Let’s go:
French organist Johann Vexo gave a wonderful recital this afternoon as part of our Downtown Concert Series at the Cathedral of Saint Paul. Monsieur Vexo is the Organist of the Choir Organ at Notre-Dame de Paris and also the Titular Organist at the Cathedral in his hometown of Nancy, in Northeast France
- My Movie Guy Son has moved on from the films of Clint Eastwood to Eric von Stroheim. Here’s his Statement of Purpose.
Devised by the National Gallery and museums throughout the UK, Fruits of the Spirit: Art From the Heart pairs nine pictures from the National Gallery’s collection with nine from partner institutions. The exhibition is inspired by Saint Paul’s description of themes including love, joy, and peace in the Christian Bible.
The paired paintings open up discussions around Saint Paul’s nine positive attributes in his 2000-year-old letter to the Galatians: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The letter discusses how to build and maintain community in the face of disagreement. Although the list comes from a religious source, the nine attributes are positive and helpful for individuals and communities within both religious and secular contexts.
You can access the exhibit (and its catalog) at the link.
A review in the Telegraph didn’t think much of it:
Less successful (as the exhibition’s naff subtitle might suggest) is the analysis of the works on display. Intended to “explore topics that are vital for wellbeing”, this has a warbling, meandering quality that reminded me of Radio 4’s Thought for the Day.
No, it is not ideal. Surely the best place for people to sleep is not the hospital floor, and surely their presence is not the best imaginable thing for the hospital. But mercy has never arisen from an ideal situation – it grows as a garden at the end of this long maze of non-ideals.
Ideally, replies another logic, the earth shakes and swells and changes so that no one ever needs to sleep rough; nothing happens to anyone that leaves them without a stable and homelike place to live. If that is not possible, ideally a rapid and thorough societal response makes such things rare and brief. If not, ideally one person will at least take another in, personally, as a friend, at personal expense and in personal care, because no one could bear to leave someone outside. Or some collective – city workers, a church – will see to it that a person’s needs, physical and internal, are addressed to the greatest possible extent. If not that, if each of us must be on our own, ideally there are at least functional institutions where one is permitted to go, which feel safe enough to enter. If not, perhaps there are at least institutions that let one sleep in the corners.
At this juncture sits the policlinico. No, this is not the greatest mercy which could be shown. But without this limited, non-ideal mercy, there would remain one pristine, non-liable, empty hospital, and perhaps a hundred more people out in the dark, attempting to stretch their mats out in terrain far less hospitable to human life.
Macbeth is arguably the world’s most famous monarch. Both the historical king and the literary character have fascinated writers and audiences for centuries, beginning with the poets who recited their verses at the medieval monarch’s court. Macbeth’s legend began almost immediately after his death as medieval and Renaissance writers gradually replaced the king with a semi-literary character developed and embroidered to suit their own political and cultural agenda. The process of transformation culminated in playwright William Shakespeare’s The Tragedie of Macbeth.
Investigating the man and the legend, Benjamin Hudson traces the eleventh-century prince’s rise to prominence from local warlord to international ruler. Battling Vikings, English, and his fellow Scots, Macbeth was involved in a Dano-Norwegian conflict, made a pilgrimage to Rome, and gave refuge to Norman knights. He was more than a mere warlord. With his queen, Gruoch, the widow of a man who killed Macbeth’s father, he was a benefactor of churches. The historical prince was an important innovator who used new fighting tactics, developed an international outlook to government, and encouraged intellectual pursuits. Hudson also tracks the ways in which popularizers developed the women behind the fictional Lady Macbeth and the weird sisters.
Charlotte was Both 