WFIU: Arts Moments

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WFIU's “Arts Moments” are a series of short features highlighting various events and people that have affected the arts in our society. These features are in honor of Arts Weeks 2004, running from February sixth through March second.

Arts Weeks is Indiana University’s showcase for the best and most exciting work in the creative and performing arts. From the intimate theater of local actors and playwrights to the stirring artistry of IU’s Grammy® Award-winning faculty, Bloomington continues to offer world-class, memorable experiences in virtually every style and genre of creative expression. Artists that intrigue, challenge, and inspire-these are the essence of Bloomington.

Support for Arts Weeks comes from the IU offices of the President, Vice President for Research, and Director of Arts and Cultural Outreach.

Thomas Edison	ASCAP	George Friedrich Handel	Arthur Miller - "Death of a Salesman"	Vaslav Nijinsky
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Thomas Edison (Feb. 11) 1/19/04

Celebrate the arts -- with this glimpse into the life of Thomas Edison.
Born on February 11, 1847, Thomas Alva Edison counted among his many innovations the invention of the incandescent light bulb and motion picture camera, as well as improvements to the telegraph and systems that made possible the distribution of electric power. Despite his many great advances, his personal favorite among all of his inventions was the phonograph.
Invented in the fall of 1877, the first phonograph was originally intended as a business machine for taking dictation, and early models were affordable only for the very wealthy. The recordings were crude, and there was little variety in the commercial recordings available. By the turn of the century, the price of commercial cylinder phonographs was much more reasonable and the leading manufacturers of recordings, which included Edison, Columbia, and Victor had increased their entertainment offerings to include recordings of popular songs of the day, as well as marches, patriotic tunes, and operatic arias. In the first decades of the twentieth century the cylinder phonograph was largely supplanted by the disc phonograph, which boasted better sound quality and 4 minutes of playing capacity per side as opposed to the 2-minute limit of the Edison cylinders.
As his invention really caught on, the Edison Company faced much stiffer competition. Nonetheless, Edison continued to produce disc phonographs and expand its offerings of discs and cylinders until the ultimate demise of the company in 1929. More importantly, however, Edison's invention opened the door for the dissemination of recorded music, a medium that has become vitally important for artists and musicians today. (255 )
Support for this Arts Moment has come from the IU offices of the President, Vice President for Research, and Director of Arts and Cultural Outreach. Sound recording courtesy of menloparkmuseum.com. I'm Lauren Robert.

ASCAP (Feb.13) 1/20/04

Celebrate the arts -- with this glimpse at ASCAP.
ASCAP, or the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, has been representing the rights of its members for almost a century. Since 1897, the rights of composers and songwriters have been protected by law, entitling them to the payment of royalties for the use of their music in public performance. With the widespread popularity of the early phonograph and radio, the right of a composer to collect royalties was extended to recorded music by the American Copyright Law of 1909.
On February 13, 1914, ASCAP was founded in New York City. Although the law provided for the payment of royalties to a composer or songwriter, there was no system in place to collect the royalties and make sure they got back to the composer. It was as if millions of people owed you money, but you had to go door to door, across the country to collect. ASCAP arose from the need to collect the royalties on live performance and recorded music and get that money efficiently back to the composers and songwriters. Today ASCAP collects licensing fees from live performance venues and radio stations. These outlets then report their usage of live and recorded music back to ASCAP who distributes royalty money to the composers and songwriters based on the number of times their work is performed.
From Duke Ellington to Stevie Wonder to Madonna, today ASCAP has grown to represent over 170,000 American Composers, Songwriters, Lyricists, and Publishers of all kinds, from country to classical. (248)
Support for this Arts Moment has come from the IU offices of the President, Vice President for Research, and Director of Arts and Cultural Outreach. I'm Lauren Robert.

George Friedrich Handel (Feb.23) 1/21/04

Celebrate the arts -- with this glimpse into the life of George Friedrich Handel.
George Friedrich Handel was born in Halle, Germany, on February 23, 1685, the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach, and just about 50 miles away from Eisenach, Bach's birthplace. The similarities don't end there, as both masters are recognized as the foremost compositional voices of the high Baroque.
Handel began his career as a composer of Italian opera, even living in Italy from 1706 to 1710 where he met many eminent musicians and composers, including Corelli and Allesandro and Domenico Scarlatti.
He returned to Germany in 1710, and assumed the post of Kappelmeister to the Elector of Hanover. He almost immediately requested leave, and traveled to England, where his opera Rinaldo was premiered to great success in early 1711. He returned to Hanover and again requested leave, this time his request was granted only on the condition that he return in a reasonable amount of time. Handel departed and had been absent for nearly 2 years when the Elector of Hanover, his employer, ascended to the throne of England as King George I. Finding himself in quite a pickle, the story goes that Handel quickly composed the famous Water Music to accompany one of the new monarch's outings on the river Thames. He was let off the hook, gaining immediate access to England's royal circle.
Handel settled in England for the rest of his life, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1726. He initially composed more operas in the Italian style, but later became best known for his oratorios on biblical subjects, including his most famous, Messiah in 1741. (259 )
Support for this Arts Moment has come from the IU offices of the President, Vice President for Research, and Director of Arts and Cultural Outreach. I'm Lauren Robert.

Arthur Miller - "Death of a Salesman" (Feb.10) 1/22/04

Celebrate the arts -- with this glimpse into the life of Arthur Miller.
Perhaps the greatest of modern American playwrights, Arthur Miller was born in Harlem and spent much of his youth in Brooklyn, growing up in a neighborhood made up of the poor and working class. His childhood experiences and his work in various salesman and factory jobs during the early 1940's gave him a unique perspective on working class America, a theme central to many of his works. One of his first theatrical triumphs was the play "Death of a Salesman", which opened today, Feb.11, 1949, in a production by Elia Kazan at the Morocco Theatre in New York City.
The play tells the story of Willy Loman, an aging salesman and misguided dreamer whose life is falling apart at the seams. In the play he is forced to confront his failure to achieve financial success as well as his perceived failure as a father to his two sons, Biff and Happy, both of whom have also failed to achieve any true degree of contentment in their lives. The play features a dreamy atmosphere and a marked contrast between flashbacks, dream sequences, and the present day. Through these flashbacks and daydreams Willy recalls and confronts the past events that have contributed to his now shattered existence. In the end Willy is driven to a desperate act as the only way of securing his son's fortune and his family's freedom.
"Death of a Salesman" went on to win the 1949 Pulitzer Prize in drama and the New York Playwright's Circle Award, firmly establishing Arthur Miller as one of the giants among modern American playwrights.
Support for this Arts Moment has come from the IU offices of the President, Vice President for Research, and Director of Arts and Cultural Outreach. I'm Lauren Robert.

Vaslav Nijinsky 1/23/04

Celebrate the arts -- with this glimpse into the life of Vaslav Nijinsky.
Born on February 28, 1890 in Kiev, dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinksy is remembered as one of the greatest dancers of the twentieth century.
He began studies at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg in 1900 and his immense talent was recognized almost immediately. He graduated and made his debut with the Imperial Ballet at the Maryinsky Theatre in 1907, and by 1909 he was the traveling to Paris as the premier dancer with Diaghilev's Ballet Russe.
Nijinsky is perhaps best remembered today for his controversial and groundbreaking collaboration with Igor Stravinsky as the choreographer for the riot-inciting Paris premiere of the Rite of Spring on May 29, 1913. He was even better known in his day for his virtuosity and near flawless technique, being declared "God of theDance" by audiences and critics alike. Nijinksy's popularity was so great that he became an early twentieth century sex symbol and his androgynous physique made him an object of admiration for men and women alike.
Nijinsky's life began to deteriorate between 1913 and 1916. He married Romola Pulsky, a Hungarian socialite, and subsequently ruined his working relationship with Diaghilev, his former lover. His final appearances with the Ballet Russe were during an American tour in 1916-1917.
Nijinksy's career was cut tragically short when he suffered a nervous breakdown and was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic in 1917 at the age of only twenty-eight. He briefly returned to dancing in his early thirties but was subsequently hospitalized, and spent the rest of his life undergoing treatment in Switzerland, never able to return to the stage.
(263)
Support for this Arts Moment has come from the IU offices of the President, Vice President for Research, and Director of Arts and Cultural Outreach. I'm Lauren Robert.