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In a hotel room, after midnight
London. “City, city!”, as cries Tom Rakewell. It’s been a pleasant if tentative weekend: having achieved a successful research seminar on Thursday, with the grand old man of musicological modernism Arnold W. in attendance (astonishing that he would be there – it couldn’t have been my topic, so I myself must have been the attraction),…
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The Voyage to Europe
[Fragments for an unfinished novel, 1992-4] Venice by Gondola The sophisticated traveler will develop a passion for the dramatic curves of the great black gondolas, which seem to cut into the stone façades of this ancient city. But be ready for the high prices which, when transformed from millions, from billions of lira – lira…
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Calm and troubled waters
A week of quiet – mostly: Reading Week, the week when we don’t teach classes. I have gotten many small things done, and worked a bit on larger ones. I’ve retrieved a certain calm from the time out – inevitably I’m a bit dismayed to go back to classes and meetings, and especially a research…
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Oppressive traditions
Last Thursday, I gave a lecture supposedly about defining research to our postgraduates – academic, composing, performing and what all. I got my feet a bit tangled around the whole question of why a creative or performing artist should know about history, tradition, the music that has gone before (always a tricky issue, and one…
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October
The weather has been doing very October-ish things the past few days – windy nights, rainy sidewalks covered with leaves, that kind of thing. This morning there was a bright sunny wash over everything, which was nevertheless golden – exactly like the proper light for late afternoon, but at ten in the morning; it was…
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Winter pleasures
A rather tired day, as a result of the usual gastro problems. (I’ve been impressed by my secretary Jane’s recent adventures with a homeopath, who has hugely reduced her long-term allergies – I may try that myself.) To brighten myself up, I did various at-home things: Henry James, Washington Square. I’d never read this short…
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Paul Attinello 