Arts

In the late 1830s and early ’40s Gaetano Donizetti had gone through years of grief and bad health. In 1843 his comic opera Don Pasquale became an instant international success, and a year later Donizetti wrote another opera, Caterina Cornaro. When it failed, he was quick to take the blame. He wrote to a...

First Concert

March 12, 2015 - 11:30am

At the age of twenty-seven, Karl Goldmark decided that it was time for him to make his mark as a composer, and so he arranged a concert devoted entirely to his own works.

His colleagues in the Carl Theater in Vienna promised in writing to donate their services. Goldmark recruited...

Don't Ever Leave It!

March 11, 2015 - 11:30am

Like many a great musician before him, Argentine composer Ástor Piazzolla went to Paris to take lessons from the celebrated Nadia Boulanger. Although his lessons with her went on for less than four months, long after they were over, he would declare that he owed her “absolutely everything.”

He was...

New Book Presents Collection Of Wisconsin's Folk Tales

March 10, 2015 - 6:05pm

For today's writers, the Great Depression-era Federal Writers’ Program seems like an impossible dream. Writers paid by the government to collect and create stories?

The program not only existed, but it preserved many of the stories, legends, and traditional knowledge that would otherwise have disappeared if not for the...

Arts Advocate Says Support For The Arts Critical To State's Economic Success

March 10, 2015 - 4:00pm

On the eve of Arts Day, the biggest advocacy day of the year for the arts, a guest makes the case that supporting the arts and nurturing the creative economy are keys to Wisconsin's long-term success.

What If He Had Written Today

March 10, 2015 - 11:30am

Felix Mendelssohn is sometimes credited with re-introducing the music of Bach in the nineteenth century, thereby establishing the current practice of performing vintage music in concerts. A letter his father wrote to him from Berlin on March 10, 1835, mentions Mendelssohn’s teacher Carl Friedrich Zelter as an early advocate of Bach and...

Professional Women's Baseball Was A Hit In The Midwest During Wartime

March 9, 2015 - 7:50pm

When World War II took many of the United States' men into the military and overseas, Chicago Cubs owner Philip Wrigley made sure that the war didn’t take baseball too. In 1943, Wrigley created the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, featuring two Wisconsin-based teams: the Kenosha Comets and the Racine...

The Indian Life

March 9, 2015 - 11:30am

By the beginning of 1911 Italian composer and pianist Ferruccio Busoni had been traveling and performing in America for more than a year, and he was still adjusting to life in the New World. He was often uninspired, but he wrote to his wife about occasional flashes of enthusiasm. On March 9,...

Vintage Wisconsin: Playing Games With Other Women In Frank Lloyd Wright's Life

March 9, 2015 - 11:15am

In this image, girls at the Hillside Home School in Spring Green play basketball outdoors around 1900. The school was the work of Ellen "Nell" Lloyd Jones and Jane "Jenny" Lloyd Jones, the remarkable aunts of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

While Frank Lloyd Wright — his innovative buildings and his...

Minnesota Writer Searches For Meaning In 'A Northern Life'

March 8, 2015 - 7:50pm

I’m not sure where I first ran across the Irish word dinnseanchas. It means place-lore, though it’s also often literally translated as “topography” in English.

No matter, the idea captivated me and perhaps made me a natural target for Karen Babine’s new book of essays, "Water and...

Like Bolts of Lightning

March 8, 2015 - 11:30am

He was one of the most famous men in Europe, and even though he was feeling unwell, Niccolò Paganini had come to Berlin to perform. The audience of nine hundred or so included Friedrich Wilhelm III, King of Prussia, and all the royal family.

Writing four days later, on March 8, 1829,...

Radio Won't Wait

March 7, 2015 - 11:30am

According to its producer, The Ford Sunday Evening Hour was a way for radio audiences “to feel cultured without really being so.” Beginning in 1934 it provided classical music, popular opera arias, familiar ballads, and hymns. Henry Ford hired most of the Detroit Symphony as the house orchestra. The conductors were some...

The Challenge

March 6, 2015 - 11:30am

By 1754 Francesco Geminiani was known throughout Europe as a composer of concertos. When he was approached by the director of a Paris theater to write theater music, Geminiani took up the challenge.

The Enchanted Forest was a pantomime based on episodes from Torquato Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered–a subject that lent itself to splashy special effects, the...

Vel Phillips Subject Of New Documentary

March 5, 2015 - 2:00pm

There is a long and impressive list of “firsts” that Vel Phillips achieved in Wisconsin and Milwaukee politics. A new documentary of her life is airing on Wisconsin Public Television highlighting her many groundbreaking accomplishments as well as her advocacy and activism around fair housing legislation in the 1960s. Robert...

Are Americans Losing Interest In Learning Foreign Languages?

March 5, 2015 - 4:30pm

According to a new report from The Modern Language Association, enrollment in foreign language classes is down at American colleges and universities. A reporter breaks down the possible reasons for the decline. Then, a foreign language advocate and professor makes the case for learning a language.

Read Across America: Your Book Suggestions

March 5, 2015 - 4:00pm

This year marks the 18th annual Read Across America celebration, which aims to share the joys of reading with students all over the country. But reading is important for adults too. We learn about the stories you love, and what books you'd suggest to someone to inspire a passion for...

The Past, Present And Future Of Water Resources In Milwaukee

March 5, 2015 - 3:30pm

From Lake Michigan to the Milwaukee and Menomonee Rivers, water has been at the heart of Milwaukee for as long as the city has existed...and could be the key to Milwaukee economic success in the 21st century. An environmental scientist looks at the history of Milwaukee's freshwater landscape, and how...

UW-River Falls Professor Wins Award With Rose Hybrid

March 5, 2015 - 11:45am

A rose hybrid developed by a University of Wisconsin-River Falls horticulturalist has won national recognition.

The Pauper

March 5, 2015 - 11:30am

Young André Gretry led the life of a character from Dickens. He was the son of a poor church musician in the city of Liège, Belgium. About 1750, at the age of nine, he became a choir boy, a position that required him to walk a mile each way to attend six...

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Taking the Blame

First Concert

Don't Ever Leave It!

New Book Presents Collection Of Wisconsin's Folk Tales

Arts Advocate Says Support For The Arts Critical To State's Economic Success

What If He Had Written Today

Professional Women's Baseball Was A Hit In The Midwest During Wartime

The Indian Life

Vintage Wisconsin: Playing Games With Other Women In Frank Lloyd Wright's Life

Minnesota Writer Searches For Meaning In 'A Northern Life'

Like Bolts of Lightning

Radio Won't Wait

The Challenge

Vel Phillips Subject Of New Documentary

Are Americans Losing Interest In Learning Foreign Languages?

Read Across America: Your Book Suggestions

The Past, Present And Future Of Water Resources In Milwaukee

UW-River Falls Professor Wins Award With Rose Hybrid

The Pauper

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