The Morning

October 27, 2024



Good morning. Today, my colleague Javier Hernández writes about a rare discovery in the classical music world. We’re also covering Michelle Obama, Sudan and abandoned churches. —David Leonhardt

A black-and-white portrait photo of Chopin.
Chopin General Photographic Agency/Getty Images

A hidden gem

As The Times’s classical music reporter, I don’t often get “news” from long-dead composers.

But I recently learned that an unknown waltz by the eminent composer Chopin, written nearly 200 years ago, had been discovered in the vault of the Morgan Library & Museum in New York. It was unearthed in a collection of memorabilia, alongside postcards signed by Picasso and letters from Brahms and Tchaikovsky.

We published our exclusive story on the discovery today. And here’s a special treat: The superstar pianist Lang Lang recorded the waltz for The Times. You can watch his performance here.

The story of the long-lost waltz starts at the Morgan on a late-spring day, when the curator and composer Robinson McClellan came across an unusual musical manuscript. The piece was moody and melancholic, and a conspicuous name was written across the top: Chopin.

McClellan took a photo on his iPhone so he could play the piece back at home on his electric piano. He also sent a photo to Jeffrey Kallberg, a Chopin scholar at the University of Pennsylvania.

“My jaw dropped,” Kallberg told me. “I knew I had never seen this before.”

In September, the Morgan’s experts invited me to view the manuscript, which they had authenticated by analyzing the paper, ink and musical style. It was much smaller than I had imagined — a pockmarked scrap about the size of an index card. Chopin had famously tiny penmanship, and he packed a lot into this little piece.

As an amateur pianist, I grew up adoring Chopin’s music. His waltzes, nocturnes, ballades and mazurkas are a dreamy realm of nostalgia, longing, suffering and bliss. He is still one of music’s most beloved figures. (His heart, pickled in a jar of alcohol, is encased in a church in Warsaw.)

After viewing the manuscript, I spent weeks immersed in Chopin’s world. I studied his scores, letters and sketches, and listened to recordings of his waltzes, searching for clues about the unusual piece found at the Morgan. I tracked down the previous owners of the manuscript: a Connecticut family that was not aware of its importance. I delighted in working through the waltz in a practice room near Lincoln Center, wondering if anyone nearby had any idea what I was playing.

Newly discovered works are rare in classical music, especially for Chopin, who was less prolific than other composers. We knew that readers would want to hear the waltz, but we needed a pianist who could do it justice. I immediately thought of Lang Lang, one of the biggest stars in classical music, whom I first met in 2016 when I was a China correspondent for The Times in Beijing.

I messaged Lang on WeChat, asking if he’d be interested in being part of an “unusual story.”

“What kind of unusual story ☺️☺️,” he wrote back.

I told him about the newly discovered Chopin and sent him the score, which he played through before a rehearsal in San Francisco.

“Wow this is a great piece!” he said in a voice message. “I’m very surprised. It’s very Chopin. It must be Chopin. It sounds very much like Chopin, with a very dramatic darkness turning into a positive thing. It’s beautiful.”

While Lang was in New York earlier this month to open Carnegie Hall’s season, I met up with him at Steinway Hall in Manhattan to record the waltz. He adjusted his interpretation after each take, changing the tempo and refining the quiet opening notes. He joked that the piece sounded like the beginning of a Woody Allen movie.

Sitting near the piano, I asked him why people should care about this waltz, 175 years after Chopin’s death.

“This level of music making — it always touches us the deepest,” he said. “To have a new work by this level of great artist — we’re just so lucky. Just enjoy it.”

Take a moment to read our story and listen to Chopin’s waltz yourself.


THE LATEST NEWS

Harris Campaign

Michelle Obama points at Kamala Harris on a stage in front of a crowd.
In Kalamazoo, Mich. Emily Elconin for The New York Times

Trump Campaign

Donald Trump stands and claps on a stage along with several other men.
Donald Trump in Novi, Mich. Kenny Holston/The New York Times
  • Donald Trump — who frequently used anti-Muslim rhetoric during his first campaign — celebrated the endorsement of some Muslim and Arab American leaders during a rally in suburban Detroit.
  • Trump does not use the word “fascist” to describe himself, but he does not shrink from the impression it leaves. He goes out of his way to portray himself as an American strongman, Peter Baker writes.
  • Trump will today hold a rally at Madison Square Garden, a show of force that is a reminder and a warning: He will never be done with New York, Matt Flegenheimer and Maggie Haberman write.

More on the 2024 Election

Middle East

More International News

  • Hundreds of people in Sudan have been killed in bombings and revenge attacks in recent days as fighting surges in the war there.
  • The North Korean troops that are nearing Russia’s front line are seemingly young and likely in the early stages of military conscription, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Other Big Stories

A man and woman sit, with their heads together, on the side of a bed.
In Springfield, Ohio.  Erin Schaff/The New York Times
  • The death of an 11-year-old boy in a school bus accident in Springfield, Ohio, prompted conspiracy theories and anti-immigrant hate. His family is the latest target.
  • The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the World Series. The Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani left the game with an injury.

THE SUNDAY DEBATE

Should newspaper editorial boards make political endorsements?

Yes. Political endorsements are a part of newspapers’ civic role and help readers understand their own positions. “Our goal is to have a well-informed and engaged audience, not one that marches in lock step,” The Boston Globe’s editorial board writes.

No. Readers struggle to understand the difference between news and opinion, making it appear as if reporters are biased. “And does it matter? You know who you’re going to vote for, anyway,” Jim Beckerman writes for The Record.


FROM OPINION

Eminem’s endorsement of Harris focused on the idea that she will let you say and do what you want, a message tailored to the middle-aged white voters she needs, Jessica Grose argues.

When politics is hostile and the news feels grim, Boris Fishman turns to wine.

Here’s a column by Ross Douthat on fictional robots and A.I.


MORNING READS

On the left, a person’s arm outstretched, holding a small corn plant. On the right, an arm holding a larger corn plant.
In Peoria, Ill.  Amir Hamja for The New York Times

Buying time: Scientists are changing the DNA of living things to fight climate change.

For sale: Hundreds of abandoned churches. Great prices. Need work.

Routine: How the NBC anchor Tom Llamas spends his Sundays.

Vows: They were just what they needed.

Lives Lived: Leon Cooper was a Nobel-winning physicist who helped unlock the secret of how some materials can convey electricity without resistance, a phenomenon called superconductivity. He died at 94.


BOOK OF THE WEEK

The cover of “The Mighty Red” is black, with the white outline of a branching river. Small gold dots fleck the black background.

“The Mighty Red,” by Louise Erdrich: Even if you’re unclear on the difference between sugar beets and beetroot, Louise Erdrich’s abundant novel leaves you with new respect for a salad bar’s pinch-hitter. “The Mighty Red” is rooted in the rich soil of the Red River Valley of North Dakota, where fragments of buffalo bone commingle with scallop shells, and a tangled legacy of ownership falls on the shoulders of two high school seniors. Gary Geist is the son of beet farmers whose marriage is more merger than meeting of minds; Kismet Poe is the daughter of strivers — an Ojibwe mother operating by the book and a theatrical father skirting the bounds of the law. The unlikely union of teenagers is way more than the sum of its parts and, in classic Erdrichian fashion, functions as both entertainment and microcosm of the world’s ills. Who else can harness hope in a dozen words? “His heart creaked open,” Erdrich writes. “A beam of light struck his left ventricle.” Read our review here.

More on books


THE INTERVIEW

John Fetterman, wearing a hooded sweatshirt, stares into the lens of the camera in a black-and-white photo.
John Fetterman Philip Montgomery for The New York Times

This week’s subject for The Interview is Pennsylvania’s junior senator, John Fetterman. We spoke about his concerns over the intensity of support for Trump in his state, as well as his backing for Israel’s war in Gaza and his place in the Democratic Party.

You’ve said that Trump has a special connection with the people of Pennsylvania.

One hundred percent.

Why? What is it that you see that he appeals to in your state?

There’s a difference between not understanding, but also acknowledging that it exists. And anybody spends time driving around, and you can see the intensity. It’s astonishing. I was doing an event in Indiana County. Very, very red. And there was a superstore of Trump stuff, and it was a hundred feet long, and it was dozens of T-shirts and hats and bumper stickers and all kinds of, I mean, it’s like, Where does this all come from? It’s the kind of thing that has taken on its own life. And it’s like something very special exists there. And that doesn’t mean that I admire it. It’s just — it’s real. And now [Elon] Musk is joining him. I mean, to a lot of people, that’s Tony Stark. That’s the world’s richest guy. And he’s obviously, and undeniably, a brilliant guy, and he’s saying, Hey, that’s my guy for president. That’s going to really matter.

What do you think it does?

I was truly alarmed about that when he [Musk] started showing up. I mean, I’ve been there, not at that rally [in Pennsylvania], but when they were having the A.I. conference in Washington, he showed up at my building at Russell, and senators were like, [Fetterman’s voice gets very high] Ooh, ooh. They were like, I got to have two minutes, you know, please. So if senators are all like ooh! Then can you imagine what voters in Scranton or all across Pennsylvania — you know, in some sense, he’s a bigger star than Trump. Endorsements, they’re really not meaningful often, but this one is, I think. That has me concerned.

Read more of the interview here.


THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE

The cover of The New York Times Magazine, showing three cheerleaders holding another cheerleader high up in the air.
Photograph by Dina Litovsky for The New York Times

Click the cover image above to read this week’s magazine.


THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

Search the web with images from your phone.

Make picking up your dog’s poop less unpleasant.

Personalize a gift.


MEAL PLAN

A gray bowl filled with an orange-hued sauce dotted with peas and tofu sits next to a small bowl of rice and a plate of onions and cucumbers.
Linda Pugliese for The New York Times

Emily Weinstein often can’t pass paneer — a firm, fresh Indian cheese — at the grocery store without adding it to her basket. In this week’s Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter, she recommends making mattar paneer, peas and paneer in spiced tomato gravy. Emily also suggests lemon-garlic linguine and sheet-pan chile crisp salmon and asparagus.


NOW TIME TO PLAY

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was bullheaded.

Can you put eight historical events — including the Whiskey Rebellion, the creation of the Space Needle and the discoveries of Marie Curie — in chronological order? Take this week’s Flashback quiz.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times.

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The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch