Composing Consciousness: Psychological Design in the Late Dramatic Works of Robert Schumann

Until fairly recently, scholarship dealing with German literary and cultural traditions in the early-nineteenth century has largely avoided the idea of psychological impact, in part due to the assessment that psychology as a fully empirical discipline had its birth in the Freudian fin de siècle. Recent studies, however, have suggested that early psychological theory in Germany was far more developed than in other European countries, and its impact on literature and culture is only now being measured in any significant way. The intersection of philosophy, psychology, and literature was very prominent in Early Romantic Germany, insofar as many writers such as Goethe, Schiller, and Büchner contributed to psychological theory in their works. This connection must naturally be extended to musical works, which in nineteenth-century Germany were often considered just as literary as poetry or novels. Robert Schumann in particular saw his dramatic works as such—and as I demonstrate in this dissertation—they were influenced by and contributed to psychological theory in a significant way. When Robert Schumann moved to Dresden following a colossal mental breakdown in 1844, he began a relationship as both medical patient and close friend with one of the early-nineteenth century’s preeminent writers on psychology, Carl Gustav Carus. Despite the recent increase in scholarly attention being paid to Robert Schumann’s late output, no scholar has probed this connection between Schumann’s access to the latest psychological theories and his own late music, which reveals many connections that shed light on misunderstood aspects of some of Schumann’s most carefully constructed pieces. A close examination of three of Schumann’s major dramatic works forms the basis of this dissertation: Genoveva (1850), Der Rose Pilgerfahrt (1851), and Szenen aus Goethes ‘Faust’ (1853)

The Motets of Michael Deiss: A New and Critical Edition

In 1568, the Venetian printer Antonio Gardano released an enormous collection of 254 motets under the title Novi thesauri musici. This five-volume collection of 254 liturgically-related motets was financed and overseen by Pietro Giovanelli, a member of a wealthy family from the Bergamo region of Italy. The massive compilation consists of music written by composers stationed at the Hofkapellen of Graz, Innsbruck, Prague, as well as the Imperial Hofkapelle in Vienna. While some degree of scholarship has been carried out concerning this very significant publication, there are many composers in the Novus Thesaurus who are still virtually unknown today. One such composer was the young Michael Deiss, a choirboy at the Imperial Hofkapelle in Graz. Deiss is the third-most prolific composer in the collection, contributing fourteen motets spanning over each of the five books in the collection. Despite his conspicuous representation in the Thesaurus, however, only one of his motets had been previously transcribed and discussed in any detail until this edition. Also, beyond Giovanelli's collection, there is no knowledge of any other compositions by Deiss that survive. Though Deiss certainly does not rank with the established masters of the sixteenth-century motet, his music is worthy of study from a different standpoint. Little is known about the compositional process of renaissance music, and examining the work of an apparent student could provide valuable insight into answering some of the questions that arise when investigating pedagogical relationships and localized stylistic conventions.I have prepared a critical edition in modern transcriptions of all fourteen motets by Deiss that appear in the Novus Thesaurus. In addition, I have provided a historical and stylistic background to Deiss's music, as well as a detailed commentary for each motet. It is my aim here to provide the foundation necessary to commence more specific research into issues concerning the style of the sixteenth-century Hapsburg Hofkapellen and the learning process, as well as offering some observations and conclusions of my own

Below band gap formation of solvated electrons in neutral water clusters?

Below band gap formation of solvated electrons in neutral water clusters using pump-probe photoelectron imaging is compared with recent data for liquid water and with above band gap excitation studies in the liquid and clusters. Similar relaxation times in the order of 200 fs and 1-2 ps are retrieved for below and above band gap excitation, in both clusters and liquid. The relaxation times independence from the generation process indicates that these times are dominated by the solvent response, which is significantly slower than the different solvated electron formation processes. The analysis of the temporal evolution of the vertical electron binding energy and the electron binding energy at half maximum suggests a dependence of the solvation time on the binding energy

Study protocol for the Multiple Symptoms Study 3: a pragmatic, randomised controlled trial of a clinic for patients with persistent (medically unexplained) physical symptoms

Introduction: Persistent physical symptoms (which cannot be adequately attributed to physical disease) affect around 1 million people (2% of adults) in the UK. They affect patients’ quality of life and account for at least one third of referrals from General Practitioners (GPs) to specialists. These referrals give patients little benefit but have a real cost to health services time and diagnostic resources. The symptoms clinic has been designed to help people make sense of persistent physical symptoms (especially if medical tests have been negative) and to reduce the impact of symptoms on daily life. Methods and analysis: This pragmatic, multicentre, randomised controlled trial will assess the clinical and cost-effectiveness of the symptoms clinic intervention plus usual care compared with usual care alone. Patients were identified through GP searches and mail-outs and recruited by the central research team. 354 participants were recruited and individually randomised (1:1). The primary outcome is the self-reported Physical Health Questionnaire-15 at 52 weeks postrandomisation. Secondary outcome measures include the EuroQol 5 dimension 5 level and healthcare resource use. Outcome measures will also be collected at 13 and 26 weeks postrandomisation. A process evaluation will be conducted including consultation content analysis and interviews with participants and key stakeholders. Ethics and dissemination: Ethics approval has been obtained via Greater Manchester Central Research Ethics Committee (Reference 18/NW/0422). The results of the trial will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals, presented at relevant conferences and disseminated to trial participants and patient interest groups. Trial registration number: ISRCTN57050216

Characterising risk of non-steroidal-anti-inflammatory drug related acute kidney injury: a retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are commonly prescribed for pain and inflammation. NSAID complications include acute kidney injury (AKI), causing burden to patients and health services through increased morbidity, mortality, and hospital admissions. AIM: To measure the extent of NSAID prescribing in an adult population, the degree to which patients with potential higher risk of AKI were exposed to NSAIDs, and to quantify their risk of AKI. DESIGN & SETTING: Retrospective 2-year closed-cohort study. METHOD: A retrospective cohort of adults was identified from a pseudonymised electronic primary care database in Hampshire, UK. The cohort had clinical information, prescribing data, and complete GP- and hospital-ordered biochemistry data. NSAID exposure (minimum one prescription in a 2-month period) was categorised as never, intermittent, and continuous, and first AKI using the national AKI e-alert algorithm. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to explore NSAID prescribing patterns and AKI risk. RESULTS: The baseline population was 702 265. NSAID prescription fell from 19 364 (2.8%) to 16 251 (2.4%) over 2 years. NSAID prescribing was positively associated with older age, female sex, greater socioeconomic deprivation, and certain comorbidities (diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis) and negatively with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and heart failure. Among those prescribed NSAIDs, AKI was associated with older age, greater deprivation, chronic kidney disease (CKD), CVD, heart failure, diabetes, and hypertension. CONCLUSION: Despite generally good prescribing practice, NSAID prescribing was identified in some people at higher risk of AKI (for example, patients with CKD and older) for whom medication review and NSAID deprescribing should be considered