iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

When Alexander Malofeyev brought Rachmaninoff’s Paganini Rhapsody to Frankfurt, the orchestra responded with all the intensity and rhythmic precision the score calls for. Delightful! www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD4d...

021 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I love this description of a garden in autumn by novelist Lou Andreas-Salomé. She was the mentor of Rilke and a colleague of Freud. (The translation is by Raleigh Whitinger and me.)

130 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I reviewed Penelope Shuttle's new collection, 'History of the Child', for The Manhattan Review. You can read that -- and all the journal's reviews -- here: themanhattanreview.com/reviews-summ...

041 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Lou Andreas-Salomé — a woman who set her own course. The 2016 film that tells her story is now available on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0uX...

130 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Anyone who knows Edmund de Waal’s ‘The Hare with the Amber Eyes’ will be excited to see what the author makes of his discovery that his grandmother conducted a five-year-long correspondence with Rilke. More about the book here: www.penguin.co.uk/books/480401...

282 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I told you about Cédric Klapisch's latest film earlier this year. It's now available to stream in North America and the UK. Germany's Kino-Zeit called it 'a real cinematic treat'. I'll post the US link and the trailer in Comments.

372 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The Firemen's Memorial at 100th Street and Riverside Drive. In a time when so many try to divide us, may the memory of these men and women who died for the community show us the way forward.

031 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Paula Beer is unforgettable as Anna in François Ozon’s ‘Frantz’, based on Maurice Rostand’s French play from 1930. Few stories about the First World War make the conflict’s tragedy as intimate and personal. Here’s the trailer: www.musicboxfilms.com/film/frantz

171 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

My favorite podcast about 'The Odyssey': Phil Cousineau and Valerie Andrews discuss the all-important question: what enables Odysseus to get home? Who are the key human and divine players? Does Nolan get that right? (Tom Holland as Telemachus.) www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2026-...

041 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Stopped into the studio of my friend Gary Falkenstern, and my eye was drawn to this new work. I like how the colors interact and the way the shapes create a space and float in it. (Click to enlarge.) What do you think?

131 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Thomas and Katia Mann in Frankfurt in 1949. I’m enjoying David Rintoul’s magisterial reading of ‘The Magic Mountain’ — now for a second time: www.diehoren.com/2022/10/welc...

031 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Hayley Croke says Rooney and Kata Mara deliver a once-in-a-lifetime performance in the Werner Herzog's new film. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival last week: loudandclearreviews.com/bucking-fast...

021 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

When thousands of Anna Akhmatova's readers wrote their own poems 'in honor of Akhmatova', the poet quipped: 'I have taught our women how to speak, but I don't know how to make them be silent.' Here's one of my favorite Akhmatova poems: frankbeck142138.substack.com/p/i-was-like...

263 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

The Palestinian struggle for self-determination is one of the most heroic stories of our time. Sliman Mansour, who told that story on canvas, has died at the age of 79. More in Comments.

121 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

In the 1930s, Sibelius was the world’s most popular compsoer. He’d written seven acclaimed symphonies and was at work on an eighth. It was never completed. What happened? British poet John Greening ponders the question in his long poem ‘The Silence’. See my review in Comments.

142 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

No contest: Eric Rohmer's 'My Night at Maud's'. I still watch it ever couple of years. Truly one-of-a-kind cinema.

120 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Anneliese Branhardt’s friend Renate remembers the day Anneliese’s son was born. From Lou Andreas-Salomé’s ‘Anneliese’s House’ (Boydell & Brewer, 2021), pp. 64-5. (Translation by Raleigh Whitinger and me)

020 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Coming from Reclam Verlag in Germany tomorrow — Winter: Poems for a Cold Season, with poems by Rilke, Hesse, Bachmann, and many others. Looking forward to it. www.reclam.de/produktdetai...

051 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Here's the trailer for the new film by Almodóvar:

131 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Have you seen Julius Feldmeier's portrayal of Rilke in the 2016 film, 'Lou Andreas-Salomé: The Audacity to Be Free'? It's streaming on YouTube now for free. Katharina Lorenz plays Lou Andreas-Salomé, his lover and mentor. www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0uX...

010 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Julius Feldmeier as Rilke and Katarina Lorenz as his lover and mentor, Lou Andreas-Salomé, in Cordula Kablitz-Post's 'Lou Andreas-Salomé: The Audacity to Be Free', now on YouTube. Warmly recommended. (The film is available in full and has been legally licensed.) www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0uX...

2104 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Thomas Mann offers an introduction to ‘Buddenbrooks’ — in English. Recorded to accompany an unabridged reading of the novel by Alexander Scourby in 1940. (Photo shows Mann in 1927; his introduction begins at 0:36 on the audio file.) static.afb.org/legacy/media...

2195 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

For Goethe’s birthday, these lines from ‘Faust - Part One’, addressed to the sun: Your shining gives the angels power, Yet none can understand your ways. Incomprehensible Creation Stuns as it did on the first day. Goethe at 38, painted by Angelica Kauffmann in 1787.

041 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

You know you’ve reached civilization when you hear a fountain. This one’s a favorite of mine. It’s at 217 East 51st Street in New York. (Of course, there’s a cafe.)

192 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

T.S. Eliot said 'we should all write' like the author of this book, 'if only we could.' Who was he? (The answer is in Comments.)

141 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

In 1882 Oscar Wilde gave more than 140 lectures across North America. Did he speak in your town? www.oscarwilde.us/lectures-188...

010 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

On the Wing is my online place for ideas that won't fit here -- my translations of Russian and German poetry, original poems, thoughts about music, and more. I hope you'll drop in from time to time: www.diehoren.com The painting is 'Shrovetide' by Boris Kustodiev (1878-1927).

053 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

He became one of the most famous musicians of the 20th century. Who was he? A hint: the photo was taken in 1897, when he was 24. (Colorized by Jorge Lopez)

240 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

"Does [Sergei Vasiliyevich] really think we don't know he's writing a piano concerto?" Fifteen-year-old Vera Skalon wrote that in her diary in the summer of 1890. Some thoughts about Rachmaninoff's summer of love: www.diehoren.com/2026/08/summ...

031 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Le livre de Lou Andreas-Salomé consacré à Rilke paraîtra cette semaine dans une nouvelle traduction française par Jacques Le Rider. www.editions-bartillat.fr/fiche-livre....

040 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Great to see Faure's Piano Trio featured on The LIsteners' Club. Many musical works have a valedictory air, but Fauré's trio is unusual in the way it seems to yearn for the past, even as it bids it goodbye. I love it. thelistenersclub.com

041 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Looking forward to reading Anna Arno's biography of Paul Celan, translated by Soren Gauger. Charlie Louth, who wrote a biography of Rilke, assessed the book for Literary Review: literaryreview.co.uk/where-books-...

1104 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Asmik Grigorian sings Rachmaninov: 'I wait for you! The sunset fades, And evening's darkening shadows Will soon descend upon the earth And hide us here!' See Comments for the rest of the lyrics. www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6Ph...

121 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

What makes summer reading better? Is it the warmth of the sun? The free time? The buzz of the bees? In any case, I wonder what you're reading now. See Comments for the book that's keeping me company this August.

121 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

'Our first experience is, remarkably, of loss. A moment ago we still were everything, undivided; all other existence was indivisible from us. Then we were thrust into being born. We became a residual part of everything, a part which had to strive from then on . . . '

132 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Looking forward to this film about Anna and Fyodor Dostoevsky. It's still in post-production, I'm told. www.goldrushpictures.co.uk/movie/the-id...

030 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

One of my favorite works by Schubert -- his Impromptu No. 3 in G-flat major -- played superbly by German pianist Elisabeth Brauß: www.ardmediathek.de/video/ard-kl...

033 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

'Marie in Ravello' -- Peder Severin Krøyer did this portrait of his wife, who was also a painter, during their honeymoon trip to Italy in 1890. The work is now in a private collection. That same year, the couple did a dual portrait of one another. (See comments.)

130 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

On the anniversary of James Baldwin's birth, here's a reminder of the wit and wisdom of one of our most important writers. He saw hope for America's divided society in our emerging willingness to see ourselves and our history honestly. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjGz...

071 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

An artist's conception of how Leo Tolstoy looked at the age of 21, based on a daguerreotype portrait made by V. Schoenfeldt in 1849. For excerpts from the Tolstoy's diaries at that time, see the link below: soaringtwenties.substack.com/p/shocking-b...

173 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

More than a century after it appeared, 'Le Grand Meaulnes' is still one of the most popular classics in France. I wrote an introduction to the book and its author for The Manhattan Review: themanhattanreview.com/reviews/a-tr...

141 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Do you have three books of poetry that you've had more than 10 years and never want to be parted from? (There may be many more than three, but let's start there.) I'll post all three of mine later on. Don't want to inhibit anyone.

161 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Fellow Bluesky users: how do you get news about events in Europe? From newspapers, broadcast media, social media, or online sources? Do you get the news in local languages, in English, or in both? I'll post about my own sources in Comments.

130 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Timothy Judd on the opera overture Mozart wrote the night before the work's premiere: thelistenersclub.com/2026/07/27/m...

011 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

In or around Malvern next week? The Malvern Chamber Music Festival offers music by Beethoven, Schubert, Stanford, Elgar, Bridge, and Debussy: malvernchambermusicfestival.com/2026-festiva...

020 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Here's the full photo. BTW Alexander Scheer, who played Nietzsche in the film and posted the clip, added music to it.

130 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

This must be one of the most famous photographs in literary history: Lou Salomé whipping Paul Rée and Friedrich Nietzsche into shape in a Lucerne photo studio in 1881. Cordula Kablitz-Post imagined the scene in her 2016 film about Andreas-Salomé: www.youtube.com/results?sear...

182 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Amazing what Albert Einstein was able to achieve using a slide rule. His preferred model was a Nestler 23R, made by Albert Nestler AG in Germany. The company, located in Lahr, Baden-Württemberg, was in operation for 100 years, from 1878 to 1978.

031 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

A new release from Gearbox Records gives us Ella Fitzgerald in Copenhagen in February 1966. You can listen to excerpts here: www.prestomusic.com/jazz/product...

062 0

Frank Beck @diehoren.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Happy Birthday to singer/songwriter Cat Stevens, AKA Yosuf Islam. I still find myself singing his songs -- and loving them --after all these years. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c49...

050 0