Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published by “David Yearsley”

In Search Of Bach’s Brain

Bach was buried on July 31, 1750, three days after his death, on the south side of St. John’s church outside the walls of the city of Leipzig. So-called “extramural” (outside-the-walls) burial became the norm after the introduction of the Lutheran Reformation in Leipzig in the 1530s.

Caution: Jazz At Work

I never got around to writing my intended tribute to the great American bassist Ron Carter last year at this time on the occasion of his 75th birthday. Carter entered the jazz canon 50 years…

The Organs Of Houston

Any musician on the road, especially one who plays the organ, frequently confronts the contrast between suburban periphery and urban center—or what’s left of it. Typically the best instruments are in venerable churches in the…

Songs Of Tax Resistance

A handful of tax resisters lingered outside of the post office in downtown Ithaca on Monday into the early evening when I walked by, my return already filed electronically earlier that day. The protesters formed…

Dr. Bull’s Musical Alchemy

The intemperate genius John Bull was born in either 1562 or 1563. Let’s choose the later of these two possibilities and duly celebrate 2013 as Bull’s 450th. In contrast to the archetypal Englishman John Bull,…

The Soundtrack Of Imperial Revisionism

Now that the salt has finally settled to the bottom of the 2012 movie season popcorn tub, it’s time to pick through the recalcitrant kernels and send them back to the molars for last rites.…

The Thrill Of The Now

It was fitting that Rafael Puyana, the Colombian harpsichordist who died on March 1st in Paris at the age of 81, should have made his debut — on piano — in 1945 at the Teatro…

-