Choreography and Improv

by Peter J. Leithart

Despite appearances, jazz and baseball are historically intertwined. Baseball players and jazz musicians both strive for a perfect balance between disciplined practice and spontaneity. Continue Reading »

24 Feb 2017

Pop-Consolation

by Matthew Schmitz

“Sometimes moms and dads fall out of love/ Sometimes two homes are better than one” Continue Reading »

8 Feb 2017

Bruckner’s Gethsemane

by Robert P. Imbelli

The devoutly Catholic Bruckner dedicated his last symphony to “the dear God,” and prayed in his final illness that the Lord would allow him to finish his masterwork. In the event, his prayer was not granted. Yet in a deeper sense the three movements he lived to complete could hardly be surpassed. The sublime and harrowing third movement makes any further statement, this side of heaven, redundant! Continue Reading »

31 Jan 2017

Play American

by Allen C. Guelzo

Just seventy years ago, a Fortune poll reported that 62 percent of Americans listened to classical music, 40 percent could identify Arturo Toscanini as an orchestral conductor, and nine million listeners (11 percent of American households) tuned in to weekly Metropolitan Opera broadcasts from New . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jan 2017

Christ's Three-Fold Coming in Music

by Nathaniel Peters

When taken neat, the Oratorio’s musical beauty and theological simplicity drive home the power of Christ’s coming in all its forms. Continue Reading »

23 Dec 2016

Leonard Cohen, Religious Alchemist

by Sean Curnyn

Cohen is an Old Testament poet who can comprehend the New Testament without great strain or contradiction. Continue Reading »

18 Nov 2016

Leonard Cohen, the Christ-Haunted

by Joe Heschmeyer

Though he would often protest that he “wasn’t really a religious man,” Cohen seemed unable to sing or speak for very long without bringing up God. Continue Reading »

17 Nov 2016

If It Be Your Will

by Douglas Farrow

The famous Montreal poet and songster, Leonard Cohen, died earlier this week. Continue Reading »

12 Nov 2016

Dylan’s Nobel in Perspective

by Stephen Schwartz

The Swedish Academy has a strange idea of what “the great American song tradition” is. Continue Reading »

1 Nov 2016

Suzuki Method Uberparenting

by Betsy VanDenBerghe

Spiritually as well as emotionally, childhood years require not only joy and nurturing, but also suffering and growth, if the young person is to face adulthood maturely. And fortunately (or ironically), our musically obsessed phase never ended up shielding my kids from anything. Continue Reading »

11 Oct 2016