3 New Books About Passionate Artists
Dec 09, 2018
Artists are a special breed of people. To succeed as an actor, sculptor, or composer, you need a specific type of passion and drive that sets you apart. The three fiction and non-fiction books in this week’s book club feature artists at the top of their fields from the worlds or theatre, visual art, and music. They pursue their careers and other obsessions with single-minded intensity, and they change the world.
<em>Josephine Baker’s Last Dance</em>
“Sleep? How can she sleep when there’s so much living to do? She’s never needed much rest but it eludes her now and no wonder, her name in lights in Paris again, the first time in years, big stars filling the front rows night after glorious night, the critics raving like she’s pulling off some kind of miracle, like she rallied herself from the grave to sing and dance her life’s story across the stage. But she’s just sixty-eight, not dead yet! She only looks it right now, running on fumes and just a lick of sleep after what might be the greatest performance of her life. How will she top it tonight? Never mind: Josephine Baker always finds a way.”
<em>Love That Moves the Sun: Vittoria Colonna and Michelangelo Buonarroti</em>
Pretty much everybody is aware of Italian artist (not Ninja Turtle) Michelangelo’s greatest works, including his sculpture of David, the Pietà, and, despite his insistence that he was a sculptor rather than a painter, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Though he holds the distinction of being the first Western artist to have his biography published while he was still living, many know little about him. Fewer still know about Vittoria Colonna, the poet with whom Michelangelo developed a firm and loving friendship that lasted years and changed both of their lives.
<em>Handel in London: The Making of a Genius</em>
If you’re anything like the writer of this article, you may have already performed in or attended a production of Handel’s Messiah this Christmas season. Originally written as an Easter piece, Handel’s legendary oratorio has become inextricably linked to popular culture. Handel’s life and works are covered by 40-year veteran musician and conductor Jane Glover. Glover, known for Mozart’s Women, was the longtime conductor of the London Mozart Players, the director of Opera at the Royal Academy of Music, and has toured around the world. Now, appropriately for Music of the Baroque’s Music Director, she gives us details of the composer’s ferocious work ethic and his effect on not only the music but also the politics of the day; Handel served as a confidante of the royal family and courts of George I and II.
