Verdi and Wagner in early Victorian London : the viewpoint of The Musical World

As early as 1844, Henry Fothergill Chorley, one of the most authoritative figures of Victorian journalism, drew attention to two young composers, Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, whose recent success could not escape the critic’s attention.. However, while Verdi’s operas made their regular appearance in London over the decades following Ernani’s premier at Her Majesty’s Theatre in 1845, it was not until 1870 (with L’Olandese Dannato, alias Der Fliegende Holländer) that the first full performance of a dramatic work by Wagner was given in the English capital city. Notwithstanding this disparity, a first glance at the reviews that appeared in The Times, The Musical World, The Athenaeum, The Sunday Times and The Spectator, and that were then reproduced in the columns of The Musical World, shows the extent to which, between 1845 and 1855, both composers became object of severe critical scrutiny. By the mid-1850s Wagner’s figure was conceptualized on the basis of factors that only in part depended on the quality of his music; yet, the manner in which his controversial writings impinged on the Victorian musical milieu benefitted Verdi’s image, who came to be understood as a more reassuring popular composer

Verdi in Victorian London

"Now a byword for beauty, Verdi’s operas were far from universally acclaimed when they reached London in the second half of the nineteenth century. Why did some critics react so harshly? Who were they and what biases and prejudices animated them? When did their antagonistic attitude change? And why did opera managers continue to produce Verdi’s operas, in spite of their alleged worthlessness? Massimo Zicari’s Verdi in Victorian London reconstructs the reception of Verdi’s operas in London from 1844, when a first critical account was published in the pages of The Athenaeum, to 1901, when Verdi’s death received extensive tribute in The Musical Times. In the 1840s, certain London journalists were positively hostile towards the most talked-about representative of Italian opera, only to change their tune in the years to come. The supercilious critic of The Athenaeum, Henry Fothergill Chorley, declared that Verdi’s melodies were worn, hackneyed and meaningless, his harmonies and progressions crude, his orchestration noisy. The scribes of The Times, The Musical World, The Illustrated London News, and The Musical Times all contributed to the critical hubbub. Yet by the 1850s, Victorian critics, however grudging, could neither deny nor ignore the popularity of Verdi’s operas. Over the final three decades of the nineteenth century, moreover, London’s musical milieu underwent changes of great magnitude, shifting the manner in which Verdi was conceptualized and making room for the powerful influence of Wagner. Nostalgic commentators began to lament the sad state of the Land of Song, referring to the now departed ""palmy days of Italian opera."" Zicari charts this entire cultural constellation. Verdi in Victorian London is required reading for both academics and opera aficionados. Music specialists will value a historical reconstruction that stems from a large body of first-hand source material, while Verdi lovers and Italian opera addicts will enjoy vivid analysis free from technical jargon. For students, scholars and plain readers alike, this book is an illuminating addition to the study of music reception.

Giuseppe Verdi in victorian London

Despite the vast research on Verdi’s compositional as well as dramatic achievements, little attention seems to have been paid to the early reception of his works in Victorian London. A review of such periodicals as The Times, The Musical Times, The Athenaeum has drawn attention to two particular aspects of relevance; Verdi’s first operas impinged upon the model represented by Rossini’s light-spirited melodiousness and provoked a sense of general bewilderment; even when opera-goers began to show clear signs of appreciation and to crowd the theatres where Verdi’s operas were performed, critics continued to object to their value and to ascribe their success to the singers’ new vocal and dramatic skills. Keywords: Verdi; Opera; Reception; Victorian London

Kentucky sues Ohio city for removing landmark rock from Ohio River

Article on the legal dispute over Indian Head Rock from February 4, 2009.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/indian_head_rock/1045/thumbnail.jp

Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) treatment associated with parent management training (PMT) for the acute symptoms in a patient with PANDAS syndrome: a case report

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this report was to present the results of eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy associated with parent management training (PMT) in a child with paediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcus (PANDAS), who had previously only been treated with pharmacological treatment. CASE PRESENTATION: The case concerns an 11-year-old boy who presented with simple and complex vocal tics, motor tics, obsessive-compulsive traits and irritability from the age of 6 years, in addition to a positive result for streptococcal infection. The course of symptoms followed a relapsing-remitting trend with acute phases that were contingent on the infectious episodes. CONCLUSIONS: Following eight sessions of EMDR, preceded by training sessions with the parents, the child showed a significant reduction in symptoms and disappearance of the exacerbation. These results indicate the possibility of improving the treatment outcomes of patients with PANDAS by a combined approach using both antibiotic and EMDR therapies

Series: Critical Studies on Corporate Responsibility, Governance and Sustainability, Vol. 4 & 6

Corporate Social Irresponsibility: A Challenging Concept, Vol. 4 (Adrián Zicari) Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility Perspectives and Practice, Vol. 6 (Ralph Bathurst

Action of HMGB1 on miR221/222 cluster in neuroblastoma cell lines

microRNA (miR/miRNA) are small non-coding RNAs that control gene expression at the post-transcriptional level by targeting mRNAs. Aberrant expression of miRNAs is often observed in different types of cancer. Specific miRNAs function as tumor suppressors or oncogenes and interfere with various aspects of carcinogenesis, including differentiation, proliferation and invasion. Upregulation of miRNAs 221 and 222 has been shown to induce a malignant phenotype in numerous human cancers via inhibition of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) expression. Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid malignancy in children, which is characterized by cellular heterogeneity that corresponds to different clinical outcomes. The different cellular phenotypes are associated with different gene mutations and miRs that control genetic and epigenetic factors. For this reason miRs are considered a potential therapeutic target in neuroblastoma. The aim of the present study was to investigate the mechanisms by which extracellular high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) promotes cell growth in neuroblastoma. SK-N-BE(2) and SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma derived cell lines were transfected with the antisense oligonucleotides, anti-miR-221 and -222, followed by treatment with HMGB1 to investigate the expression of the oncosuppressor PTEN. In this study, it was demonstrated that HMGB1, which is released by damaged cells and tumor cells, upregulates miR-221/222 oncogenic clusters in the two human neuroblastoma derived cell lines. The results revealed that the oncogenic cluster miRs 221/222 were more highly expressed by the most undifferentiated cell line [SK-N-BE(2)] compared with the the less tumorigenic cell line (SH-SY5Y) and that exogenous HMGB1 increases this expression. In addition, HMGB1 modulates PTEN expression via miR-221/222, as demonstrated by transiently blocking miR-221/222 with anti-sense oligonucleotides. These results may lead to the development of novel therapeutic strategies for neuroblastoma

História e música : tecendo memórias, compondo identidades

Neste espaço de reflexão, procura-se edificar um breve painel dos trabalhos que têm se voltado à música como objeto de estudo, privilegiando aqueles estudiosos com os quais o grupo de pesquisa que coordeno tem procurado manter uma interlocução. A seguir, apresento, em linhas gerais, o projeto a que tenho me dedicado e que se volta à Jovem Guarda como tema. ____________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTThis paper attempts to build a space of reflection which summarizes the previous works that consider music as a main object of study. The authors who the research’s group under my coordination has been working with are privileged. Afterwards, there is a general presentation of my project whose the subject is the Jovem Guarda