Emily E Hogstad
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song-of-lark.bsky.social
Emily E Hogstad
@song-of-lark.bsky.social
Professional amateur classical music writer - lapsed violinist, violist - MN/WI-based - queer Episcopal girl interested in the history of the girls & gays in classical music - www.songofthelarkblog.com - <3
I mean, people were doing vicarious participation in the 1830s; they'll be doing vicarious participation in the 2030s, and the 2130s...
December 1, 2025 at 6:23 AM
"Have I not already requested you to stop reminding me in any way of my theatrical declarations and the women to whom I may have made them? In case you have forgotten I ask you again." 😭 (he was 22)

[Also Parisians were shipping him with George Sand]
December 1, 2025 at 5:51 AM
snowblower deployment: solution to the masculinity crisis question mark?
November 30, 2025 at 10:24 PM
From 2004: "Trustee salaries comprise about half of the Endowment’s total operating and administrative expenses."

www.sacurrent.com/arts/putting...

Which circles back to your point, that if these kinds of folks are the backbone of your community, idk what positive outcomes we can reasonably expect
November 28, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Oh yeah no I know. But I hadn't heard that twist in the story.

Also apparently Bugg set up a succession plan to pass the endowment (which was set up in such a way that Bugg got remunerated $$$+) to the best-qualified expert overseers..............i.e., his sons

sanantonioreport.org/qa-tobin-end...
Tobin Endowment has new leadership after Bruce Bugg's passing
The San Antonio Report sat down with the new co-chairs of the Tobin Endowment following the unexpected death of longtime leader Bruce Bugg.
sanantonioreport.org
November 28, 2025 at 11:14 PM
I was going to say it was cursed by J Bruce Bugg singlehandedly running the Tobin Endowment that funds so much arts stuff in the city, and just googled him out of curiosity, and he died suddenly in August after a back surgery???
November 28, 2025 at 11:01 PM
bring a nice thing into the hole lol

happy early birthday 💕
November 27, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Hello. I am here as a fellow human to acknowledge that Tchaikovsky has, as we know, written a piano concerto. youtu.be/SS4orsrhhwE?...
Connor Roy speech at Funeral | SUCCESSION HBO #HBO #SuccessionHBO
YouTube video by sick puppy
youtu.be
November 27, 2025 at 8:16 AM
This is a major passage about it from Nancy B. Reich's 1983 Clara Schumann book. So Clara was doing it around 1837, like you say. And as best I understand it, Franz started doing it around 1839, but only became a sensation in 1841 with Lisztomania taking hold in the public consciousness
November 25, 2025 at 12:38 AM
also @eyesack.bsky.social for the record I apologize so profusely for sabotaging your interesting post 😭 💕 tl;dr let's stop forcing musicians into mental health crisis over this yay
November 24, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Yeah like @doodlyroses.com says, Clara standardized it (w/Liszt) 💕

I'm not sure that lack of time was the *primary* driver in changing norms. It was more about Romantic Era trends, beliefs, and aesthetics; Clara's disruptor dad teaching her memorization; and the changing role of improvisation
November 24, 2025 at 9:06 AM
I think not-memorizing was a trend that was popular then for many reasons, and memorizing is a trend that is popular now for many reasons.

People will always seek out chances to feel superior, regardless of those trends. They did then; they do now
November 24, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Yesss! When you step back and think about it, it's so bizarre
November 24, 2025 at 1:56 AM
For sure, yeah. It was a number of things and people and arts and influences coming together at the same time. It was never a preordained conclusion at ALL that we'd end up with memorizing everything being the gold standard of performance
November 24, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Then Liszt started doing it around the time he started doing solo recitals. It became another way to make it into a show, and play into Romantic archetypes of artists channeling music from God, and bond the performer & audience, because suddenly we were v invested over if there'd be a memory slip
November 24, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Also I'm not an expert on this, but my pet theory is it became normalized because Friedrich Wieck was self-taught, and he didn't come to piano teaching with much pedagogical lineage behind him, and he started Clara on memorization from the beginning, and it was a way she could differentiate herself
November 24, 2025 at 1:06 AM