scholarly journals Centre For Medieval Studies Middle Eastern and Islamic Influence on Western Art & Liturgy

2004 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-152
Author(s):  
Andrew Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Western Music ◽  
Performance Style ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
Oral Transmission ◽  
Western Art ◽  
Liturgical Chant ◽  
Eastern Music

Central to the conference, held during March 5-6, 2004, at Trinity College,University of Toronto (Canada), was the desire of its organizer, AndrewHughes, to find analogies in other disciplines to his speculation that theEuropean plainsong (liturgical chant) of the Middle Ages was performed in a manner similar to that of Middle Eastern music (“Continuous Music:Natural or Eastern? The Origins of Modern Performance Style”). His speculationstemmed from decades of discussions with his colleague TimothyMcGee about the nature of musical sound. Oral transmission, its replacementby various difficult-to-interpret notations, and an often polemic rejectionof Arabic influence make the investigation difficult and controversial.1McGee responded (“Some Concerns about Eastern Influence in MedievalMusic”) and later, working from practical experiments presented by agroup of graduate students attending the conference, offered a very interestingnew interpretation. Some reservations were expressed by CharlesBurnett (Warburg Institute, London), a distinguished Arabist with musicologicalqualifications. He was invited to comment on the initial round tableand the conference as a whole.Other papers relevant to music were George Sawa’s review of Arabictheories of medieval music (“The Uses of Arabic Language in MedievalRhythmic Discourses”). He referred to numerous matters that might havea bearing on European music, especially with respect to ornamentationand rhythm. Art Levine discussed other non-western musical cultures,some of which were also influenced by Islamic music, and raised questionsabout ornamentation, tuning, and the nature of pitch (e.g., what is anote? “What Can Non-Western Music Offer?”).Moving from the sound of music to words about it, Randall Rosenfelddescribed numerous pilgrimage and Crusader chronicles. They containpassages reporting that Europeans found little strange in eastern music,suggesting that eastern and western music cannot have been as dissimilaras seems to be the case today (“Frankish Reports of Central Asian andMiddle Eastern Musical Practice”). John Haines traced in detail the use ofArabic terms from Adelard of Bath’s twelfth-century translation ofEuclid’s geometrical writings to an important mid-thirteenth-centurymusical treatise, where the terms for quadrilateral shapes resemblingsquare notation are used to refer to musical symbols (“Anonymous IV’sElmuahim and Elmuarifa”). Luisa Nardini presented details of particularmelodic characteristics in Gregorian chants that identify Byzantine andGallican melodies in Gregorian repertories (“Aliens in Disguise:Byzantine and Gallican Songs as Mass Propers in Italian Sources”).In other disciplines, Philip Slavin revealed the striking similarities oftopics and words between Byzantine and Roman (Gregorian) penitentialliturgy, seeing possible origins in Jewish prayers and the fourth-centuryConstitutiones Apostolorum (“Byzantine and Western Penitential Prayers ...

Old Sources, New Technology: Princeton University’s Geniza Computer Project

1988 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Mark R. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Late Professor ◽  
Medieval Manuscript ◽  
Court Records ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Cairo Geniza ◽  
Marriage Contracts

Since the inception of the “computer age,” much talk has been heard about applying this relatively new technology for manipulating information to the medieval manuscript fragments from the Cairo Geniza. The uses of the Geniza, particularly its documentary sources, for Middle Eastern history will be well known to many readers of this Bulletin. The thousands of letters, court records, marriage contracts, lists, and other documentary treasures, preserved for centuries in a large discard chamber in what is today the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat, and written in Hebrew or Judæo-Arabic (Arabic in Hebrew letters), with a small number in Arabic language and script, constitute an unmediated source for the reconstruction of what the late Professor S. D. Goitein called the “Mediterranean Society” of Jews, Muslims, and Christians of the high Middle Ages.

Mode

2018 ◽  
pp. 60-77
Author(s):  
Susan McClary
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metal ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Western Music ◽  
Folk Revival ◽  
Liturgical Chant ◽  
The Middle Ages ◽  
Vaughan Williams

This essay traces the development of “mode” in Western music from the early Greeks, through the transmission of Greek theory by Roman writers, the adaptation in the Middle Ages of aspects of this system for purposes of organizing liturgical chant, the changes made by Renaissance theorists to accommodate polyphonic composition, and the seventeenth-century transformation of modal practices into tonal procedures, to various uses of church modes in Bach, Beethoven, Grieg, Debussy, Vaughan Williams, the folk revival, jazz, and heavy metal. The author distinguishes modes from scales and psalm tones, explains differences between pairs such as Dorian and Aeolian, and argues for a practice-based approach to the concept.

“The Truth of Reliable Tradition”: Saadya Gaon, Arabic Rhetoric, and the Challenge to Rhetorical Historiography

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-188
Author(s):  
Brandon Katzir
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Rhetorical Strategies ◽  
Medieval Rhetoric ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Latin Language ◽  
Arabic Rhetoric ◽  
Rhetorical Traditions ◽  
The Middle Ages

This article explores the rhetoric of medieval rabbi and philosopher Saadya Gaon, arguing that Saadya typifies what LuMing Mao calls the “interconnectivity” of rhetorical cultures (Mao 46). Suggesting that Saadya makes use of argumentative techniques from Greek-inspired, rationalist Islamic theologians, I show how his rhetoric challenges dominant works of rhetorical historiography by participating in three interconnected cultures: Greek, Jewish, and Islamic. Taking into account recent scholarship on Jewish rhetoric, I argue that Saadya's amalgamation of Jewish rhetorical genres alongside Greco-Islamic genres demonstrates how Jewish and Islamic rhetoric were closely connected in the Middle Ages. Specifically, the article analyzes the rhetorical significance of Saadya's most famous treatise on Jewish philosophy, The Book of Doctrines and Beliefs, which I argue utilizes Greco-Islamic rhetorical strategies in a polemical defense of rabbinical authority. As a tenth-century writer who worked across multiple rhetorical traditions and genres, Saadya challenges the monocultural, Latin-language histories of medieval rhetoric, demonstrating the importance of investigating Arabic-language and Jewish rhetorics of the Middle Ages.

Biological Hazards

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Russi
Keyword(s):  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
H1n1 Influenza ◽  
Emerging Infections ◽  
Bloodborne Pathogens ◽  
Oral Transmission ◽  
B Virus ◽  
Animal Contact ◽  
Novel H1n1 Influenza

This chapter describes various biological hazards and their impact on workers and others. A major focus of the chapter is biological hazards in healthcare and laboratory settings, including exposure to bloodborne pathogens and prevention of diseases related to them. Sections deal with sharps injuries, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases that can be acquired in the work environment via direct contact, droplet or airborne spread, or fecal-oral transmission. In addition, infectious agents spread by animal contact or arthropod vectors in a broad range of settings will be addressed. Newly emerging infectious or re-emerging infections, such as those due to H5N1 and novel H1N1 influenza, Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (MERS), and Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) as well as agents associated with bioterrorism are discussed.

Landmarks in the Study of Improvisation

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Nettl
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Folk Music ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Art Music ◽  
Jazz Improvisation ◽  
Single Model ◽  
Oral Transmission ◽  
Western Art ◽  
Music Making ◽  
History Of

Historically, research on improvisation has been related to the discovery of non-Western musics, folk music, and jazz, and has depended on the development of recording techniques for its principal kinds of data. The concept of improvisation is not unitary, but includes many vastly different kinds of un-notated music-making, which casts some doubt on the efficacy of the term itself. In the history of Western art music, improvisation was originally ignored or seen as craft rather than art, but since ca. 1980 it has occupied increased attention. The association of improvisation with oral transmission has sometimes been misunderstood. The most successful standard research study has been the comparison of performances based on a single model, for example, raga in India, maqam and dastgah in the Middle East, or a series of chord changes or a tune in jazz. Improvisation as a concept—for example, as a metaphor of freedom—has been important in recent research.

scholarly journals “Service Programmes” on Jordanian Radio: Understanding Broadcaster Persona through an Interdisciplinary Analysis of Language and Performance

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jona Fras
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Water Pipe ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Radio Stations ◽  
The Public ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
And Performance

My ESRC-funded doctoral research explores linguistic practice on Jordanian radio today. The main conclusion of my research is that details of Arabic use in the radio setting have significant implications for the kind of audiences addressed – that is, who is included as a legitimate or “validated” listener – and the way members of the public can participate in radio discourse – this latter in particularly through call- ins, which are a frequent feature of Jordanian radio programming more generally.This paper looks at one type of programmes present on many contemporary Jordanian radio stations: the so-called “service programmes,” "barāmiž ḳadamātiyya," in which listeners call the station and speak live on the air in order to request assistance or mediation with local authorities in resolution of an issue – such as a damaged road, a broken water pipe, et cetera. It compares two popular service programmes: Barnāmiž al-wakīl, hosted by Muhammad al-Wakeel, and Wasaṭ al- balad, hosted by Hani al-Badri. It argues that, in order to properly appreciate the differences between the two programmes, an interdisciplinary approach to the data is required. This has raised certain methodological issues for my work, but on the other hand allowed me to explore new theoretical pathways and contribute new insights to scholarship on both contemporary Arabic language use, and Middle Eastern media.

scholarly journals Life and activity of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-367
Author(s):  
Maryam Seyidbeyli
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Scientific Center ◽  
North West ◽  
Entire Complex ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Middle Ages

At the beginning of the VII century in the political life of the Near and Middle East, fundamental changes have taken place. The Arabs conquered a colossal territory, which included the lands of Iran, North Africa, North-West India, the Asian provinces of Byzantium, most of the former Roman Empire. In the conquered cities of the caliphate, observatories, madaris, libraries were built. At the end of VII century, the first scientific center, an academy, the House of Wisdom, was founded in Baghdad, in which scholars who spoke different languages were assembled. Here the translation and commentary activity were very developed, the main works of ancient thought, such as the writings of Aristotle, Ptolemy were published in the 9th century in the Arabic-speaking world. For two centuries from 750 to 950 years, the works of ancient authors on philosophy, mathematics, medicine, alchemy, and astronomy were translated into Arabic, which indicates the high scientific potential of that time in the East. At the same time, in the XII century, Ibn Rushd composed 38 commentaries on the works of Aristotle, the “Republic” of Plato, the treatise “On the Mind” of Alexander of Aphrodisias, which subsequently had an important influence on the work of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi. Thus, this period in the history of Eastern scientific thought is marked by high intellectual potential. To this day, historians of medieval Arabic literature face a sufficient number of difficulties, since the vast majority of manuscripts remain inaccessible to them. The works of many renowned Arab authors of the middle Ages are more than 1000 years old, so it seems obvious that the manuscripts of the vast majority of authors have not survived to this day. The researchers of the history of Azerbaijan and neighboring countries in the middle Ages, with all the variety of available sources on which they rely, still attract little factual material related to the Arabic-language works of the historical and scientific genre. Undoubtedly, a comprehensive study of the entire complex of information of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi on the history of science in Azerbaijan is of great importance.

scholarly journals The Rules of Engagement: Richard Taruskin and the History of Western Music

2007 ◽  
pp. 21-49
Author(s):  
Harry White
Keyword(s):  
German Idealism ◽  
Art Music ◽  
Western Music ◽  
Master Narrative ◽  
Tonal Music ◽  
Western Art ◽  
Radical Critique ◽  
Musical Discourse ◽  
History Of ◽  
Anglo American

The Oxford History of Western Music (2005) is a scrutiny of the ‘literate tradition’ of music in European and North American culture from the beginnings of notation to the end of the twentieth century. Richard Taruskin’s monumental and profoundly erudite engagement with a thousand years of western art music is animated from the outset by a radical critique of German idealism and the influence which this has exerted on the formation and transmission of European and American musical thought. Taruskin takes the view that as a result of this influence, the history of music has been seriously distorted, especially in regard to the contractual intelligibility of musical discourse in relation to society. The prestige of progressivism, as this is manifested in atonal and serial composition, in primitivism and neoclassicism, has enjoyed an excessive pre-eminence which eclipses in turn the narrative clarity of tonal music in the twentieth century.In this review essay, Taruskin’s indictment of historicism as a primary agent in the perpetuation of (German and Anglo-American) musicological orthodoxy is appraised in the context of his own obligations to narrative, musical analysis and the reception history of musical works. Taruskin’s identification of an historicist ‘master-narrative’ in earlier surveys of western music is considered in relation to a new master- narrative, of Taruskin’s own making, which condemns the hegemony of musical idealism at every turn. The tension which arises between this enduring preoccupation and the author’s sustained engagement with individual musical texts tends to confirm the autonomy of the musical work, not as an object immune (or indifferent) to history, but as a nexus of social, ideological and political expression which attains to a self-standing aesthetic integrity.

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