Learning about opera is a work in progress for me, and writing about things I don’t fully understand gives me the heebie-jeebies. So take this post as a shared pleasure rather than an informed review. Five minutes to read; 25-30 … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: April 2017
Excerpted and adapted from Innovators in Sculpture. Faun Teased by Children is a technical tour de force by 18-year-old Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), whose career spanned seven decades. I’m a sucker for virtuosity; and besides, this makes me laugh. Michelangelo’s figures (Moses … Continue reading
The is my final post in the Hamilton Musical series: a very personal selection of Hamilton’s writings from 1798 to 1804 that reminds me what I like so much about the man. “I cannot make every body else as rapid … Continue reading
This poem has always stuck in my mind because of the brilliant way de La Mare leaves the beginning of the story to the imagination. “The Listeners,” by Walter de La Mare, 1912 ‘Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller, Knocking on the … Continue reading
In which Callender accuses Hamilton of speculation, and Hamilton replies: June to August 1797. Phase I was Hamilton’s affair with Maria and her husband’s blackmail of Hamilton; see here for the chronology of all three phases and the documents relating … Continue reading
In which Reynolds accuses Hamilton of speculation: December 1792. This is the second in a three-part set of posts on the Reynolds affair: first part (with preliminary comments and a chronology) is here, third here. In November 1792, Jacob Clingman … Continue reading
In which Hamilton has a torrid affair, and pays a price. I intended to cover the Reynolds Affair in one exceedingly long post. WordPress thought otherwise, so it’s in three posts, corresponding to the three phases of the affair. But … Continue reading
First an an occasional series of posts on works I’d love to visit again … or see for the first time. My choices for the Five Favorites series aren’t all works that show me new heights to aspire to. More … Continue reading
Hamilton proposes to stimulate manufacturing in order to help make Americans prosperous. This post on Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures (submitted to Congress on December 5, 1791) is the third of three posts on Hamilton’s major writings as secretary of the Treasury. The … Continue reading