Althouse: "[O]ne Italian music critic argued that even if Verdi had not written the high C, 'it was a gift that the people had given to Verdi'..."

April 4, 2013

"[O]ne Italian music critic argued that even if Verdi had not written the high C, 'it was a gift that the people had given to Verdi'..."

"... an assertion that sounds remarkably like democratic constitutionalism."

Lawprof Jack Balkin has been chewing on this analogy for 20 years.

11 comments:

Cody Jarrett said...: What does a sugar filled faux fruit (easy Titus) drink have to do with the Constitution?; 4/4/13, 8:13 AM
Farmer said...: Off-topic, but Muti is well-known for his strict interpretations of scores, especially Verdi, and I think in his younger days he was more inclined to reign in his singers. He seems to have lightened up a bit in recent years. But in spite of his pedigree I can't think of a single Muti-conducted recording I own that I regularly listen to. Almost none of them are bad but they all just kind of sit there. His Un Ballo and Don Pasquale are often cited as great opera recordings - for me they're fine, but not inspiring.; 4/4/13, 8:20 AM
traditionalguy said...: Dueling metaphors: law is like musical scores needing an interpretation, and then law is like Canonical music scores that as scripture " cannot be broken."

Just blame the printer.; 4/4/13, 8:24 AM
Known Unknown said...: Robert Downey Jr. has been working on his RP accent for about 20 years.; 4/4/13, 8:28 AM
Anonymous said...: You didn't compose that. Someone else made that happen.; 4/4/13, 8:47 AM
Mark O said...: The law as performance art? I see that as mostly the domain of the criminal "justice" system.

I hope no one received tenure with that awful analogy.; 4/4/13, 9:27 AM
Darrell said...: Maybe lawyers can stop billing for more hours than are in a day then.; 4/4/13, 9:31 AM
lemondog said...: ....when a tenor failed to sing the high C in Verdi's Il Trovatore and the audience erupted in boos, blaming the conductor for a failure of interpretation.

I like the seriousness of the audience so in-tuned that each Verdi note is known and treasured.

In the overall scheme of things while it may be unprofound, it gives a certain comfort.; 4/4/13, 9:51 AM
Anonymous said...: Even if the law profs had not written the great legal theories, it was a gift the people in New Haven had given to the law profs.; 4/4/13, 10:29 AM
Unknown said...: Since I know virtually nothing about operas and only a little about law this analogy struck me as useful.
I wonder if all analogies suffer like this when experts get involved?; 4/4/13, 10:42 AM
Synova said...: I don't know a whole lot about music, but I had thought that a whole lot of the classic stuff was written with the assumption that the performing artist would freely interpret it. That's why you can buy the same symphony or classic score performed by different orchestras or organists or vocalists, and each one is quite different.; 4/4/13, 7:54 PM