What are you reading now?

[Sorrano]

Who needs conductors? An interesting question (and an old one, of course) that this newspaper article examines. Bonne lecture.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/20...ok-tom-service

Sometime last week I listened to a work performed by a conductor-less orchestra, but cannot recall who or what. Attention was drawn to the fact that the orchestra operated without a conductor and that everything seemed to go well.

[Quijote]

Who needs conductors? An interesting question (and an old one, of course) that this newspaper article examines. Bonne lecture.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/20...ok-tom-service

[Sorrano]

Victor Hugo: Les Miserables. I decided to give this a shot (the complete and unabridged version).

[Peter]

Just finishing Delacroix's journal: he has some very interesting views on art and composers which I don't entirely share but I suppose they give a French mid 19th century view of things. Overall he comes across as a rather unhappy and lonely man. Next up is Bowells's London journal of 1762/3 which I'm sure will be a happier read!

[Sorrano]

I've been reading G. K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare. That was an interesting read, indeed!

[marquis66]

very funny (unusually for Mann!)

It isn't that he isn't funny, it's that he isn't laugh out loud funny. More witty, biting satire. Faustus is ridiculous, more than funny.

[Whoops. I have clearly not had enough coffee... I didn't realize I described him as ridiculous in two different posts...]

[marquis66]

There are certainly allusions that Leverkuhn (the... "protagonist"? Main character, if nothing else) was meant to be a parody of Schoenberg. In fact the whole novel is so tinted with parody of German High philosophy, as to be almost ridiculous. I am using the Ch. 8 lecture on op. 111 (itself a parody of Adorno, most likely) as the entry point to Beethoven.

Mann and Schoenberg were at least acquaintances. I remember reading somewhere that Ole' Arnie was a little put off when he first read it, until he realized just how true-to-life the facsimile was in many regards. Don't quote me on that bit though, I am not sure where I saw that.

[Peter]

Reading Thomas Mann's Doktor Faustus in preparation for a conference talk I am giving on Beethoven and Literary/Philosophical aesthetics.

Wasn't Faustus based on Schoenberg?

[Peter]

I love Dr. Faustus and the Magic Mountain and Death in Venice. Mann is a phenomenal author. It would be great if you could , after giving the talk to summarize it on this site for people in the UK. Sounds fantastic!

Not forgettting Buddenbrooks and the very funny (unusually for Mann!) Confessions of Felix Krull which unfortunately was not completed.

[marquis66]

I would imagine that either that actual talk, or at least the warm-up/let the faculty take pot-shots to toughen me up session, will be video taped, and I would bet that I will be posting it on my website if that's the case.

The topic can be a little dry, BUT it adds another tool into the analysis handbag.

[Megan]

Reading Thomas Mann's Doktor Faustus in preparation for a conference talk I am giving on Beethoven and Literary/Philosophical aesthetics.

I love Dr. Faustus and the Magic Mountain and Death in Venice. Mann is a phenomenal author. It would be great if you could , after giving the talk to summarize it on this site for people in the UK. Sounds fantastic!

[marquis66]

Reading Thomas Mann's Doktor Faustus in preparation for a conference talk I am giving on Beethoven and Literary/Philosophical aesthetics.

[haydnguy]

Just decided to re-read:

Beethoven: His Life & Music
by Jeremy Siepmann
ISBN-10: 1-4022-0751-4

[Megan]

I enjoyed every page of the extraordinary story of these energetic , daring and adventerous young nurses, in the 50's. A delightful nostalgic memoir of five remarkable nurses who decided to leave Britian and embarked on an incredible American Road trip.

[Hollywood]

Reminds me of a very bad joke:

Q. What do "William the Conqueror" "Attila the Hun" and "Peter the Great" have in common?

A. The same middle name.