Spent a lot of my free time this week doing work for my class on Stravinsky. I'm writing a paper on Russian folk tunes and how Stravinsky treats them differently than other people. This may seem like a huge topic, but so much research has already been done that I just have to read the books and sift the information. I have been studying an enormous book by Taruskin entitled "Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions", and am enjoying reading the book so much I am sorry I cannot read the whole thing before the draft of my paper is due on Friday. The first chapter is entitled "Russia and How it Got That Way".
Also this week in that class was our first listening quiz on Firebird, Petrushka and a few other early works. The night before the quiz I spent a couple hours studying with M in the new dorm.
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| Those are grapes on a conducting baton |
There were a couple memorable faculty concerts this week, one featuring the abovementioned Cat Mackintosh with other members of the Baroque faculty, and another featuring two of my own teachers.
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| Probably the best EVER name for a concert.... |
On Friday I spent some time lying on the terrace with studio mates. They had been playing kickball and one of them had kicked the ball onto the roof (you could see the shadow of it) and so they couldn't play anymore. C said she wanted to climb up and get it but was afraid of being expelled from school. I suggested she come at 7am on a Sunday because no one would be around to see her.
Today I went to the "Grape Festival" at Slovenian Hall, and in the Club Slovenia library I found a Gustav Dore-illustrated Bible (in Slovenian of course). Spent some time leafing through the Dore engravings as they are awesome. Here are my favourites.
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| I really love the way he does the angel in this one |
The photos don't really do them justice, but you get an idea. Oh yeah, the actual Grape Festival was pretty fun too, with great food and socializing.
- Antisocial Violinist
