Anthony Princiotti

"The melodic curves of speech express the complete organism and all phases of its spiritual activities. The art of dramatic writing is to compose a melodic curve that will, as if by magic, reveal immediately a human being in one phase of their existence."

- Leoš Janáček

Although many fine musicians admire Janacek's music, I've always been somewhat immune to its appeal. When I hear it, I'm left with a sense that it was written by a glue-sniffing love-child of Dvorak and Debussy. Although I suppose that could be a virtue...

When Janacek was 63, he became obsessed with Kamila Stosslova, a married woman 38 years his junior. He remained besotted with her for the rest of his life, showering her with love letters and dedications of new works. In response, she provided a sort of aloof companionship.

Among composers known as "late-bloomers", Janáček's case was particularly dramatic. He wrote the bulk of his most significant works after he'd passed his 60th birthday, including his most popular orchestral piece, his Sinfonietta, which he composed when he was 74 years old.

97 years ago today, the Czech composer, theorist, folklorist, and teacher Leoš Janáček died in Ostrava. A youthful follower of Dvořák's, his musical style evolved from traditional Romanticism into a unique aesthetic that fused Moravian and Slovak folk music with Modernism.

“The ultimate goal of a conductor is to build goodwill among people. You must create an atmosphere in which music can be a mission, can make people's lives easier. The conductor must stand for that. I have never sailed off that course.”

- Rafael Kubelik

When Kubelik went into exile in 1948, he vowed not to return “until my country is free”. After the fall of Czech Communism, he returned to conduct the Czech composer Bedrich Smetana's "Ma Vlast" in Prague again, on Smetana's birthday.

Kubelik returned to the Czech Philharmonic after the Nazis were defeated in 1945. But his tenure was finally ended by a Communist Coup in February of 1948. Defecting to Britain with his wife, he said: "I've lived under one tyranny; I won't live under another."

In becoming Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic at 28, Kubelik picked up a poisoned chalice. It was 1942; Czechoslovakia was occupied by the Nazis. After refusing to give the Hitler salute or perform Wagner, he was in such danger that he fled his post and hid in the countryside.

29 years ago today, the Czech-born conductor Jan Kubelik died in Switzerland at 82. Although he was a fervent Czech patriot, he spent most of his professional career abroad, directing the Bavarian Radio Symphony, the Chicago Symphony and The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

In a world awash with misinformation, there's no consensus on what "it" is. We're living in a time when a President can incite an insurrection against the government, yet still win re-election.

America, a product of The Age of Reason, can't function when facts and fiction carry equal weight.

There's a popular US-based YouTuber who hosts daily livestreams in which he speaks only to Trump supporters. At the beginning of each call, he asks "Do you support Donald Trump?" After they say yes, he asks them to tell him why. Invariably, they cite his anti-immigration policies. They're obsessed.

I think that social media, by its very nature, both encourages and rewards performative conflict and outrage. Millions of people gathering in an artificial environment competing to be heard, saying things they'd never say to someone's face.

"Dr. Phil's Road from Trashy to Massive Pile of Garbage."

Fixed it for them.

"Sure, let's have the former salesman of 'masculine toilets' represent the country on the world stage."

A vital discussion. Although I was exasperated by the tech fatalism articulated by Matt, who seems to believe that responsible regulation is essentially impossible. Kara's ironic analogy with pollution was apt: "Yes, the air's filthy; you'll just have learn how to process oxygen differently."

In this Week's Edition of "The Refuge":

An Opera Machine
A Stranger in a Strange Land
Bach's Hidden Foundation
Beethoven Confronts Existentialism

therefuge.substack.com

Please Share and Subscribe!

"Shostakovich was the conscience of Soviet music, a man who expressed our epoch in music better, more fully and more deeply than any of us.”

- Aram Khachaturian

(Image: Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Khachaturian)

In contrast to his popular image, Shostakovich was not an unrelentingly grim, tortured soul. He developed a passionate enthusiasm for soccer, learning the rules so thoroughly that he qualified for a "Referee's Diploma" and earning him a free pass to any match in the USSR.

In evaluating Shostakovich, we'd do well to drop the old "sellout vs. dissident" narrative. Until his late 20s, he was optimistic about the Soviet State; he even admired Stalin. Once the purges started, he was trapped; under Stalin, acts of Beethovenian defiance got you killed.

Shostakovich's musical monogram: D-E flat-C-H. It corresponds DSCH , i.e, the 1st letter of his 1st name and the 1st 3 letters of his Germanized surname. In German musical nomenclature, E flat="Es" and H=B natural. The motto appears in some of his most iconic works.

50 years ago today, the Soviet composer and pianist Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich died of heart failure in Moscow at the age of 68. His eclecticism, technical brilliance and extreme sensitivity made him a uniquely compelling musical chronicler of the Soviet experience.

Step 1: Find a random progressive saying a bit nutty.
Step 2: Claim that it represents widespread progressive opinion.
Step 3: Repeat the claim on a loop 24/7.

Every day brings with it another disgrace.

Originalism is akin to Fundamentalism; it claims an objectivity that's functionally impossible. An effective conceit that's logically unsupportable. Originalists suggest that they're immune from the human tendency to interpret what we read through a subjective lens. See: No True Scotsman Fallacy.

When Trump claims he's made a "trade deal", what he's actually saying is that he's negotiated a vaguely-worded press release.

"The artist reveals to humankind the way to harmony, which is happiness and peace."

- George Enescu

Enescu was certainly one of the greatest musicians Romania has produced. When he died in 1955, the country mourned the loss of a national hero. His image was placed on the front of a Romanian 5 lei note in 2005.

Enescu's musical abilities were astonishing. He was a distinguished violinist, conductor and composer, an accomplished pianist, able cellist and a famous teacher. His memory was so prodigious he often performed without music, leading to the loss of works he never wrote down.

Enescu was a great prodigy. His interest in music was sparked at the age of 3 when he heard a group of fiddlers playing near his native village of Liveni. Responding to his pleas for a violin, his parents gave him a proxy instrument: a thread sewn on a piece of wood. He loved it.