Sitting in a small restaurant in Manhattan yesterday, we
were reminded of a terrific scene from the 1977 Woody Allen movie, “Annie Hall.”
Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) and Annie Hall (Diana Keaton) are standing in line in
front of a Manhattan movie theater. A fellow standing behind them is pontificating
rather loudly to his date. Alvy becomes increasingly annoyed until he can no
longer control himself and begins arguing with the fellow. What happens next is
a great moment of fantasy.
Sitting at a table quite near ours yesterday were two young fellows, one of whom was regaling the other with what was mostly nonsense science and medicine, some of which was well within Barry’s area of expertise. Barry is not the type of person who would start up such a conversation with a stranger, but he could have used Mr. McLuhan’s “you know nothing of my work” line quite effectively. Nonetheless, the scene did provide some much-needed comic relief!
In my post a couple of days ago I mentioned that we had gone to a performance at Lincoln Center that included Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1. When we got to the final movement I realized that this was quite a familiar piece, one about which I had written back in 2013:
Speaking of Beethoven, last evening was the second class of a 12 week course at the 92nd Street Y entitled “Mozart and Beethoven: The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra.”
Mozart’s Piano Concertos are the peak of his instrumental achievement for orchestra, a perfect synthesis of both concerto and symphonic elements, and perhaps his most personal, characteristic creations. Beethoven builds directly on Mozart’s achievement, and yet the unique characteristics of his musical personality and approach to large-scale form transform the piano concerto into something both monumental and intimate. We explore more than a dozen piano concertos by these two composers in depth, masterworks all, ranging from early to late in each composer’s output.
Barry and I are attending this course together. As far as I can recall, it is the first time we both registered for the same course since “Differential Equations” at the University of Rochester in the fall of 1970. Barry dropped that course while I went on to major in mathematics. Fortunately, there are no grades being given here, so I think we will both stay in this one!
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about “Yertle the Turtle.” It may have been the only time I had written about anything political; I shy away from this topic because I recognize my relative lack of knowledge. A few dear friends who read this blog expressed serious concerns about my viewpoint. I am glad they felt the need to do so, because it would be a sad world indeed if no one cared at all. To quote another Seuss book (“The Lorax”)
UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better. It's not.
It is most heartwarming that, to a person, those same friends responded enthusiastically when I shared the results of my MRI just a few days later. There have been moments of watching the news and listening to the pundits over these past few months that cannot help but make me wonder whether we have completely lost our way as a nation and are no longer able to engage in political discourse. But at least in the small world I inhabit I can see that this is not the case. We can agree to disagree and still care deeply for each other. I am grateful to those who reached out and showed this to me.
Love,
Rebecca
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