Terry Teachout
Terry Teachout
Terry Teachoutis an American critic, biographer, librettist, author, playwright, and blogger. He is the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal, the critic-at-large of Commentary, and the author of "Sightings," a column about the arts in America that appears biweekly in the Friday Wall Street Journal. He blogs at About Last Night and has written about the arts for many other magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times and National Review...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCritic
Date of Birth6 February 1956
CountryUnited States of America
I can remember - barely - when Elton John was still a good songwriter, or at least capable of writing good songs.
I became a professional musician and played all kinds of music. I played bluegrass, I played classical music, and for many years, I played jazz.
Fred Astaire never let you see him sweat, but he sweetened his deceptively casual virtuosity with just enough charm to make it irresistible.
For the critic, the word 'best' is like a grenade without a pin: Toss it around too freely, and you're likely to get your hand blown off.
For my part, I like live theater best when it's taut, concentrated and intimate.
Everybody in America was talking about TV early in 1949, though comparatively few Americans owned a set of their own.
Even if I could, I wouldn't want to undo the transformation of jazz into a sophisticated art music.
David Cromer, from Chicago, I think is the most gifted young director in America.
Copland was the first important American classical composer to go to work for Hollywood.
Charles Ives was writing radically innovative music, but nobody performed it, and nobody knew about it.
At its best, no art form is more thrilling than grand opera, yet none is at greater risk of following the dinosaurs down the cold road to extinction.
All of the most popular music of the '30s and '40s were deeply informed by jazz.
A masterpiece doesn't push you around. It lets you make up your own mind about what it means - and change it as often as you like.
A critic is not a creative artist, is a commenter, a midwife of creativity, but not creative himself.