scholarly journals Anhalt’s Oppenheimer: The History of a Never-Finished Major Work

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-114
Author(s):  
John Beckwith
Keyword(s):  
Atomic Bomb ◽  
John Adams ◽  
Major Work ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of ◽  
Doctor Atomic

The “opera fantasy” Oppenheimer by Istvan Anhalt (1919–2012) survives as a draft libretto and 1,100 pages of musical sketches, on which the composer concentrated from mid-1988 to late 1991, partly with the collaboration of the playwright John Murrell. Prolonged negotiations with the Canadian Opera Company eventually collapsed and the work was abandoned. Using prior research by Peter Laki and archival documents (especially the composer’s previously inaccessible “diary” of the opera’s progress), this article traces Oppenheimer’s compositional development and the COC production talks, compares it to the 2005 opera Doctor Atomic by John Adams and Peter Sellars (both works deal with J. Robert Oppenheimer’s role in creating the first atomic bomb), and speculates on possible affinities between the existing sketches and other Anhalt compositions of the same period.

The Role of the Mongolian People’s Republic in the Korean War

2018 ◽  
pp. 97-130
Author(s):  
Denzenlkham Ulambayar
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Korean War ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central Intelligence Agency ◽  
Intelligence Agency ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
History Of

Since the 1990s, when previously classified and top secret Russian archival documents on the Korean War became open and accessible, it has become clear for post-communist countries that Kim Il Sung, Stalin and Mao Zedong were the primary organizers of the war. It is now equally certain that tensions arising from Soviet and American struggle generated the origins of the Korean War, namely the Soviet Union’s occupation of the northern half of the Korean peninsula and the United States’ occupation of the southern half to the 38th parallel after 1945 as well as the emerging bipolar world order of international relations and Cold War. Newly available Russian archival documents produced much in the way of new energies and opportunities for international study and research into the Korean War.2 However, within this research few documents connected to Mongolia have so far been found, and little specific research has yet been done regarding why and how Mongolia participated in the Korean War. At the same time, it is becoming today more evident that both Soviet guidance and U.S. information reports (evaluated and unevaluated) regarding Mongolia were far different from the situation and developments of that period. New examples of this tendency are documents declassified in the early 2000s and released publicly from the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in December 2016 which contain inaccurate information. The original, uncorrupted sources about why, how and to what degree the Mongolian People’s Republic (MPR) became a participant in the Korean War are in fact in documents held within the Mongolian Central Archives of Foreign Affairs. These archives contain multiple documents in relation to North Korea. Prior to the 1990s Mongolian scholars Dr. B. Lkhamsuren,3 Dr. B. Ligden,4 Dr. Sh. Sandag,5 junior scholar J. Sukhee,6 and A. A. Osipov7 mention briefly in their writings the history of relations between the MPR and the DPRK during the Korean War. Since the 1990s the Korean War has also briefly been touched upon in the writings of B. Lkhamsuren,8 D. Ulambayar (the author of this paper),9 Ts. Batbayar,10 J. Battur,11 K. Demberel,12 Balảzs Szalontai,13 Sergey Radchenko14 and Li Narangoa.15 There have also been significant collections of documents about the two countries and a collection of memoirs published in 200716 and 2008.17 The author intends within this paper to discuss particularly about why, how and to what degree Mongolia participated in the Korean War, the rumors and realities of the war and its consequences for the MPR’s membership in the United Nations. The MPR was the second socialist country following the Soviet Union (the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics) to recognize the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) and establish diplomatic ties. That was part of the initial stage of socialist system formation comprising the Soviet Union, nations in Eastern Europe, the MPR, the PRC (People’s Republic of China) and the DPRK. Accordingly between the MPR and the DPRK fraternal friendship and a framework of cooperation based on the principles of proletarian and socialist internationalism had been developed.18 In light of and as part of this framework, The Korean War has left its deep traces in the history of the MPR’s external diplomatic environment and state sovereignty

From Propaganda to Scholarship: Dr Joseph Schechtman and the Origins of Israeli Polemics on the Palestinian Refugees

2004 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Masalha
Keyword(s):  
Right Wing ◽  
Population Transfer ◽  
Arab Population ◽  
Palestinian Refugees ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of ◽  
Arab States ◽  
Refugee Problem ◽  
Secret History

In 1948 an official ‘Transfer Committee’ was appointed by the Israeli Cabinet to plan the Palestinian refugees' resettlement in the Arab states. Apart from doing everything possible to reduce the Arab population in Israel, the Transfer Committee sought to amplify and consolidate the demographic transformation of Palestine by: preventing the Palestinian refugees from returning to their homes; the destruction of Arab villages; settlement of Jews in Arab villages and towns; and launching a propaganda campaign to discourage Arab return. One of the Transfer Committee's initiatives was to invite Dr Joseph Schechtman, a right-wing Zionist Revisionist leader and expert on ‘population transfer’, to join its efforts. In 1952 Schechtman published a propagandists work entitled The Arab Refugee Problem. Since then Schechtman would become the single most influential propagator of the Zionist myth of ‘voluntary’ exodus in 1948. This article examines the leading role played by Schechtman in promoting Israeli propaganda and politics of denial. Relying on newly-discovered Israeli archival documents, the article deals with little known and new aspects of the secret history of the post-1948 period.

Roshdi Rashed

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 279-295
Author(s):  
Mohammed Aref
Keyword(s):  
Review Essay ◽  
Great Book ◽  
Mathematical Language ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Major Work ◽  
Galileo Galilei ◽  
Elementary Knowledge ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Universe

This review essay introduces the work of the Egyptian scientific historian and philosopher Roshdi Rashed, a pioneer in the field of the history of Arab sciences. The article is based on the five volumes he originally wrote in French and later translated into Arabic, which were published by the Centre for Arab Unity Studies and which are now widely acclaimed as a unique effort to unveil the achievements of Arab scientists. The essay reviews this major work, which seems, like Plato’s Republic to have “No Entry for Those Who Have No Knowledge of Mathematics” written on its gate. If you force your way in, even with elementary knowledge of computation, a philosophy will unfold before your eyes, described by the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei as “written in that great book which ever lies before our eyes—I mean the universe—but we cannot understand it if we do not first learn the language and grasp the symbols, in which it is written. This book is written in the mathematical language, and the symbols are triangles, circles and other geometrical figures, without whose help it is impossible to comprehend a single word of it; without which one wanders in vain through a dark labyrinth.” The essay is a journey through this labyrinth where the history of world mathematics got lost and was chronicled by Rashed in five volumes translated from the French into Arabic. It took him fifteen years to complete.

A. S. Nikolaev in the Institute of Out-of-School Education and His ‘Museum of Archival Work’ Project

2018 ◽  
pp. 1254-1265
Author(s):  
Vitaly G. Ananiev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
School Education ◽  
Cultural Institutions ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Development Level ◽  
Formation Stage ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of ◽  
Archival Work ◽  
Department Faculty ◽  
Out Of School

The article is devoted to the work Alexander S. Nikolaev (1877 – 1934) in the Petrograd Institute of Out-of-School Education in late 1910s – early 1920s. His teaching activities at the Institute and the place of archival issues in the program of its museum department have been studied on the basis of archival documents. The Institute initially focused on training of instructors and employees of cultural institutions, school teachers for adults and universities professors. The Institute had a museum section (department – faculty), on the basis of which several exemplary workshops for creating of manuals and their mastering were to be organized. That is the context in which A. S. Nikolaev’s projects of archival museum creation should be studied. One of such projects worked out by Nikolaev at that time has gone unnoticed until its publication in the Appendix. The connection of this project with the development level of museum affairs of the period is shown. Nikolaev's aspiration to show evolution of archiving and to follow fond formation stage by stage and his use of photographic and graphic materials are also noted. Moreover, it is the first assessment of the work of the Institute as one of the centers for teaching archiving in late 1910s – early 1920s.Training at the museum department of the Institute included a number of courses in both archiving and preservation of documentary monuments. This was due not only to the traditional proximity of archiving and museum work, but also to the circumstances of the first post-revolutionary years. Many museums (located in palaces and mansions of nobility) acquired valuable archival collections. They looked for an opportunity to use these in their scientific activities and exhibitions. The latter was due to the emphasis put on history of daily life and introduction of sociological method in museum work.

The development of the movement for the communist labour at the Tyumen shipbuilding plant in days of the seven-year plan (1959-1965): the experience of microhistorical study

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-172
Author(s):  
Sergey S. Pashin ◽  
Natalia S. Vasikhovskaya
Keyword(s):  
Political History ◽  
The State ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Industrial Enterprise ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of

The article is devoted to the study of the movement for communist labour at the Tyumen Shipbuilding Plant during the period of the seven-year plan (1959-1965). The authors seek to fill a historical narrative with the particular facts connected with the peculiarities and specifics of such phenomenon as the movement for communist labour. They consider it in the context of microhistory and as the most important element of production routine. The employees of the largest industrial enterprise of Soviet Tyumen — Shipbuilding Plant in concrete historical circumstances came under the spotlight of the authors. The submitted article is written with attraction of a wide range of archival documents, taken from the funds of the State Archive of the Tyumen Region and also funds of the State Archive of Socio-Political History of the Tyumen Region. Having studied the documents the authors come to conclusion that the movement for communist labour had little effect on the production progress of the plant employees.

De Brusselse vereniging De Veldbloem zoekt toenadering tot Hendrik Conscience. Twee pas ontdekte brieven

2011 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 276-289
Author(s):  
Luc Vandeweyer
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
De Man ◽  
First World

Het wordt in de historiografie van de Vlaamse beweging aanvaard dat Hendrik Conscience door de Brusselse progressieve vereniging ‘De Veldbloem’ in 1872 werd gevraagd om te kandideren voor de parlementaire verkiezingen. Conscience zou dat geweigerd hebben. Dit is uiteraard geen onbetekenend feit in de biografie van de man die ‘zijn volk leerde lezen’.Dit gegeven is terug te voeren op de geschriften van Antoon Jacob (°1889) van na de Eerste Wereldoorlog. Jacob werd beschouwd als een autoriteit inzake Conscience. Maar waar is het bewijs? Hij verwees daarbij naar “uitvoerige correspondentie” maar die is niet te vinden. Het ADVN slaagde erin om de archivalische nalatenschap van de in 1947 gestorven Jacob te verwerven. Daarin bleken heel wat brieven van en aan Conscience te zitten. De briefwisseling met ‘De Veldbloem’ was onderwerp van deze bijdrage. Daarin is geen spoor te vinden van de poging om Conscience op het politieke strijdtoneel te brengen in Brussel. Daarbij moet de vraag gesteld worden hoe Jacob deze archiefstukken verzamelde en wat ermee is gebeurd tijdens zijn turbulente leven en talrijke omzwervingen. Het is best mogelijk dat er een en ander is verloren gegaan. Toch is deze nalatenschap een belangrijke aanwinst voor de studie van de geschiedenis van de Vlaamse beweging en die van Conscience in het bijzonder. ________ The Brussels association ‘De Veldbloem’ seeks contact with Hendrik Conscience. Two recently discovered letters It is an accepted fact in the historiography of the Flemish Movement that the Brussels progressive Association ‘De Veldbloem’ [=the Wildflower] asked Hendrik Conscience in 1872 to be their candidate for the parliamentary elections. It is said that Hendrik Conscience refused the request. This is of course a very significant fact in the biography of the man ‘who taught his people to read.’ This information may be inferred from the writings of Antoon Jacob (°1889) from the period after the First World War. Jacob was regarded as an authority on Conscience. But where is the evidence of this? In his claim, he referred to ‘extensive correspondence’, but that correspondence is not extant. The ADVN managed to acquire the archival legacy of Jacob who died in 1947. It turned out that it included quite a number of letters to and from Conscience. The exchange of letters with ‘De Veldbloem’ was the subject of this contribution. It contains no trace of the attempt to bring Conscience into the political arena in Brussels. It raises the question how Jacob collected these archival documents and what happened to them during his turbulent life and his many peregrinations.  It is certainly possible that some documents have been lost. However, this legacy is still an important acquisition for the study of the history of the Flemish Movement and of Conscience in particular.

The Salafiyya and Sufism: Muhammad ‘Abduh and his Risālat al-Wāridāt (Treatise on Mystical Inspirations)

2007 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Scharbrodt
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
Alternative Form ◽  
Reform Movements ◽  
Major Work ◽  
Literary Expression ◽  
History Of ◽  
Intellectual Formation ◽  
Intellectual Crisis

This article questions certain assumptions on the intellectual history of modern Islam and on one of the most influential modern reform movements, the Salafiyya. By looking at the Sufi origins of one of the main Salafī reformers, it relativizes the notion of an inherent anti-Sufism of this reform movement. The article examines how Muhammad ‘Abduh (1849–1905), the famous Egyptian reformer, converted to Sufism in his youth after experiencing a spiritual and intellectual crisis. The influence of his paternal great-uncle Shaykh Darwīsh al-Khādir and of Sayyid Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī (1837–1897) on ‘Abduh's spiritual and intellectual formation will be investigated. In his youth, Sufism provided him with an alternative form of religiosity with which he could express his dissatisfaction with the representatives of mainstream Islam in his time. ‘Abduh's mystical inclinations found its literary expression in his first major work, the Risālat al-Wāridāt (Treatise on Mystical Inspirations), whose contents will be discussed in detail.

Natural Law Republicanism

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. Hawley
Keyword(s):  
Natural Law ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
John Adams ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
The People ◽  
Hugo Grotius ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Individual

By any metric, Cicero’s works are some of the most widely read in the history of Western thought. This book suggests that perhaps Cicero’s most lasting and significant contribution to philosophy lies in helping to inspire the development of liberalism. Individual rights, the protection of private property, and political legitimacy based on the consent of the governed are often taken to be among early modern liberalism’s unique innovations and part of its rebellion against classical thought. However, this book demonstrates that Cicero’s thought played a central role in shaping and inspiring the liberal republican project. Cicero argued that liberty for individuals could arise only in a res publica in which the claims of the people to be sovereign were somehow united with a commitment to universal moral law, which limits what the people can rightfully do. Figures such as Hugo Grotius, John Locke, and John Adams sought to work through the tensions in Cicero’s vision, laying the groundwork for a theory of politics in which the freedom of the individual and the people’s collective right to rule were mediated by natural law. This book traces the development of this intellectual tradition from Cicero’s original articulation through the American founding. It concludes by exploring how modern political ideas remain dependent on the conception of just politics first elaborated by Rome’s great philosopher-statesman.

Literary Center of Constructivists on Its Way to the RAPP (From the History of Literary Life at the Turn of the 1920s — 1930s)

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 304-321
Author(s):  
Natalia V. Kornienko ◽  
Ruslan E. Klementiev
Keyword(s):  
Left Wing ◽  
Literary Life ◽  
The Press ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Russian Association

The article examines one of the episodes of the literary struggle of the late 1920s — early 1930s — the history of the entry of the Literary Center of Constructivists (LCC) into the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers (RAPP). At the beginning of 1930, almost all literary groups and associations faced the need to define a new level of interaction with RAPP. LCC, as one of the literary groups closest to RAPP, seemed to have all the prerequisites for a successful association with the RAPP. But in reality, this did not happen. Members of RAPP are suspicious of constructivists; attacks at LCC are becoming more frequent in the press. Always considered a left-wing association, LLC is declared a petty-bourgeois group, with which, despite its disbandment, an irreconcilable struggle is required. This article bears upon not only the periodicals of 1930 but also and mainly upon the hitherto unstudied transcripts and other archival documents of RAPP. New archival materials reveal internal processes of the literary struggle at the turn of the decade, and make it possible to demonstrate how, even after the acceptance of the Constructivists by RAPP, the former continue to be perceived as a hostile group whose past was to always blame them.

THE PROJECT OF STAGING "KHOVANSHCHINA" BY M. P. MUSSORGSKY IN B.V. ASAFYEV’S ORCHESTRATION

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-102
Author(s):  
V. A. Aleksandrova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
National Museum ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Central State ◽  
Saint Petersburg ◽  
Russian State ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of ◽  
Orchestral Score ◽  
First Time

The article is devoted to the history of an unrealized performance of M. P. Mussorgsky’s opera "Khovanshchina" orchestrated by B. V. Asafyev. On the basis of archival documents, stored in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts, the Russian National Museum of Music, Central State Archive of Literature and Art of Saint Petersburg, the Bolshoi Theatre Museum, most of which are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, studied the circumstances under which the opera was planned to be staged in the State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (nowadays — the Mariinsky Theatre). Fragments from the reports of the Artistic Council of Opera at the State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet meetings, the correspondence between B. V. Asafyev and P. A. Lamm, the manuscript "P. A. Lamm. A Biography" by O. P. Lamm and other unpublished archival documents are cited. The author comes to the conclusion that most attempts to perform "Khovanshchina" were hindered by the difficult socio-political circumstances of the 1930s, while the existing assumptions about the creative failure of the Asafyev’s orchestration don’t find clear affirmation, neither in historical documents, nor in the existing manuscript of the orchestral score.

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