"Rien de la tonalite usuelle": Edmond de Polignac and the Octatonic Scale in Nineteenth-Century France

2005 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 097-120
Author(s):  
Sylvia Kahan
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Symphonic Poem ◽  
French Music ◽  
Rite Of Spring ◽  
Compositional Technique ◽  
Modes Of Limited Transposition ◽  
Twentieth Century Music ◽  
Nineteenth Century France ◽  
Shed Light

The reification and theorization of the octatonic scale, arguably one of the principal organizational devices of twentieth-century music, have been long in coming. Rimsky-Korsakov was the first to describe the scale, in an 1867 letter, discussing its use as a Leitmotiv in the symphonic poem Sadko. Stravinsky used the collection as the basis for many of his groundbreaking works, especially The Rite of Spring, but never acknowledged the fundamental role that the "Rimsky-Korsakov scale" played in his compositional technique. It took another thirty years for Messiaen to identify the collection as one of the "modes of limited transposition." And another twenty years would pass before Arthur Berger, in a 1963 article, coined the name "octatonic scale."The post-Berger generation of scholars, beginning with van den Toorn and Taruskin, have continued to shed light on the functional and formal uses of the octatonic scale. Taruskin has traced the influence of Schubert's and Liszt's use of harmonic progressions based on mediant and diminished-seventh relations on Rimsky-Korsakov, who in turn influenced a whole generation of early modernist Russians. However, the fact that Rimsky-Korsakov never wrote down in any systematic way the theory underlying the scale that bore his name--in the same way that he codified his theories of orchestration--meant that its presence in early modernist compositions, although used frequently and conspicuously by his followers, remained obscure to those outside his circle. Therefore, the presence of the octatonic collection in the music of non-Russian early modernist composers cannot be easily explained, and the sources of influence are harder to trace. Interestingly, it appears that an important historical link between nineteenth- and twentieth-century octatonic composition--a link with particular implications for the presence of octatonicism in early modernist French music--is found in the music and theoretical writings of Prince Edmond de Polignac (1834--1901), an aristocrat and amateur French composer, who, in 1879, penned not only the first pervasively octatonic composition, but also what appears to be the first treatise on octatonic theory; he went on to write several other compositions based on the "gammes chromatico-diatoniques." In 1894 one of PolignacÕs contemporaries, musicologist Alexandre de Bertha, wrote and lectured extensively about his "discovery" of the "gammes enharmo-niques." In this article, I examine the reception of the works and ideas of Polignac and Bertha by contemporary critics and composers, and PolignacÕs role as an important precursor of modern octatonic theory.

Veiling Esther, Unveiling Her Story

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam J. Silverstein
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Religious Background ◽  
Literary Context ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Selection Of

This book examines the ways in which the biblical book of Esther was read, understood, and used in Muslim lands, from ancient to modern times. It zeroes-in on a selection of case studies, covering works from various periods and regions of the Muslim world, including the Qur’an, premodern historical chronicles and literary works, the writings of a nineteenth-century Shia feminist, a twentieth-century Iranian dictionary, and others. These case studies demonstrate that Muslim sources contain valuable materials on Esther, which shed light both on the Esther story itself and on the Muslim peoples and cultures that received it. The book argues that Muslim sources preserve important, pre-Islamic materials on Esther that have not survived elsewhere, some of which offer answers to ancient questions about Esther, such as the meaning of Haman’s epithet in the Greek versions of the story, the reason why Mordecai refused to prostrate himself before Haman, and the literary context of the “plot of the eunuchs” to kill the Persian king. Furthermore, throughout the book we will see how each author’s cultural and religious background influenced his or her understanding and retelling of the Esther story: In particular, it will be shown that Persian Muslims (and Jews) were often forced to reconcile or choose between the conflicting historical narratives provided by their religious and cultural heritages respectively.

Conclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 162-168
Author(s):  
Kevin Duong
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Bonds ◽  
Political History ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nineteenth Century France ◽  
History Of ◽  
French Tradition

This conclusion reviews the importance of studying redemptive violence in nineteenth century France in light of the political history of the twentieth century. It argues that, despite the increased intensity of violence in the twentieth century, a study of redemptive violence in the nineteenth century is still important for us today. That is because it emphasizes that all democratic revolutions are social revolutions. All democratic revolutions pose the problem of reconstructing democratic social bonds. Redemptive violence’s history underscores that fraternité was always as important as liberty and equality in the French tradition. Critics of fraternité today ignore the importance of democratic solidarity at their peril.

Antarctic Archaeology

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Zarankin ◽  
Melisa A. Salerno
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
South Shetland Islands ◽  
Shetland Islands ◽  
The Past ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Dominant Narratives ◽  
Different Characteristics ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Over Time

Antarctica was the last continent to be known. Human encounters with the region acquired different characteristics over time. Within the framework of dominant narratives, the early ‘exploitation’ of the territory was given less attention than late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century ‘exploration’. Nineteenth-century exploitation was especially associated with sealing on the South Shetland Islands. Dominant narratives on the period refer to the captains of sealing vessels, the discovery of geographical features, the volume of resources obtained. However, they do not consider the life of the ordinary sealers who lived and worked on the islands. This chapter aims to show the power of archaeology to shed light on these ‘invisible people’ and their forgotten stories. It holds that archaeology offers a possibility for reimagining the past of Antarctica, calling for a revision of traditional narratives.

THE DISCOURSE OF SOUND

Tempo ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 70 (277) ◽  
pp. 5-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Kaltenecker
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Michel Foucault ◽  
Art Music ◽  
Sound Studies ◽  
Western Art ◽  
Compositional Styles ◽  
Technical Features ◽  
Shed Light

AbstractThis article offers a short overview of the development of listening theories concerning Western art music since the end of the eighteenth century. Referring to Michel Foucault, I consider such theories as discourses which produce ‘power effects', such as the training of listening attitudes, or the construction of specific spaces, such as the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth. During the eighteenth century, predominant discourses considered musical pieces as orations and, since the nineteenth century, as complex organisms or structures. In the last third of the twentieth century a focus on sound, evinced for instance by the field of ‘sound studies', has produced a new configuration that dissolves the prevailing model of structural listening. This perspective may shed light on some technical features of contemporary compositional styles, which I examine by considering the use of melodies, gestures and loops in two compositions by Fausto Romitelli and Simon Steen-Andersen.

The iemoto System and the Avant-Gardes in the Japanese Artistic Field: Bourdieu's Field Theory in Comparative Perspective

2006 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-302
Author(s):  
Masaaki Morishita
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
Cultural Specificity ◽  
Nineteenth Century France

The conceptual framework of ‘field’ proposed by Pierre Bourdieu and his model of the literary and artistic fields in nineteenth-century France are widely applied to studies of the development of the literary and artistic fields in other regions and the fields of other cultural practices. These researches, while showing similarities to Bourdieu's model, reveal the distinct forms of nomos which those different fields developed through localised contingencies. In other words, their findings highlight the cultural specificity of the cases on which Bourdieu's field theory is based. The main purpose of this paper is to argue that the field theory can be beneficially applied to cross-cultural cases provided that its culturally specific elements are clearly identified. For this purpose, I focus on one particular aspect associated with the nomos of Bourdieu's model – the orientation toward autonomy – to argue for its cultural specificity, which becomes clearer when it is compared to a distinct case of the artistic field in early-twentieth-century Japan. My case study shows that the Japanese artistic field did not develop the same form of autonomy as Bourdieu's model, but it also discloses the processes in which a certain form of nomos was shaped through the struggles between the artistic field and other fields.

Autoexoticism with Promotional Purposes? Samuel-Henri Berthoud and Provincial Literary Ruse in Nineteenth-Century France

PMLA ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 132 (2) ◽  
pp. 397-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Gosetti
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Literary Field ◽  
Dominant Culture ◽  
Cultural Center ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
The North ◽  
Nineteenth Century France ◽  
Foreign Land ◽  
Incomplete Picture ◽  
Shed Light

“There speaks the provincial!”—Goncharov, The Same Old StoryIn nineteenth-century france, the so-called province, denoting everything outside Paris, was considered a foreign land by Parisian writers, who often constructed it as an exotic space. When we deal with this kind of provincial exoticism, however, considering this perspective alone risks painting an incomplete picture of the French literary field. Through the example of Samuel-Henri Berthoud, an author from the north of France, my intention here is to shed light on autoexoticist practices by indigenous provincial writers and to explore how they actively reclaimed, fostered, and enhanced exotic constructions about their provinces. Indeed, a wealth of evidence supports my argument that their acceptance of hegemonic constructions from the dominant culture was not passive but rather an active and creative reappropriation. This essay also challenges the idea of a stable hegemonic cultural center around which the marginal authors and literary works gravitate. Before tackling these issues, let us take a step back and briefly survey the particular value of provincial France at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

scholarly journals Solidarity: The Social History of an Idea in Nineteenth Century France

1959 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. S. Hayward
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social History ◽  
Grand Nombre ◽  
Human History ◽  
The Social ◽  
Nineteenth Century France ◽  
History Of

The survival of a concept is generally only secured at the price of an intellectual odyssey in the course of which it is transformed out of all recognition. The nineteenth century fortunes of the idea of solidarity exemplify this axiom only too strictly. It became the victim of a multiplicity of ingenious puns and metaphors as well as outright malicious distortions that rendered a simple, technical word, drawn from the sphere of jurisprudence, at once emotive and obscure, influential and diffuse. As the eminent and caustic critic of the twentieth century, Julien Benda, formulated this vital problem of the fate of concepts, “pour l'historien des idées des hommes, la réalité ce n'est point ce qu'ont été les idées dans l'esprit de ceux qui les ont inventées, mais ce qu'elles ont été dans l'esprit de ceux qui les ont trahies… car il est clair qu'une doctrine se propage d'autant plus largement qu'elle est apte à satisfaire un plus grand nombre de sentiments divers.” This pessimistic view has been all too frequently verified in human history.

scholarly journals Islamization, Gentrification and Domestication: ‘A Girls’ Islamic Course' and Rural Muslims in Western Uttar Pradesh

2004 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Jeffery ◽  
Roger Jeffery ◽  
Craig Jeffrey
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
North India ◽  
September 11Th ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Shed Light

Girls' education has been enduringly controversial in north India, and the disputes of the second half of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century still echo in debates about girls' education in contemporary India. In this paper, we reflect on the education of rural Muslim girls in contemporary western Uttar Pradesh (UP), by examining an Islamic course for girls [Larkiyon kā Islālmī Course], written in Urdu and widely used in madrasahs there. First, we summarize the central themes in the Course: purifying religious practice; distancing demure, self-controlled, respectable woman from the lower orders; and the crucial role of women as competent homemakers. Having noted the conspicuous similarities between these themes and those in the nineteenth and early twentieth-century textbooks and advice manuals for girls and women, the second section examines the context in which the earlier genre emerged. Finally, we return to the present day. Particularly since September 11th 2001, madrasahs have found themselves the focus of hostile allegations that bear little or no relationship to the activities of the madrasahs that we studied. Nevertheless, madrasah education does have problematic implications. The special curricula for girls exemplifies how a particular kind of élite project has been sustained and transformed, and we aim to shed light on contemporary communal and class issues as well as on gender politics.

The Music Behind the Mask: Rossini’s Uncanny Salon

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-114
Author(s):  
Simon Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Old Age ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Nineteenth Century France ◽  
Scant Attention ◽  
A Site ◽  
Changing Attitudes ◽  
Shed Light

Despite receiving scant attention from scholars and performers, Rossini’s Péchés de vieillesse (Sins of Old Age), written between 1857 and 1868 for his private salon, have a unique and expressive stylistic language. In these works, the composer gives musical voice to the uncanny discourses that emerged around the idea of his “creative death.” This paper establishes how Rossini’s return to composition functioned as a musical “exhumation,” with his compositional activities functioning as a site for broader discourses about disease, aging, and death in nineteenth-century France. Close readings of visual depictions of Rossini by Eugène Delacroix and Antoine Etex shed light on changing attitudes toward the composer, which coincided with broader aesthetic shifts taking place at the time. The tensions engendered by Rossini’s precarious status as both living and dead, and his nostalgic relationship to the past, constitute a kind of doubleness that can be heard in his late compositions. Bringing together cultural history and musical analysis, I show that the privacy of Rossini’s salon gave rise to music with unique signifying potential that has not yet been duly acknowledged.

Problems of Meter in Early-Seventeenth-Century and Twentieth-Century Music

2020 ◽  
pp. 296-346
Author(s):  
Christopher Hasty
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century Music ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Complex Projective ◽  
Fourth Book ◽  
Projective Field

This chapter assesses meter in early-seventeenth-century and twentieth-century music. Specifically, it analyzes compositions by Monteverdi, Schütz, Webern, and Babbitt. Monteverdi's “Ohimè, se tanto amate” from the fourth book of madrigals presents a metrical subtlety rarely encountered in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century music. Here the projective field is very mobile, and mensural determinacy is restricted to relatively small measures. Meanwhile, Schütz's concertato motet “Adjoro vos, filiae Jerusalem” from the Symphoniae sacrae, Book I (1629), demonstrates extremely subtle rhythmic detail and great projective contrast used in the service of a compelling larger gesture. Here the repetition of small melodic figures is used for the creation of complex projective fields that serve the continuity of phrases and sections. The chapter then looks at the much smaller measures and much greater ambiguity in some music of the twentieth century.

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