“Nobody does Messiah like the English. We own the score (at the British Library), the language, the history, the continuity, the board game. We have the music in our bloodstream, the motives in our national character. Band Aid, Live Aid and all similar philanthropic outpourings are, wittingly or not, offshoots of Handelâs example in his London Messiah. So when some continental comes along with a baton and tells us weâre doing it all wrong, we canât count crotchets in Comfort-Ye or tell a pp from a ppp, weâre not, for once, going to nod obeisance and say musical Europe always knows best. Hands to ears, we English donât need be to be told how to sing Messiah, right?”
Blog
Getty Returns Art To Italy
The Getty Museum has returned three artworks to Italy. “Among the pieces returned is a 2,300-year-old Greek vase, known as a krater, painted by Asteas. A bronze Etruscan candelabrum and stone inscription were also returned. The Italian government had filed a claim with Los Angeles legal authorities. The museum is hoping to build goodwill with the Italians ahead of further lawsuits involving 42 pieces of art in the collection of the Getty museum.”
Guessing What’s Ahead In Pittsburgh
As Pittsburgh braces for the impact of the touring Radio City Christmas Spectacular to hit local arts groups, arts leaders are discovering that there’s just no way to tell in advance what that impact will be. A holiday entertainment glut is a possibility, which might see ticketbuyers shunning the same old Nutcracker performances in favor of the shiny new Rockettes. But the expected 30% spike in winter heating costs could also cause sales slumps all around. In any case, the beleagured Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre doesn’t need the new headache.
It’s Art. It’s Not Supposed To Be Cool.
“Cool is a word that often crops up when describing art or artists. It’s always been a term that has bugged me. The minute something is described as cool, my instincts tell me that it is on the wane. For me, being creative is being prepared to make a fool of myself — in a nutshell, the opposite of cool. In my experience embarrassment is not fatal. Coolness somehow implies that there is a right thing to do, whereas creativity is mistakes. I recall in sixth-form art lessons that the coolest boy just churned out copies of his favourite album covers… In years to come we will look back at our obsession with appearing cool as we look at the medieval chivalric code. I think the time has come for adulthood and wisdom to be seen as things worth aspiring to.”
Supporting Artists, Not Just Their Art
Norway’s culture minister has announced plans for a $150,000 study of the living conditions of the country’s artists. The eventual aim would be to find new ways for the government to provide support for freelance artists, who frequently move in and out of existing unemployment programs, and often lack retirement savings.
Ordway In The Black Again
St. Paul’s Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, which plays host to a range of traveling musicals as well as serving as the home base for Minnesota Opera and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, has balanced its budget for the third year in a row. “For the first time in three years, the center was able to draw funds — about $600,000 — from its endowment… And, buoyed by a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation, the Ordway saw contributions increase by 17 percent over last year. After three years of fiscal discipline and a half-million-dollar bailout from the city of St. Paul, the Ordway seems again ready to look forward.”
Why Does Looking At Art Have To Be So Loud?
If you’ve noticed that museums and galleries seem to be getting louder in recent years, you’re not alone. Sound bleeding from those headphone-equipped self-guided tours mingles with the shrieks of schoolchildren and leaves some art lovers decidedly irritated. “It’s certainly become increasingly difficult to tour a gallery or museum without being assailed by extraneous sound, and virtually impossible to look at a painting or sculpture in any sort of contemplative tranquillity. Galleries and museums used to be regarded as temples of art, to be approached with a certain reverence – glass cases, do not touch. Now it’s all lights up, hands-on and enjoy.”
The Prodigy Problem
Stephen Moss has never been a fan of the hype surrounding child musical prodigies. “Great classical musicians should be planets, not meteors; careers built steadily, stealthily. A violinist, bowing arm permitting, can last 40 years; a pianist 60. When you are 12, don’t play Carnegie Hall, play football.” But upon meeting four of Britain’s hottest young musicians, Moss finds that they have many of the same concerns he does: “Being labelled a prodigy can be a curse. It can be dangerous because it’s not about the music; it’s about business and hype… Young people are children first. They have social and emotional needs, and they must be in balance if the individual is to achieve his or her potential.”
Is The Aboriginal Art Market Overvalued?
Aboriginal art has become a booming industry in Australia, despite the inherent complications of marketing and trading in a product manufactured by artists whose culture does not accept Western ideas of ownership. But the craze seems to be beginning to die down, and “amid the frenzied buying and selling, with important Aboriginal art objects changing hands as often as several times a year, there is still a pervasive anxiety that Aboriginal art might be a con.”
As Art Goes For The Everyday, Architects Shoot The Moon
“The ordinary has become the universal currency of contemporary art… Contemporary British culture fetishises the ordinary, whether it’s Tracey Emin or Coronation Street, Reality TV and its stream of pleb-celebs, or the slightly condescending, awkward glory of Mike Leigh, Alan Bennett and Martin Parr… The odd thing is that while other arts increasingly revel in everydayness, architecture, the art that touches our lives in the most practical and everyday ways, remains in thrall to the gravitational pull of the ‘icon’.”