Tchaikovsky’s Großvater
Tchaikovsky’s Großvater: two sources The source of Tchaikovsky’s Großvater (the “grandfather dance” in the party scene in Act 1 of The Nutcracker, and the tune that Schumann quotes in Carnaval…
Lopokova, Topics & Semiotics
While I was in Prague, I managed to catch up on a lot of reading. Two books by Raymond Monelle, The Sense of Music and The Musical Topic nearly overloaded…
Prague Masterclasses again
The sixth year running, and the International Ballet Masterclasses in Prague are still as exhilarating as ever. Last night, Beatrice Knop told us the story of how she got through…
Mirlitons
One conundrum I missed out from the list earlier: I was passing Paul in the King’s Road the other day, when I noticed a plate of Mirlitons in the window.…
Si no sería por la resaca…
Some of my many conundrums today have included: Why does no-one on Eastenders watch Eastenders? And… ..if soaps reconstruct geographical reality by inventing ‘Albert Square’ (for example), why haven’t they…
The Ayn Rand cult
One of the decisions I regret most in life is opting to take Ayn Rand’s novel The Fountainhead to Crete with me as holiday reading a few years ago. I’d…