Snow Day

New York City braced for a winter blizzard by cancelling schools. Greg walked to BLS and was turned away by the guard and told the Law School was closed for the day so he came home and took advantage of the snow day by reading and relaxing, a rare treat for him. But I had a wonderful day of "classes" and the snow did not slow me down. Following the trend to home school children, I am "city schooling" myself. I began the day by reading Walt Whitman's Song of Myself. I am attending a 3 hour seminar next week on Whitman conducted by Helen Vendler of Harvard so this was part of my homework assignment. One of my goals for this sojourn in Brooklyn is to study more Whitman. The title of this blog was constructed in reference to Whitman's years in Brooklyn and his brief role as editor of The Brooklyn Eagle. My modest hopes with the blog are to view and describe the Brooklyn/New York/American scene in the 21st century like Whitman did in the 19th century. Of course, there is no possible way I can describe them as Whitman did because his poetry is incomparable. More on Whitman in later blog entries.

In the afternoon I took the MTA to midtown Manhattan and spent 2+ hours at the Museum of Modern Art. I have a plan to learn more about modern art by working my way through MOMA's galleries and taking advantage of their audio programs and gallery talks. MOMA is a vibrant, beautiful setting and in my two trips here I am already struck by the number of young enthusiasts who take advantage of its resources. Attractive, thin, in their 20's and 30's, all in slim pants and dark-hued clothes and very international. I was able to tag along with NYU students as they were given a gallery talk by an incredibly thin curator (who dared to wear black leather pants) As we stopped to learn about Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon I was struck by how the generation I see at MOMA will be the next to shake up our conceptions of visual expression with revolutionary and controversial work. The MOMA galleries are designed to illustrate the movements in art and the influences that artists had on each other. Seeing Picasso's cubist period works hung next to Georges Braques' paintings is a dramatic illustration of the manner in which artist's accelerate each other's growth. I was reminded that this morning I scoffed at Maureen Dowd's column on the future of 3D and I realized that I am a late adaptor to many movements in the visual and musical art world and ideas are even more rapidly acclerated through the internet. Looking backward, I will continue to try to build up my knowledge of the historical mentors to today's artists by working my way through MOMA. I worked my way through galleries 1-6 of the 24 galleries that are just devoted to the beginnings of modern art (1880's to 1970's) so I have many pleasant visits ahead of me.

I need to acknowlege how technology has enhanced my experience as a lone adventurer in New York with my iPhone. I don't hesitate to go out and explore and then have a dinner by myself now that I have it in my pocket. I had a cozy dinner of crepes and chocolate mousse while the snow pummeled the mid-town streets and I began reading Cutting for Stone which had been recommended by Karin and which I find fascinating in its early chapters. My iPhone Kindle books get me through all my meals and travel in the subway-what bliss. I hope that my blog readers are also able to take advantage of technology, because I have discovered I can share my experiences with you by linking you to videos and audios of the performances or the artwork that I am having the good fortune to see and hear through the links on these entries.

I ventured back out in the snowstorm to Carnegie Hall to attend the Emanuel Ax concert celebrating Chopin and Schumann at 200. I sat in the nosebleed heights of the balcony and Ax looked almost as small pedestrians do on the street below my 11th floor apartment (I think he was six floors below me). But I was able to hear each note as clearly as if he were fifty feet in front of me. It must be the career counselor in me that I can't refrain from thinking about the development of the young artist's work and becoming fascinated by the role of their life experiences and of peer influences. In the 19th century, a top pianist would compose his own works to highlight his technical skills. Liszt and Chopin were closed friends and especially known for their technically demanding brilliant solo works . Liszt was a bit of a rock star and enjoyed the adulation of large audiences, but Chopin was intimidated by the audience and "asphyxiated by its eager breath". Born the same year as Chopin (1810), Schumann also wrote his own music but he lacked the brilliant technique for his own work and spent most of his short life as a music critic. As such he proclaimed Chopin a genius and the two were able to meet for a short visit when they were 25. Ax performed Chopin Mazurka's and the Andante spianato and Grand Polonaise, composed between Chopin's 20th and 25th years. I included the YouTube video of Artur Rubinstein's performance of this piece because it includes the actual sheet music so one can appreciate the complexity of the Polonaise. And there is a wonderful story about how Ax slept outside Carnegie Hall as a young man so that he could see Rubenstein, so I think Ax appreciates this performance also.

The Fantasiestucke Op 12 by Schumann was another wonderful performance and moved me even more as I learned that he composed it at the age of 26 after a serious bout of the melancholy (depression) that would eventually kill him. As I explore the contributions of the world's great artists, whether they are poets, painters or musicians, I find myself becoming as involved with the details of their lives as I am with their output. Life is incredibly difficult for any sensitive person-to be able to produce great works or art that move thousands of people two hundred years after your personal hardships is an unbelievable feat.