it was skin and bones. They had no shoes, and it was freezing. They couldn't even turn their heads, they stood like dead people."

"I told them, 'The Russian army liberates you!' They couldn't understand. Some few who could touched our arms and said, 'Is it true? Is it real?'"

I predict that Hollywood will soon get their hands on this woman, Lou Salomé, though if the film industry in Italy were clever, they would do it first.

Never forget. Or they will soon be back.

Ciao from Venice,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Your Film at the Venice Film Festival!

2012-01-21T18:06:00.001+01:00

(Venice, Italy) Ten talented storytellers will win a trip to the 69th Venice International Film Festival (August 29 to September 8, 2012) thanks to a partnership between YouTube, the Venice Biennale, Scott Free Productions -- Ridley Scott's production company -- and Emirates, the global airline. The grand prize winner, selected by a special jury, will be awarded a YouTube $500,000 production grant to work with Scott Free Films, creating an entirely new work.

From Wikipedia:

Photo at Ridleyscott.net

Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English film director and producer. His most famous films include The Duellists (1977), Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Thelma & Louise(1991), Gladiator (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001), Kingdom of Heaven (2005) and American Gangster (2007).

Ridley Scott said, "Short film making is exactly where I started my career 50 years ago, so to be helping new filmmakers find an entry point like this into the industry is fantastic. It's great to be partnering with YouTube again for this global search for the next generation of exciting filmmakers."

Anyone who has tried to break into Hollywood knows what a great opportunity this is. You need to create a 15-minute, story-driven video of any style, format and genre, and submit it to: www.youtube.com/yourfilmfestival.

From La Biennale:

The competition brings together YouTube’s cutting-edge technology with the finest traditions of the world-renowned Venice Film Festival, to help discover and nurture new talent.

Directors, producers and writers from around the world will be encouraged to submit their films and the voting will ultimately belong to the YouTube community at large.

Submissions, which open February 2, 2012 and close on March 31, 2012, will be reviewed by Scott Free and narrowed down to 50 semi-finalists from around the world in the summer of 2012. The YouTube community will then vote for ten finalists who will be flown to unveil their films in a special program at the world renowned Venice Film Festival. In Venice, a jury will vote among the ten films to select one Grand Prize Winner. The winner will receive a development deal with Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions.

Click to go to Venice Biennale.

For more information, visit www.youtube.com/yourfilmfestival and upload your submission from February 2, 2012 through March 31, 2012. Please keep in mind that they are looking for story-driven work, so a lot of beautiful shots that don't tell a story is not the object of the competition. You don't have a lot of time, so get to work!

Best of luck.

Ciao from Venice,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Ben Franklin's Wikileaks

2012-01-17T22:48:00.000+01:00

Benjamin Franklin

(Venice, Italy) During the holidays, I had the good fortune to stumble upon a two-volume set of books called Franklin in France - From Original Documents Most of Which Are Now Published for the First Time by Edward E. Hale and Edward E. Hale, Jr. The first volume was published in 1886 by the Roberts Brothers in Boston; the second volume was published in 1887. The books were on a shelf in a personal library. It appeared that they had not been read by anyone before because I had to slice open many of the pages.

Just think, Ben Franklin's Wikileaks had not been published until more than 100 years after they were originally written. And there I was, happily nestled in the Veneto, more than 250 years later, all snuggled up and reading about what went on behind the scenes when the United States of America was actually being created. It was such a thrill, and surprising to learn that all the intrigues and schemes and plots and disinformation that we can read about today on Wikileaks are nothing new at all. Please forgive the formatting (once again) because I am transferring data from PDF files, occasionally with success -- that in itself is a bit of a miracle, that today we can freely share information all over the world. Here are the opening paragraphs:

FRANKLIN IN FRANCE.

CHAPTER 1

1767-1769.

THE Declaration of Independence made the United

States a nation. It was a nation which had power

to make war or peace, and to contract alliances.

The Continental Congress, which by misfortune was at

once the executive and the legislature of this nation,

addressed itself immediately to this business of making

alliance with any European power which could aid it

against England.

By the agency of a secret committee,

of which Benjamin Franklin was the most important

member, it had opened correspondence with many persons

in Europe. Among these was Dr. Arthur Lee, — a Vir-

ginian who had been made a Doctor of Medicine by the

University of Edinburgh, had afterwards studied law, and

was at the time of the outbreak of hostilities agent in

London for Massachusetts. The secret committee had

also recommended that Silas Deane should be sent to

France, to try if it were possible to obtain assistance for

the colonies. Almost immediately after the Declaration

of Independence, Congress named these two, with Frank-

lin, as its commissioners in Europe for making such

alliances as might be possible. Congress gave these

commissioners full powers for contracting treaties with

France and Spain.

Pierre Landis

A furious exchange of letters between Benjamin Franklin and Captain Pierre Landais, a former officer of the French Navy and the first commander of the American ship, Alliance, and who had dreams of being the naval counterpart of General Lafayette, are a highpoint of the books. If you like, you can first read the Wikipedia version of events at USS Alliance so you get some background. In brief, Landais simply refused to follow orders, infuriating John Paul Jones and Benjamin Franklin. Here is an excerpt from a letter to Landais, who was in Paris, from Franklin, who was in Passy, dated March 12, 1780:

No one has ever learnt from me the opinion I formed

of you from the enquiry made into

your conduct. I kept it entirely to myself. I have not

even hinted it in my letters to America, because I would

not hazard giving any one a bias to your prejudice. By

communicating a part of that opinion privately to you it

can do you no harm, for you may burn it. I should not

give you the pain of reading it if your demand did not

make it necessary.

I think you, then, so imprudent, so

litigious, and quarrelsome a man, even with your best

friends, that peace and good order, and consequently the

quiet and regular subordination so necessary to success,

are, where you preside, impossible. These are matters

within my observation and comprehension; your military

operations I leave to more capable judges. If, therefore,

I had 20 ships-of-war in my disposition, I should not give

one of them to Captain Landais. The same temper which

excluded him from the French Marine would weigh equally

with me. Of course I shall not replace him in the

"Alliance." I am assur'd, however, that as captain of a merchant-

ship you have two very good qualities, highly useful to

your owners, viz., economy and integrity. For these I

esteem you, and have the honour to be, Sir, &c.

Benjamin Franklin.

P. S. I have passed over all the charges made or insin-

uated against me in your letters and angry conversations,

because I would avoid continuing an altercation for which

I have neither time nor inclination. You will carry them

to America, where I must be accountable for my conduct

towards you, and where it will be my duty, if I cannot

justify myself, to submit to any censures I may have

merited. Our correspondence, which cannot be pleasant to

either of us, may therefore, if you please, end here.

The Alliance eventually did set off for America with Landais commanding the ship. According to Wikipedia, here is what happened on that journey:

Alliance was allowed to leave France unmolested. Her homeward voyage proved to be anything but routine. Landais quarreled with his officers, abused his men, and made life miserable for his passengers. The ship had hardly lost sight of land when he locked up Capt.Matthew Parke because the commanding officer of the embarked Marine Corps contingent refused to swear unconditional obedience under all possible circumstances. Any seamen who had joined the frigate after Bonhomme Richard had sunk were suspected of disloyalty, many were shackled and imprisoned in the ship's rat-infested hold. Even Arthur Lee, who had urged the Frenchman to take command, came close to being stabbed with a carving knife for taking the first slice of roast pig at dinner. In operating and navigating the ship Landais gave orders which violated the rules of safe and sensible seamanship.

The fearful and exasperated officers and passengers finally agreed that the commanding officer must be insane, and they forcibly relieved him of command on 11 August. Alliance continued on to America in a happier and more orderly fashion under the command of Lt. James A. Degge. She arrived at Boston on 19 August 1780.

Marchese de La Fayette

One of my personal favorites is a letter from Lafayette, who was in Paris, to John Adams dated February 7, 1780. It surprised me how much passion Lafayette, a Frenchman, had for the new country he was helping to create. I was especially heartened to learn that Lafayette was firmly against the weapons of treachery and falsehood being used by the British, and deeply believed in never deceiving the free citizens of America. Here it is in its entirety:

Dear Sir, — As I came but this morning from Ver-

sailles it was not in my power sooner to answer to the

letter you have honored me with, and this duty I now

perform with the more pleasure that it is of some impor-

tance to the interest of America.

Since the first day when I had the happiness of making

myself, and of being considered in the world, as an American,

I have always observed that among so many ways of attacking

our liberties, and among them the most ungenerous ones,

treachery and falsehood have ever been the first weapons on

which the British nation have the most depended.

I am glad it is in my power generally to assure you

that the many reports propagated by them, and alluded to

in your letter, are not founded upon truth. These con-

tracts with petty German princes have not, I believe,

taken place. And if any such merchandise was sent to

America it would at most consist of a few recruits.

The troubles in Ireland, if there is the least common

sense amongst the first patriots in that country, are not,

I hope, at an end, and it seems they now begin to raise

new expectations.

The Russian troops so much talked of in their gazette

I take to be more recruits for the thirty thousand Rus-

sians that Mr. Rivington had three years ago ordered to

embark for America.

These intelligences, my dear Sir, be counteracted by letters

to our friends in America. But as the respect we

owe to the free citizens of the United States makes it a

point of duty for us never to deceive them, and as the

most candid frankness must ever distinguish our side of

the question from the cause of tyranny and falsehood, I

intend paying to-morrow morning a visit to the minister

of foreign affairs, and from him get so minuted intelli-

gences as will answer your purpose.

With the most sincere Regard and friendly affection, I

have the honor to be, dear Sir,

Your most obedient humble servant, Lafayette.;

P. S. On my return from Versailles, my dear Sir, where

I will settle the affair of — that I had undertaken, I will

impart you a project privately, relating to one that is not

inconsistent with my sentiments for our country —

America.

Abigail Adams

One of the most entertaining exchanges was between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail Adams, the wife of John Adams, the second President of the United States. She was also the mother of John Quincy Adams, the sixth President. Abigail Adams was actively involved in her husband's affairs, often advising him, and privy to all sorts of confidential information. Mrs. Adams initiated the correspondence with Jefferson, writing to him from the Bath Hotel in London on June 6, 1785. John Adams had just been named as the first US Minister to Great Britain; it appalled many Londoners that the United States actually existed. The newspapers were full of inaccuracies and outright lies. Here are a few excerpts from Mrs. Adams to Jefferson:

I had lived so quietly in that calm retreat [Auteuil] that the noise
and bustle of this proud city almost turned my brain for
the first two or three days. The figure which this city
makes in respect to equipages is vastly superior to Paris,
and gives one the idea of superior wealth and grandeur.
I have seen few carriages in Paris, and no horses
superior to what are used here for hackneys. ...

...Whilst I am writing the papers of this day are
handed me. From the Publick Advertiser I extract
the following. "Yesterday morning a messenger was
sent from Mr. Pitt to Mr. Adams, the American Pleni-
potentiary, with notice to suspend for the present their
intended interview." (Absolutely false.) From the
same paper. "An Ambassador from America! Good
heavens, what a sound! The Gazette surely [never]
announced anything so extraordinary before, nor once
on a day so little expected; — this will be such a
phsenomenon in the Corps Diplomatique that 'tis hard
to say which can excite indignation most, the insolence
of those who appoint the character, or the manners of
those who receive it. Such a thing could never have
happened in any former Administration, not even that
of Lord North. It was reserved, like some other humil-
iating circumstances, to take place

Sub Jove, sed Jove nondum
Barbato—"

From the Morning Post and Daily Advertiser, " It is
said that Mr. Adams, the Minister Plenipotentiary from
America, is extremely desirous of visiting Lord North,
whom he regards as one of the best friends the Ameri-
cans ever had." Thus you see, sir, the beginning
squibs. ...

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson appeared to be quite happy to hear from Abigail Adams, and promptly replied from Paris to London on June 21, 1785. More excerpts:

Jefferson to Mrs. Adams.
Paris, June 21 [1785].
Dear Madam, — I have received duly the honor of
your letter, and am now to return you thanks for your
condescension in having taken the first step for settling
a correspondence which I so much desired; for I must
consider it as settled and proceed accordingly.

I have always found it best to remove obstacles first. I will
do so, therefore, in the present case, by telling you that
I consider your boasts of the splendor of your city and
of its superb hackney coaches as a flout, and declaring
that I would not give the polite, self-denying, feeling,
hospitable, good-humored people of this country and
their amiability in every point of view (tho' it must
be confessed our streets are somewhat dirty and our
fiacres rather indifferent) for ten such races of rich,
proud, hectoring, swearing, quibbling, carnivorous ani-
mals as those among whom you are: and that I do love

this people with all my heart and think that with a

better religion, a better form of government, and their

present governors, their condition and country would

be most enviable. I pray you to observe that I have

used the noun people, and that this is a noun of the

masculine as well as feminine gender. ...

...The squibs against Mr.

Adams are such as I expected from the polished, mild-
tempered, truth-speaking people he is sent to. It would
be ill policy to attempt to answer or refute them,
but counter-squibs I think would be good policy. ...

After reading that exchange, perhaps we can understand why the State of Texas recently removed Thomas Jefferson from its history books. From the Huffington Post:

In Texas, Thomas Jefferson is set to be removed from the textbook standards explaining how Enlightenment thinkers have influenced revolutions since 1750. Replacing him will be the French theologian John Calvin.

It has taken a lot of time to track down where you, too, can read these books, but I have managed to do it. They are in the public domain, and free online -- even though it often appears otherwise -- it took me a while to actually find them. In my opinion, the best place to get them is at the Hathi Trust. Here is the link:

http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002529431

Happy learning.

Ciao from Venice,

Cat

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Epiphany on Epiphany - Venice 2012

2012-01-06T18:55:00.004+01:00

(Venice, Italy) If the New Year continues in the same chord as it started, we are off to a great start, surrounded by harmony, stimulating conversation, fantastic food, new knowledge and people with character and integrity.

Today is Epiphany here in Italy. It is the last day of the Christmas season holidays. It is also the day of the Befana, which I have written about many times before. From Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog January 7, 2009:

(Venice, Italy) The Epiphany, or the Twelfth Day of Christmas, on January 6th is a national holiday in Italy. It is also the day of the La Befana, a witch who hands out candy and gifts for good children, and coal for bad children, similar to Santa Claus.

In Venice, the holiday has morphed into something truly unique. During the Regata delle Befane, male Venetian rowers dress in drag as female witches, and have a little regata, or race. The finish line is below my apartment, so I usually have a Befana party to close the holiday season. No one ever seems to know, exactly, what time the race starts or finishes. Some posters from the Comune said to go over to the fish market at 11:30AM for hot mulled wine and sweets, so I thought 11AM would be a good time for the party. It turned out it was too late. Note to self: the Befana regata celebration starts at 10AM!

Click to continue reading.

Back here in the present, January 6, 2012, I am happy to report that I have had an epiphany on Epiphany. From Wikipedia:

The term is used in either a philosophical or literal sense to signify that the claimant has "found the last piece of the puzzle and now sees the whole picture," or has new information or experience, often insignificant by itself, that illuminates a deeper or numinous foundational frame of reference.

Process

Despite its popular image, epiphany is the result of significant labor on the part of the discoverer, and is only the satisfying result of a long process, usually involving significant periods of labor.^[7] The surprising and fulfilling feeling of epiphany is so surprising because one cannot predict when one's labor will bear fruit, and our subconsciousness can play a significant part in delivering the solution; and is fulfilling because it is a reward for a long period of labor.

To that I can attest: having an epiphany is the result of significant labor.

The Christian feast, the Epiphany that we are celebrating today in Italy is when the three Wise Men arrived at the manger to see the baby Jesus.

In the conventional version of the Christmas story,
the wise men or magi:

Gaspar,
Melchior and
Balthasar

started the gift-giving custom of Christmas by
bringing gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the Christ
child on Epiphany, the day on which the infant
was presented. The 3 magi have been described not only as wise men, but also as kings
or Persian priests and astrologers.

Epiphany is the end of the Christmas season, 12 days after Christmas, which is, literally,
the mass for Christ.

Happy Epiphany!

Ciao from Venice,

Cat

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Sleeping Beauty in Venice

2011-12-22T16:33:00.003+01:00

La Bella Addormentata

(Venice, Italy) The Royal Ballet of Flanders (Koninklijk Ballet Vlaanderen) presented a dazzling performance of Sleeping Beauty by Pyotr Tchaikovsky to a full house at La Fenice on Tuesday night. The holiday spirit descended upon a theater full of enchanted faces as we watched the classic fairy tale by Charles Perrault come to life.

From Wanted in Rome (I don't know why Venice is listed under Rome, but so it is:)

Royal Ballet of Flanders. In The Sleeping Beauty, choreography by Marcia Haydée.

Building on the solid foundation of Petipa and Tchaikovsky, Marcia Haydée has chosen to concentrate on the dramatic content of the work. She has added depth to the character of Carabosse, transforming her into a much rounder character who actually carries the piece.

Nonetheless, Haydée’s Sleeping Beauty is also faithful to Petipa in the sense that it represents a struggle between good and evil, and it is Carabosse, the personification of evil, who is eventually defeated. New company director Kathryn Bennetts and Marcia Haydée have aimed to restore this well-known fairytale ballet to its former glory, whilst answering the question of why a company that privileges a contemporary repertoire should choose to revisit this classical romantic piece.

The reason is, as Marc Haegeman puts it in Danceviewtimes, that this is not an “old-fashioned and dusty museum piece" but a work that “still inspires today’s artists as well as audiences. And what’s more, it takes an academically schooled company like the Royal Ballet of Flanders – the only one left in Belgium – to dance it."

The Evil Fairy Carabosse
photo at Koninklijk Ballet Vlaanderen

We all know the story of Sleeping Beauty, the beautiful Princess Aurora blessed with good wishes at her christening from her fairy godmothers. The evil fairy Carabosse arrives and, angry at not being invited, curses the baby Aurora and says she will prick her finger at age 16 and die. However, the Lilac Fairy, who has not yet given her blessing, softens the curse and says that instead of dying, Aurora will sleep for 100 years until she is awakened by the kiss of a prince.

Most of us know that story, but many of us do not even know where Flanders is. With all the focus on the European Union lately, perhaps we should review some history, especially because the headquarters of both the Europe Union and NATO are based in Flanders. This is from a Flanders tourist website:

Map at Principia Cybernetica

Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, as well as those of several other major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres (11,787 sq mi), and it has a population of about 10.8 million people. Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe, Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups, the Dutch-speakers, mostly Flemish, and the French-speakers, mostly Walloons, plus a small group of German-speakers. Belgium's two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region, officially bilingual, is a mostly French-speaking enclave within the Flemish Region. A small German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia.

Many things go on up there in Flanders that affect the lives of all of us who live in Europe, and the US, too, so it's probably a good idea to know exactly where it is. The Royal Ballet of Flanders is located in Antwerp, about forty minutes by train from Brussels. If you just skimmed the above description, please go back and read it again, slowly.

Photo Ballet van Vlaaderen

Now that we've established some geographics, I think that Marcia Haydée's decision to develop the character of Carabosse, the evil fairy, really worked. I loved when the green magical curtain came down, and then, on top of it, down came another black gossamer curtain that Carabosse draped around himself (the sex of the evil fairy was ambiguous; but since it was played by a man, I will use the masculine pronoun). Especially chilling were Aurora's childhood interactions with the Lilac Fairy. Aurora grew up, playing with dolls, seemingly happy and protected by the Lilac Fairy, while waiting in the background, unseen, was Carabosse fluttering his black gossamer curtain. If Aurora was not conscious of the curse awaiting her, the audience most certainly was.

The costumes by Pablo Nunez were ravishing, with fine details that made each character stand out -- Nunez and Marcia Haydée were also responsible for the lighting. Benjamin Pope conducted the Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice, expertly transporting Tchaikovsky's vibrant notes to our ears. Pablo Nunez must be some kind of genius because in addition to the costumes and lighting, he was also was responsible for the whimsical sets, creating a fairy tale wonderland on the stage of La Fenice. The dancers were superb. The members Royal Ballet of Flanders come from all over the world. The night I saw the performance, Aurora was played by Altea Nunez from Spain, the Prince by Ernesto Boada from Cuba, Carabosse by Yevgeniy Kolesnyk from the Ukraine and the Lilac Fairy by Maria Seletskaja from Estonia.

The way things are going on the planet, I had been worried that humanity might be losing its ability to even perform traditional ballet, but after witnessing the Royal Ballet of Flanders, I am happy to report that not only is ballet alive and well, there were plenty of young people from the Royal School of Ballet in Antwerp and the Centro Artistic L'étoile in Pisa livening up the stage.

Photo Ballet van Vlaanderen

It was such an enjoyable evening, that I was surprised to read the following article in the New York Times by Rosyln Sulcas dated March 14, 2011 entitled Tough Passage for Flemish Ballet Troupe:

The Royal Ballet of Flanders is today one of the best companies in Europe. It has dynamic, top-notch dancers and a repertory that achieves, with effortless flair, the balance between traditional and modern that every ballet troupe seeks. In the last six years it has toured the world, won awards and garnered rave reviews. It is, surely, considered a jewel in the Belgian cultural crown.

Or is it? In October the Flemish Culture Ministry announced that the company would merge with the Flemish Opera, with both under a state-appointed administrator, or intendant. As the ballet company’s artistic director, Kathryn Bennetts, sees it, this would mean a loss of artistic autonomy, hamper international touring and mire her already underfinanced company in greater practical and financial difficulties.

“I am absolutely outraged at the minister for making such an ignorant and arrogant decision,” she said on Belgian national television after the announcement. “The minister of culture,” she went on, referring to Joke Schauvliege, “shouldn’t pretend to know anything about the arts — she doesn’t.” Ms. Bennetts declared that she would resign if the merger occurred.

Photo giornaledelladanza

Kathryn Bennetts is Australian:)

Needless to say, Ms. Bennetts did not resign. I don't know the current status of the company, but I think that the Royal Ballet of Flanders is a national treasure of which Belgium should be proud. They should travel all over the world, spreading good will, culture and delight, inspiring humanity with some the finest qualities that mankind has to offer.

Ciao from Venice,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Antonín Dvořák at La Fenice - New World Symphony

2011-12-09T23:43:00.007+01:00

Excerpt - Symphony No. 9 in E Minor "From the New World" - 3. Scherzo

(Venice, Italy) The Czech composer Antonín Leopold Dvořák arrived in America in 1892 and gave classical music a jolt. Please listen to the above clip if you have not already done so.

Convinced by the philanthropist, Jeanette Thurber, to head her newly-created National Conservatory of Music of America in New York City, Dvořák's task was to help Thurber realize her vision of creating an American school of classical music composition. Dvořák, already hugely successful in Europe, was hired to create the national music of the United States of America itself because it was not doing it organically.

Thurber's dream was that her conservatory would eventually become a federally funded national institution with branches throughout the United States, its headquarters based in Washington, D.C. Needless to say, her dream did not come true, but it certainly started out on the right path, with Dvořák quickly building a strong foundation.

La Fenice (The Phoenix)

Unfortunately, Dvořák and his wife left America before the spring 1895 term at the conservatory was finished, but not before he had inspired the New World with a composition or two. According to Wikipedia, apparently Jeanette Thurber had not paid him his salary, and he was homesick for the Old World, where he was greatly appreciated. During his short time in the United States, Dvořák knocked off not only From the New World aka Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95, but also his last solo concerto, Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104 (among other works), both of which we heard last night, December 8, 2011, at La Fenice, Venice's own opera house. Conducted by Alberto Veronesi, the Orchestra Filarmonica della Fenice produced a deeply moving concert, starring the dynamic Russian cellist, Nina Kotova.

Whether or not it is true that Jeanette Thurber did not pay his salary, according to his own letters, Dvořák was mightily impressed with America when he first arrived, not only with the way he was treated by Jeanette Thurber, but also with her generosity and willingness to expose both rich and poor to the world of music. His contract was for a substantial amount of money, and from what I've read about the man, I seriously doubt that he would have gotten on the boat without a decent advance. We can imagine that there is much more to the story -- especially since Thurber herself was the daughter of an immigrant violinist from Copenhagen who married a millionaire.

Dvořák's daunting task was to help the United States create their own national music. (I have struggled to format the following letter from Dvořák to friends in Prague to make it more readable, but am afraid you will have to decipher it yourselves.) Here is an example of one jewel of a sentence you will find if you take the time to read: "Imagine how the Americans work in the interests of art and for the people!"

16o. LIFE AND WORK IN AMERICA

Parker House, Boston (Hotel)

27. XL 1892. 

Dear Sir, Esteemed Madam, 

I have been wanting to write to you for a long time but have 
always put it off, waiting for a more suitable moment when I could 
tell you something of particular interest about America and 
especially about the musical conditions here. There is so much 
to tell and all so new and interesting that I cannot put it all down 
on paper and so I shall limit myself to the most important things. 

The first and chief thing is that, thanks be to God, we are 
all well and liking it here very much. And why shouldn't we 
when it is so lovely and free here and one can live so much more 
peacefully and that is what I need. I do not worry about any 
thing and do my duty and it is all right. There are things here 
which one must admire and others which I would rather not see, 
but what can you do, everywhere there is something-in general, 
however, it is altogether different here, and, if America goes 
on like this, she will surpass all the others. 

Just imagine how the Americans work in the interests of 
art and for the people! So, for instance, yesterday I came to 
Boston to conduct my obligatory concert (every thing connected 
with it being arranged by the highly esteemed President of our 
Conservatory, the tireless Mrs. Jeanette M.Thurber) at which the 
Requiem will be given with several hundred performers. The 
concert on December 1st will be for only the wealthy and the 
intelligentzia, but the preceding day my work will also be per 
formed for poor workers who earn 1 8 dollars a week, the purpose 
being to give the poor and uneducated people the opportunity 
to hear the musical works of all times and all nations'! 
That's something, isn't it? I am looking forward to it like a child. 

Today, Sunday, I have a rehearsal at three o'clock in the 
afternoon and wonder how it will come off. The orchestra here, 
which I heard in Brooklyn, is excellent, 100 musicians, mostly 
German as is also the conductor. His name is Nikisch and he 
comes from somewhere in Hungary. The orchestra was founded 
by a local millionaire, Colonel Higginson, who gave a big 
speech at my first concert (a thing unheard of here), spoke of 
my coming to America and the purpose to be served by my stay 
here. The Americans expect great things of me and the main 
thing is, so they say, to show them to the promised land and 
kingdom of a new and independent art, in short, to create a 
national music. If the small Czech nation can have such musi 
cians, they say, why could not they, too, when their country 
and people is so immense. 

Forgive me for lacking a little in modesty, but I am only 
telling you what the American papers are constantly writing. 
It is certainly both a great and splendid task for me and I hope 
that with God's help I shall accomplish it. There is more than 
enough material here and plenty of talent. I have pupils from as 
far away as San Francisco. They are mostly poor people, but 
at our Institute teaching is free of charge, anybody who is really 
talented pays no fees ! I have only 8 pupils, but some of them 
very promising. 

And then not less so are the entries for the competition 
for prizes offered by Mrs. Thurber. 1000 dollars for an opera, 
1000 for an oratory, 1000 for a libretto, 500 for a symphony, 
and, for a cantata, a piano or a violin concerto, 300 dollars each. 

A great deal of music has come in from all over America and 
I must go through it all. It does not take much work. I look at 
the first page and can tell straight away whether it is the work 
of a dilettante or an artist. 

As regards operas, they are very poor and I don't know 
whether any will be awarded a prize. Besides myself there are 
other gentlemen on the jury for each kind of composition five 
of us. The other kinds of composition such as symphonies, 
concertos, suites, serenades etc. interest me very much. The 
composers are all much the same as at home brought up in the 
German School, but here and there another spirit, other thoughts? 
another colouring flashes forth, in short, something 
Indian(something a la BretHarte). I am very curious how things will 
develop. 

As regards my own work, this is my programme: On 
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, from 9-11, I have compo 
sition ; twice a week orchestra practice from 4-6 and the rest of 
my time is my own. You see that it is not a great deal and Mrs. 
Thurber is very "considerate" as she wrote to me in Europe that 
she would be. 

She looks after the administrative side herself has a secretary 
also a founding member of the co-operative (very wealthy), a 
Mr. Stanton, an intimate friend of Mr. Cleveland, whereas Mrs. 
Thurber is a Republican-, but in matters of art they get on very 
well together and work for the good of our young and not yet 
fully developed institute. And so it is all right. The second 
secretary is Mrs MacDowel and she is mainly in charge of the 
correspondence. 

And now something about our domestic affairs. We live in 
17th street East, 327 (only 4 mins. from the school) and are 
very satisfied with the flat. Mr. Steinway sent me a piano imme- 
diately-a lovely one and, of course, free of charge, so that we 
have one nice piece of furniture in our sitting-room. Besides 
this we have 3 others rooms and a small room (furnished) and 
pay 80 dollars a month. A lot for us but the normal price here. 

We have breakfast and supper at home and go to a board 
ing-house for dinner. 

I must stop. My kind regards to yourself and your wife, 
I remain, Gratefully Yours, 

Antonin Dvorak. 

My wife, who is with me, asks to be remembered to you.

Dvorak to Mr.and Mrs Hldvka in Prague.


Jeanette Thurber
Apparently Dvořák, the son of a butcher, found his inspiration for the new national classical music of the United States of America in Native American and African American music, which Carnegie Hall and New York City embraced, but which the critics in Boston most definitely did not. (There is a great joke about the people who came over on the Mayflower here in Europe, which I will tell you in the future:)


From Humanities, November/December 2003, Volume 24/Number 6; Scott Eithier's excellent write-up of Dvorák in America by Joseph Horowitz:

The New York press was filled with articles about his arrival. Americans were impressed that Dvorák, the son of a Bohemian butcher, had worked his way up--with a little assistance from Johannes Brahms--to become one of Europe’s most respected composers. Journalist Henry Edward Krehbiel, who would become one of Dvorák’s most loyal supporters in the press, wrote in Century magazine that Dvorák’s life was “a story of manifest destiny, of signal triumph over obstacle and discouraging environment. To rehearse it stimulates hope, reanimates ambition, and helps keep alive popular belief in the reality of that precious attribute called genius.”

Just as America was taken by Dvorák, Dvorák was equally fascinated by America. In particular, he was captivated by the music and culture of African Americans and American Indians. “I suggested that inspiration for truly national music might be derived from the Negro melodies or Indian chants,” he writes in Music in America. “I was led to take this view partly by the fact that the so-called plantation songs are indeed the most striking and appealing melodies that have yet been found on this side of the water, but largely by the observation that this seems to be recognized, though often unconsciously, by most Americans.”

Harry Burleigh

One of Dvorák’s students at the National Conservatory was the young African American singer and composer Harry Burleigh. Burleigh sang for Dvorák many of the spirituals and plantation songs he had learned from his grandfather.

Dvorák’s interest in American Indian culture began in Europe, when he read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem, The Song of Hiawatha, in Czech translation. During his first year in New York he accompanied Jeanette Thurber to a performance of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. Dvorák was fascinated by Buffalo Bill Cody, the sharpshooter Annie Oakley, and the Indians in war bonnets who reenacted Custer’s Last Stand and battles between settlers and Native Americans.

...When the symphony premiered on December 16, 1893 at Carnegie Hall with Anton Seidl and the New York Philharmonic, audiences and critics received the work warmly. When the work was premiered in Boston two weeks later, however, the reception could not have been more different. The critics and composers of the Boston establishment were in an uproar.

“Such Negro melodies as I have heard I should be sorry to see become the basis of an American school of composition,” composer George Chadwick wrote in the Boston Herald.

Amy Beach, another Boston composer, applauded the attempt to create a national music, but felt that African American melodies were not “fully typical” of the country. “The African population of the United States is far too small for its songs to be considered ‘American,’” she wrote.

Well, we can imagine how well THAT went over with the folks up in Massachusetts -- a fortune was spent to hire the most important composer in Europe at the time -- a Czech and son of a butcher -- who comes to America and tells the white folks that the best music they've got was created by native American Indians and imported African slaves! And THEN he creates a brilliant symphony called From the New World based on that music!

Let's listen to another excerpt from From the New World. I am playing them out of order for effect; this is the Largo, which actually comes before the Scherzo that you listened to there at the top of the post. The piece is a little long, so listen to as much as you like -- I am sure most of you will recognize the tune.

I will leave you with a little anecdote from one of Dvořák's students:

...Another time he surprised us with the question: who 
of us knows what Mozart is? The mysterious question

caused much cudgelling of brains and many views were

put forward about Mozart's significance. They were,

however, only the usual commonplace phrases such as:

Mozart is a classic-

a composer of opera

of symphonies

Haydn's successor

Beethoven's antipode

a precursor of Romanticism

and similar more or less senseless sentences. To

all the answers the Master shook his head and the

enigma remained unsolved.

"Now that just shows how little sense and feeling you

have for music. Do you mean to say that not one of

you can guess?!" he asked, raising his voice.

Nobody replied. ...

Dvorak's temperament boiled over: 
Seizing the nearest pupil by the shoulder, he dragged

him to the window and here pointing with one hand to

the sky and with the other shaking the pupil by the

sleeve asked him once more: 
"Now do you know? Do you see it?" 

The pupil was in obvious embarrassment:

now throwing an inquiring look at the Master,

now gazing at the sky, he finally stuttered: 

"Excuse me, sir, I don't see anything." 

"What? You don't see the sun?" 

"I see it!" 

"Why then don't you say what Mozart is ?" 

And turning away from the window-

seriously, loftily and with tremendous

enthusiasm, Dvorak pronounced this significant 
sentence: 

"Well, remember: Mozart is sunshine!"

From the article.' "From Dvorak's School" by Josef Michl
Ciao from Venice,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog