Lehrbuch der Naturgeschichte für höhere Lehranstalten

Enthalten: 1. Abt. Zoologie Erster Band: Wirbelthiere Nebent.: Lehrbuch der Zoologi

Towards hermeticist grammars of music : a proposal for systems of composition based on the principles of the hermetic tradition, with musical demonstrations

PhD Thesis, Multimedia items accompanying this thesis to be consulted at Robinson LibraryThis thesis is a composer's manual on how to select and appropriately use musical materials in accordance with some of the parameters of the Hermetic Tradition. It puts to the reader's consideration a few proposals for Hermeticist grammars of musical composition. 'Grammar' here is used in the sense of a set of rules which govern the construction of musical discourse. Musical grammars thus comprise rules pertaining to the construction and selection of both 'lineal' musical materials such as pitch rows, rhythms, motifs and timbres, as well as of simultaneous events such as harmonic or contrapuntal textures. The adjective 'Hermeticist', derived from the noun Hermeticism, refers to a form of traditional Western urban, learned and humanist occultism. This occultism is distinct from folk, popular, or religious/devotional forms of magic, which also occur in the West as well as in other cultures and societies. It is also distinct from other Western occult movements that are either revivalist in their inspiration (such as Wicca or neopagan religions) or related to the 'pop culture' of the last quarter of the twentieth century, such as the movements of New Age and Chaos Magick. The first part of the thesis, the textual component, briefly examines the historical encounters between Hermeticism and music theory, very few of which have produced sounding pieces of music, while most of them have happened exclusively at the theoretical, philosophical or mystical-speculative levels. In the second part, the portfolio of musical compositions, I demonstrate the application of the proposed methods through pieces of music I have composed using the historical, theoretical and technical background presented at length in part 1. I further comment on these musical results through annotations and description of precompositional work, context research and composition processes used in each individual piece

Annales scholae clinicae medicae Dorpatensis annorum MDCCCXVIII., MDCCCXIX. et MDCCCXX.

http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b1650679~S1*es

Aspectos performativos y multimediáticos de un libro de emblemas alquímicos del siglo XVII : el caso de Atalanta Fugiens de Michael Maier y sus simultáneos niveles poético, visual y musical

RESUMEN: En 1617 el médico, alquimista y consejero del Emperador Romano-Germánico Rodolfo II publicó en Praga su “Atalanta Fugiens” (Atalanta huyendo). El libro contiene 50 meditaciones alquímicas, cada una de las cuales consta de un breve epigrama en latín, un grabado simbólico relacionado con la alquimia espiritual, sextetos poéticos en latín y alemán, y una partitura de un canon a tres voces. Si bien se han publicado numerosos estudios centrados en ciertos de estos componentes por separado (especialmente en los espectaculares grabados provenientes del taller de Johann Theodor de Bry), pocos estudios han seguido la clave dada por el mismo Maier en su prefacio: se trata de un libro de ejercicios espirituales cuya intención es combinar los estímulos visual, auditivo y poético para así brindar al alquimista una experiencia holística, multimediática y preformativa durante las meditaciones rituales que constituían una de las principales operaciones de la alquimia espiritual o simbólica. Este artículo se centrará precisamente el aspecto preformativo de esta obra.ABSTRACT: In 1617 the alchemist, counselor and court physician to the then recently deceased Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II (1552-1612) published his Atalanta Fugiens (Atalanta fleeing). The book fits into the general category of an ‘alchemical emblem book’, very popular in the day: it contains 50 beautiful engravings to which are assigned poetic sextets in both Latin and German. The main difference with all known similar works is that it includes a three-part canon with each engraving. According to the author, the purpose is for all of this input “to be looked at, read, meditated, understood, weighed, sung and listened to, not without a certain pleasure” (Maier 1990, 91). In this sense, this book might be interpreted as a very early example of multimedia, and as a work which requires a performative attitude and activity (in the form of singing) and not merely to be read, for its original purpose to be fully accomplished. In this brief article I will describe the work, and present arguments to support my belief that it would be reasonable to conclude that it is an early form of multimedia