I attended a concert yesterday evening at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan. It began with Beethoven’s symphony No. 1.
I felt like I was lifted off the floor. An experience not unlike what Walt Whitman describes in Leaves of Grass: “The orchestra whirls me wider than Uranus flies, / It wrenches such ardors from me I did not know I possess’d them.”
It’s good to hear music performed live. Too much listening to recorded music can produce, in effect, what is called “stereo ear.”
Every Beethoven symphony is compelling and can stand on its own; there are no inferior ones (meaning inferior to another symphony of Beethoven’s). Beethoven’s symphony No. 8, for example, is equal to any of the others, though not that often performed.
Beethoven’s Fourth is a gem and probably equal to his Fifth.
Each symphony is unique, different – e.g., the Pastoral and the Seventh each are equally interesting, yet totally different from one another and from Beethoven’s other symphonies.
The Eroica and the Ninth are each completely original. Monumental works unlike no other symphony of Beethoven’s or any other symphony in the classical canon.
A question: I’m sure Beethoven had good teachers; no creative genius emerges ex nihilo. But, whose works are Beethoven’s modeled after?
Answer: no one. They’re completely original.
I will admit that in the first symphony, one can see indebtedness to Haydn’s late symphonies, but it already is definitely, unmistakably Beethoven.
The second work on the program was Mozart’s “Great Mass” in C minor (K. 427). The Kyrie of the Great Mass is better, I would say, then the Kyrie of Mozart’s Requiem.
Listening to a soprano singing the Laudamus te of K. 427 is to experience ecstasy. It’s like what Whitman experienced in 1855 during a performance of Verdi’s “Ernani”: “A new world — a liquid world — rushes like a torrent through you” is how he described it.
Carnegie Hall. What a venue! To think that they were going to tear it down in in the late 1950’s. There are no bad seats; you can hear perfectly and have a great view of the stage from the second tier.
I have never liked Lincoln Center. It’s a sterile “arts center” with worse seating and acoustics than Carnegie Hall. The architecture is typical 1960’s (think Shea Stadium), functional but uninspiring. Lincoln Center ruined a neighborhood; the surrounding streets have no street life. There are hardly any restaurants, watering holes, cafes, or places of interest, other than one or two rip-off restaurants on the other side of Broadway, across the street from the main entrance.
The audience at Carnegie Hall yesterday evening was a typical New York one. Rapt. Totally attentive and focused. (And, one can sense, knowledgeable.)
You could not hear a SOUND in the audience. I know there are some hacking coughs that a cougher can’t prevent or control, but, at the same time, it is my belief that most coughs by audience members at concerts are nervous coughs brought about by impatience or boredom or whatever. I swear I did not hear a single cough yesterday, not one.
from a month or so ago, I described how I had a mystical experience while walking in Manhattan in the early evening that day after leaving the library.
I experienced this again this evening under similar circumstances.
I had just taken the Staten Island ferry back and forth for pleasure. At rush hour.
It wasn’t that crowded, especially returning to Manhattan.
Everyone in a good mood, as usual.
Gorgeous sunset … other passengers and I were saying to one another how beautiful it was: the sky, the crimson clouds, the sinking sun shimmering on the water, the harbor.
I got off at around 7:00 and walked about three blocks to an Au Bon Pain on Broad Street.
Sat down and plugged my phone in to charge it.
Place more or less empty; two young women at an adjacent table were having a friendly, animated discussion.
The place is self-serve. I poured myself a large coffee from an urn … went to the counter where you pay; no one there … finally concluded, looks like this coffee is free.
I sat nursing my coffee for a while … and musing.
No one ever bothers you in the City; in Manhattan, in the midst of frenzied activity (though not at this moment) going on constantly around you and people everywhere, one can, paradoxically, attain great peace.
I walked uptown a couple of blocks to catch the number 4 train … in those moments, I experienced the epiphany.
It had cooled down and there was a wonderfully refreshing sea breeze on the sidewalks.
There are relatively few people in the Financial District (Wall Street area) at that time of day … what people there were, were sauntering along, with pairs conversing happily.
I had a feeling, surge, of profound happiness, serenity, and inner peace.
Fifth Avenue, NYC; 1:40 p.m.; Wednesday, September 20, 2017
I took the above photo yesterday (September 20, 2017) on Fifth Avenue at 1:40 p.m. The photo was taken on a Wednesday afternoon on the avenue near 45th Street. In other words, in the heart of the Manhattan on a business day.
It can be plainly seen that there is little traffic. Certainly, no traffic jam.
And yet, social engineers — revered by Manhattan based yuppies who hate cars — want to implement a so called “congestion pricing” plan (already in effect in London), under which automobiles entering central sections of Manhattan on weekdays would be charged a fee.
Wouldn’t you know it, the New York Times editorial board is all for the plan. (See “A Solution to New York City’s Gridlock,” editorial, September 19, 2017.)
One thing the Times editorial writers lack is common sense, or any kind of feeling for life as it is actually experienced by the average person. If they would just look around them (see my photo), they would see that the “problem” they are wringing their hands about is NOT a problem. Public transit is remarkably efficient, despite problems which regularly occur. Traffic of the vehicular sort moves well, for the most part, especially when taking into account the concentration of economic, entertainment, and recreational activities and the population density in Manhattan. Pedestrian traffic flows beautifully — another thing the Times bemoans (the state of pedestrian traffic, that is), stating, incredibly, that the case is just the opposite, when everyone who walks knows that this is not true.
I myself like (love) to walk in the City. But, I have nothing against automobiles. There is plenty of room for cars, buses, and pedestrians, thank you!
As one Times reader noted (letter to the editor, May 31, 2016), congestion pricing “is a good way to hasten the transformation of southern Manhattan into an island for only the gilded rich, a process already occurring.”
My good friend Bill Dalzell, who introduced me to art films, recently called my attention to a film he loved from his early days in New York City in the 1950’s: 3rd Ave. El, directed by Carson (Kit) Davidson. The film comprises a portrait of the Third Avenue Elevated Railway in New York City, filmed in 1955. A rare print was preserved by the Academy Film Archive.
The music, as my friend Bill pointed out, is Haydn’s Concerto in D, played by harpsichordist Wanda Landowska.
The film is on YouTube. (See link to YouTube clip below.)
I was disappointed that the footage is grainy. But, the film, which lasts for something like twelve minutes, gives a wonderful feeling for New York City in the 1950’s. It conveys what I love about the City and is still, despite gentrification, true: its grittiness and its authenticity; the people; their authenticity; the open display by New Yorkers of a sort of primal enjoyment of life despite seeming to be wearing a “mask” of anonymity.
With the music, the film gives me a high. It, NYC, bubbles up.
The film has a Whitmanesque (that’s Walt Whitman) feeling about it. Great joyousness. It inspires the same feelings Whitman had for his beloved Mannahatta: its people, its pavements and buildings, its sheer energy.
After three years involved with World War II and four involved with Antioch College, Carson Davidson arrived in New York bent on making films. Usual story — washing dishes at a Bickford’s Cafeteria by night, knocking on producers’ doors by day. Finally, a job with a jaunty outfit called Dynamic Films, doing whatever needed doing. Nobody actually taught him anything, but they answered questions cheerfully, and that’s all that’s really needed.
Fascinated by the 3rd Ave El, he borrowed a company camera and started shooting in his spare time. The resultant film was turned down by every distributor in New York except the last on the list, a crazy Russian who then owned the Paris Theater. He paid for blowing it up to 35 mm and played it for seven months along with an Alec Guinness feature. Actually put the short subject on the marquee — unheard of then or now.
The IRT Third Avenue Line, commonly known as the Third Avenue El and the Bronx El, was an elevated railway in Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City. Originally operated by the New York Elevated Railway, … it was acquired by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and eventually became part of the New York City subway system.
The first segment of the line, with service at most stations, opened from South Ferry to Grand Central Depot on August 26, 1878. Service was extended to Harlem in Manhattan on December 30 of the same year. Service in Manhattan was phased out in the early 1950’s and closed completely on May 12, 1955. It ended in the Bronx on April 29, 1973.
The Third Avenue El was the last elevated line to operate in Manhattan, other than the number 1 train on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, which has elevated sections between 122nd and 135th Streets and north of Dyckman Street. Service on the Second, Sixth and Ninth Avenue El lines was terminated in 1942, 1938, and 1940, respectively.
I recently saw the documentary film Citizen Jane: Battle for the City, about urban theorist and activist Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) and her epic battle during the 1960’s against city planner Robert Moses (1888-1981) over urban renewal projects in New York City.
I was surprised that a film that would seemingly be of great interest and relevance to New Yorkers was not better attended. The theater, the Lincoln Plaza Cinema on Manhattan’s West Side, was practically empty.
The New York Times gave the film and a more or less favorable but lukewarm review.
There was an interesting article about the making of the film in Vogue:
“Citizen Jane Is a Primer on How to Resist Authoritarianism” by Julia Felsenthal, Vogue, April 21, 2017
The article was based on an interview with the director, Matt Tyrnauer.
Felsenthal: “Jane Jacobs isn’t mentioned in Caro’s book [a biography of Robert Moses]. Is that an erasure? Why would he leave her out?”
Tyrnauer: “It’s unclear. Caro has spoken to this, and he’s said that the manuscript when he turned it in was double the length of the published book. He has said there had been mention of Jacobs that was cut out. Whether it was a purposeful erasure or not, it is in a way an erasure. She was an important figure who had written about this city in that period. She probably wrote the greatest book about the city [The Death and Life of Great American Cities], and she’s not mentioned in this other book [Caro’s biography] about power and the city. She was involved in key battles against Moses and not mentioned as an activist either. So I think this film serves as another part of the narrative of the period that you don’t find in The Power Broker [Caro’s book about Moses] for whatever reason. I think it’s important to have that history told, to have it be accessible. [italics added]
Robert A. Caro wrote a groundbreaking, award winning book about Moses: The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York (1974).
Caro is known as the consummate investigative journalist, an admired biographer who leaves no stones unturned in his research, which is exhaustive and prodigious. He writes massive tomes that answer every conceivable question about his subject. (He has done the same thing with Lyndon Johnson.) He unearthed incriminating information about Robert Moses that was unlikely to have otherwise ever been discovered.
So, I keep asking myself, how could Jane Jacobs have gotten completely left out of his 1246-page biography of Moses? She is not in the index.
Jacobs was the key figure in organizing opposition to and defeating Moses’s plans to extend Fifth Avenue through Washington Square Park in Manhattan; to designate the West Village as a “slum,” which would have meant essentially razing the neighborhood; and, most importantly (and most frightening), to build a Mid-Manhattan Expressway that would have destroyed the character of much of Lower Manhattan and, in the final analysis, of Manhattan itself. It was the beginning and then the apotheosis of Moses’s downfall.
As one film critic has observed, “Jane Jacobs was the David to Robert Moses’s Goliath.” She succeeded against what seemed to be impossible odds.
What is the excuse for Jane Jacobs not even being mentioned in Caro’s book?
Like most people, I am a “transplanted” New Yorker. I have lived here for a long time and love the City.
The following are some of the things I love about my adopted city.
WALKING
Walk Fifth Avenue, from, say the 40’s, up to the Metropolitan Museum, which is at around 81st Street. The stretch of Fifth Avenue from 59th Street to around 96th Street is beautiful. It is residential and borders Central Park.
Walk downtown via Park Avenue South; get onto Broadway at around 14th Street and keep going downtown, thru the East Village and Soho. Go all the way down to City Hall. Right next to City Hall is the Brooklyn Bridge. Walk over it; it’s cool. There is a boardwalk and there will be lots of happy people. Great view.
Visit SoHo (a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan).
Walk up Broadway on the West Side, past Lincoln Center, to Broadway in the 70’s and 80’s.
Go to Central Park! A must.
Stay away from Times Square — sucks.
CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS
The Morgan Library (a museum at 36th Street and Madison Avenue). They currently have an Emily Dickinson exhibit. They feature art and old manuscripts. A very nice place.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hang out there. You can relax in the cafeteria in the basement.
A visit to the New York Public Library is a must; it is located at Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Street. Beautiful building. Great cultural institution.
I would say avoid the Modern Museum of Art — nothing great; overpriced.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is open on Friday and Saturday evenings until 9 p.m. It’s best time to visit, is not crowded at those times. Most people do not know that you do not have to pay the “suggested” admission price of $25. The official museum policy is that visitors can pay whatever they wish as an entrance fee. A dollar, twenty-five cents. No problem.
SHOPPING
If you like to shop, Lord and Taylor’s at 38th and Fifth Avenue is a very nice store. Nice snack bar on the sixth floor. Clothing is pricey, but not that expensive. Most of the other clothing stores in the City are rip-offs. I would advise staying away from Herald Square and Macy’s. Herald Square is not in a nice neighborhood.
I don’t like Bloomingdale’s.
FOOD
Try the Oyster Bar if you like seafood. It is located on the lower level of Grand Central Station at 42nd and Lexington Avenue. Walk around Grand Central; awesome building.
Also, El Quijote (continental Spanish cuisine) on 23rd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues. Order the paella.
TRANSPORTATION
Subways are the best way to get around. Or walking.
The subways can be confusing (an understatement) because there are so many lines and such a variety of connections. But, ask someone for help. You would be surprised how willing New Yorkers are to help strangers find their way. I discovered this myself many years ago.
CINEMA
Film Forum (West Village) — the best.
Angelika on Houston Street.
Lincoln Plaza Cinemas (Broadway at 62nd Street).
BOOKS
If you want to get great cheap used books, visit the Strand Bookstore at Broadway and 12th Street. There’s no other bookstore like it.
ALSO
Some people like the High Line. It’s okay; it’s is fun to walk it once. It runs from 14th Street West to the West 30’s. Good view of Manhattan from an elevated perspective.
Some parts of Brooklyn have become trendy – e.g., Williamsburg. Greenpoint is fairly close to Manhattan; it provides an interesting change of pace.
Bill Dalzell of Salem, MA, a longtime friend of mine who read this post, reminded me of one of his and also my favorite things to do in New York City in the past: take the Staten Island Ferry to Staten Island and back.
My friend Bill used to live in Manhattan, but no longer does. He was one of the first people I got to know after moving here, and he would often suggest New York things to do, such as taking the ferry.
Indeed, it was a wonderful trip. It cost only a nickel each way then (in the late 1960’s).
You would have a great view of New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty. You could stand outside on the deck and get not only a close up view, but also experience a refreshing breeze, welcome in New York City summers.
I told my friend Bill that I haven’t taken the ferry in a while. I’ll have to do it again. But, from the last few times I took it (and I used to do it quite often), which was at least ten years ago, the boasts had changed — it was a disappointment. The new style boats (which did not LOOK so new) had little or no deck space and it was no longer an option to stand outside. Well, you could, sort of, but the only available deck space, so to speak, was a very small area at the prow. It did not provide a good vantage point and it was a very tight space that could accommodate only five or six people. The design of the boats having changed, the ferry is less fun to take nowadays. Or, so it seems to me.
A footnote: In 1953, when I was age seven, my parents took me on a three day trip to Manhattan, which was a thrill. It was oppressively hot summer weather. Among other things we did was take the Staten Island Ferry to cool off.
Sadly, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s admissions fee, discussed above, may be changing. The museum, which has tried in the past to deceive visitors about the fee, is said to be contemplating a change its policy which would mean that out of town visitors would be required to pay a fee. See
“Visit to the Met Could Cost You, if You Don’t Live in New York,” The New York Times, April 26, 2017
The above referenced New York Times article is about the massive traffic headaches that have already been created – and which are looming – mainly on Fifth Avenue and on streets and other avenues in Manhattan in the vicinity of Trump Tower. Trump Tower, the main residence, for the time being, of President-elect Donald Trump, is located on the east side of Fifth Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets.
A couple of points that I would like to make before discussing the contents of this particular article, which thoroughly describes the problem.
— New York City, it goes without saying, has always attracted people with star power: celebrities and magnates. Yet I have always thought and felt that it’s the sort of place which nobody can dominate. It is such a huge and such a great city that it cuts everyone down to size. I know that when I first moved to New York, as a young adult, I was awed by it. It seems to have that effect on everyone. It’s a welcoming place in many respects in that the atmosphere is so tolerant, of different races, lifestyles, ethnicities, persons high and low, and so forth. It’s welcoming, it’s also overwhelming. It seems to have that effect on everyone. It attracts; it excites; and, it intimidates. It has a way of cutting people with big egos down to size.
— New York is one of the world’s greatest cities for walking. Fifth Avenue is among the best places to walk. Stretches of Fifth Avenue include some of the most expensive residences in the world and luxury stores. Yet, the avenue is accessible to all. The sidewalks are wide, the pedestrian traffic is not limited by any means to one social class, and it’s a just plain fun avenue to stroll on. It is aesthetically pleasing, rarely gets overcrowded (to the point where passage is difficult; an exception might be right in front of Rockefeller Center, where there is a giant tree on display during Christmastime; crowds are found there at this particular time of the year at certain times on certain days). The glamor, elegance, and upbeat quality of the avenue and its denizens from around the 30’s to around 100th Street seem to rub off on everyone; the pedestrians always seem to be cheerful and unstressed. You rarely seem to see something depressing.
It looks like this is changing. It makes me very unhappy. Actually, angry.
— The “festive spirit” normally observed on Fifth Avenue during the holiday shopping season has been “dampened a bit by the long guns of stationed police officers and the regular presence of bomb-sniffing dogs.”
— Famous stores on the avenue have been blocked by police barricades.
— Anti-Trump protests have shut down traffic. (Perhaps the protests are abating now.)
— Gawkers loitering on the sidewalk outside Trump Tower have presented a problem, both for pedestrians and security.
— Pedestrian access to the east side of Fifth Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets, where Trump Tower is located, has been restricted.
— When Trump moves to the White House, the situation is not likely to ease. It is expected that he will still be spending considerable time at his Trump Tower residence. And, Trump’s wife, Melania Trump, and the couple’s son, Barron, are to stay in New York in the near term.
Last week, I had an appointment at the Apple Store at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street to have my iPhone battery checked. It was raining hard. I was doing a shopping errand for my wife at a department store at Fifth Avenue and 39th Street.
I love to walk in Manhattan, and having to go from one place to another gives me a reason and incentive to walk. So, I headed north on Fifth Avenue, my preferred route and the most direct one. An alternate route would not make sense, and I much prefer Fifth Avenue to Madison or Park.
But, I had to make a detour at Fifth Avenue and 56th Street. There were barriers on both sides of the avenue (east and west) which served the purpose of a sort of funnel. Pedestrians were lined up on either side of the avenue, awaiting an ID check that would enable them to pass. A depressing sight. I have never seen this before in New York.
I was thinking what are they lining up for? It’s not worth it. Probably they wanted to be able to walk past Trump Tower and get a glimpse of it. Big thrill!
I was reminded of an experience I had somewhere between fifteen and twenty years ago. I was walking during midday in Bryant Park, which is right behind the New York Public Library. The park runs between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and between 40th and 42nd Streets.
I was on a gravel pathway right behind the library which abuts the park. There were few people around, and my path crossed that of ex-mayor Ed Koch, who was strolling the other way on the same pathway. Neither of us was in a hurry.
We made eye contact.
I did not speak to Mr. Koch. I probably should have said, “Good day, Mr. Mayor.” But I kept going without speaking.
I had the distinct feeling that he knew that I knew who he was – in short, recognized him.
He peered at me. I had the feeling, intuition that he was thinking to himself, looks like an interesting face, an intelligent person (me).
We exchanged congenial glances.
I was reminded about something I read about Walt Whitman when Whitman was working and living in Washington, DC during the Civil War. Whitman often spotted President Lincoln riding by on horseback for business or pleasure. “I see the President almost every day. We have got so that we exchange bows, and very cordial ones,” Whitman wrote in 1863.
Mayor Koch, when I encountered him on my stroll, similar to the experience Whitman had when he saw President Lincoln riding by, seemed to be an ordinary citizen, no different than any other New Yorker. That’s the way it should be. Donald Trump is not larger than life. He should not be allowed to shut down Manhattan.
In the above referenced article re pedestrian traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge, New York Times reporter Winnie Hu notes:
New York City has commissioned a $370,000 engineering study of the bridge’s walking and biking promenade to address crowding.
An unnecessary study and a waste of money.
The Brooklyn Bridge promenade is very crowded. As noted in the article, the pedestrian walkway is thronged with walkers, including lots of tourists, who (along with the locals), besides walking, often at leisurely pace, are often loitering to take in the view, fraternize, take photos, and so forth. Aggressive bikers on what is supposed to be a separate pathway are often ringing their bells or shouting for pedestrians to get out of the way.
Sound chaotic and unruly? Indeed, it is. But this is not a problem, nor is it a cause for alarm, in my opinion. It’s actually kind of fun. The fact that the bridge is thronged with cheerful pedestrians — besides its aesthetic appeal and “walker friendly” construction (the boardwalk, which is raised above the traffic lanes; the benches) — is what make walking over the Brooklyn Bridge such fun.
Cities are crowded places by definition. Don’t like it? There are smaller cities, exurbs, suburbs, small towns, and so forth where, I would imagine, one can find uncrowded streets and thoroughfares to walk on.
To get back to the stampede on the Brooklyn Bridge that the Times reporter describes (accurately): I like it — I should say, LOVE it. I am not alone among walking enthusiasts who love the experience of walking across the bridge.
If one wants seclusion or a place to walk without hardly anyone else around — in the City, that is — such places can be found. Central Park, believe it or not, often feels uncrowded — in some spots is virtually empty — during many times: weekdays, for example.
I frequent a park in Queens that is one of the most beautiful in the City. It is in a residential neighborhood, is quiet, and is almost always uncrowded. Not just uncrowded, but practically empty. (And, yet it is not a scary place to be in; on the contrary, it feels safe and always has a core of dog walkers and neighborhood residents.)
I frequently walk across the Queensboro Bridge to Manhattan and back because is it is the shortest route for me to walk to Manhattan. The Queensboro Bridge is not a scenic or fun walkway. There are no good views. There is no boardwalk. There are no benches. There are few pedestrians. Sometimes, I don’t care. I am lost in my own thoughts. But, on “aesthetic” and “experiential” grounds — as a walker who loves walking for its own sake — I prefer the Brooklyn Bridge by far. It’s no contest. And, I like the crowds. One gets such good vibes from them. Everyone seems cheerful and friendly.
A final point: pedestrian crowding on the Brooklyn Bridge is a seasonal thing. The bridge is thronged with pedestrians mainly on the nicest days and during the warmest times of the year. At other times, it is less crowded. Not that crowding during the good weather is a problem. It’s anything but, in my opinion, as I have argued above.
Depend upon it. The “traffic engineers,” pedestrian traffic engineers, besides pocketing a hefty fee, will mess things up. They will make the experience of walking the bridge worse at the minimum — whatever “solution” they come up with to address the “problem” of pedestrian overcrowding — and could ruin it.
The boardwalk has been there since the bridge was originally opened in 1883. Leave it alone!
Yesterday was a beautiful late summer day. Central Park was uncrowded, quiet, and peaceful. Whole parts of it were virtually empty. It’s hard to believe that you are in the midst of Manhattan, cheek by jowl with some of the priciest neighborhoods.
Such an urban space could never be created today; the real estate developers would never allow it. But, then, no one can touch Central Park (though the developers would love to).
It’s sacrosanct, thank God.
— Roger W. Smith
September 14, 2016
footnote: Central Park was established in 1857 on 778 acres of city owned land in part of Manhattan that was at that time undeveloped.
