Snapshot: Arturo Toscanini conducts Sibelius by Terry Teachout

Arturo Toscanini leads the NBC Symphony in Sibelius' En Saga. This performance was originally telecast on March 15, 1952: (This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear i…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:15am on October 7, 2015☆⚑

Almanac: Thoreau on craftsmanship by Terry Teachout

"Drive a nail home and clinch it so faithfully that you can wake up in the night and think of your work with satisfaction,"a work at which you would not be ashamed to invoke the Muse." Henry…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:00am on October 7, 2015☆⚑

Poet of the particular by Terry Teachout

In today's Wall Street Journal I pay tribute to Brian Friel, about whose recent death I blogged. Here's an excerpt from the piece, which was posted on the Journal's website last Friday. * * …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:30am on October 6, 2015☆⚑

Lookback: on buying a portrait of an unknown woman by Terry Teachout

From 2005: I mentioned the other day that I'd bought an etching by Hans Hofmann, the great abstract-expressionist painter and teacher whose work I love. What’s especially striking abou…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:15am on October 6, 2015☆⚑

Almanac: Rainer Maria Rilke on the "task" of love by Terry Teachout

"For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation." Rainer Ma…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:00am on October 6, 2015☆⚑

Tweets in search of a context: the great acceleration by Terry Teachout

I have yet to see Best of Enemies, the film documentary on the William F. Buckley, Jr.-Gore Vidal TV debates, originally telecast by ABC in 1968, about which acres of windy prose have lately…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:30am on October 5, 2015☆⚑

Just because: Lionel Hampton plays "Flying Home" on TV in 1957 by Terry Teachout

Lionel Hampton and his orchestra play "Flying Home" on The Big Record, originally telecast by CBS on October 23, 1957. They are introduced by Patti Page: (This is the latest in a series of a…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:15am on October 5, 2015☆⚑

Almanac: A.E. Housman on stupidity and vanity by Terry Teachout

"Most men are rather stupid, and most of those who are not stupid are, consequently, rather vain; and it is hardly possible to step aside from the pursuit of truth without falling a victim e…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:00am on October 5, 2015☆⚑

Brian Friel, R.I.P. by Terry Teachout

Brian Friel was barely more than a name to me when I became the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal in 2003. No play of his had been seen on Broadway since Translations ran briefly there…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 10:04am on October 2, 2015☆⚑

Handfuls of poetry by Terry Teachout

In today's Wall Street Journal I review the Broadway transfer of Deaf West Theatre's revival of Spring Awakening and the Chicago transfer of the Aaron Posner-Teller production of The Tempest…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:30am on October 2, 2015☆⚑

Replay: Norman Mailer and Marshall McLuhan debate in 1968 by Terry Teachout

Norman Mailer and Marshall McLuhan talk about technology on The Summer Way, originally telecast on the CBC in 1968: (This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:15am on October 2, 2015☆⚑

Almanac: John Dryden on democracy by Terry Teachout

Nor is the people's judgment always true: The most may err as grossly as the few. John Dryden, "Absalom and Achitophel"

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:00am on October 2, 2015☆⚑

My kind of person by Terry Teachout

Apropos of this really embarrassing piece, my kind of person… ' …prefers hot dogs to hamburgers. ' …prefers trains to planes"in theory. ' …likes Johnny Mercer best: ' …likes Caroly…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:30am on October 1, 2015☆⚑

So you want to see a show? by Terry Teachout

Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wal…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:15am on October 1, 2015☆⚑

Almanac: George Bernard Shaw on stoicism by Terry Teachout

"He who has never hoped can never despair. Caesar, in good or bad fortune, looks his fate in the face." George Bernard Shaw, Caesar and Cleopatra

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:00am on October 1, 2015☆⚑

A late-night playlist from Mrs. T's personal DJ by Terry Teachout

I was playing records for Mrs. T in our hotel room late last night. She claimed to be more than usually pleased by my eclectic playlist, so I thought I'd share it with you as well: ' Johnny …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:30am on September 30, 2015☆⚑

Snapshot: Frank Sinatra and Count Basie in 1965 by Terry Teachout

Frank Sinatra and Count Basie perform "Fly Me to the Moon," "Please Be Kind," "Too Marvelous for Words," "Everybody Has a Right to Be Wrong," and "The Gal That Got Away" on The Hollywood Pal…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:15am on September 30, 2015☆⚑

Almanac: Sybille Bedford on youthful ignorance by Terry Teachout

"You see, when one's young one doesn't feel part of it yet, the human condition; one does things because they are not 'for good'; one thinks everything is a rehearsal. To be repeated ad lib,…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:00am on September 30, 2015☆⚑

Lookback: fifteen albums in fifteen minutes by Terry Teachout

From 2010: A number of friends have invited me to play the following game that's been making the rounds in cyberspace: The rules: Don't take too long to think about it"choose fifteen albums …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 6:15am on September 29, 2015☆⚑

Almanac: V.S. Naipaul on plot vs. narrative by Terry Teachout

"Plot is for those who already know the world; narrative is for those who want to discover it." V.S. Naipaul (quoted in David Hare, The Blue Touch Paper)

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 6:00am on September 29, 2015☆⚑

Enough seen by Terry Teachout

Mrs. T and I are in Pittsburgh to see a play. Our last visit here took place four years ago, when we flew out to catch a rare revival of Alan Ayckbourn's House and Garden, then drove back to…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 5:30am on September 28, 2015☆⚑

Just because: Manhattan in Technicolor in 1949 by Terry Teachout

"Mighty Manhattan, New York's Wonder City," a 1949 Technicolor documentary short written and narrated by James A. FitzPatrick and directed by James H. Smith: (This is the latest in a series …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 5:15am on September 28, 2015☆⚑

Almanac: Sir Walter Raleigh on hate by Terry Teachout

"Hatreds are the cinders of affection." Sir Walter Raleigh, letter to Sir Robert Cecil (May 10, 1593).

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 5:00am on September 28, 2015☆⚑

By George, they've got it! by Terry Teachout

In today's Wall Street Journal I report on two regional revivals, a small-scale My Fair Lady in Boston and a storefront staging of The Time of Your Life in Chicago. Here's an excerpt. * * * …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:45am on September 25, 2015☆⚑

Replay: Gerry Mulligan and Bob Brookmeyer in 1962 by Terry Teachout

The Gerry Mulligan Quartet appears on Ralph Gleason's Jazz Casual. Bob Brookmeyer is the valve trombonist, Wyatt Ruther the bassist, Gus Johnson the drummer. This half-hour episode was taped…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 7:15am on September 25, 2015☆⚑