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“Collecting Inspiration: Edward C. Moore at Tiffany & Co.,” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (through October 20): The renowned Tiffany & Co. began in 1837 as a “stationery and fancy goods emporium.” Though the jewelry and design house is perhaps less eclectic in its branding today, visitors to the Met can return to Tiffany’s early days and view the decorative-arts collection of the company’s silver designer from 1868 to 1891, Edward C. Moore. Eclectic indeed: to inform his designs Moore collected Greek amphorae, Japanese textiles, colorful Roman glass fragments, Chinese incense boxes, and more. Whether visitors are curious about the history of Tiffany silver or simply wish to be surprised by a global medley of decorative arts, the objects of “Collecting Inspiration: Edward C. Moore at Tiffany & Co.” will surely delight. Look out for a forthcoming review by Elroy Rosenberg for The New Criterion’s Dispatch. —SM
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Swan Lake at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York (through July 6): The dance critic Jennifer Homans called Swan Lake “perhaps the most imperfect but powerful of all Russian ballets.” This has much to do with the long history of its development, which comprises both its premiere as Tchaikovsky’s first, failed ballet in 1877 and its posthumous revival in 1895 with the choreography of Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa, a success that ensured its future as the most-performed ballet in the world. Its libretto conjures up a quasi-Wagnerian mythical world, part Germanic and part Slavic, matching well to the music of a composer whose cosmopolitan style bridged East and West. This Monday through Saturday, American Ballet Theater revives its flagship staging of Swan Lake at the Metropolitan Opera, with the principals Isabella Boylston, Gillian Murphy, Chloe Misseldine, Hee Seo, Catherine Hurlin, Christine Shevchenko, Devon Teuscher, and Skylar Brandt trading off in the lead double-role of Odette/Odile. —IS
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“Lutyens Memorial Volume 3: Public Buildings & Memorials Panel Discussion,” at the General Society Library (July 10): Last week it was Lutyens in miniature, and next week it’s the architect on a colossal scale. On July 10, the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art will host a panel discussion surrounding their republication of the third of the “Lutyens Memorial Volumes,” this one treating his public buildings and memorials. The writer Catesby Leigh and the architects Sam Roche and Charles D. Warren will discuss Lutyens’s supreme facility in working at scale, in projects ranging from the Cenotaph in London to his memorial to the missing of the Somme at Thiepval, in northern France. —BR
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Independence Day Celebration at Historic Richmond Town, Staten Island (July 4): Since its founding in 1856, the Staten Island Historical Society has worked to preserve the history of America dating back to the colonial period. Since 1958, a slice of that history has been on view to the public at Historic Richmond Town, Staten Island, the former seat of Richmond County (starting in 1729) and a commercial center until the island’s incorporation into New York City in 1898, when county offices were moved closer to Manhattan. (Longtime New Yorkers will recall that the island’s official name remained the Borough of Richmond until 1975, when it finally became the Borough of Staten Island; the eponymous Duke of Richmond was the illegitimate son of King Charles II.) For Independence Day, the Richmonders have planned a full slate of family-friendly activities and reenactments in the historic village; period costume and armament will be in evidence, along with interactive demonstrations, patriotic music, and nineteenth-century fireworks (best to keep a safe distance). The well-preserved Dutch Colonial and Greek Revival architecture, of course, is worth seeing any time of year. —RE
Dispatch:
“Music for a While #90: A winning violinist, etc.” Jay Nordlinger, The New Criterion’s music critic, talks music—but, more important, plays music.
By the Editors:
“SCOTUS Rulings, Biden-Trump Debate Shake Up Political Landscape”
Roger Kimball, American Greatness
From the Archives:
“Sartre & Giacommetti: words between friends,” by James Lord (June 1985). On the friendship between the sculptor & the philosopher.