Words

Writing.

9 October 2026

Why Fidelio?

Fidelio is chiefly about freedom but not one that finds an easy definition or an allegiance to a philosophy of life as prescribed by an intellectual circle. Fidelio vividly presents the birth pangs of the romantic movement, the only credible human reaction to the highly dissatisfactory replacement of God with Reason.

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29 September 2026

On the responsibility of the intellectuals

On Eva Illouz's closing lecture at the Vienna Humanities Festival, the responsibility of the intellectual, and what was missing from her account of it.

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28 September 2026

Luigi Cherubini, short biography of an Italian romantic

Born in Florence in 1760, Luigi Cherubini lived through both the apogee of the classical style and the birth of romanticism — admired by Beethoven, and yet largely forgotten today.

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18 September 2026

Can music escape culture?

Viktor Ullman and the weight of established culture with its associated brand of infamy at the hands of its handlers.

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17 April 2026

The life of Alban Berg

His attention to critical societal issues so vividly exposed in his two operas has gained him an aura of being the most “human” among the atonal Viennese composers.

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14 March 2026

Dethroning Emperors

Beethoven profoundly resented his father, the first hero every child must eventually outgrow — a look at the young Ludwig, the Enlightenment he inherited, and why the Eroica still needs unpacking.

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12 December 2025

What resurrection?

Gustav Mahler represents a key figure in the nineteenth century's struggle to reconcile passion and reason — a man of contrasts who tried to hold together romanticism and classicism, creation and interpretation.

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