For the duration of their astonishing 27-year partnership, the longest in his life — it began when Fred was 5 and Adele 8 — she was the undisputed star of the duo. In her fascinating new book, “The Astaires,” the Australian theater historian Kathleen Riley describes the exploits of this brother-sister team in glorious detail. And it becomes clear that it was behind and beside, but never in front of, Adele that Fred learned not only how to dance, but how to present a woman, honor her and make her glow. It is now a mostly lost art, hard-won equality having removed woman’s pedestal and left her prevaricating in the ditch of parallelism. (x)
There’s something hilarious about being both a procrastinator and a perfectionist.
Manuscript of Beethoven’s Piano trio in D major, op. 70 no. 1, circa 1808
Edvard Grieg’s widow, Nina, at the piano in the early 1930s. From the collection of the Bergen Public Library.
