“The editorial director of France’s most respected newspaper, Le Monde, died after collapsing at his office on Tuesday evening. Erik Izraelewicz, who was 58, was overseeing the production of the daily paper when he was said to have felt unwell before suffering a heart attack.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Meet The Man Who Made The Libretto For Handel’s Messiah
Charles Jennens “was a scholar, collector, Shakespeare editor and the man who probably brought the first piano into England, on which Handel performed after dinner. … [He] never asked for a penny for his many libretti for Handel, but helped establish the composer’s immortal fame and popularity.”
The Power Of A Theatrical Marathon
Nicholas Nickleby, The Mahabharata, Angels in America, Gatz – “[M]arathon plays, at their most effective, require an act of sustained imaginative commitment that can turn an audience of disparate individuals into a pop-up community, forging a bond that endures far longer than the walk back to the parking lot.”
London’s St. Pancras Station To Host Series Of Large-Scale Installations
“The English and French artistic duo Lucy and Jorge Orta have been chosen to kick off a major contemporary art commission in London. The artists are creating a gigantic installation for St Pancras International train station, which will … replace the Olympic Rings that were suspended from the ceiling in front of the station clock in the run-up to the London 2012 games.”
60 Minutes Goes To New York City Ballet
CBS’s flagship newsmagazine profiles the US’s flagship ballet company. Correspondent Lesley Stahl talks with ballet master Peter Martins, visits a School of American Ballet class, and watches from the wings a performance of Balanchine’s Apollo.
Cuba’s Dance Company For The Voluminously Proportioned
Danza Voluminosa, founded in 1996, is a Havana-based professional troupe of overweight and even obese dancers. The company, which has a repertoire of nearly three dozen pieces, draws a sizeable audience.
The World’s First Declaration Of Human Rights (It’s From Ancient Persia)
“Made shortly after Cyrus of Persia captured Babylon in 539BC, the Cyrus cylinder records how the ruler allowed deported peoples to return to their homelands and ushered in an era of religious tolerance in his new, multiethnic empire.”
Historians Should Cut Steven Spielberg Some Slack Over Lincoln
Kevin M. Levin: “After so much research, we historians look for complexity and a certain attention to detail that reflects a careful consideration of the past. I certainly did this while watching Lincoln, but at the same time, we would do well to remember that when we watch films about other subjects, we’re able to set aside that kind of analysis and respect the filmmaker’s creative decisions.”
The Oscar Wilde Aphorism Infographic
An ingenious chart provides us with the top 50 epigrams and their sources; a Wilde quotability index; quotability comparisons with JFK, Shakespeare, Churchill, and Jesus; and (naturally) erudite footnotes.
When Great Novels Have Bad Endings
Joan Acocella: “After the scalding passion of Catherine and Heathcliff, who cares about the amorous back-and-forths of their uninteresting children? Yet this occupies half of the book. … But the novel with the most shockingly bad ending is our country’s greatest novel, Huckleberry Finn.”