Puccini In America
New York received the great composer like a god; he responded con brio to its shiny gadgets and beautiful women and produced an “American” opera.Mary Jane MatzApril 1959On a cold December day in 1906,...
View ArticleSelling The Swedish Nightingale
Jenny Lind and P.T. BarnumRuth HumeOctober 1977When it comes to the performing arts, Americans have often suffered from a sense of cultural inferiority. Foreign artists are considered somehow...
View ArticleThe Sound Of Silents
The men and women who labored in the ghostly light of the great screen to make the music that accompanied silent movies were as much a part of the show as Lillian Gish or Douglas FairbanksPaul F....
View ArticleThe Man Who Knew Mozart
Lorenzo Da Ponte, New York bookseller and Pennsylvania grocer, was a charming ne’er-do-well in the eyes of his fellow Americans. He happened, also, to have written the words for Don Giovanni and The...
View ArticleDvořák In America
The great Czech composer arrived on these shores a century ago and wrote some of his most enduring masterpieces here. Perhaps more important, he understood better than any American of the day where...
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