Verdi and Shakespeare: Macbeth, Othello, Falstaff with Humphrey Tonkin and Willie Anthony Waters
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) counted among his major accomplishments three operas on Shakespearean themes. His first encounter with Shakespeare came early in his career in the first version of Macbeth (1847; revised 1865), revealing an interest in dramatic intensity rather than vocal technique. Late in his life, aided by the sensitive librettist Arrigo Boito, he returned to Shakespeare for his last two operas – the grandly tragic Otello (1887) and the comic Falstaff (1893), this last based on Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor and his two Henry IV plays. Particularly in Othello, Verdi and Boito reinterpret Shakespeare in terms at once operatic and nineteenth-century, thereby exemplifying Shakespeare’s extraordinary adaptability to changing times and newer media. Verdi’s dream of composing a King Lear, however, remained unfulfilled. In this course, Maestro Waters and Professor Tonkin will each present a lecture on each of the three operas, over three days, and discuss their analyses with one another and with course participants. See brochure.
Dates: May 14, 16, 18, 2012 Time: 9:30am-12:00pm Location:Wilde Auditorium Cost: $90 (Fellows $70) Registration Form
A Round-up of the US Supreme Court with Jilda Aliotta
As the 2010-2011 session of the Supreme Court comes to an end, will the result be a bang or a whimper? Professor Aliotta looks at some of the major issues surfacing during the current session, both those resolved and those still awaiting resolution. See brochure.
Dates: May 21, 23, 25, 2012 Time: 5:00-6:30pm Location:Wilde Auditorium Cost: $70 (Fellows $50) Registration Form
Listz at 200: Commentary & Recital with Watson Morrison
Franz Liszt was born in 1811. When he died in 1886, an era died with him. A child prodigy on the piano, he left Hungary to study in Vienna, went on to Paris, and at 13 years of age had a brilliant reception in London. He was in touch with many of the great Romantics, among them George Sand, Victor Hugo, and Eugene Delacroix. In 1849 he settled in Weimar, where he conducted the first performance of Wagner’s Lohengrin. His daughter Cosima later became Wagner’s wife. A devotee of the Romantic style, he made, in addition to his original compositions, no less than 900 transcriptions of other composers’ works for the piano. These will be a particular feature of this guided tour through Liszt’s piano music. See brochure.
[This program is a repeat of one given last November 3, when many of those who would like to have attended were unable to do so because of the snowstorm.] Dates: May 22, 2012 Time: 10:15-11:45am Location:The Hartt School, Berkman Recital Hall Cost: $25 (Fellows $20) Registration Form
Song in the Works of James Joyce: Dubliners & Ulysses with Kathleen McGrory
Irish ballads, folk songs, Dublin and London music hall favorites, classical, light and grand opera, bel canto, American cowboy songs, spirituals, children’s songs, nursery rhymes, Verdi, Mozart, Thomas Moore’s melodies, Irish folk songs, hymns, Percy French, Stephen Foster, Elizabethan ballads — all these, and more, turn up in the works of James Joyce, Irish tenor. The course will look at how Joyce uses song to enrich his stories, and make ironic, humorous commentary on the people and places of Dublin and the world in two familiar works, Dubliners and Ulysses. In effect, Joyce used music as “hypertext” well before that word became a commonplace of postmodern criticism. The course will include selections from the James Joyce Cassette series, edited by Dr. McGrory. See brochure. Dates: May 30; June 1, 4, 6, 8, 2012 Time: 10:30am-12:00pm Location:Mortensen Library-PC Classroom Cost: $90 (Fellows $70) Registration Form
Literary Paris with Michele Troy and Virginie L'Homme Fontaine
University of Hartford professor Michele Troy and her Paris liaison, artist Virginie L’Homme Fontaine, have created a new travel experience for the Presidents’ College, based on its fulfilling trips to London in previous years. Join them for a week in Paris, starting Wednesday, October 17th, and let Paris be your home away from home. Live at the elegant but welcoming Hotel Aiglon, on the Boulevard Raspail, where you walk out the door and find yourself in the bustling Paris of your choice: five minutes from reading the morning paper in the Jardin du Luxembourg; ten minutes from sipping coffee or perusing the bookshops near the Sorbonne; twenty minutes from strolling along the Seine and watching the swirl of life near Notre Dame on the islands at the heart of the city; five minutes from shopping in Montparnasse. - See flyer Dates: October 17-24, 2012 Location:Paris, France Cost: See newsletter, page 10
Programs in progress or completed:
Calm Seas, Auspicious Gales: Shakespeare's Tempest Today with Humphrey Tonkin
Tuesdays at Duncaster. January 24. See brochure.
Ecology of Long Island Sound with Stephan Bullard
What can be done to understand and protect the piece of ocean nearest to Hartford and to Connecticut? From the beaches, to the rocky shores, to the marshes, to below the tide line, this course will examine the ecology of Long Island Sound in all its remarkable complexity. We will examine the biology of the plants and animals of the area and discuss potential threats to its biodiversity, among them invasive species and human depredation. See brochure.
Dates: Thursdays — January 26; February 2, 9, 2012 Time: 3:30-5:00pm Location:Mortensen Library-PC Classroom Cost: $60 (Fellows $40)
Faerie Queene Book Club with Humphrey Tonkin
The year 2011 marked the four-hundredth anniversary of the publication of Edmund Spenser’s collected works. Spenser (1552-1599) is best known as the author of the long allegorical poem The Faerie Queene, perhaps the most ambitious literary work of the aggressively ambitious age of Elizabeth I. The Faerie Queene Book Club will proceed at a leisurely pace through the early books of The Faerie Queene, observing its relevance as a guide to the religion, politics and aesthetics of the Elizabethan age and its standing as an intellectual and artistic tour de force. Use this edition. See brochure.
Dates: Fridays — January 27; February 17; March 9; April 13, 2012 Time: 2:00-3:30pm Location:Mortensen Library-PC Classroom Cost: $60 (Fellows $40)
What’s Eating Sharks? The Worldwide Decline in the Shark Population with Joanna Bonucinska. Fellows Lecture. January 27. See brochure.
John Paul Stevens’, Five Chiefs, & the US Supreme Court with Jilda Aliotta
Politics and Government professor Jilda Aliotta leads a reading group on five Chief Justices of the US Supreme Court, seen through the lens of retired justice John Paul Stevens’ recently published memoir of his time working with five Chief Justices: Fred Vinson, Earl Warren, Warren Burger, William Rehnquist, and John Roberts. Enrollment limited to 15. Enrollment closed. See brochure.
Dates: Tuesdays — January 31; February 7, 14, 21, 28, 2012 Time: 5:00-6:30pm Location:Mortensen Library-PC Classroom Cost: $90 (Fellows $65)
Reassessing Shakespeare’s Major Tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth with Humphrey Tonkin.
We think we know them – these four monumental literary works. But the truth is that they keep changing – as fashions and preoccupations change, and as we ourselves grow older, possibly wiser, and perhaps more knowledgeable. Humphrey Tonkin, who has been teaching Shakespeare, on and off, for upwards of fifty years, looks again at Shakespeare’s major tragedies and their influences on us and our society. The course is timed to coincide with the Hartt School’s production of Hamlet, February 23-26, which course participants will be able to attend without charge.See brochure. Dates: Mondays — February 6, 13, 20, 27; March 5, 12, 2012 Time: 4:30-6:00pm Location:Wilde Auditorium - Exception 3/12 - Mortensen Library-PC Classroom Cost: $120 (Fellows $90)
Books and Reading in the Third Reich with Michele Troy
When we think of books and the Third Reich, we think of book burnings, censorship, confiscations, publishers being forced out of business. While all these things happened, our understanding of them is often based on hearsay. Scholar Michele Troy has delved into German archives looking for historical answers. How were the decisions made? Who was in charge? Who was controlling the circulation of books and why? She will examine particularly the role that Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels played in this process; she will examine the crackdown on Jewish books and publishers; and, finally, she will explore what people read and what they were allowed to read. There were many anomalies. Why did Gone with the Wind circulate? Why were the works of Saint-Exupéry allowed? Behind these oddities there was almost always some form of financial or propaganda advantage to the Nazis. See brochure.
Date: Wednesdays — February 8, 15, 22, 2012 Time: 2:00-3:30pm Location:Mortensen Library-PC Classroom Cost: $60 (Fellows $40)
Shakespeare’s Marlowe and Ours: Reacting to Christopher Marlowe’s Nonconformity with Robert Logan Fellows Lecture. February 17. See brochure.
Edward Cumming
Tuesdays at Duncaster. February 21. See brochure
Latin: Where Did It Come From, Where Is It Going? with Timothy Reagan
This course will explore the development and nature of the Latin language, from before the age of the Empire to the present time. Beginning with an exploration of the historical evolution of Latin from its Indo-European roots, as well as its competition with the other Italic languages, we will go on to look at Latin during the late Republican and Imperial eras, when it operated in what was a highly multilingual and linguistically diverse society, and when Latin literature flourished, especially in the so-called Golden and Silver Ages. Finally, our concern will shift to Latin after the fall of the western Roman empire: we will talk about the changes in popular Latin that led to the emergence of the different Romance languages, and the use of Latin as an international language of religion, literature, and science for more than a further thousand years. We then will briefly look at the role and place of Latin in the modern world, and discuss the various futures that it may face. See brochure. Note: If there is sufficient interest, a second course may be added in April (“Refresh Your Latin”), which will give students an opportunity to either learn the basics of Latin or to brush up on the Latin that they learned earlier in life. There will be four sessions of this course, probably April 5, 12, 19 and 26, at a time to be determined.
Dates: Thursdays — March 1, 8, 15, 2012 Time: 2:00-3:30pm Location:Mortensen Library-PC Classroom Cost: $60 (Fellows $40).
Home Run: Three Jewish Baseball Greats — Berg, Greenberg, Koufax with Chris Martens
Among the most important Jewish players in the history of baseball were Moe Berg, Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax. Berg is often considered the smartest man ever to don a baseball uniform; he graduated from Princeton magna cum laude and later from Columbia Law School, routinely read 8-10 newspapers a day, and spoke seven languages. At the end of the 1923 season, he enrolled in 32 classes at the Sorbonne in Paris and was late for spring training in 1924. Invited in 1934 to tour Japan with the first MLB All-Star team led by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, Berg’s mission was not to play baseball but to take films for the US government of important Japanese landmarks and installations from the top of the tallest buildings in Tokyo. His films were reviewed by the War Department and were likely used by Jimmy Doolittle on his bombing raids of Tokyo in 1942. The six foot, four inch Hank Greenberg is considered one of the greatest home run hitters in the history of baseball. If not for his years in the service, he would easily have hit 500 home runs. A true pioneer in Jewish baseball, in many ways similar to Jackie Robinson who broke the color line in 1947, Greenberg was the first Jewish all-star, first Jewish owner/general manager and first Jewish player elected to the Hall of Fame. In 1934, on Rosh Hashanah, the Tigers were in first place by four games. Hank was given a “pass” by a local rabbi to play in a key pennant race game that day. He hit two home runs and the Tigers beat the Red Sox 2-1. Ten days later, Hank decided not to play on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, and was given a standing ovation when he entered the synagogue that day. From 1962 to 1966, Sandy Koufax, of the Dodgers, was the greatest pitcher in baseball history, with 111 wins and only 34 losses during that span. On Oct 6, 1965 - Yom Kippur - Sandy stunned the baseball world by refusing to pitch game one of the World Series against the Twins. It was a political act at a time when athletes rarely took political stances. In that same series, Koufax won the deciding seventh game on only two days’ rest even though he could barely lift his left arm. This spoke volumes to the Jewish community and was a refutation of the Jewish stereotype that Jewish men were “soft”. To this day, Koufax resonates with the Jewish community like a favored son and is as idolized and revered as any player among his peers. See brochure.
Dates: Wednesdays — March 7, 14, 28, 2012 Time: 5:30-7:30pm Location:Conferences - Exception: March 28 - Mortensen Library-PC Classroom Cost: $80 (Fellows & UofH Alumni $65)
The Novels of Edith Wharton with Jane Barstow
Edith Wharton, one of the most popular and critically acclaimed writers of the early twentieth century, published over 50 books in her lifetime. This course will consider her artistic development during a twenty year period as demonstrated by four novels: House of Mirth (1905), Custom of the Country (1913), Age of Innocence (1920), and The Mother’s Recompense (1925). Of particular interest will be the evolution of Wharton’s ideas about female sexuality and about marriage as practiced in American upper-class society. See brochure.
Dates: Thursdays — March 8, 29; April 12, 19, 2012 Time: 11:00am-12:30pm Location:Mortensen Library-PC Classroom Cost: $60 (Fellows $40)
New York Dozen: Twelve Young Architects of Gotham with Michael Crosbie Fellows Lecture. March 9. See brochure.
Machiavelli, Humanist Statesman with Maria Esposito Frank
One of the greatest figures of the Italian Renaissance, Niccolò Machiavelli has been alternately praised as a master of Realpolitik and demonized as immoral and unprincipled. We still talk disapprovingly today of “Machiavellian” politics. In reality, he was an accomplished writer and scholar and in many respects a true humanist. After an introductory look at Machiavelli's life and times, the course will embark on a close reading of Machiavelli's Prince in order to discuss views of humanity, power, and the role of letters expressed in this political treatise. While the focus of the course will be on The Prince, it will also explore his poems, letters, and plays. See brochure.
Edition for course: The Prince translated by Tim Parks, Penguins Books 2009.
Dates: Tuesdays — March 27; April 3, 10, 2012 Time: 4:30-6:00pm Location:Mortensen Library-PC Classroom Cost: $60 (Fellows $40)
Meet Hertford College Lecturer — Oliver Noble Wood
Every year the University hosts a lecturer by a member of the Oxford University faculty attached to Hertford College, Oxford. This year's lecturer will be Oliver Noble Wood, who will talk on still-life painting in the spanish Golden Age. The lecture will take place in Wilde Auditorium at 4:30pm on March 29 (free tickets available at 860.768.4228). The Presidents' College has invited Dr. Wood to lunch for a freewheeling discussion on the topic of his lecture. Join us for what promises to be a lively occasion! Date: Thursday, March 29, 2012 Time: 4:30pm Location:Wilde Auditorium Cost: No charge for lecture. $20 for lunch
The Aesthetics of Dance with Stephen Pier
In this guided demonstration, Stephen Pier and members of Hartt Dances will offer an intimate view of the creation and practice of Dance, our most human art form. The presentation will include segments of current repertoire ranging from classic master works through contemporary trends and bring audience members inside the creative process as well as the education of a dancer. See brochure. Dates: Wednesdays — April 4, 11, 18, 2012 Time: 3:30-5:00pm Location:Handel Arts Center Cost: $70 (Fellows $50)
Connecticut History — An American Story with Walter Woodward & Kate Steinway
Taught by Connecticut’s State Historian and the Executive Director of the Connecticut Historical Society, this course will examine three nationally important historical themes in three weeks. Each presentation will provoke thinking about American history through the lens of Connecticut people and their experiences. The course will include a general overview followed by an in-depth examination of one aspect of the theme. Authentic examples of documents and objects, drawn from the large collection of the Connecticut Historical Society, will be used as illustrations. Participants will be encouraged to discuss and experiment with ways to “read” objects and documents as evidence. Optional readings will be provided. The sessions will be as follows: April 5: Building a Nation – Would we do it this way again? April 12: The Talents of Many – Can one person make a difference? April 19: Industry and Technology – What are the tradeoffs? On April 26, participants and their friends will be invited to a reception and tour of the Connecticut Historical Society. See brochure. Dates: Thursdays — April 5, 12, 19, 26, 2012 Time: 4:00-5:30pm Location:Mortensen Library-PC Classroom. Exception 4/26, CT Historical Society. Cost: $75 (Fellows $60)
The Patricia Cremins Lecture — From the Inkwell to the Internet: Dictionaries in America with Peter Sokolowski
Have you ever wondered how a word gets into the dictionary? Why American English is spelled differently from British English? How dictionaries are making the transition to the Internet? The story of dictionaries in America begins with Noah Webster’s textbooks and dictionaries and continues today with some of the busiest reference sites on the Web and dictionaries made specifically for English language learners. Details about famous editions and the trends of the most looked-up words online will be discussed, with time for questions about dictionaries, definitions, and usage. Date: April 20, 2012 Time: Lunch – 11:30am-1pm; lecture to follow Location:1877 Club, Harry Jack Grey Center
Four for Shakespeare with Humphrey Tonkin
Humphrey Tonkin will introduce The Taming of the Shrew and The Tempest in two lectures on Friday, April 27 (Shrew 9:45-10:45am; The Tempest 11:00am-12:00pm) and Twelfth Night and King Lear in two lectures on May 31 (Twelfth Night 9:45-10:45am; King Lear 11:00am-12:00pm).
A pleasant way to pass a couple of mornings – with a coffee break; and then, if you care to stay on, you can also adjourn for lunch at the 1877 Club following the lectures.
If you sign up for both sessions (April 27 and May 31), you will receive a complimentary ticket to the Hartt School production of The Taming of the Shrew.
Several Shakespeare productions are coming up in the next few weeks that are likely to be of interest to Presidents’ College members. On Thursday, May 3, the Hartt School production of The Taming of the Shrew will open. On May 10, The Tempest opens at Hartford Stage. On June 16, Shakespeare & Company at Lenox, MA, will perform King Lear and on July 19, The Tempest opens on their main stage; In July, Capital Classics will bring Twelfth Night to St. Joseph College for an open-air production. See brochure. Full Program: April 27 and May 31, 2012 – $60 (Fellow $50)
Time: 9:45am-12pm (both days) Location:Mortensen Library-PC Classroom Cost: April 27 only – $35 (Fellow $30); May 31 only – $35 (Fellow $30)
Registration Form
Community Day - Limerick Competition
The year 2012 is the 200th anniversary of Lear’s birth on May 12th, 1812. The Presidents’ College has decided, in its somewhat perverted wisdom, to mark the occaaion with a reading of Edward Lear’s work on the University’s Community Day, Saturday, April 28. We will need readers for the occasion: see the announcement elsewhere in this issue. We’re also organizing a Limerick Competition. Here’s an occasion for the aspiring Shakespeares among us to shine. Send your limericks to pcollege@hartford.edu. See flyer. Date: April 28, 2012 Time: 11am - 3pm Location: UofH Campus
Downton Abbey Revisited with Trumble, Gutierrez, McLaughlin
The TV series Downton Abbey has taken America by storm. But what was really going on during the tumultuous years that it describes? The opulent pre-war years of the reign of Edward VII were succeeded by the disastrous carnage of the Great War - a war whose futility was only matched by the sheer courage of those who fought it and the ruined lives of those who survived. The war produced some of the greatest poetry of the century, but it also gave momentum to massive social change: Irish independence and civil war, the rise of the labor movement, the rise of the popular press - life was never the same again. Angus Trumble will explore the glamour and conspicuous consumption of the pre-war period (April 30); Edward Gutierrez will discuss the war itself (May 3); Robert McLaughlin will examine the social change accompanying it (May 10). On May 7, we will present a reading of the remarkable poetry and prose of the period. Humphrey Tonkin will provide continuity for the series. See brochure. Dates: April 30; May 3, 7, 10 Time: 10:30am-12:00pm Location:Wilde Auditorium Cost: $90 (Fellows $70)
