Try "Opera in 17th-Century Venice: The Creation of a Genre" by Ellen Rosand. It's well-written and definitely of interest even to non-specialists.

Granted, but I think it depends on the context - if you're trying to convey something about what the masses (so-called) thought, it can be useful. I agree that in general it's one of those do-nothing adjectives, like another one I've always overused, "lovely" 🤣

🤣🤣🤣 I mean, he pretty much had to postpone - he was not going to win trying to give that, right now.

Ok, that confirms it. Putting it on the list.

An exception: when the book is set in a different time period, and the character who is "famous" then is forgotten now.

6 books named finalists for the 2026 International Booker Prize The shortlisted titles include novels and novellas from authors and translators spanning four continents, with stories that range from Japanese-controlled 1930s Taiwan to the streets of Tehran in 1979...

Which of these have you read? Which should I read? The Director is already on my list, and The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran sounds promising. Taiwan Travelogue also piques my interest. Your thoughts? #bookerprize #novels #worldliterature

Awwwwww I was hoping for Sinners #oscars

I certainly would see it as a musical!! Not a stretch at all.

Timothée Chalamet Under Fire For Dismissive Comments About Traditional Japanese Puppet Theater Form ‘Bunraku’ LOS ANGELES—Facing fierce backlash for remarks deemed deeply ignorant by devoted fans, actor Timothée Chalamet came under fire Monday for dismissive comments about traditional Japanese bunraku puppetr...

I love @theonion.com . (H/t @armandobayolo.bsky.social )

Omg. People and their conspiracy theories. That's like something out of the Onion.

🤣🤣🤣

I did not know about that talk. Since I'm no longer an active credit, I am not at all up-to-date on what is going on in the field, certainly in terms of knowing the details of what's happening in Boston or LA.

I will be curious to see that. I'm also fascinated at the polarization I'm seeing in my comments (on FB) between people who adore him and people who found him dull - smart listeners on both sides. Part of the picture I'm getting is that board wanted something different but musicians were happy.

They must already have someone in mind. Seems like you wouldn't just let your current guy go unless you had another candidate.

I have had similar views, part of which I chalk up to the fact that he's churned out more repertoire than any conductor I can think of. I don't think even one of the Golden Age greats could have done decent Shostakovich, Bruckner, and Beethoven cycles concurrently with 3 orchestras. Overstretched.

IMO his weakness was that he was so overextended that some things could feel a bit superficial. But I found him a fine conductor, and the orchestra loved him and is evidently very upset.

I have no idea who they have in mind who they think would be better. Unless they want to bring Esa-Pekka back?

🤪🤪😢

Congratulations to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which managed to upstage the flaming dumpster fire that is the Kennedy Center in the collective mind of the classical music world this Friday by dismissing its very fine music director, Andris Nelsons. Can't wait to hear the back story.

If you're anywhere in the area, don't miss this! It's a great piece and I'm really looking forward to it.

I'll take Heartwarming Media Posts for $1000, Alex. Remember how everyone screamed when the New York Times turned its sports department into something called the Athletic? Well, the Athletic has just hired the cream of the Washington Post sports department, who were fired earlier this month.

Well, the Washington Post has just given an object lesson in THAT - it must be in the air. (And you have my commiseration. I had to cut the first 65 pages of my current book - years of work. But without that ballast, it started to fly.)

The poems are vignettes of events in his life, and so far have offered such beautiful insights into his youth. The image of the mistreated child weeping at the keyboard. A casual flirtation from his teen years (and the way our teen experiences are so important, but later forgotten).

The Beethoven book is a book of poems, and each is so rich I didn't want to race through them, so this is how I'm slowing it down.

Alisa’s Daily Dose | Alisa's Daily Dose Offering you comfort & community in the DMV

There are still humane editors at the @washinpost.com, because someone let one of the journalists they'd fired reach out to readers one last time to announce her own newsletter for local news in the DMV. Sign up and support Alisa Tang's new venture; we need local news! alisadailydose.beehiiv.com

A wintry landscape with tree trunks and a small red fox: the cover of the book HAPPINESS l, by Aminatta Forna

Good morning! I'm reading HAPPINESS by Aminatta Forna and savoring BEETHOVEN VARIATIONS by Ruth Padel in the interstices. #BookSky #MondayReads

I love him too! The only silver lining to Ilia messing up is that he got a medal out of it.

Quartet for Anne

And for my first birthday after we were married, he surprised me by bringing a string quartet into the house and playing a quartet he had written for me, and for Valentine's Day this year he's released a professional recording of it, and here it is on Spotify. open.spotify.com/track/52oRBp...

Our first proper date was at a Mets game. We went to the game and then went out to dinner and had lots to say but seemed to have no romantic spark at all, and then he walked me home and asked if he could hug me good night, and we forgot to stop hugging and have been together ever since. 1/2

A German Christmas card with the words "Frohes Fest" over a Santa and a Christmas tree -- which took two months to arrive.

In the mail today: a card from my friend in Germany -- dated December 10. Today is February 13. When people say the mail is slow these days, they aren't kidding.

I completely agree. I was immediately flashing back to Nathan Chen, who had similar layers of hype in 2018, and stumbled, and came back to win gold in 2022. It's just more of a shock because Malinin has seemed so assured. But what you say about the ice could definitely be a factor.