Comments on: The Ecstasy of Knowledge

By: The Cloudily Divine • VAN Magazine

The Cloudily Divine • VAN Magazine — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 10:37:49 +0000

[…] on my slow process of getting to know Wagner. In my later student days, at Oxford, I was totally obsessed with Wagner. There would always be a “Ring” cycle going on. [Laughs.] Obviously, I’d play some bits more […]

By: Emotional Anatomies • VAN Magazine

Emotional Anatomies • VAN Magazine — Thu, 02 Dec 2021 12:34:33 +0000

[…] Yet Sondheim’s legacy seems to eclipse that of Puccini’s. Within his own lifetime, he became the namesake for theaters in New York’s Broadway district and London’s West End. Actors who have performed his works on stage and screen include Madonna, Meryl Streep, Barbra Streisand, Boy George, Elizabeth Taylor, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Stephen Colbert, Vanessa Williams, Madeline Kahn, and Adam Driver (and that’s not even considering the number of classical musicians who have taken on roles in opera houses and on Broadway). His lyrics have been quoted by politicians, used as the basis for philosophical essays, and have even reached the level of common lexicon (see: “everything’s coming up roses,” “send in the clowns”). Sondheim himself has been a character on “The Simpsons,” “South Park,” and the new Netflix adaptation of “Tick, Tick… Boom!” Even in condensed form, this reads more like the legacy of a Wagner. […]

By: Necessary Shadows • VAN Magazine

Necessary Shadows • VAN Magazine — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 12:57:55 +0000

[…] the overarching genre of metal. It’s also one of the last unexamined tendrils of contemporary Wagnerism. Much like Wagner’s works, black metal possesses a strong nationalist ethos and a disdain for the […]

By: A “Faust” Playlist • VAN Magazine

A “Faust” Playlist • VAN Magazine — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 11:03:27 +0000

[…] would leave him seeing himself as the avatar for the philosopher. But it’s a metaphor that fits the composer’s life and legacy like a bespoke Hugo Boss uniform: “Faustian men are in usually abusive denial about their being […]

By: Healthy Confusion: An Interview with Alex Ross - VAN Magazine

Healthy Confusion: An Interview with Alex Ross - VAN Magazine — Mon, 03 May 2021 10:22:35 +0000

[…] Politics in the Shadow of Music was released in September to wide acclaim. In VAN, Alison Kinney described the book’s complex, nuanced approach to art and morality: “Ross recognizes, and reshapes, the world of Wagnerism as it is, for good and for bad, and makes […]