Articles by David Dubal's Profile | The New Criterion, WWFM-FM (Trenton, NJ) Journalist

“Beethoven’s ‘big bang,’” by David Dubal

May 20, 2026 |

By David Dubal, Charles Hill, Dana Gioia

| The New Criterion

Joseph Karl Stieler, Beethoven with the Manuscript of the Missa Solemnis, 1820, Oil on canvas, Beethoven House, Bonn. Beethoven’s “big bang” Purchase this and other timeless New Criterion essays in our hard-copy reprint series. Early in 1817 Beethoven was dissolute, his personal life in shambles. His drinking had increased immensely, and he longed for esteem from his nephew, Karl.

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November 2025 | The New Criterion

Oct 22, 2025 |

By Andrew Roberts, Victor Davis Hanson, Charles Sligh, David Dubal

| The New Criterion

Will China bury us? Leukophobia & other obsessions The lost worlds of Lawrence Durrell Great genes An end to the rights revolution? Mann versus man Crescent nail-tail wallaby (Onychogalea lunata) The cashier Fantasy island Macdonald contra many Pick up The New Criterion at over 580 locations across the United States & Canada. Continental divides An extended family Kingdom come Exhibition note New York chronicle Joking matters Your donation sustains our efforts to inspire joyous rediscoveries.

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Great genes - The New Criterion

Oct 22, 2025 |

By J. S. Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, David Dubal, Roger Kimball

| The New Criterion

On May 3 of this year, a horse named Sovereignty won the 151st Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. My father had been a fan of “the sport of kings,” and he passed the fancy on to me and my brother, Richard. After the race, Richard and I spoke on the phone, and I was rather startled to find that on the track there was a field of nineteen three-year-old thoroughbreds racing that day who all had one thing in common. Each of them was descended from Secretariat, arguably the greatest horse in history.

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“Week in review,” by Suzanna Murawski

Jan 24, 2025 |

By Victor Davis Hanson, Theodore Dalrymple, Carl Rollyson, David Dubal

| The New Criterion

Recent stories of note: “‘The Art of French Wallpaper Design’ Review: A Passion for Patterns” Laura Jacobs, The Wall Street Journal When people turn to the nineteenth century for wallpaper inspiration, more often than not they look to William Morris, whose Arts and Crafts designs are widely stocked by retailers today. But a few decades earlier and across the English Channel, one could find lavish woodblock-printed designs in France.

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Cold child | The New Criterion

Jan 22, 2025 |

By Victor Davis Hanson, Theodore Dalrymple, Carl Rollyson, David Dubal

| The New Criterion

They said I was a mean child. Prone to fits. Not fit for games, nor one to share my toys. After a week in my company, guests felt no closer to me, my expression—like a spent coal— hadn’t changed. Even now it’s hard to understand how the petals are supposed to open about me hospitably, revealing a soft center that knows nothing of speech. They said I was a cold child and it’s true, I see the world through my two-pronged hair. People step to the sunny side when they see me coming.

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David Dubal | The New Criterion

Jan 08, 2025 |

By David Dubal

| The New Criterion

Show AllShow ArticlesShow DispatchShow TNC+ MultimediaAll Authors, , Abel, LionelAbowitz, RichardAdams, HarryAdams, J.

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Schiele’s living dead

Dec 18, 2024 |

By Anthony Daniels, Pat Lipsky, David Dubal, David Yezzi

| The New Criterion

For an artist now best known for his desiccated portraits, “Egon Schiele: Living Landscapes,” on view at New York’s Neue Galerie through mid-January, adds some necessary water to the flower pot.1 With their exposed, contorted flesh, Schiele’s figures even today appear shriveled and deathlike—and unnecessarily brutalized.

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A-hunting we shall go

Dec 18, 2024 |

By Anthony Daniels, Pat Lipsky, David Dubal, David Yezzi

| The New Criterion

Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686–1755) is known for depicting animals and royal hunts amid magnificent landscapes.

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Piano Evening with David Dubal & Cecile Licad

Oct 31, 2024 |

By David Dubal

| The New Criterion

On October 24, the Friends and Young Friends of The New Criterion gathered at The Players with David Dubal for a special version of his beloved piano evenings, featuring Cecile Licad performing Frédéric Chopin’s 24 Preludes, Op. 28.

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An afternoon in the Steinway basement, by David Dubal

Feb 21, 2024 |

By David Dubal

| The New Criterion

If ever there was a name that conjured up magic, it is Steinway, “The instrument of the immortals.” The firm Steinway & Sons has dominated the American piano industry since the 1860s. The instrument is used the world over in more concerts needing a piano than any other make. Indeed, most pianists prefer it to all others. To be a Steinway Artist is to have prestige, and few biographies do not use its allure—“Arthur Rubinstein is a Steinway Artist,” or whoever.

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Rachmaninoff reigns by David Dubal

Aug 23, 2023 |

By David Dubal

| The New Criterion

The year 2023 marks the hundred-fiftieth anniversary of the birth of Sergei Rachmaninoff, born April 1, 1873, in Semyonovo, Novgorod, Russia. His music is revered the world over. In the realm of the piano concerto alone, pianists and conductors would be at a serious disadvantage without his five works for piano and orchestra. Perhaps it would be similar if an opera house gave a season devoid of Puccini.

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Feb 06, 2022 |

By David Dubal

| WWFM-FM (Trenton, NJ)