I recently came across a discussion that took place in the pages of the literary criticism magazine The Explicator in 1944. Its subject was the poem “When the lamp is shattered” by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Most of the experts characterized…
Many famous buildings are interesting primarily from the outside; examining their façades is enough to make a fairly complete and vivid impression of them. The Palau Güell does not welcome such treatment for itself. Enter it and go through it…
“Either I’m wrong, or The Queen of Spades is really a masterpiece,” Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky remarked in a letter to Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich. Unfortunately, I have no idea what he answered the composer. But if I were in his…
Monuments to world-renowned personalities – impressive cast figures, equestrian statues, or stelae with busts – are erected in city squares. The place that keeps the memory of less famous people is cemeteries. Wander around an old cemetery. You’ll see hundreds…
Bedřich Smetana’s symphonic poem Vltava is often called Die Moldau. Both the words are the names of the same river, one is Czech and the other is German. When this piece of music was created the German language dominated the…
I am very fond of jewels. I like not earrings and rings with them but gemstones themselves. It is a real pleasure to touch a gem and know that its exquisite beauty is destined for a long – almost eternal…
My husband and I were sitting at a table in a little Berlin restaurant. While cooking dishes for us, the owner of the restaurant spoke to us politely. “Where are you staying?” he asked. My husband named the hotel. I…
Many visitors to the Fifth Impressionist exhibition stopped in front of a strange empty showcase. Of course, it wasn’t an art object; сonceptual art did not yet exist in 1880. The glass case was intended for the sculpture The Little…
There are several stages in understanding Degas’ oeuvre. At first, you think he was a connoisseur of delicate beauty (otherwise why did he constantly paint ballerinas?) Then you find different reproductions of his pictures, scrutinize them, and wonder: his ballerinas…
When somebody asks me, “What should I start with if I want to try listening to opera?” I usually answer, “Listen to Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.” It is incredibly beautiful, relatively short, and surprisingly understandable. We can easily understand Dido…