SLIPPING OFF THE HORIZON: SPIRITUALITY, SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF LANDSCAPEIN THE TIMES OF WOLFGANG AMADÉ MOZART ANDFELIX MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDYFOUR CASE STUDIES

Is the Romantic, spiritual experience of landscape still accessible to a contemporary audience? Or was the prediction T.E. Hulme made in 1911 accurate, and did the Romantic spirituality, owing to a lack of doctrinal strictures, fade away over time? In his PhD dissertation, Daan Lodder shows that Hulme’s prediction (which originally related to British literary Romanticism), for the non-verbal arts of the German early-Romantic context, has largely come true. In four case studies, Lodder discusses how the spiritual content of this strongly landscape-oriented art has been ‘slipping off the horizon’. In the first case study, he describes how German early-Romantics would intellectually appropriate seventeenth-century Dutch landscape painting and he explores the possibilities for a contemporary spiritual engagement with these paintings. This is followed, in the second case study, by a comparison of the aesthetic theory of Johannes Joachim Winckelmann and the landscape paintings of Caspar David Friedrich, which features surprising similarities between these supposed icons of Neoclassicism and Romanticism. The third case study sheds light on the spiritual content of landscape in scenographies for Friedrich Schiller’s drama Die Räuber and Wolfgang Mozart’s ‘Singspiel’ Die Zauberflöte, critically comparing early modern and contemporary performances. Finally, Lodder discusses how an outspokenly liturgical engagement with landscape can be discerned in the music and paintings of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, which, however, was obfuscated by a Romantic liturgy among later interpreters, focusing on the person and ‘genius’ of the artist rather than his work. In painting, in the hands of the Romantics, landscape rose to the level of a genre – the genre. In theatre and opera, landscapes abounded during the Romantic era, but as scenography, were inherently forced into the background. In the music of this period, landscape appeared – as it already frequently did during the eighteenth century – as a motif, albeit a ubiquitous one, especially in the oeuvre of Mendelssohn Bartholdy (and, notably, in his friend Robert Schumann’s oeuvre). Between the visual arts on one hand and the performing arts on the other, another interesting contrast arises. The visual arts of the seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth centuries, discussed in the first two case-studies, were pervaded by geographical, patriotic (and later nationalistic) considerations. It was crucial to the German Romantics in their (mis-)appropriation of seventeenth- century Dutch landscape painting that the Dutch could be considered their ‘Teutonic’ neighbours and could thus function as intellectual forbearers. In the appreciation of Friedrich’s landscape painting, over the course of the nineteenth- and twentieth centuries, the extent to which it could be termed quintessentially ‘Northern’ (European), also determined the national ‘ownership’ of the origins of modernity in art. However, in the music, theatre, and opera of the eighteenth- and nineteenth century alike, a more cosmopolitan attitude can readily be discerned

Towards water-wise cities: Global assessment of water management and governance capacities

The magnitude of challenges related to water, waste and climate change is intensifying and calls for improved water management and water governance in cities. The pressure exerted on cities is projected to increase in the 21st century, thus emphasizing the intensifying urban challenges of water, waste and climate change, which in turn make strategic efforts towards sustainability ever more important. This message is emphasized by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Despite these challenges, there is still little empirically-based understanding of how well cities perform with respect to integrated water management, which concrete steps can be observed on the path towards water-wise management, and which governance capacities account for water management improvements. In order to obtain such an empirical understanding, it is necessary to overcome a lack of coherence in the theoretical definitions and their operationalization by developing a unifying, comprehensive frameworks. Accordingly, the objective of this dissertation is: Increasing our understanding of what water-wisdom is and which governance conditions cities require to achieve it, by consistently analysing the water management performance and governance capacity of cities across the globe. Three integrated assessment frameworks are developed; one to measure the main social, environmental and financial challenges that a city may have, that impact their ability to address water-related challenges (i.e., the Trends and Pressures Framework). Based on 12 descriptive indicators, these key challenges are quantified and expressed as a score of concern in 45 municipalities and regions across the world. The second framework – the improved City Blueprint performance Framework - measures the performance of urban water management practice. As such, a cohesive set of 25 indicators has been developed that covers key aspects of the urban water cycle such as drinking water, infrastructure, wastewater treatment and climate adaptation. The framework has been applied in 45 municipalities and regions in 27 countries. The third framework analyses the governance conditions that account for increased water management performance. Based on the improved City Blueprint indicator assessment, the integrated water management performance of 45 municipalities and regions across 27 countries is analysed and used as a basis to identify tangible steps towards water-wise management. Next, a governance capacity analysis is developed, comprising nine conditions and 27 indicators that together are considered as a precondition for improvements in water management performances. The analysis has been applied in 15 cities with respect to the five most prevailing water-related challenges experienced in cities worldwide: flood risk, water scarcity, wastewater treatment, solid waste treatment and urban heat islands. The information for each city assessment has been gathered through 1) the study of literature, policies, reports and grey literature, 2) interviews with representatives of all relevant stakeholders, and 3) including constructive feedback from the interviewees. In total, 220 interviews have been conducted in 15 cities. An overall correlation between water management performance and governance capacity is found. More specifically, the capacity to implement policy and continuously monitor, evaluate and learn may be the key determinants for water-wise management due to their high observed correlations with water-wise management

"Wat in Middelburg kan, dat kan niet": Jeugd & Muziek Zeeland / Nieuwe Muziek Zeeland

From the late 1960s onwards, the Dutch province of Zeeland’s capital Middelburg was to become the Dutch bridgehead of international avant-garde art. The city would hold this unique position for about two decades. Directly responsible for was the equally famous and notorious association Youth & Music Zeeland (Jeugd en Muziek Zeeland- J&MZ)/ New Music Zeeland Foundation (Nieuwe Muziek Zeeland - NMZ) with her nonconformistic creed: ´We pick up everything another does not´. Anno 2019, exactly fifty years later, the merits of J&MZ/NMZ - several decades focal point of the national and international media, with it's indisputed highlight the Festival New Music (Festival Nieuwe Muziek) and the creation of the worldfamous Xenakis Ensemble - have not been recognised as (Zeeland's) cultural heritage, but have rather disappeared from the collective memory. A bizarre observation, which was the direct reason for this study, which examined the question of how avant-garde art was able to manifest itself in such an exuberant way, particularly in the years 1969-1989, precisely in what at the time was considered a dormant and remote provincial town within the Dutch cultural world. A town where for instance the artwork of international figureheads Iannis Xenakis, György Kurtag and Morton Feldman received it's broad Dutch introduction and where prominents like Louis Andriessen, Willem Breuker and Leo Cuypers with their newest creations - such as the legendary and laurelled commissioned work Zeeland Suite - felt at home. This dissertation 'What is possible in Middelburg, is not possible' presents the impressive historical curve of J&MZ/NMZ, guided by extensive lively photographic material as a compelling triptych. Hence the years of enormous creativity of ´The Middelburg Miracle´ J&MZ/NMZ from the period 1969-1989 deserve to be kept in grateful and lively memory, partly in order to inspire future generations

The Global Visual Memory: A Study of the Recognition and Interpretation of Iconic and Historical Photographs

Photographs of historical events can function as visual icons and as agents of cultural memory if they are widely circulated and recognized. Since the 1930s, such photographs have circulated across the world, which creates the possibility that photographs of historical events exist that are recognized by audiences in countries across the world. In this study, I define such photographs – if they exist – as being part of a global visual memory: images that are recognized by people worldwide. In academic literature, it is often assumed that such iconic photographs with a worldwide reach exist. Very little research, however, has been devoted to establish facts about their recognition and interpretation. In this study, I have tried to find evidence of the worldwide recognition of 25 photographs that feature prominently in academic debates on iconic and historical photographs. I have included these photographs in an online survey, that was distributed by a survey sampling company to a controlled group of close to three thousand respondents, representative of their countries’ population with regards to gender, age, and education level, in twelve countries: Argentina, Brazil, China, Germany, Great Britain, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Turkey and the United States. Respondents were asked which photographs they recognized, and were asked additional questions about their interpretation and assessment of six selected photographs. The survey results indicate that there are indeed photographs of historical events that are recognized by audiences worldwide. A majority of survey respondents recognized four photographs: Carmen Taylor’s photograph of a hijacked airplane flying into the World Trade Center (2001), Neil Armstrong photograph of Buzz Aldrin on the moon (1969), Alberto Korda’s portrait of Che Guevara (1960), and Joe Rosenthal’s photograph of US marines raising a flag on Iwo Jima (1945). Nick Ut’s ‘Napalm Girl’ photograph (1972) and Jeff Widener’s ‘Tank Man’ photograph (1989) are recognized by close to fifty percent of respondents. By proving the worldwide recognition of these photographs, I have also proven the existence of a global visual memory that has photographs of events in history as one of its component parts. Other findings of this study include the conclusion that images that feature prominently in academic debates on iconic photographs are not always recognized widely among general, international audiences; that the interpretation of iconic and historical photographs varies strongly among different people and is less conclusive and less singular than is often assumed in academic articles; and that not only the exact interpretation but also the way people ‘read’ photographs is more varied than academic literature on iconic and historical photographs suggests. I identify five different ways in which respondents worldwide ‘read’ the photographs shown to them. This survey also underlines that online sampling can enhance our understanding of iconic and historical photographs and their relation to historical memory

Mindset in Vocational Education: The Applicability of Mindset and Mindset Interventions in Secondary Vocational Education

Mindset is a person’s belief about human attributes, such as intelligence. People with a growth mindset believe that their intelligence is malleable and can be developed and people with a fixed mindset believe that their intelligence is innate and unalterable. Somebody’s mindset is not a state of mind, it is more a trait that can be changed over time, due to life experiences, influences from teachers, parents, siblings, and peers, or with targeted interventions. Mindset interventions have been shown to be an effective approach for improving academic achievement, adopting a growth mindset not only leads to greater academic achievement, but also to an increase in students’ motivation. The general aim of the studies presented in this thesis was to investigate whether a mindset intervention could be beneficial for the motivation and academic achievement of students in Vocational Education and Training (VET). Although, in general, Dutch students perform rather well, many VET students are not sufficiently motivated to learn. Previous studies have shown that they give up too quickly and avoid difficult problems. Therefore, improving students’ motivation is one of the main challenges for VET in the Netherlands. First, we started with an exploration of VET students’ mindsets to investigate whether findings from previous research could be extrapolated to VET. Second, we compared the findings from the first study with student’s mindsets in general secondary education. Next, we examined the effectiveness of an earlier proven effective mindset intervention in a 10-week mathematic course in VET. Because these first three studies were not in line with the results as described in literature, we wanted to examine why findings from previous research were not found in VET. Therefore, we went back to one of the basic assumptions of mindset theory; the effectiveness of different kinds of praise. Praise for intelligence is expected to have more negative consequences for students’ motivation and achievement when compared to praise for effort. In the fourth study we therefore investigated the effects of different kinds of praise on VET students. Although we used a similar design as the original mindset studies, our results were still not in line with these previous studies. Because mindset interventions might be especially beneficial for students at-risk, in our fifth study we repeated our fourth study with VET students at-risk. Again, our results were not in line with previous studies supporting the mindset theory. Although we were not able to replicate findings from prior research with VET students, our results are in line with an increasing body of literature that also does not succeed in finding a relation between mindset and academic achievement. This thesis contributes to the attempts to gain more insight into who does benefit from mindset interventions and how we can make mindset interventions more effective for students. In this thesis we postulated three possible explanations for the lack of effectiveness of mindset interventions for VET students: cultural influences, the (higher) age of our participants, and a ceiling effect of growth mindset and mindset interventions

Financial care for the vulnerable: Rise and decline of Holland orphan chambers

In the middle ages and the early modern period, orphan chambers were important urban institutions in a number of European regions. They ensured that orphans, the majority of whom lived with family or friends, received the inheritance that was rightfully theirs. Contrary to the much better known orphanages, orphan chambers did not deliver physical care but legal and financial care. Orphan chambers appointed guardians, oversaw their financial management, and kept inheritances safe. In some places, orphan chambers also developed financial services such as managing inheritances and funds to generate a return on money. This dissertation studies the rise, development, and decline of Holland orphan chambers and the demographic and economic factors that can explain this pattern. New perspectives are added. Orphan chambers as a welfare arrangement in a broader range of welfare arrangements in the early modern period. Orphan chambers as a financial institution and the importance of the orphan chamber to the urban financial market. Orphan chambers as an early modern government institution. By examining cases from Holland and the case of the orphan chamber of Batavia, I am able to create a comparative perspective that offers insight into the functioning and the learning capacity of the orphan chamber as an early modern bureaucracy. In Chapter two, In Loco Parentis: Holland’s orphan chambers in a European context, I show that orphan chambers, and similar institutions under different names, were a common occurrence in many European regions. They developed in a time of urban growth, when cities saw the necessity for an arrangement for middle class children who lost one or both parents at a young age and who inherited from their parents: orphan chambers. In Chapter three, Orphan chamber loans, I study the financial function of the orphan chamber, more specifically the orphan chamber loan and its development. Orphan chamber loans were designed as safe, long-term investments, based on standard conditions. It was a relatively inflexible credit instrument catered to the needs of orphans. In Chapter four, Aan fraude ten onder?, I investigate the governance of orphan chambers and whether the decline of orphan chambers was caused by fraud and mismanagement. In a relatively small number of orphan chambers, problems occurred that involved the disappearance of money. Without exception, these problems dated from the period when the heyday of the orphan chambers was over. In Chapter five, Dutch money in the tropics, I look at the establishment of orphan chambers overseas in particular, the orphan chamber of Batavia, whose development differed greatly from its Holland counterparts. It benefited both the European population and the VOC. This orphan chamber also became a typical colonial institution that treated different population groups in different ways and consequently contributed to the further institutionalization of inequality in the city. Orphan chambers should be seen as a welfare arrangement for the middle class; they were never intended for all orphans but only for orphans with money. The development of the orphan chamber as a financial institution could never really take off because orphan chambers were inflexible in the interpretation of their mission. In the history of government oversight on orphans, orphan chambers are a striking phenomenon especially because they interfered strongly in family affairs; they were a compulsory arrangement with the government in charge of custody and finances, instead of the family. When, by the end of the early modern period, the number of orphans declined and the financial markets increasingly offered alternatives for orphan chamber loans, the need for the latter as a welfare arrangement disappeared and the court took over the supervision of guardianships

Vergeten glorie: De economische ontwikkeling van de Nederlandse kleipijpennijverheid in de 17e en 18e eeuw, met speciale aandacht voor de export

The production of clay tobacco pipes was a large industry. Especially pipes produced in Gouda had such a high quality that they were indicative for other pipe productions in Europe. These pipes were exported in large quantities all over the world. This thesis is the result of a study of the economic factors that resulted in the development of this industry, its high days and its decline. For this study archaeological data from all over the world have been used. It were mainly English soldiers who introduced pipe making in our country at the end of the 16th century. From the beginning the model of the pipes and the way they were produced developed in a different way than in England. Initially, comparing the many centres of pipe production, Amsterdam was the most important. Gouda took over before the middle of the 17th century. The quality of the Gouda pipes developed much faster than in other centres. This was hardly due to the pipe makers guild, but mainly due to innovations and fierce competition (also among themselves). The improvement of the quality due to the use of better fuel and better mixtures of clays made it possible to produce pipes with a highly balanced shape. The peak of production was about 1738. Than about two hundred million pipe a year were produced. Especially larger pipe maker shops with important brands stayed prosperous during a longer period. The decline of the trade was manly determined by other ways of tobacco use and impoverishment of parts of the population

Prominent Chinese During the Rise of a Colonial City: Medan 1890-1942

Prominent Chinese During the Rise of a Colonial City Medan 1890-1942 This book about the social history of Medan studies the role of the most important Chinese entrepreneurs during the development of the city from a small settlement to an important financial and economic center. Essential for the development of the city was the rapid growth in the number of tobacco and later rubber and palm oil plantations from 1863 in the Deli district around Medan. However, the harsh labor regime gave rise to countless abuses, so that the plantation industry can be labelled as a conflict society. From 1890, the city of Medan grew rapidly, and in contrast to the situation on the plantations, urban development was characterized by a relatively harmonious atmosphere. The driving forces behind this urban development were the European planters, the Sultan of Deli and the Chinese entrepreneurs. Among these Chinese businessmen, nine people distinguished themselves by playing a crucial role in the period 1890-1942. Partly due to the role of the Chinese elite, the conflict society of the plantations turned out not to apply to the city of Medan. In 1930, the Chinese community represented around 30% of the population. The central question in this study is: What was the role of the Chinese elite in this multi-ethnic society between 1890 and 1942? How were the tensions inherent in colonial society limited and controlled in the city, and what role did the Chinese elite play in this? How did they earn their money and how did they spend it? What was their role with regard to politics, their relationship with the mother country of China, education, health care and culture? As this book is a city history as well as a study about a Chinese community, attention is also paid to studies on other colonial cities in the Dutch East Indies as well as socio-economic- political studies about Chinese communities on Java and Singapore. In the first chapter the development of the East Coast of Sumatra as an administrative unit and the history of the large agricultural companies with tobacco, rubber, tea and palm oil plantations and the power relations between the planters and coolies on the plantations are discussed. In chapter 2 the development of Medan is described from a small village to a financial and economic centre of the district. Chapter 3 deals with Chinese business in Medan where attention is paid to the monopoly system, opium, alcohol, games of chance, pawnshops and salt as well as the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. In the central chapter 4 the Chinese people are introduced who have made an important contribution to the development of Medan. Chapter 5 pays attention to the Chinese family and the position of the Chinese woman, as well as to religious, educational and health institutions, social and cultural organizations, as well as sports and other forms of relaxation. The last chapter 6 describes the political developments in the Dutch East Indies, Chinese nationalism and local politics in Medan. Finally, the role of the press is highlighted, as well as mutual perceptions of the Dutch and Chinese. The prominent Chinese entrepreneurs wanted economic and political stability for their businesses, not conflict. Almost all of them started without capital, became successful in business and held important social and political positions. This career often went hand in hand with philanthropy. In Medan, the different ethnic groups were evidently separated, but at the same time they lived together in harmony. The nine prominent Chinese people played an important role in this

Institutional development and change in the management of the Grand Canal, 1700-1850

This thesis presents a case study on the institutions related to the management of the canal in Yangzhou during the period 1700–1850. The main question addressed by this thesis is why the institutions that managed the canal were initially successful but proved to be ineffective in the long term. In order to investigate this question, it is necessary to understand the mechanisms behind institutional change. We follow the local society of Yangzhou to explore the interactions between the central government and each social group at local level, to disentangle the role that these interest groups played. We find that emperors made many efforts to manage the Grand Canal. Yet, the practical management depended on the responses from other societal groups. The activities of these groups were determined to a large extent by how much each group’s dependence on the canal, by the local power dynamics in Yangzhou, and by the relationships amongst these societal groups. Without an effective supervision mechanism, various forms of collusion in pursuit of individual interests, especially among local powerful groups, became predominant in Yangzhou society. On issues related to local common interests, local interest groups in Yangzhou came to form the unanimous voice influential at the court. As a result, institutional developments which would harm local interests were actively blocked by strong resistance from local society. Within local society, each group competed in striving for their own private interests or small ‘territory’, and the common good was excluded from their consideration and sacrificed

Controlling Space, Disciplining Voice: The Congregation of Windesheim and Fifteenth-Century Monastic Reform in Northern Germany and the Low Countries

This dissertation analyses how the Congregation of Windesheim, a highly centralised monastic community paradigmatic of fifteenth-century church reform, endeavoured to implement its ideals concerning liturgical and spiritual practices. Based on various prohibitions towards female houses issued in the 1430s and on a comparative analysis of the roles of canons and canonesses, I show that Windesheim religious women had no equal say in the governance of the Chapter and of their own houses compared to their male counterparts. However, the differences in autonomy reveal not so much a tendency to lessen canonesses’ authorities in their own house, but rather a desire to accommodate the perceived weaker nature of women at that time. The ultimate purpose of the prohibitions was to enable them to maximise their virtue and reach salvation on behalf of everyone on Earth. In a second step, I use the distinction between “place” and “space” as a key concept to scrutinise Windesheim official texts. I show that the control of access to the different rooms, the discipline of bodies down to their smallest gestures, and the production or suppression of sound were essential practices that shaped the spiritual space of the monastery. More generally, controlling space was part of a broader spiritual agenda of regulating bodies to reach unity of the hearts of canons and canonesses. A comparative analysis of processional practices in female reformed houses not only nuances claims to a reformed status, but also reveals the lesser importance of processional movements in Windesheim spirituality as opposed to the pre-eminence of processional chants in actualising processional liturgy. This is a crucial step in our understanding of liturgical, monastic processions and challenges established views according to which space is inevitably the most important element in processing. The analysis of the perceptions and constructions of the singing voice by Windesheim official regulations illustrates that the Congregation did not try to implement an entirely new way of singing. Rather, it reflects broader concerns of fifteenth-century monastic chant performance, and of a larger medieval trend which understood the power of the singing voice to efficiently stimulate devotion, but which warned against obscure renderings of sacred texts. Because singing was so central in Windesheim liturgy, descriptions of singing voices could also be used as a tool to illustrate a member’s path to virtue. This re-evaluates the importance of the quality of singing practices in the Congregation and their verbal descriptions, not just in a Windesheim context but for scholars researching “historically informed” performance practices in general. My investigation leads to two general conclusions. Firstly, in spite of significant differences between canons and canonesses’ daily life, the Chapter of Windesheim sought to ensure equal liturgy and inner devotion for all its religious members. Secondly, the discipline of the bodies, whether in gestures or in sound, reveals an explicit desire to stimulate devotion to the highest extent possible through somatic training. This served the key purpose of Augustinian monastic discipline: the elevation of the heart