“An enormous collection of writings and drawings by Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci will go on public display for the first time in September, organisers said Monday. The Codex Atlanticus contains a vast array of his work, from studies of bird flight to sketches of complex machinery.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Awkward Timing For Merce’s ‘Legacy Plan’
“In June, the choreographer announced an initiative called the Living Legacy Plan that would safeguard his work and provide for a smooth transition of assets in the event that he should no longer be able to serve as leader of his New York-based dance company. It was an innovative move in a career marked by innovation. But with Cunningham’s death Sunday, his foundation finds itself in the difficult position of having to fund the $8-million plan as it simultaneously goes into effect.”
NY Public Library Executive Appointed US National Archivist
“President Obama is said to have picked David S. Ferriero, now chief executive of the research libraries at The New York Public Library, to be the Archivist of the United States, a post that includes making sure that highly sensitive presidential papers and electronic records are saved and made available to the public.”
How Are Video Games Like 1950s Corporate America?
“Imagine a world in which 85 percent of the people are male and 80 percent are white. A world in which women and members of other races are a token presence, with most assuming passive, subsidiary roles. Corporate America, circa 1950? Try the present-day world of video games.”
Reconstructing Mozart’s Most Mysterious Instrument
“Mozart’s original score for the 1791 opera The Magic Flute called for a glass harmonica or keyed glockenspiel to represent a set of magic bells. The instruments were obscure even in Mozart’s day but more than 200 years after his death they no longer exist and no one knows how they worked.” Modern orchestras usually use a celesta, but that won’t work for period-instrument bands. Then a London organ maker set to work on solving the conundrum.
Dilbert‘s Mastermind Battles For His Own Larynx
Scott Adams “was a cartoonist, but he was also an engineer, and both fields have a tendency to attract stubborn people who are immune to rejection and who disregard obstacles.” He needed all those qualities, plus his considerable powers of observation, over the past four years as he dealt with vocal cords that simply stopped working at certain times and places.
Man Booker Semifinalists Include Coetzee, Cromwell, Cheeta The Chimp
“Literary heavyweights AS Byatt and JM Coetzee were today named on this year’s longlist for the Booker prize – which also features a first-time writer purporting to be Tarzan’s chimpanzee.” Other candidates include “Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel’s gripping account of Henry VIII’s Tudor court told through his chief minister, Thomas Cromwell”; “Adam Foulds’ The Quickening Maze, set in a private asylum used by the Victorian poet John Clare”; and Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn.
Steven Soderbergh’s Secret Sydney Scheme
“For months it has been known simply as Steven Soderbergh’s untitled project for the Sydney Theatre Company. The secret nature of the production that opens in December has been tantalising.” Part of the reason for the silence, it seems, is that the script is based on a real-life case that’s not over yet.
How The British Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Spanish Masters
“For an absurdly long time, the British loathed Spain. Memories of the Armada, coupled with fears about the stern and terrifying Catholicism of the Spanish Inquisition, ensured that Grand Tour aristocrats preferred to visit Italy. But after the Napoleonic army invaded Spain in the early 19th century, attitudes swiftly changed. … At the same time British artists and collectors [alike] discovered, with a sense of wonder, that Spain had produced some of the most outstanding western painters.”
That Was Fast: Salzburg Festival Finds Interim Artistic Director For 2011
“The festival’s board of trustees named current music chief Markus Hinterhaeuser as interim director, bridging the gap between the departure next year of Juergen Flimm and the arrival of his successor Alexander Pereira in 2012.” The news comes just three days after Flimm’s early exit was announced.