Drawings at the Morgan

[Guest StuCotts]

If anybody will be in NY between now and April, the refurbished Morgan Library has an exhibition of 16th-century Italian drawings. From the Uffizi, no less.

For those who haven't yet seen it, the refurbishment is a show in its own right. The drawings, if you're interested in that kind of thing, are a must-see. Enjoy!

[AdamSmith]

Stu, too many thanks. The Met's Jasper Johns retro of course gets the ink. As a Johns idolator I don't begrudge that, but the less-than-blockbuster shows go under-remarked.

What is the Morgan like now? It was sublime enough before.

I can think of no better place to see things from the Uffizi than -- anywhere other than the Uffizi! I once stood in line more than half a day for the privilege of scurrying through in the 35 minutes left before closing time.

[Guest StuCotts]

Stu, too many thanks. The Met's Jasper Johns retro of course gets the ink. As a Johns idolator I don't begrudge that, but the less-than-blockbuster shows go under-remarked.

What is the Morgan like now? It was sublime enough before.

I can think of no better place to see things from the Uffizi than -- anywhere other than the Uffizi! I once stood in line more than half a day for the privilege of scurrying through in the 35 minutes left before closing time.

If I tried describing the re-done Morgan I'd just make a botch of it. I love it. Come see for yourself. Helpful hint: the main entrance is now on Madison Av.

My favorite souvenir of the Uffizi is a snapshot of me standing cheek by jowl with Venus on the Half-Shell, trying to look Botticellian. Need I say the attempt had only limited success?

[AdamSmith]

My favorite souvenir of the Uffizi is a snapshot of me standing cheek by jowl with Venus on the Half-Shell, trying to look Botticellian. Need I say the attempt had only limited success?

I can see it now!

The Paltry Nude Starts on a Spring Voyage

But not on a shell, she starts,

Archaic, for the sea.

But on the first-found weed

She scuds the glitters,

Noiselessly, like one more wave.

She too is discontent

And would have purple stuff upon her arms,

Tired of the salty harbors,

Eager for the brine and bellowing

Of the high interiors of the sea.

The wind speeds her,

Blowing upon her hands

And watery back.

She touches the clouds, where she goes

In the circle of her traverse of the sea.

Yet this is meagre play

In the scurry and water-shine

As her heels foam --

Not as when the goldener nude

Of a later day

Will go, like the centre of sea-green pomp,

In an intenser calm,

Scullion of fate,

Across the spick torrent, ceaselessly,

Upon her irretrievable way.

-- The Sage of Hartford, naturally

[Guest StuCotts]

I can see it now!

The Paltry Nude Starts on a Spring Voyage

But not on a shell, she starts,

Archaic, for the sea.

But on the first-found weed

She scuds the glitters,

Noiselessly, like one more wave.

She too is discontent

And would have purple stuff upon her arms,

Tired of the salty harbors,

Eager for the brine and bellowing

Of the high interiors of the sea.

The wind speeds her,

Blowing upon her hands

And watery back.

She touches the clouds, where she goes

In the circle of her traverse of the sea.

Yet this is meagre play

In the scurry and water-shine

As her heels foam --

Not as when the goldener nude

Of a later day

Will go, like the centre of sea-green pomp,

In an intenser calm,

Scullion of fate,

Across the spick torrent, ceaselessly,

Upon her irretrievable way.

-- The Sage of Hartford, naturally

I'll leave it to Venus to live up to those sublime verses. As for me, is there mention of a sea urchin in there anywhere?

[AdamSmith]

I'll leave it to Venus to live up to those sublime verses. As for me, is there mention of a sea urchin in there anywhere?

Not here -- bottom-dwellers are, I believe, the familiars of Mr. Eliot. (Or "X," as Stevens called him. Much as Julia Child disdained to say "margarine" but would only refer to "the other spread.")

Speaking (remotely) of which, today's NYT has an article on the music-making of Sarkozy's new wife, Carla Bruni. The article's author asked poet Paul Muldoon what he thought of Bruni's setting verses from Yeats and Dickinson to her own music.

“My first observation is that she has exceptionally good taste in poetry," Mr. Muldoon wrote in an e-mail message. "Yeats was himself very interested in the song tradition and wrote, partly, within it. He was a master of the ballad and of that great device that spans both the verse and song traditions — the refrain. In the case of Emily Dickinson, much of her poetry is indistinguishable from the ballad tradition and, more often, the alternating eight- and six-syllable lines of the hymnal. So I’m certainly looking forward to hearing what Carla Bruni comes up with. In general, I welcome the idea of poetry casting its net as widely as possible, including its taking in the song tradition from which it sprang.â€

The article then takes a fateful turn:

And the poems in the eight-six pattern are, as Mr. Muldoon noted, “eminently singable.†(It’s sometimes remarked that poems in that meter can be sung to the tune of the theme from “Gilligan’s Island,†although Ms. Bruni never goes that giddy.)

Dickinson and much else is now running through my head, unstoppably, to the immortal music of Sherwood Schwartz and George Wyle. I have never before had the urge to send a newspaper reporter a letter bomb.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/weekinre...amp;oref=slogin

[Guest StuCotts]

Not here -- bottom-dwellers are, I believe, the familiars of Mr. Eliot. (Or "X," as Stevens called him. Much as Julia Child disdained to say "margarine" but would only refer to "the other spread.")

Speaking (remotely) of which, today's NYT has an article on the music-making of Sarkozy's new wife, Carla Bruni. The article's author asked poet Paul Muldoon what he thought of Bruni's setting verses from Yeats and Dickinson to her own music.

“My first observation is that she has exceptionally good taste in poetry," Mr. Muldoon wrote in an e-mail message. "Yeats was himself very interested in the song tradition and wrote, partly, within it. He was a master of the ballad and of that great device that spans both the verse and song traditions — the refrain. In the case of Emily Dickinson, much of her poetry is indistinguishable from the ballad tradition and, more often, the alternating eight- and six-syllable lines of the hymnal. So I’m certainly looking forward to hearing what Carla Bruni comes up with. In general, I welcome the idea of poetry casting its net as widely as possible, including its taking in the song tradition from which it sprang.â€

The article then takes a fateful turn:

And the poems in the eight-six pattern are, as Mr. Muldoon noted, “eminently singable.†(It’s sometimes remarked that poems in that meter can be sung to the tune of the theme from “Gilligan’s Island,†although Ms. Bruni never goes that giddy.)

Dickinson and much else is now running through my head, unstoppably, to the immortal music of Sherwood Schwartz and George Wyle. I have never before had the urge to send a newspaper reporter a letter bomb.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/weekinre...amp;oref=slogin

I wasn't altogether surprised to read of the literary quality of Carla Bruni's own compositions. She's made a huge career as a singer in France and I've seen her on TV, mostly singing and occasionally discussing her material. I'm afraid I'm in no position to appreciate her lyrics. I'm irremediably reactionary when it comes to singing. I demand that singers have a voice. Her art has more to do with exhalation than with vocalism, so I quickly tune her out when she starts breathing into the microphone.

To get to your main point, you're much better advised to stick to the original works and the settings you know you like. I don't think Madame la Présidente (has a ring, don't it?) has anything to offer that will enhance your enjoyment.

[AdamSmith]

Good to know. Yeats on the page, Piaf on the gramophone. So be it.

It may be time to sit through another viewing of "La Vie en Rose."