Month: September 2013

I recently experienced feelings both of flattery and of irritation to discover that I am now quoted in Wikipedia as an authority on the Duport brothers’ influence on Beethoven. Flattery because they like me! They like me! I’ve heard many stories of Wikipedia’s baffling rejection of qualified contributors, so not being rejected might be worth something.

I just came across this fascinating documentary on the original pronunciation of Shakespeare by the father-and-son team David Crystal, a linguist, and his son Ben, an actor. Although I’ve been an enthusiast of the historically informed performance practice of music for many years, the idea that there could be an equivalent in theatre hadn’t really occurred to me. (I am a little embarrassed to say that I never attended a play at the Globe during my years in London; my only excuse is that I was too busy going to concerts.)