Mr. James’s, rare opportunity that many dream of but few get to enjoy: the chance to read his own A Translation of Dante’s “Divine Comedy” “Eulogies” He first fell in love with “The Divine Comedy” in Florence in the 1960s when the scholar Prue Shaw read romantic passages aloud to him from Canto 5 of…

Joseph Goebbels in a pinstripe suit, his hair slicked back, gave a simple but philosophical speech about the importance of music. Then, smiling, he handed over the violin to a young woman. "Goebbels’s Gift" A STRADIVARIUS VIOLIN MASTERPIECEthe violin’s elegant outline, the figure on its flamed-maple back, the wear pattern of its varnish Nejiko Suwa,…

The program, “Venezia,” is predictably heavy on works by Monteverdi, less predictably so on works by Francesco Manelli Just keep an open mind, and revel in the unexpectedL’Arpeggiata LE POÈME HARMONIQUE New Yorkers the acquaintance of L’Arpeggiata, a Paris-based ensemble that combines the highest level of early-music artistry and imagination with shifting degrees of theatricality.…

As a subject for both mainstream and avant-garde filmmakers this season at the Venice International Film Festival where Faith plays a key role RELIGION ROARS ONTO THE SCREEN Dramas by the world’s three major monotheistic faiths and one based on a thinly veiled version of Scientology Un fatto che si riflette in concorso e fuori…

In Italy, however, this movement was not in the spoken word but rather in a new form that combined drama with music opera. IL 'BEL CANTO' Europe in the 17th century was host to a great rise in dramatic theaterLe prime opere non erano ancora pienamente integrare, la musica e il teatro. Passaggi half-sung ,…

Gentile da Fabriano’s “Adoration of the Magi” of 1423 as the apex of late Gothic painting of any era and widely recognized is one of THE SUPREME MASTERPIECES More than a century and a half later the “Adoration” was revered “as an object of antiquity La fine del 14 ° e all'inizio del 15 secolo…

As Shakespeare does among writers, Designed to satisfy the vanity and lust of magnificent dukes, corrupt popes and powerful emperors among his peers TITIAN STANDS OUT A companion Angela del Moro, the model for Urbino’s Venus It sharpens the senses and gives pleasure Titian opened up a natural world of sexual arousalTiziano, che proveniva da…

It is known that he used Chinese tunes GIACOMO PUCCINI'S "TUNES" IN "TURANDOT" set in China and left incomplete on Puccini's death in 1924 E 'noto che Giacomo Puccini utilizzava melodie cinesi nella sua opera "Turandot" (ambientata in Cina e lasciata incompiuta alla sua morte nel 1924). Ma gli studiosi sono rimasti sconcertati dalle origini…

Vittorio Grigolo Opera’s latest rising star "LA DONNA E’ MOBILE" While the half-voice and shading bring new life to such hackneyed numbers  Ha iniziato la sua carriera come corista nella Cappella Sistina Dalla cappella papale al priapico corte di Mantova è un bel tragurdo. Con la sua piena voce, con  tono supplichevole sale al top delle…

The effects of both penitential patronage and ecclesiastical reproach on the works of art in which the Bonfires of the Vanities had been held“Money and Beauty” The 1400s, Or Quattrocento “Bankers, Botticelli and the Bonfire of the Vanities” A visual telling of a tale of beauty and bloodshed, lucre and licentiousness, morality, hypocrisy and propitiation.…