Monthly Archives: January 2016

Bowdlerizing Mozart

Posted on January 31, 2016 by David Brussat

In a passage from Wolfgang Hildesheimer’s biography, Mozart, the author discusses posterity’s attempt to sanitize the composer, including his operatic music, some of which sang out in the sort of joy that stuffed-shirt guardians of society’s morality can’t abide. But … Continue reading →

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BBC on Mont Saint-Michel

Posted on January 30, 2016 by David Brussat

Yesterday, I got an email from the author and director of a documentary on Mont Saint-Michel being produced for BBC France. Denis Sneguirev asked me whether I could provide him with information about the development of the abbey just off … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Development, Landscape Architecture, Other countries, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments

Out-of-country Cianci tale

Posted on January 29, 2016 by David Brussat

Buddy Cianci. RIP. Everyone in Providence has a Buddy story, and many will be told fondly following the death of Vincent A. Cianci Jr. yesterday. My Cianci story – this one, at least – involves a trip to Malta as … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Blast from past, Other countries, Preservation, Providence Journal, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Plymouth after World War II

Posted on January 28, 2016 by David Brussat

Mark Motte, author with Francis Leazes of Providence: The Renaissance City, urged me to view an old documentary on video called “How We Live Now,” filmed in 1946, about the effort to rebuild Plymouth, the most heavily bombed city per … Continue reading →

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More on the WWI winner

Posted on January 27, 2016 by David Brussat

Yesterday’s announcement of a winner in the open international competition for a national World War I memorial sent me rushing to find out how it had changed since its selection as one of five finalists. And the winner is Joseph … Continue reading →

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WWI jury’s memorial error

Posted on January 26, 2016 by David Brussat

The jury of an international competition to design a national memorial for World War I has made its choice, overlooking a beautiful classical proposal in order to select a more modest proposal that, perhaps, will ruffle a lot fewer feathers. … Continue reading →

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Mittell: “Why I love Lviv”

Posted on January 26, 2016 by David Brussat

David A. Mittell Jr., of Boston, has visited Lviv 22 times, some of them while he was on the editorial board of the Providence Journal, where I first met him. He now writes independently, after a stint as editor of … Continue reading →

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Architecture and Mozart II

Posted on January 26, 2016 by David Brussat

Here is a passage from a letter by Mozart in Wolfgang Hildesheimer’s 1982 biography, Mozart, in which the great composer, who was apparently not given to theorizing about music, theorizes about music. The passage might be read with profit by … Continue reading →

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Trying to like this building

Posted on January 25, 2016 by David Brussat

Capital Properties has proposed and the Capital Center Commission has apparently approved the design above for the parcel next to the almost supernaturally ugly Capital Cove, on land at Canal and Smith streets along the Moshassuck River. Here is what … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Blast from past, Development, Providence, Providence Journal, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Architecture and Mozart

Posted on January 24, 2016 by David Brussat

It would have been difficult for Geothe’s line “Architecture is frozen music” not to float into mind after I stumbled across this passage in Mozart, by Wolfgang Hildescheimer, another fabulous Christmas gift from my friend Steve, who I forgot to … Continue reading →

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