scholarly journals Topos, Text, and the Parody Problem in Bach's Mass in B minor, BWV 232

2013 ◽  
pp. 108-125
Author(s):  
Lisa Szeker-Madden

Even though parody and borrowing have long been recognized as legitimate features of Bach's compositional practices, the criteria by which the composer selected appropriate material to parody remains problematic. Christoph Wolff and Güther Stiller, for example, suggest that musical elements, such as the quality of the original or its potential for further embellishment, represent possible criteria. On the other hand, textual elements such as analogous subjects, "affects," and metrical patterns between old and new texts also many have factored into Bach's criteria. In an effort to redress the imposition of these twentieth-century solutions to what is in effect an eighteenth-century phenomenon, this study undertakes a cultural/contextual examination of the Crucifixus movement from the Mass in B minor and its model, the opening chorus of Cantata 12. Indeed, a logical analysis of both texts reveals that an equivalence of topoi, or topics, represents an important criterion in the selection of an appropriate model from which to borrow. Moreover, a musical-rhetorical analysis confirms that Bach's borrowings from the opening chorus of Cantata 12 are actually musical-rhetorical figures. His application of the parody procedure thus represents the re-use of specific musical-rhetorical gestures which are suitable for the embellishment of a particular topos.

PMLA ◽  
1960 ◽  
Vol 75 (5) ◽  
pp. 577-582
Author(s):  
Harry Modean Campbell

In his discerning book entitled Emerson's Angle of Vision, Sherman Paul has pointed out two fundamental ways in which Whitehead, in spite of some obvious differences, is like Emerson. Both Emerson and Whitehead, says Paul, exalted the moral, ethical, and imaginative science of the seventeenth century over the analytical rationalism of the eighteenth century, and, as a logical consequence of this emphasis, both condemned Lockean sensationalism in the same way. Following Professor Paul's suggestion, the purpose of this study is to explore in some detail the basic views of Emerson and Whitehead about religion—man's relation to Nature and God. The remarkable similarities between the views of Emerson and those of Whitehead on this subject may not indicate much, if any, indebtedness of the twentieth-century philosopher to his nineteenth-century predecessor, but if these parallels are extensive and important enough, they may well indicate that Whitehead's total achievement in the philosophy of religion is like that of Emerson—that, religiously, Whitehead may be said to be a kind of twentieth-century Emerson, in one important way, as may appear, more of a transcendentalist than Emerson. Indeed, though the obscurity of his style will prevent him from being as popular as his predecessor, Whitehead's influence as a leader in the religious revolt against the “philosophy of logical analysis” and the other philosophies that make ours an “age of analysis” may in time be as great as that of Emerson in the similar romantic-transcendentalist revolt against the analytical rationalism of the age of “Enlightenment.” More of this later, but first let us examine the evidence.


PMLA ◽  
1959 ◽  
Vol 74 (4-Part1) ◽  
pp. 356-364
Author(s):  
Virgil W. Topazio

With the emergence of philosophy in the nineteenth century as a separate discipline which stressed primarily questions insoluble by empirical or formal methods, Voltaire's reputation as a philosopher has gone into gradual eclipse. It has become unfashionable and degrading for philosophers to concern themselves with the practical aspects of philosophical enquiry. In eighteenth-century France, on the other hand, the identification of philosophy with science, which by twentieth-century standards had vitiated philosophical thought, produced the “philosophes” or natural philosophers who were on the whole more interested in human progress than in the progress of the human mind. And Voltaire was by popular consent the leader of this “philosophe” group, the one who had unquestionably contributed the most in the struggle to make man a happier and freer member of society. Yet, ironically, despite a lifelong effort in behalf of humanity, Voltaire's reputation as a destructive thinker has steadily grown even as the critics have pejoratively classified him as a “practical” rather than a “real” philosopher. Typical of this criticism of Voltaire is Macaulay's statement: “Voltaire could not build: he could only pull down: he was the very Vitruvius of ruin. He has bequeathed to us not a single doctrine to be called by his name, not a single addition to the stock of our positive knowledge.”


PMLA ◽  
1966 ◽  
Vol 81 (5) ◽  
pp. 381-388
Author(s):  
William Park

But the Discovery [of when to laugh and when to cry] was reserved for this Age, and there are two Authors now living in this Metropolis, who have found out the Art, and both brother Biographers, the one of Tom Jones, and the other of Clarissa.author of Charlotte SummersRather than discuss the differences which separate Fielding and Richardson, I propose to survey the common ground which they share with each other and with other novelists of the 1740's and 50's. In other words I am suggesting that these two masters, their contemporaries, and followers have made use of the same materials and that as a result the English novels of the mid-eighteenth century may be regarded as a distinct historic version of a general type of literature. Most readers, it seems to me, do not make this distinction. They either think that the novel is always the same, or they believe that one particular group of novels, such as those written in the early twentieth century, is the form itself. In my opinion, however, we should think of the novel as we do of the drama. No one kind of drama, such as Elizabethan comedy or Restoration comedy, is the drama itself; instead, each is a particular manifestation of the general type. Each kind bears some relationship to the others, but at the same time each has its own identity, which we usually call its conventions. By conventions I mean not only stock characters, situations, and themes, but also notions and assumptions about the novel, human nature, society, and the cosmos itself. If we compare one kind of novel to another without first considering the conventions of each, we are likely to make the same mistake that Thomas Rymer did when he blamed Shakespeare for not conforming to the canons of classical French drama.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolina Blusiewicz

Based on the late medieval leather artefacts from Puck, Gniew, Lębork and Chojnice, an attempt was made to assess the level of shoemaking production at that time. Microscopic analyses of leather goods and production waste proved that in the field of tanning the activities related to the mechanical treatment of leather were carefully performed, although with insufficient professional knowledge concerning the process. The results of the identification of the animal origin of the leather confirmed the purposeful selection of raw material with different properties for individual footwear elements and the ability to properly cut it. The quality of the shoemaking products was highly rated in terms of technology and style. However, in the analysed collections a clearly perceptible difference in craftsmanship and assortment of products from Gniew and the other three towns was noticed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Idah Mkwezalamba ◽  
Chimuleke R. Y. Munthali ◽  
Edward Missanjo

Sclerocarya birrea(A. Rich.) Hochst. is a multipurpose fruit tree which is very useful in providing food security and meeting nutritional and economic needs. This study was conducted to assess eighteen provenances ofSclerocarya birreaplanted in Mangochi, Malawi. The trial was assessed for fruit traits at fifteen years of age. There were significant (P<0.001) variations among the provenances in number of fruits, fruit weight, pulp weight, seed weight, fruit length, and diameter. Magunde provenance from Mozambique had the highest mean number of fruits, 2196 ± 200. Mangochi and Moamba provenances from Malawi and Mozambique were the most outstanding in the other parameters measured attaining the mean fruit weight of 20.89 ± 0.25 g and 25.67 ± 0.67 g, pulp weight of 25.70 ± 0.08 g and 21.55 ± 0.83 g, seed weight of 4.81 ± 0.35 g and 4.12 ± 0.18 g, fruit length of 2.61 ± 0.14 cm and 2.33 ± 0.07 cm, and fruit diameter of 2.33 ± 0.15 cm and 1.97 ± 0.08 cm, respectively. There was no significant (P>0.05) correlation between number of fruits and the other fruit traits. However, there were significant (P<0.05) and strong positive relationships between fruit weight and pulp weight (r=0.987) and fruit length and diameter (r=0.775). This suggests that fruit weight can be used indirectly for selection of pulp. Further studies should investigate fruit taste quality of products from the fruits.


Politics ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 026339572093377
Author(s):  
James Martin

What insights and advantages do rhetorical approaches offer over other methods of exploring social and political discourse? This article aims to clarify the contribution of rhetorical analysis by exploring its distinctive, hermeneutic attention to public speech. Public speaking is, accordingly, viewed as a practice of assembling meaningful interpretations in specific situations. Central here is a temporal dimension. Analysing rhetoric involves grasping discourse, on the one hand, as concretely situated in response to proximate constraints and, on the other hand, as a medium to move beyond the situation towards a future. Following John Caputo’s reading of Derrida, I argue that, examined rhetorically, public speech enacts a ‘negotiation’ of past and future, intertwining conditional – and hence partially calculable – positions with an ‘unconditional promise’ to prepare for what comes. Although compatible with other approaches, rhetorical analysis is uniquely attuned to this intrinsically ethical and political quality of discursive action.


1969 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-70
Author(s):  
James William Johnson

There seems to be no doubt about it: the century-old truisms about the literature variously called “Augustan” and “Neo-Classical” are in the process of dissolution. Premises induced by J. S. Mill and Matthew Arnold, explored by Oliver Elton, dogmatized by G. E. B. Saintsbury, and summarized by Leslie Stephen now appear inadequate to more recent scholars, whose research and rereading of Neo-Classical texts run counter to the general testimony as well as the specific judgments of their grandfathers. For the past few decades at least, published commentary has increasingly indicated the need to overhaul received ideas about those writers identified with the revival of classicism in England following the Restoration of Charles II and continuing throughout the eighteenth century.The deficiencies in Victorian and Edwardian assumptions about Neo-Classicism revealed by latter-day findings are several, some of them due to false criteria of taste, morality, and literary excellence. But chiefly the research of the present age has disclosed a vast range of literature simply ignored — or, perhaps, suppressed — by earlier critics. Based as they were on a limited, prejudged selection of Restoration and eighteenth-century literature, the premises inherited from Victorian criticism have naturally failed to account for the discoveries of twentieth-century scholars.The resulting disparity between limited assumptions and expanded information has called into question the very possibility of formulating any critical schema that accurately describes the characteristics of English literature between 1660 and 1800. The relativistic — not to say atomistic — inclinations of contemporary scholarship enforce the view that indeed no schema is possible.


HortScience ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 1119f-1119
Author(s):  
D.N. Maynard

Yield and quality of seed- and vegetatively-propagated rhubarb [Rheum rhabarbarum L.) for annual production were evaluated for 4 seasons. Field planting of transplants or crown divisions in late October or early November resulted in harvests beginning in early to late January and continuing until late April. Selection of `Victoria' seedlings based on petiole color was not effective in increasing the proportion of red mature petioles. Yields from seed-propagated annual `Victoria' rhubarb were always higher than yields from `McDonald' single-bud crown divisions and higher than yields from `McDonald' crown-divisions in one of two years. The four-year average yield for `Victoria' seed-propagated rhubarb was 20.4 Mg·ha-1 whereas `McDonald' crown-division-propagated rhubarb had a two-year average yield of 15.8 Mg·ha-1. On the other hand, petiole color of vegetatively-propagated rhubarb was always superior to that of seed-propagated rhubarb. GA applications increased early yield from `McDonald' single-bud divisions, but reduced early and total harvest petiole weight.


2019 ◽  
Vol 135 ◽  
pp. 03054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara Orlovskaya ◽  
Svetlana Ershova

The article discusses the modern problems of green building. The duality of the greening problem in large cities is noted: on the one hand, this is one of the factors of conflict, on the other hand, the factor of the quality of life, creativity of the city, and its image level. The selection of factors for the analysis was carried out taking into account the research of Russian and foreign scientists and the possibility of obtaining reliable statistics. The study was conducted according to the landscaping of the districts of St. Petersburg. As a result of the study, clustering of St. Petersburg districts was carried out according to greenery indicators, the level of green construction in each of the considered territories of the city was estimated. A paired analysis of indicators made it possible to identify the most problematic areas of the city, to conduct a comparative assessment of the districts according to the level of greenery and their sufficiency to create a comfortable environment


Tempo ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 68 (268) ◽  
pp. 85-88
Author(s):  
Martin Kaltenecker

Since 1972, the Parisian Festival d'Automne has organised dozens of events every year in the field of theatre, dance and music. The list of premieres is impressive, and comprises all the major names in the realm of contemporary art. The concerts represent a kind of anthology of recent outstanding achievements, combined with commissions from younger composers, and a recapitulation of important works of twentieth-century music which may be mentioned in every music history but are rarely performed: this year, for instance, featured Karlheinz Stockhausen's Trans. Offering a precious and vital complement to the other various Parisian seasons, the Festival has no venue of its own, so that, as quite a number of the concerts are co-produced with other institutions, the ‘visibility’ of the festival stems only from the quality of the programming, the excellence of the musicians, and the interaction with the overall artistic project.


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