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A Glass Harmonica Debut

For the first time, a glass harmonica is being played as part of a performance at Covent Garden. “Even in Donizetti’s day, glass harmonica players were so scarce, and the original performer was looking for such an outrageous fee, that by the second production the composer ditched him and re-scored it for a flute.”

Joyce’s Real Muse?

James Joyce’s troubled but brilliant daughter, Lucia, has always been seen as something of a peripheral figure in her father’s life, and Joyce scholars have traditionally assigned more literary importance to Joyce’s wife. But a new biography of Lucia suggests that she, not her mother, was Joyce’s primary muse. The book is important not only because of its controversial thesis, but because it exists at all. In recent years, Joyce’s grandson, who oversees the author’s literary estate, has become increasingly aggressive in protecting his grandfather’s legacy, to the point of forbidding scholars from quoting from Joyce’s letters.

The Commissioning Club

As writers, musicians, and pundits around the world bemoan the lack of public appreciation for new music, five couples in Minnesota are doing something about it. For 13 years, each couple has contributed $2000 per year to a pool of money which is eventually used to commission a carefully selected composer to write a specific piece of music. The rights to the piece revert to the composer immediately following the first performance, but the club members continue to seek new performance opportunities for “their” composers. Needless to say, composers are thrilled with the club.

Prejudice Against Pots (And Potters?)

Grayson Perry is the hottest British potter ever. But “what is it about Grayson Perry that makes critics rummage in their tool boxes for monkey wrenches and lump hammers? Partly, it is because he is a potter. What, say critics down their noses, are ceramics doing in an art gallery? People don’t seem to have a problem with Picasso’s ceramic art, but they do with Perry’s.”

The Atheneum’s New Plan

Is Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum Museum $120 million expansion still on track? Museum officials aren’t saying for sure. “One can understand why some people at the museum have been a little testy the past year. You would be cranky, too, if you had lost one museum director, one board president, and five trustees in a matter of weeks because of conflicts over the direction of the capital-endowment drive.”

Museum As Profit Center

Can a private art museum make money? Charles Saatchi’s new London galleryseems to be doing well. “The gallery has had 320,000 visitors since relocating to its new premises in County Hall and opening to the public on 17 April. Ticket prices are £8.50 for adults, £6.50 for concessions and £5 for pre-booked groups. Assuming that just over half pay full price and the remainder pay an average of £6, then, according to our estimate, this adds up to an income of around £4 million a year.”

Van Goghs – Real Or Fakes?

“For the past 100 years, countless pictures in Van Gogh’s style have surfaced in the Breda [Netherlands] area, but except for those bought in the very early years, none have been accepted as authentic by specialists. Now, for the first time, a museum is bringing together 40 of the most important questionable works to give both experts and the public an opportunity to see them and pass judgement.”

Milwaukee Symphony – Deeper In The Red

Earlier this year the Milwaukee Symphony predicted it would have a $2.5 million deficit. Instead, the orchestra finished $874,000 in the red. “The gap closed because musicians gave back 21/2 weeks of work and pay, several office staff positions were eliminated, other staffers agreed to wage cuts and the symphony negotiated fee cuts with many guest artists. The symphony’s accumulated debt now stands at $5 million, $1.37 million of it run up in the last two seasons.”