I recently saw the movie Copying Beethoven. There are very few good films about composers. This is not one of them, although it has the compensation of its “electrifying music,” as advertised by the quote from the Seattle Times review on the DVD jacket cover, as if the music had been written for the movie. … Read more
On learning that September 2007 was to be the last print edition of Crisis Magazine, I proposed a final column titled “The Last ‘Nonsense’ in Print.” I was tempted to title it “The Last Schall ‘Nonsense’ in Print.” It occurred to me that such a title would suggest that the addition of “Schall” to “nonsense,” … Read more
Music High and Low by Robert R. Reilly In response to my February/March 2007 Crisis rant against the general decline in culture (particularly in music and dance), I received a letter from a lady in the Midwest that so touched me I have to quote it at length. First, she recalls the shared role of … Read more
This month I will be reviewing 155 CDs because I received a boxed set of the complete works of Bach from the Brilliant Classics label, distributed by Koch Entertainment. This year marks Bach’s 322nd birthday; these recordings, including new digital ones of all the 200 sacred cantatas on period instruments and sung by a boys’ … Read more
In The Solzhenitsyn Reader, there is a 1974 essay titled “Repentance and Self-Limitation in the Life of Nations.” In it, the Russian philosopher remarks: “Man’s hope, salvation, and punishment lie in this, that we are capable of change, and that we ourselves, not our birth or our environment, are responsible for our souls!” Solzhenitsyn here … Read more
On my recent birthday, I was given Volume III of C. S. Lewis’s letters. Lest you think Lewis was idle in his latter years, this third volume contains some 1,800 pages. But I am not against the abundance and superabundance of things, for we are created in both, especially in the latter. I have little … Read more
Last month I gave my take on the “best of the rest,” some very good CD releases in 2006. I ran out of space, so I will return in the next issue to review the rest of the best; but first I wanted to share some endnote observations on music, life, and CD shopping. A … Read more
Originally, Veterans’ Day commemorated the end of the Great War, the bloodiest of all wars. On its eve, I was invited to supper at the Army and Navy Club off McPherson Square in Washington, D.C. Walking from the bus stop, I approached a corner of the square where an earnest young man stood with a … Read more
You must go visit the good sisters in Starrucca,” said my friend, Father Check. So there I was with my wife and son in the car, sliding along a slippery highway in rural Pennsylvania, wondering what I would find when I arrived. I’d been told by the mother prioress, Sister Therese, that if we got … Read more
I have not done a “best of the year” list for 2006 because I fell too far behind in covering a multitude of excellent releases from last year. I must use this space to catch up. Some of these, no doubt, would qualify for the “best of designation. The general quality is staggeringly high and … Read more
In his Verona address on October 19, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI returned to a theme he broached in his Regensburg lecture, namely, the relation between modern science, with its “mathematical” foundation, and the existing things of nature. In the Regensburg lecture, the pope related this mathematical background to Plato and Descartes. What is at issue … Read more
Finally, a leader has spoken about the real, essential lam, as it emanates from a contest within Islam itself over the most important things. With startling—indeed alarming—clarity, Pope Benedict XVI told his audience in Regensburg, Germany, that not only is violence in spreadÂing faith unreasonable and therefore against God, but that a conception of God … Read more
For twelve years I have been composing this column. Sometimes I wonder if many people read it. Then I remember that I have seldom, if ever, written to columnists I regularly read. So why should anyone write to me? During my broadcasting career, I suffered similar doubts when I was on the air daily to … Read more
The pastor of the Anglican parish in Georgetown, Rev. Charles Nalls, suggested lunch. I proposed Billy Martin’s, about halfway between his parish and the university. We both wore Roman collars, both arrived on time. The restaurant was not crowded after the noontime rush. We talked of things ecclesiastical and otherwise. No one was in a … Read more
“If any man,” says the preacher, “can show just cause why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him now speak, or else hereafter forever hold his peace.” At that the door is flung open, and in strides anybody from a dozen old movies. The screenÂwriters knew their trade. The one marriage service from … Read more
Into the face that most resembles Christ now look: for by her radiance only she can render you prepared for seeing Christ. (Paradiso 32.85-87) So says St. Bernard to the pilgrim Dante, urging him to gaze into the countenance of Mary, as they stand at the threshold of the Beatific Vision. They are words I have … Read more
Bruckner at the beach? I don’t think so. Sand and high seriÂousness are strange bedfellows. So let us construct the aural equivalent of the summer reading list based upon music that is amiable, off the beaten path, and, well, fun. I happen to have a huge inventory of CD recommendaÂtions that fits the bill. The … Read more
Thomas Aquinas put things succinctly. He found numÂberless things about which to think. He could, with few words, illuminate the whole of what is in logiÂcal form. He wrote little about politiÂcal things. He discussed other topics normally called “political”—property, rebellion, prudence, justice, virtue, and common good. In commenting on the Gospels of Matthew and … Read more
What wonders we American Catholics have seen. Schools, whose joists were sawn and spiked by the hands of men who would send their children there, now empty, crumbling; whole orders of nuns doffing their habits, then their faith and reason too, worthy societies dwindling into a few old men with beers and a shuffleboard table, … Read more
Gramophone/FM Classic awarded Naxos the classical label of the year award in 2005. Based on the evidence so far, I am prepared to concede the award to Naxos in 2006. I am supplied monthly with a list of releases from Naxos and from its distributed labels—such as CPO, Profil, and Marco Polo—that is simply staggering … Read more
