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HOW CAN WE KEEP FROM SINGING?

Name: HOW CAN WE KEEP FROM SINGING?
Author: Joan Oliver Goldsmith
ISBN: 0-393-02024-X

MUSIC AND THE PASSIONATE LIFE

by Joan Oliver Goldsmith ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2001

Not an inspirational tract, but a fervid prodding to sing, sing on.

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And why, pray tell, should we? Goldsmith (who sings in a number of chorales and orchestras) offers a paean to the creative spirit—particularly to raising one’s voice in joyful (or lowering it in mournful) song.

Amateurs are the folks Goldsmith is talking about, those who are not professionals but simply in love: “The passionate, committed, talented, frequently unpaid or underpaid workers who make possible the great things in life.” No money, no limelight, a vicious learning curve, but still they play that invisible instrument of the spirit—for Goldsmith it is singing, for others it might be tuning a car to perfection or vinifying a peerless white wine—so that their soul does not wither but becomes the instrument of something higher, taken on a sacred assignment. Here, the author collects a memoir of sorts, snippets from her singing life that grope toward an understanding of her compulsion beyond the simple facts that it feels good and natural to sing. Most resonant is tessitura—wherein a singer finds a home in a particular range—but Goldsmith extends beyond soprano and alto to enfold the very act of singing. Nor is it small potatoes that to sing is her saving grace. “What gets me through the dark days is not Schubert lieder, but the songs of slaves,” this after the slapping, if elliptical, no-joke comment: “So. Not today. I walk back, look up ‘suicide’ in the phone book, and dial the crisis center number.” Goldsmith also includes episodes in her singing career and minor aphorism she has gathered along the way, such as the fertility to be found in the compost of wrong notes, the love-hate (and everything between, though mostly love) experience of forming a quartet, and the why of practice.

Not an inspirational tract, but a fervid prodding to sing, sing on.

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-393-02024-X

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2001

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.