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Carl Maria von Weber, the early-19th-century German composer, wrote ten or so operas. But we know basically three of them, and those chiefly through their overtures, and a few arias. The operas I'm speaking of are "Der Freischütz," "Euryanthe," and "Oberon." The Salzburg Festival is performing the service of staging "Der Freischütz" this year. But it is staging it in a production that baldly subverts the opera — thereby canceling the service. "Der Freischütz" means "The Marksman," roughly, and it is a "singspiel" — an opera that combines singing and talking. It is a cousin of "The Abduction from the...

ESSAY THIS year is the 100th anniversary of the most famous sociological tract ever written, ''The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,'' by Max Weber. It was a book that stood Karl Marx on his head. Religion, according to Weber, was not an ideology produced by economic interests (the ''opiate of the masses,'' as Marx had put it); rather, it was what had made the modern capitalist world possible. In the present decade, when cultures seem to be clashing and religion is frequently blamed for the failures of modernization and democracy in the Muslim world, Weber's book and ideas...

ST. LOUIS — Dick Weber (search), considered by many to be among the greatest bowlers ever and a three-time bowler of the year, has died. He was 75. Weber died in his sleep Sunday night at his home in the St. Louis area, said Steve James, retired executive director of the American Bowling Congress Hall of Fame (search). A cause of death was not known. Weber had just returned from the opening of the congress' championships in Baton Rouge, La. James spent Sunday morning with Weber, who gave no indication he was ill. "He was a lot bigger than the...

...Beginning today, Amazon plans to feature one original short film each week in a prominent spot on its home page for the next five weeks -- all commissioned by Amazon and available for free downloading by the site's visitors. The four-to-seven minute movies will star a variety of Hollywood actors in fictional stories fashioned loosely around a theme Amazon describes as "karmic balance;" characters, in essence, learn valuable life lessons.... Instead of a traditional advertising hard sell, the movies mark the escalation of an effort by Amazon to provide unique online content free of charge to its customers, some of...

Now that all is decided except how much French tourists will be charged for parking tickets in post-war Iraq, I want to temporarily divert the attention of my fellow FReepers onto a truly serious topic. I'm talking, of course, about...........grilling. The Lovely Wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary yesterday, and as part of our mutually-decided "extended celebration" of our Silver Anniversary, we decided as one of our little fun things planned to get a new grill. Stop laughing. We like to grill. A lot. You see, we figured that all too often, couples that reach this point have...

The Koranic Case against Osama bin Laden By Christian M. Weber The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and Saddam Hussein's imminent march towards Saudi Arabia 12 years ago brought a mighty U.S. military presence to the Arab Holy Land, an action which allegedly enraged Osama bin Laden and spurred his hatred of his former ally. In his eyes, as the story goes, the landing of "infidels" in the land of the Prophet was a desecration to the Holy Land and a flagrant abuse of the House of Saud's stewardship of Mecca and Medina, that was beyond dismissal. Empowering himself with the...