As an English professor who has taught the Odyssey every semester for the last 35 years, along with a dozen or so film classes on Hitchcock, Capra, musicals, Hollywood studios, and film classics, I awaited the release of Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey with great anticipation. Overall, I was impressed by the film and by Nolan’s fresh [...]
This is the story of one unique night on which rivals Wolfgang Mozart and Antonio Salieri truly went head-to-head, performing newly composed, short operas back-to-back, at the request of Emperor Joseph himself. The rivalry between Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Mozart is well known, being the subject of Alexander Pushkin’s play, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera, and most [...]
Music, as a living presence that comes to us, offers itself to us, assures us that we are not alone: that there is something out there in the world that knows our hearts and may even teach us to know them better. Music, too, is nature. —Victor Zuckerkandl, Sound and Symbol. This essay explores the [...]
During his heyday, George W. Chadwick was the most respected American “serious” composer. His music conveys a feeling of old-time America in a way that most listeners can relate to and enjoy. If we are looking for a “usable past” in American music, there is no better place to start than G.W.C. How do we [...]
Everyone should have the right to a culture. That means a unique and authentic way of expressing oneself inside a place and community. Unfortunately, this right has long been denied. This denial is especially evident in the world of fashion. Gone are the days when dress reflected a vibrant perception of oneself that found expression [...]
Like medieval monks who preserved civilization after the fall of Rome, traditionalists can live active lives and work to keep the flame of Western culture alive. To do so, we must build loving families, construct independent schools, and erect parallel institutions to challenge those that have betrayed their purpose. Some time ago, while living in [...]
John Keats’ “Great Odes” constitute the pinnacle of classical poetry in the English language and have continued to inspire every generation since his death, attesting to their grounding in universal principles of the human spirit. When John Keats died in Rome on February 23, 1821, at the age of 25, the world lost one of [...]
Today in America, people of faith are binding up the unraveled fabric of civil society in tangible ways. We hold the threads individually, but when they are bound together, we can reweave a picture of order and beauty in human souls, woven in the vibrant colors of love. People of faith have given our culture [...]
Shakespeare is certainly more alive, in the enduring life that he breathed into his work, than the dead and dying ideas of his critics. It is, therefore, a delightfully apt conceit on Dr. David A. James’ part to bring him to life to sit in jocular judgment. Joseph Pearce in Conversation with Film-Maker, David A. [...]
The problem with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is, ironically, that it is too Christian. Despite the hubbub from some online conservatives screaming about how “woke” it is (usually before seeing it), the real deficiency of the movie is that it whitewashes the barbarity of the ancient world. It makes Odysseus seem like a Christian, at least [...]
Vivaldi's music draws our attention to divine mysteries unknown to Socrates, overlooked by the Scribes and Pharisees, and difficult even for Christ’s disciples to grasp. It offers us valuable assistance as we advance virtue by virtue to the brightness of the saints, pointing us to the sources of heavenly aid without which even the mightiest [...]
When Christianity left its Hebrew homeland and entered the Greco-Roman world, it fell under the influence of that world’s philosophical climate. The Greek cultural heritage is one of intellectual curiosity, and for that all of humanity (including the Church) should be grateful. Christianity began in Israel and radiated outward to the rest of the Mediterranean [...]
The poetry of John Keats is a window into the mad genius of the Romantics: their lusts and hopes; their ambitions and ignorance; their radicalism and fantasies. In reading Keats, one is simultaneously scandalized and sympathetic to the longing of the Romantic heart. “The best things we have come from madness.” John Keats died only [...]
The organ is typically associated with bland church music, less favorite arrangements of Christmas carols, and haunted houses. But Mozart himself called it "the king of instruments," and if the daring listener wishes to venture into solo organ music for the first time, then R. J. Stove’s "The Gates of Vienna" is an ideal starting point. The Gates [...]