Saturday Essential Classics

[Bryn]

To interfere?

To select items for public consumption which are good in parts. [After Geoge du Maurier]

[gurnemanz]

The Cambridge Dictionary says:

To be in charge of selecting and caring for objects to be shown in a museum or to form part of a collection of art, an exhibition, etc.:
She curated a recent exhibition of Indian artwork.

To be in charge of selecting films, performers, events, etc. to be included in a festival:
a Messiaen festival curated by pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard

To select things such as documents, music, products, or internet content to be included as part of a list or collection, or on a website:
a curated library of short movies available online

Quite. I can't see what there is to object to about "curate" as a verb, unless you mistrust all new linguistic usage on principle. It has established itself because it has more precise connotations than, say, "organise", or "arrange". As such, it fills a gap and does a good semantic job.

[Sir Velo]

Quite. I can't see what there is to object to about "curate" as a verb, unless you mistrust all new linguistic usage on principle. It has established itself because it has more precise connotations than, say, "organise", or "arrange". As such, it fills a gap and does a good semantic job.

Except that it's derived from Middle English via medieval Latin curatus, from Latin cura ‘care’; which is why it is appropriate for a museum collection but not for chucking together a few pieces of music as a playlist.

"To compile" would be more precise, but of course that does not sound nearly so impressive!

[Stanfordian]

Except that it's derived from Middle English via medieval Latin curatus, from Latin cura ‘care’; which is why it is appropriate for a museum collection but not for chucking together a few pieces of music as a playlist.

"To compile" would be more precise, but of course that does not sound nearly so impressive!

The BBC loves a cool buzzword.

[edashtav]

To select items for public consumption which are good in parts. [After Geoge du Maurier]

Ha ha

[doversoul1]

Quite. I can't see what there is to object to about "curate" as a verb, unless you mistrust all new linguistic usage on principle. It has established itself because it has more precise connotations than, say, "organise", or "arrange". As such, it fills a gap and does a good semantic job.

I must admit I do. The way the word ‘to curate’ is used now sounds to me much like a train conductor being called an on-board train manager. To curate an exhibition at a museum or a gallery involves different works from selecting pieces of music to play on the radio, or even at a concert, since curating, once upon a time, involved handling physical objects*.

* 'to care' as Sie Velo says.

May be this should go to the Pedants’ Paradise.

[DracoM]

What troubles me about it is that 'to curate' is indeed often applied to material to be kept in A MUSEUM.
Music is not to me for a 'museum' but is vibrant, intrinsically alive and essentially ongoing.

[jayne lee wilson]

As a Gemini I have no difficulty in being janus-faced - Schumann 4 1841 - a good basis for the symphony but not the final article that was the 1851 which is wonderful, apply the same to Beethoven Leonora 2 and 3! Also newer interpretations of works may be bright and innovative, but do not always improve more traditional approaches - some are wow! and some are why?

But Brahms himself preferred the 1841 original, describing the 1851 revision as "overdressed" i.e. from the orchestration POV, saying that "it has undoubtedly lost much of its charm, lightness of touch and clarity of expression".

The Premiere of the 1841 didn't go well - the "one-movement symphony" was perhaps too new for its audience, and rather overshadowed by other works and the performers on the program, Clara Schumann and Franz Liszt on the platform. So it seems to have gone into the bottom drawer for 10 years. A great shame considering how quickly he composed it, mere months after the Spring Symphony, as his musical confidence and maturity blossomed.

Personally I feel we have two masterpieces called "Schumann Symphony No.4", akin to some of the Bruckner Symphony Revisions and Editions. Harnoncourt has given us exceptional live recordings of both.

Anyway, tonight's Prom 7 has modern-instrument Mozart and the 1851 Schumann 4, played by younger and less familiar performers, the conductor in his Proms debut. So why not offer your comments on that, everyone.

(Assuming they can perform competently in the extreme heat of course....which is reportedly mid-30s in London; a mere 28C up here...
AS for curate/curare..... surely if you devise a concert or series of such you absolutely do care about the music and its performances. Mutatis Mutandis, language evolves in the mouths and writings of its users... )

[Serial_Apologist]

What troubles me about it is that 'to curate' is indeed often applied to material to be kept in A MUSEUM.
Music is not to me for a 'museum' but is vibrant, intrinsically alive and essentially ongoing.

Or as Keith Tippett said, "I am a creator, not a curator"!

I think I prefer "hosting" to "curating" - otherwise I am thinking of someone curing a ham which she then ate!

[doversoul1]

AS for curate/curare..... surely if you devise a concert or series of such you absolutely do care about the music and its performances. Mutatis Mutandis, language evolves in the mouths and writings of its users... )

That is not the same as to take care of/be responsible for the object(s), often extremely valuable, to be insured, transported and stored. These are all practical tasks that need highly specialised knowledge. Language does evolve but we don’t need to follow it slavishly.

[LMcD]

Or as Keith Tippett said, "I am a creator, not a curator"!

I think I prefer "hosting" to "curating" - otherwise I am thinking of someone curing a ham which she then ate!

A host is presumably present at the event in question, but is this necessarily true of the 'curator'?

[jayne lee wilson]

That is not the same as to take care of/be responsible for the object(s), often extremely valuable, to be insured, transported and stored. These are all practical tasks that need highly specialised knowledge. Language does evolve but we don’t need to follow it slavishly.

Of course not, you can make your own choices.... but so can everyone else, and once the usage is established there's not much you can do to put the genie back in the bottle....

I like this usage of curate; the idea that a concert planner/programmer/playlist creator cares (and is "responsible") about what they do, creatively and emotionally. It broadens and enriches the choice of how we express ourselves in such matters....

[doversoul1]

I like this usage of curate; the idea that a concert planner/programmer/playlist creator cares (and is "responsible") about what they do, creatively and emotionally. It broadens and enriches the choice of how we express ourselves in such matters....

I think you’ve put your finger on it. The reason the new use of the word grates on me is because it has the same effect as to the photograph of the presenter on R3 schedule page.

[Richard Tarleton]

Of course not, you can make your own choices.... but so can everyone else, and once the usage is established there's not much you can do to put the genie back in the bottle....

So......

I like this usage of curate; the idea that a concert planner/programmer/playlist creator cares (and is "responsible") about what they do, creatively and emotionally. It broadens and enriches the choice of how we express ourselves in such matters....

Like any good disc jockey, which is what playlist creators are, basically. For me, the word is forever associated with the first person to use it in this context (in my hearing anyway) - the ineffably patronising CB-H