The Philadelphia Inquirer du lieu suivant : Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 37

fie Jpfiilabelpfiiailnquirer Section Temple's "Noises Off is classic farce. D4. Comics D10 In Performance D4 Ms. Demeanor D3' Personal Briefing D3 Prime-Time Nielsen Ratings D12 Prime-Time TV Grid D8 Radio Highlights D9 TV Talk D8 Weekend Box Office D4 Philadelphia Online: http:www.phillynews.com Film 77iere are ors 0 I thrillers at Cannes this year, including Clint Eastwood's "Absolute Power." DZ. Lifestyle Entertainment Wednesday, April 23, 1997 rnnlrinniiii nid In Brahms celebration, orchestra's first Rihm Annul and void? By Daniel Webster INQUIRER MUSIC CRITIC The Philadelphia Orchestra's observance of the centennial of Brahms' death will get underway Friday with the first of three programs of music by the composer and his contemporaries that will feature the work of a contemporary German composer, the only composition commissioned by the orchestra this season.

The new piece is Ernster Gesang by Wolfgang Rihm. Although Rihm is a prominent composer in Ger many, with op- eras and a variety of instrumental music being performed widely there, this will be the first piece of his the orchestra has performed. The piece by the German composer is also the year's only commission. The split between Joseph and Sheila Ranch Kennedy is far from clean. He asked Rome to wipe their 12-year marriage off the books.

She sees that as a move with dire moral implications for their children. i i ,0: is- 1 -0 jit In notes prepared before the publication of Ernster Gesang, Rihm, who could not be reached in Germany for an interview, explained how he found inspiration for the music. The 45-year-old composer wrote that his father had died only a little while before. Rihm explained that he was deep in gloomy contemplation of his relationship with his father and of his dual roles of son and father. In his mind, Brahms began to assume the role of his musical father.

Rihm wrote that he had taken seriously the suggestion of Philadelphia Orchestra music director Wolfgang Sawallisch's when he commissioned the work that he write a piece with a specific connection to Brahms. He was not, however, attracted to Brahms' large or more brilliant pieces. His reflective mood led him to restudy the composer's elegiac songs and the piano pieces from the end of his life. Instead of writing a showpiece for Sawallisch to flourish on the orchestra's European tour in May, Rihm sent a small dark wreath of music. The 13-minute work is written for four clarinets, horns, bas-See RIHM on D3 PMIPr I 'r i saw'' The Philadelphia Inquirer SHARON J.

WOHIMUTH 1979 newlyweds Joseph P. 2d and Sheila Rauch Kennedy moments after their nuptials in Gladwyne. By William R. Macklin INQUIRER STAFF WlilTKR certainly looked like a real marriage. Here was young Sheila Rauch, daughter of the Main Line, in lacy-white, fairly brimming with hope and expectation, her marriage vows spoken in the sanctuary 1 The only way to make that happen was by seeking a formal annulment a ruling declaring that his first marriage was void in the eyes of Rome.

Church officials call it an Ecclesiastical Declaration of Nullity. In her new book, Shattered Faith, Sheila Rauch Kennedy, 44, describes it another way: as an attack on her family and a brutal and insensitive effort to expunge a marriage she had entered in good faith. "My concern," writes Rauch Kennedy, "was for my children's moral development were the church to declare my children the offspring of a marriage that had never existed, it would be abdicating its sacred and historical role to protect and promote their moral well-being." Now she's prepared to appeal the Archdiocese of Boston's decision last October to grant her husband's petition for nullification of their 12-year marriage all the way to the Rota, the Vatican's highest court. While it's possible that her decision to appeal the annulment may have inspired another former political wife, Julia Thorne, to issue her own criticism of the nullity being sought by See ANNULMENT on D6 '1 vf i' "--4, lA of a Catholic Church so fresh on her lips she could still taste their sweetness, and on her arm, oh my, a Kennedy, Joseph 2d, scion of celebrity, son of ambition. It was as if the angels in heaven were patting each other on the back and smiling with satisfaction "Do we know how to make a marriage or what?" But that was 1979 and like everybody else, the daughter of privilege and the son of power lived their marriage in the real world, and somewhere, amidst the birth of their twin sons, his successful run for Congress, and her growing belief that her knight in shining armor held her in about as much esteem as the mud on his spurs, it just fell apart.

The divorce in 1991 was bad enough, but then came the petition for annulment in 1993. Kennedy, whose family is almost as famous for its Catholicism as for its wealth and political savvy, wanted to remarry, and he wanted to do it in the church. 1 "frf iw Associated Press Kennedy twins, Matthew Rauch (left) and Joseph P. 3d, were born a year after their parents' marriage. Prominent German composer Wolfgang Rihm restudied Brahms' elegiac songs.

Ogontz embraces the new library that was such a long time coming Hi able Windham remembers loading up her two children for the latest march in favor i H. jtfL'i! i-r a te i 1 i i i I J- yirimll-nin mw i'i nil in iTtnrl Miii iiwi iifpriirrwMM inri-rrrr "n-'V Jo miiiir" riii in a you'll watch the magnet in action. Children from nearby Pennel School, Kinsey School, St. Benedict's School and Wagner Middle School stream into the building. Younger children make a beeline for the yellow Corvette, a sports-car sculpture that serves as a computer station where even the smallest fingers can work a mouse.

The new library is a dream come true, although not an overnight one. Windham remembers working since the 1960s for the library. "It would be in the budget, then out again; one site, then another. It was always something that got in the way of its being See LUCIA HERNDON onJ9 the Free Library will welcome the elite, neighborhood activists and children. The library, the first the city has built in 17 years, is an architectural oddity in this neighborhood of row-houses and commercial strips.

Its 4,450 square feet are housed in a green metal, round-windowed building that looks, more like a futuristic greenhouse than a library. But the building and its contents 20,000 new books, CDs and videos and 12 state-of-the-art computers are, in the words of children's librarian Nancy Hampton, a "kid magnet." Should you happii to visit the library on a weekday after 3 p.m., of a library in her Ogontz neighborhood. Donna was 5, and Ronald was 2. The library was completed this year, but Donna and Ronald will not be present for its grand opening today. They are now 35 and 32 and busy with families of their own.

"It's been 30 years in the making," said Windhaii. president of the Ogontz Area Neighbors Association. "It's finally here." Today, with grand-opening fanfare, the Ogontz branch of Lucia Herndon The Philadelphia Inquirer RON TARVtR William Peden reads abook from a round carousel thatxfits into the round window, saving floor space. The library's grand opening is today. flft-flftrdtJInilj ltltiH iWiijlMiiliiifffiifti'iinh Iftr fftriiWi iifll' 1ffr M.Ajm&4kJto4b1A.A.4LJpVi.tti&&..