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| Norman Rockwell, Going and coming |
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| Frank Capra, It's a Wonderful Life |
This is neither about Obama, nor Clinton, nor Trump… It is about America as
I dream of it, as it speaks to my heart and to my memory. I see it through
movies, songs, books… The list would be too long, but… a few names immediately
come to mind: Frank Capra, Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock,
Billy Wilder, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen… Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson, Henry
James, John Steinbeck, John D. Salinger… Gershwin, Bernstein, Jessye Norman,
Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, Charlie Parker, Bob Dylan, Simon &
Garfunkel, Leonard Cohen, Stevie Wonder…
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| Norman Rockwell, Freedom of Speech |
Why do I want to evoke this now? First, a few days ago, I was reading an
article – I don’t remember where – about fundamental freedoms. It was
illustrated by a Norman Rockwell painting. Rockwell was a man who succeeded in
showing us America as we love it. I regard him as a genuine artist, a painter
rather than an illustrator, as he was usually depicted. Rockwell (1894-1978) is
especially known for the covers of the Saturday Evening Post, which he
illustrated for more than forty years (1916-1960). If you type his name on
Google images, you will be able to admire many of his works.
Then, one or two days later, haphazardly on the Internet, I watched a video
that illustrates what, in my mind, makes for the superiority of American
pedagogy, at least that of the major universities. It offers a masterly
presentation of a work by Beethoven, the third movement of his 15th string
quartet (op. 132). A musicologist, a certain Robert Kapilow, speaks to an
audience at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He analyzes in very
lively manner, with the help of a real (and good) string quartet, this
movement, Heiliger Dankgesang (Sacred Song of Thanksgiving), in which
Beethoven expresses his gratitude to "the divinity" for his recovery
from a serious illness. What a talent!
These are only two small examples, but this is the America we love!
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| Norman Rockwell, The Runaway |
Fiodor
