Friedrich --

Prowling the work of our fellow culturebloggers, I notice that Alexandra, over at Out of Lascaux (here), has worked up an entertaining head of steam over the proper role of art critics, and that AC Douglas (here) is deep in the midst not just of a Movable Type upgrade but an enlightening discussion of the best way to understand Wagner's "Ring."

Sample Alexandra passage:

And why do they feel they have to take on this role? Because so much contemporary art is completely incomprehensible, not just to the "common man," but to anyone who stumbles across it. Art is about ideas, but it is also about communicating ideas. If art doesn't say something to the audience besides "I bet you're too stupid to figure this one out," then it has failed.

Italian-form opera, for all its often convoluted melodrama and grand staging, has but one purpose and one purpose only: To act as showcase for the human voice in song.... Not so Wagnerian music-drama. Music-drama is about the drama, and singers are merely one part of the musico-dramatic apparatus, and not the most important part, either. That role falls to the orchestra in which is contained and played out the very core of the drama itself.

Best,

Michael

Hi there

Posted by: james on July 22, 2003 12:19 PM






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