NATURE? NURTURE?

     DNA? Musicians, composers, lyricists, painters, sculptors, and writers. Artists whose efforts bring pleasure to devotees born hundreds of years after their work was first presented. Often their skills and talents are passed from one generation to the next—fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, siblings and if traceable perhaps a great-grandfather or a rumored cousin three times removed.

     Johann Sebastian Bach’s ancestors all worked as professional musicians—church organists, court musicians and composers. His dad was a town musician in Eisenach, Germany. Johann lost his parents at the age of ten and was brought up by his older brother Johann Christoph—the town organist.  John Sebastian wrote music for organ and other keyboard instruments, orchestras, and choirs. His second son, Carl Phillip Emanuel was held in high regard by his fellow musicians—he composed in the then fashionable Rococo style as did his brothers W.F. Bach, J.C. Bach, and Friedemann Bach.

     A self-taught musician, Johann Strauss the Elder, wrote waltzes, polkas, quadrilles and galops. Johann the younger wrote more than 500 pieces with 150 of them waltzes. His waltz titled The Blue Danube established Strauss as “The Waltz King.”

     Oscar Hammerstein I immigrated to America in 1864 and built opera houses that drew a wide audience to listen to some of the finest singers in the world. Times Square became the “in place” because of him. His sons Willy and Arthur presented stars like Al Jolson and Houdini and Willy gifted America with his son Oscar Hammerstein II who wrote lyrics with Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers during the “Golden Age of the American Musical.”. Rodgers begat Mary Rodgers who wrote the music for “Once Upon a Mattress,” and the novel and screenplay for “Freaky Friday,” and Mary begat the Tony award wining Adam Guettel who wrote the music and lyrics for “Floyd Collins” and “The Light in the Piazza.” The sons of Oscar Hammerstein II—William and James—were directors and he nurtured the talent of Stephen Sondheim.

     Actors? Robert Alda gave us Alan Alda, Judy Garland presented the world with Liza Minnelli, Goldie Hawn had Kate Hudson and, America’s Royal Family, the Barrymores, are still going strong with Drew.

    Artists? The Wyeth family is blessed with talent—N.C. Wyeth is the venerable father of three generations of Wyeth-Hurd artists and renowned for his illustrations in grand adventure stories, and classics for children such as Scribner’s Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe. His youngest son Andrew Newell Wyeth is recognized as America’s foremost realist artist. His first daughter Henriette became a fine portraitist and his second Carolyn is known for her introspective work in modern-day painting. Grandson James Wyeth found recognition at an early age with his portraits of people and the animals he painted in his rustic setting.

     And taking pen to paper or fingers to keyboard we have the Brontes—Charlotte’s Jane Eyre, Anne’s Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Emily’s Wuthering Heights. The Waugh family, beginning with Arthur who won the Newgate prize for poetry in 1888, continued with sons Alec who wrote Island in the Sun and Evelyn with Brideshead Revisited and continues with the latest generation, Auberon and Alexander. There’s H.G. Wells and his son Anthony West, Hilma Wolitzer and her daughter Meg, Alexandre Dumas, pere, and fils, and Mary Higgins Clark whose works have sold over 100 million copies and her daughter Carol Higgins Clark who has been nominated for the Anthony and Agatha Awards. High on any list are Stephen King and his wife Tabitha King and their sons Joe Hill and Owen King—writers who keep us up all night.

     Are they any artistic ancestors in your family? How about your children? Do they need, want, love to write?          

THE MOZART EFFECT

Painted by Barbara Kratt 1764-1825

     Many of us know that our mothers went to art museums, listened to classical music and, read books specifically to influence us when we were still in the womb. Most continued during our childhood and we can recall and treasure our bedtime stories. Do you think this influenced you as a writer?

     WQXR, the publicly funded and much loved classical music station in New York, has celebrated Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for the entire month of November. Last weekend they talked about the Mozart effect.

     The terminology originally came from a study performed in 1991 with 36 young adult students who listened to ten minutes of Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major. The students tackled a group of mental tasks before and after listening to Mozart. One was ten minutes of absolute quiet, the second ten minutes of directions on how to relax and the third was the sonata. The students who listen to Mozart did better when they were presented with a sequence of cerebral tests to finish—but the effect lasted approximately fifteen minutes.

     Scientists were intrigued and agreed that listening to music could have a short term effect but listening to Schubert or reading a book by Stephen King would bring about the same result if you took pleasure in the composer or author. In 2006, a study was conducted in England with eight thousand children who listened to either Mozart, a discussion about the experiment or three popular songs. The children who listened to the pop songs did better than the children who listened to Mozart.

     Books have been written, CDs made for children, and Governor Zell Miller requested $105,000 to provide a classical music CD to every child born in the state of Georgia. Music does lift the spirits, lower blood pressure and the playing of instruments—free musical instruments and training are often given to children in school—has promoted their social and cognitive skills.

Bests,

Elise

The Left Hand is the Dreamer

    
     The first time I heard "The left hand is the dreamer, the right hand is the doer," it came from a conductor/ composer who was left-handed. Ever since I've thought of writers, actors, artists and dancers as  left-handed dreamers though they might lift a utensil or a pen with their right hand. The right hand belonged to practical people--scientists, engineers, firemen or policemen. Law and order existed on the right while the left dreamed of the past or the future and interpreted every happenstance in a romantic way.
     Many performers have begun their careers in another art form before picking up a pen or sitting down at their tablet or computer and finding fulfillment and/or success. But a large number of writers have come from fields that I would consider "doers,"  particularly doctors. What quality makes so many doctors vivid writers?

Bests,

Elise

SPECTATORS OF LIFE

    
Palette Color by OCAL

     Visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art yesterday to see The George Bellows Exhibit. Bellows was an early 20th century "realist."On the walls of each room were quotations and I believe this one, written in 1917, can apply to the work of every artist whether a painter, sculptor, performer, or writer.
      "It seems to me that an artist must be a spectator of life; a reverential, enthusiastic, emotional spectator, and then the great dramas of human nature will surge through his mind."
     Each room is dedicated to a period in his development. One exhibits his brutal paintings of bloodied fighters watched by fans driven by their lust for more of this cruel "sport." Another gallery has his paintings of young boys--newly arrived and poor immigrants swimming and diving on "Splinter Beach," the Hudson River near Manhattan's lower East side. War paintings of the First World War show the cruelty visited by man upon man and the last gallery shows his work with lithography and his use of brighter colors. Bellows died in 1925--much too soon--of a ruptured appendix. He  painted the enthusiasm and enrgy of America.

Bests,

Elise