The Bocas Lit Fest has unveiled its festival art, done this year by Nikolai Noel in a series of limited edition silkscreen prints. READ more about it and find out how to get one at the Bocas Lit Fest website here.
Prompt to hear today's music is just under the date header. SPONSOR Produced in association with the American Composers Forum Friday, October 28 Play today's show | How to listen A "pathetic" symphony by Tchaikovsky In St. Petersburg on today's date* in 1893, Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky conducted the first performance of his latest Symphony, his Sixth. From the beginning, this symphony has been commonly known by its French subtitle, the "Pathétique," a designation suggested by the composer's brother, Modest. Now, in Russian,"pathétique" translates into something like "passionate" or "emotional," with overtones of "pathos" and "suffering," but in plain old English,"pathétique" translates as "pathetic," a word with a whole slew of negative connotations.** The French sounds much better, thank you. Tchaikovsky himself had originally intended ...