casting out

Philip Schuyler’s coming down. By the ruling of the mayor, who is listening to members of her staff who know enough history to know that, yes, he was our local general in the Continental Army, but also yes, he was a slave owner. As were many local prominent people of his day, and many Continental Army generals. And that point, though not newly discovered, has finally been elevated from biographical footnote to chapter heading.

This follows Christopher Columbus losing his head and/or his pedestal in more than one location, and the Italian-American Governor of New York defending him (or his bronze representations) as points of pride for Italian-Americans. Some people have suggested replacing him (the statue, not the Governor) with Verdi. But Verdi, by some accounts, though artist and philanthropist, was also a Type A asshole and not above using the word Jew as a negative epithet in his personal correspondence, and people will eventually figure that out.

Of course in other areas of the opera world we’ve had our own recent seasons of iconoclasm, mostly to do with living people with careers and now rap sheets to go with them. Time will tell how all that levels out. But opera people, given the long run, are pretty good at parsing art from artist – just ask any liberal lefty Wagnerite. In the short run, the hammer of justice swings hard, as it should.

There has been debate over what should go on the pedestal in place of Philip Schuyler. And no doubt it has already prompted people to survey the inventory of city monuments, so here is our incomplete list:

• Moses in the park -- more than a bit campy in light of the tulip beds surrounding him and legions of little kids climbing over the rocks at his feet, and a bit ironic when considered in an Old Testament context. Commissioned by the prominent husband of a prominent wife who felt women had no right to a public voice (aka the vote) and used her prominent wifely platform to say so a lot;

• Spanish-American War Guy – nobody here really remembers what that was about but you get extra points if you don’t confuse it with the Spanish Civil War and gold star if you mumble something about remembering the Maine;

• American Civil War cenotaph -- not presently arguable, but long a point of contention between history nerds and skateboarders;

• Police memorial –- unimaginative, derivative in style, ruined a really nice park fountain, and memorializes a PD that has a long, well-documented history of racism and general cack-handedness. So, entirely representative of what it seeks to represent, really. But restore the fountain to the community and find some other way;

…and

• Nipper. Our Nibbles Woodaway. Unofficial mascot of the city, parked on a building downtown that used to belong to RCA. A grass-roots movement to replace Schuyler with Nipper is gaining momentum, but would eventually clash with whoever owns the trademark now. And what does this dog represent? If Schuyler points to the region’s proud and problematic Revolutionary War history, Nipper points to the region’s better-than-average music scene. Cast that in bronze.