Bach and Opera: Is It Possible?

Devoted to the art and science of technique, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) is a celebrated master of the musical genres of the time, except for opera. Based on his musical upbringing and his independent attitude, there exists a possibility that Bach had the propensity to be an operatic composer. An exploration into this perspective leads us to wonder: Why did Bach never become an opera composer? Are there operatic features present in non-operatic works? What factors might have affected his inclination toward operatic composition? An investigation into professional development and influences from his early days in Arnstadt to his mature years in Leipzig, reveals a number of opportunities for Bach to assimilate operatic expressive devices. Such occasions include examples from the monumental St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244), the secular cantata BWV 211, Schwegt stille, plaudert nicht (recognized as the Coffee Cantata), and the drama per musica BWV 201, Der Streit zwischen Phoebus und Pan, with three texts written by Christian Friedrich Henrici (1700-1764), who is known as \u27Picander.\u27 Despite having been contracted for work in other genres, these pieces, produced during the greatly prolific time in Leipzig, exemplify Bach\u27s mastery of operatic writing

10 Years of the Festival of Faiths

In 1996 the Center for Interfaith Relations (formerly the Cathedral Heritage Foundation) of Louisville, Kentucky held its first annual Festival of Faiths to celebrate the religious heritage of the Louisville region. This interfaith event has since grown to be recognized by the United States Senate as a model for interfaith activity. This year marked the tenth anniversary of the Festival of Faiths

Cluelessness

Decisions, whether moral or prudential, should be guided at least in part by considerations of the consequences that would result from the various available actions. For any given action, however, the majority of its consequences are unpredictable at the time of decision. Many have worried that this leaves us, in some important sense, clueless. In this paper, I distinguish between ‘simple’ and ‘complex’ possible sources of cluelessness. In terms of this taxonomy, the majority of the existing literature on cluelessness focusses on the simple sources. I argue, contra James Lenman in particular, that these would-be sources of cluelessness are unproblematic, on the grounds that indifference-based reasoning is far less problematic than Lenman (along with many others) supposes. However, there does seem to be a genuine phenomenon of cluelessness associated with the ‘complex’ sources; here, indifference-based reasoning is inapplicable by anyone’s lights. This ‘complex problem of cluelessness’ is vivid and pressing, in particular, in the context of Effective Altruism. This motivates a more thorough examination of the precise nature of cluelessness, and the precise source of the associated phenomenology of discomfort in forced-choice situations. The latter parts of the paper make some initial explorations in those directions

Responses and Influences: A Model of Online Information Use for Learning

Introduction. This paper explores the complexity of online information use for learning in the culturally diverse ICT-intensive higher education context. It presents a Model of responses and influences in online information use for learning that aims to increase awareness of the complexity of online information use and support information literacy development. Background. Despite increasing integration of information literacy into university curricula there are evident limitations in students’ use of information associated with an information literacy imbalance between well developed IT skills & uncritical approaches, compounded by differences in cultural and linguistic experience. Influences. This model draw insight from models of: information behaviour/seeking (Wilson, Foster, Kuhlthau), information literacy (Bruce), cross-cultural adaptation (Anderson), reflective online use (Hughes, Bruce & Edwards). The model. Incorporates behavioural, cognitive & affective responses with cultural & linguistic influences in an action research framework that represents online information use - envisaged as the experience of engaging with online information for learning - as holistic, dynamic and continuous. Conclusion. The model represents the synergy between information use and learning. It supports the development of inclusive reflective approaches to information literacy that address identified learning challenges related to information literacy imbalance and cultural & linguistic diversity

The Philosopher and The Dancer

The Philosopher and The Dancer is an act of spontaneous, solo, movement improvisation; offered here as one particularized instantiation and re-enactment of the corporeal situatedness and interrelatedness of self and world that characterizes Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy. The improvisation can take place in any indoor studio/space, ideally with a suitable floor - the ostensibly static nature of an indoor space/place serving as a clear context for the embodiment and modeling of some of Merleau-Ponty’s core philosophical constructs. As an improvised event, The Philosopher and The Dancer can last for a few minutes (6 or 10) or for longer (15 or 20) and is unaccompanied by music; it is the embodied weave of dancer and immediate environment - a cultivated sensitivity and practised responsiveness to one’s spatial and temporal inherence in a particular world - that is foregrounded. This demonstration/performance is offered as a place in which an alternative articulation of Merleau-Ponty’s thought will be evident

Towards a geometrical understanding of the CPT theorem

The CPT theorem of quantum field theory states that any relativistic (Lorentz-invariant) quantum field theory must also be invariant under CPT, the composition of charge conjugation, parity reversal and time reversal. This paper sketches a puzzle that seems to arise when one puts the existence of this sort of theorem alongside a standard way of thinking about symmetries, according to which *spacetime* symmetries (at any rate) are associated with features of the spacetime structure. The puzzle is, roughly, that the existence of a CPT theorem seems to show that it is not possible for a well-formulated theory that does not make use of a preferred frame or foliation to make use of a temporal orientation. Since a manifold with only a Lorentzian metric can be temporally orientable --- capable of admitting a temporal orientation --- this seems to be an odd sort of necessary connection between distinct existences. The paper then suggests a solution to the puzzle: it is suggested that the CPT theorem arises because temporal orientation is unlike other pieces of spacetime structure, in that one cannot represent it by a tensor field. To avoid irrelevant technical details, the discussion is carried out in the setting of classical (rather than quantum) field theory, using a little-known classical analog of the CPT theorem

A set of nine principles for distributed-design information storing

The issues of distributed working are many, with problems relating to information access and information acquisition the most common (Crabtree et al., 1997). Keeping track of project and team information is becoming more complex as design is increasingly being carried out collaboratively by geographically dispersed design teams across different time zones. The literature notes that little prescription or guidance exists on information management for designers (Culley et al., 1999) and Hicks (2007) highlights a relative lack of overall principles for improving information management. Additionally, evidence from earlier studies by the author into ‘How information is stored in distributed design project work’ reinforces the need for guidance, particularly in a distributed context (Grierson, 2008). Distributed information collections were found to be unorganised, contained unclear information and lacked context. Storing and sharing of distributed information was often time consuming and the tools awkward to use. This can lead to poor project progress and can impact directly on the quality and success of project outcomes (Grierson et al., 2004, 2006). This paper seeks to address these issues by presenting the development, implementation and evaluation of a set of Principles and a Framework to support distributed design information storing in the context of a Global Design class. Through both quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods the Principles were found to help in a number of ways – with the easy access of information; the structuring and organising of information; the creation of an information strategy; the making of information clear and concise; the supporting of documentation during project work; and the strengthening of team work; all helping teams to work towards project outcomes

Women and the art of fiction

Women wrote about art in the nineteenth century in a variety of genres, ranging from the formal historical or technical treatise and professional art journalism, to travel writing, poetry, and fiction. Their fiction is often less ideologically circumscribed than their formal art histories: the visual arts constituted a language for writing about the social position of women, and about questions of gender and sexuality. This essay considers how women introduced the visual arts and artist figures into their fiction in critically distinctive ways, and can be said in this form to have contributed to nineteenth-century art discourse and debate