Globe Articles

Some people work for a living, some people work for fun

After too long a delay, I’m back with more rambling over at NewMusicBox. This is what happens when I get told I can’t like what I like one too many times.

Also, some Boston Globe catch-up:

Some CD reviews: part one (scroll down), part two.
Reviewing Garrick Ohlsson.
Reviewing the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The book is nearing an end. But I could use some help on something. I was writing up my bit on Landsberg 6—the sketchbook that contains the first inklings of Beethoven’s Fifth. Now, there isn’t much, if anything, left to say about Landsberg 6, which musicologists have pretty well picked over since Nottebohm first wrote about it back in 1880. But, my brain being what it is, I ended up spending all of yesterday banging my head against the wall over the paucity of information on the sketchbook’s namesake, Ludwig Landsberg. Born in Breslau (in 1804, 1805, or 1807, depending on who you believe), a tenor in the Berlin Opera chorus, also a violinist, he ended up living in Rome for twenty-some years, hosting soirees and promoting German music (most scholarly mentions surround one such salon at which the guest of honor was Fanny Mendelssohn). But he also owned a trove of manuscripts—not only Beethoven, but also Schubert, and Chopin, and scads of early music. My question: where did he get the money to amass that collection? Sure, manuscripts were cheaper back then, but they weren’t free, and Landsberg’s collecting was on a scale I would not expect on an expat violinist’s salary. Was he well-connected? Did he have family money? (Apparently his brother back in Breslau was a banker, according to Thayer, who didn’t bother mentioning his brother’s first name.) My spidey sense is going crazy thinking that there has to be something more interesting going on with Landsberg that indicated in his Grove blurb, but every lead hits a brick wall.

Follow the Fleet

All kinds of recent business, including this hefty bit of concision:

Reviewing the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music.
Boston Globe, August 19, 2010.

A couple of other reviews:

Reviewing the Monadnock Music Festival.
Boston Globe, August 10, 2010.

Reviewing Pierre-Laurent Aimard.
Boston Globe, August 12, 2010.

Oh, and this bit of goofiness over at The Faster Times.

And, since I’m trying to finish a book, and writers always drink to excess, I’ve been dipping back into the greatest cocktail book of all time, that being the second volume of Charles H. Baker, Jr.’s The Gentleman’s Companion. On page 110, Baker trots out something called “Admiral Schley Punch,” named for Winfield Scott Schley, troublemaking hero/loose cannon of the Spanish-American War. Take it away, Mr. Baker:

ADMIRAL SCHLEY PUNCH

This is supposed to have been named after the American admiral, and we shouldn’t mind such a pleasant piece of business being named after us.

St. Croix or Barbados rum, ½ jigger
Bourbon, ½ jigger
Sugar, 1 tsp
Lime, peel and juice, 1

Shake with fine ice, and turn into goblet—ice and all. Garnish with sprigs of mint, a stick of ripe pineapple, and so on.

Holy mother of pearl, this might just be the best summer drink ever concocted. We salute you, Admiral Schley!