Handel\u27s Messiah:A Heaven on Earth

In lieu of an abstract, below is the essay\u27s first paragraph. George Frideric Handel’s Messiah has been an oratorio that has attracted me to its music since the beginning of high school. Every year in December my high school performs selections from Messiah as a community event. In my sophomore year of high school my chorus class studied Messiah and its origins. [I feel that] Handel’s work is attractive to me because it gives life to Biblical events. I have never read the Holy Bible straight through, but I have learned that Handel took the exact words from the Holy Bible and put them to music to create his Messiah. This particular oratorio still has relevant messages for our world today because it is timeless. The oratorio, Messiah, can speak to those who may not understand words on a page, but receive them when to music

Slowly expanding/evolving lesions as a magnetic resonance imaging marker of chronic active multiple sclerosis lesions.

BACKGROUND:Chronic lesion activity driven by smoldering inflammation is a pathological hallmark of progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). OBJECTIVE:To develop a method for automatic detection of slowly expanding/evolving lesions (SELs) on conventional brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and characterize such SELs in primary progressive MS (PPMS) and relapsing MS (RMS) populations. METHODS:We defined SELs as contiguous regions of existing T2 lesions showing local expansion assessed by the Jacobian determinant of the deformation between reference and follow-up scans. SEL candidates were assigned a heuristic score based on concentricity and constancy of change in T2- and T1-weighted MRIs. SELs were examined in 1334 RMS patients and 555 PPMS patients. RESULTS:Compared with RMS patients, PPMS patients had higher numbers of SELs (p = 0.002) and higher T2 volumes of SELs (p < 0.001). SELs were devoid of gadolinium enhancement. Compared with areas of T2 lesions not classified as SEL, SELs had significantly lower T1 intensity at baseline and larger decrease in T1 intensity over time. CONCLUSION:We suggest that SELs reflect chronic tissue loss in the absence of ongoing acute inflammation. SELs may represent a conventional brain MRI correlate of chronic active MS lesions and a candidate biomarker for smoldering inflammation in MS

A Handel relative in Britain?

This essay offers a scholarly meditation on a biographical oddity first reported in my doctoral thesis 'Early reception of Handel's oratorios, IJ3Z—IJ84: narrative—studies-documents' (Ann Arbor: UMI, 2004). It also forms a case study of applying surgical focus on a minimal documentary surface. The result IS organic scholarship of open ends, wide implications and joyful inquisitiveness; qualities presently undervalued in academia yet indispensable for genuine humanistic research. I am thankful to Ellen T. Harris for her encouragement and support, and to Karol Berger and Thomas S. Grey for easing my transition to postdoctoral life

'true Merit always Envy rais’d': the Advice to Mr. Handel (1739) and Israel in Egypt’s early reception

This is a revised chapter of my dissertation ‘Early reception of Handel’s oratorios, 1732–1784: narrative – studies – documents’ (Stanford University, 2004). Additional research was conducted on a John M. Ward Fellowship in Dance and Music for the Theatre at Harvard’s Houghton Library, whose generous and learned staff I wish to thank. David Hunter’s strong position on Lady Brown, and its partisan defence in some quarters, did have an impact on my approach to this topic. However, my disagreement with Professor Hunter stands on a foundation of collegial gratitude for his courage and efforts to probe long-held views on Handel

Chronic white matter lesion activity predicts clinical progression in primary progressive multiple sclerosis.

Chronic active and slowly expanding lesions with smouldering inflammation are neuropathological correlates of progressive multiple sclerosis pathology. T1 hypointense volume and signal intensity on T1-weighted MRI reflect brain tissue damage that may develop within newly formed acute focal inflammatory lesions or in chronic pre-existing lesions without signs of acute inflammation. Using a recently developed method to identify slowly expanding/evolving lesions in vivo from longitudinal conventional T2- and T1-weighted brain MRI scans, we measured the relative amount of chronic lesion activity as measured by change in T1 volume and intensity within slowly expanding/evolving lesions and non-slowly expanding/evolving lesion areas of baseline pre-existing T2 lesions, and assessed the effect of ocrelizumab on this outcome in patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis participating in the phase III, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind ORATORIO study (n = 732, NCT01194570). We also assessed the predictive value of T1-weighted measures of chronic lesion activity for clinical multiple sclerosis progression as reflected by a composite disability measure including the Expanded Disability Status Scale, Timed 25-Foot Walk and 9-Hole Peg Test. We observed in this clinical trial population that most of total brain non-enhancing T1 hypointense lesion volume accumulation was derived from chronic lesion activity within pre-existing T2 lesions rather than new T2 lesion formation. There was a larger decrease in mean normalized T1 signal intensity and greater relative accumulation of T1 hypointense volume in slowly expanding/evolving lesions compared with non-slowly expanding/evolving lesions. Chronic white matter lesion activity measured by longitudinal T1 hypointense lesion volume accumulation in slowly expanding/evolving lesions and in non-slowly expanding/evolving lesion areas of pre-existing lesions predicted subsequent composite disability progression with consistent trends on all components of the composite. In contrast, whole brain volume loss and acute lesion activity measured by longitudinal T1 hypointense lesion volume accumulation in new focal T2 lesions did not predict subsequent composite disability progression in this trial at the population level. Ocrelizumab reduced longitudinal measures of chronic lesion activity such as T1 hypointense lesion volume accumulation and mean normalized T1 signal intensity decrease both within regions of pre-existing T2 lesions identified as slowly expanding/evolving and in non-slowly expanding/evolving lesions. Using conventional brain MRI, T1-weighted intensity-based measures of chronic white matter lesion activity predict clinical progression in primary progressive multiple sclerosis and may qualify as a longitudinal in vivo neuroimaging correlate of smouldering demyelination and axonal loss in chronic active lesions due to CNS-resident inflammation and/or secondary neurodegeneration across the multiple sclerosis disease continuum

Mendelssohn's Elijah, April 11, 2011

This is the concert program of the Mendelssohn's Elijah performance on Monday, April 11, 2011 at 8:00 p.m., at Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts. The work performed was Elijah, op. 70 by Felix Mendelssohn. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Center for the Humanities Library Endowed Fund

Boston University Symphony Orchestra and Symphonic Chorus, November 21, 2005

This is the concert program of the Boston University Symphony Orchestra and Symphonic Chorus performance on Monday, November 21, 2005 at 8:00 p.m., at Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Avenue. The work performed was "The Creation," H 21/2 by Franz Joseph Haydn. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Center for the Humanities Library Endowed Fund

Rejoicing Against Judaism In Handel\u27s \u27Messiah\u27 (George Frideric Handel)

Scholars have too little investigated questions of religious meaning in Handel\u27s Messiah, particularly the work\u27s manifest theological anti-Judaism. Previously unknown historical sources for the work\u27s libretto compiled and arranged by Charles Jennens (1700–73) reveal the text\u27s implicit designs against Jewish religion. Handel\u27s musical setting powerfully underscores these tendencies of Jennens\u27s libretto and adds to them, reaching a euphoric climax in the Hallelujah chorus. Within its arrangement of juxtaposed Old Testament prophecies and their New Testament fulfillment and with its matching musical styles, Handel\u27s Messiah could hardly have expressed more powerfully its rejoicing against Judaism than by having the ferocious tenor aria “THOU [Jesus] shalt break THEM [the Jews] with a rod of iron” answered by the chorus “Hallelujah! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” The aria is a setting of Psalm 2:9, a passage that was generally and unquestioningly believed among Christians in Handel\u27s day to have foretold the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in the year 70. This horrible event was construed as a divine punishment of Judaism for its failure to accept Jesus as God\u27s promised messiah. The Hallelujah chorus apparently sees cause for rejoicing in such vengeance. Further, this chorus quotes the melodies of several hymns whose texts concern the depiction in Matthew 25 of acceptance by a bridegroom of five wise virgins and his rejection of five foolish virgins. This parable was taken to symbolize the welcoming of Ecclesia, Christianity and Jesus as the messiah, and the rejection of Synagoga and Judaism. In 18th-century England most Christians fervently believed that a choice between Judaism and Christianity was a choice between eternal damnation and eternal salvation. This would have represented motivation indeed for Messiah to project Christian theological contempt for its sibling religion

If Only You Will Not Fall Prey...

Genesis

Boston University Symphony Orchestra, October 5, 1995

This is the concert program of the Boston University Symphony Orchestra performance on Thursday, October 5, 1995 at 8:00 p.m., at the Tsai Performance Center, 685 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts. Works performed were "Die Vorstellung des Chaos" from Die Schöpfung by Franz Joseph Haydn, Fünf Orchesterstücke, Op. 16 by Arnold Schoenberg, and Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 by Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund