“A new kind of part writing”

Chapters 3 and 4 focus on Beethoven’s two statements that the work shows “a new kind of part writing” and “not less fantasy” than his previous works. The chapters explore, respectively, what each of these statements might have meant in terms of Beethoven’s compositional perspective, and in terms of performance and reception in his day. His comment on a “new kind of part-writing” is especially noteworthy, given that Op. 131 was his penultimate quartet. In light of the considerable experimentation in the middle-period quartets, one might have thought that by the 1820s Beethoven would have exhausted most possibilities for innovating in string quartet part-writing. To further explore what Beethoven meant, I go back to sketches and notes relating to the middle-period quartets, in particular his new idea of composing and hearing all four parts at once, which he noted down in a sketchbook around the time he was composing Op. 74. How does this new idea about the compositional process relate to the late quartets and Op. 131 in particular? I consider evidence from the sketches for Op. 131 as well as the early reception of the finished product. Adolph Bernhard Marx, for example, draws attention to the late quartets’ “Bachian counterpoint.” I focus in particular on the variations of the fourth movement. My analyses draw attention to the unique nature of all four voices, and the sense in which each part is crafted with careful attention to the art and science of listening.

A brief overview of the reception of “The Tale of Igor's Campaign”

The subject of this research is the process of reception of “The Tale of Igor's Campaign” in mainland China. The analysis of China’s historical conditions and comparison of the statistics at different periods indicate changes in the process of reception of Russian literature as a whole, and the Old Russian literary landmark in particular in the course of historical development of Celestial Empire. The novelty of this research is defines by insufficient coverage of the process of reception of “The Tale of Igor's Campaign” in China as a special cultural phenomenon, inseparable from the overall process of cultural and literary development of the country. Reception of the Russian literature is viewed in the socio-historical system, in which it organically interacts with the national culture and literature. The article employs descriptive, conceptual, and comparative-historical methods for solving the scientific task; determines the key stages in the general process of reception of “The Tale of Igor's Campaign” in China; and reveals the peculiarities of each stage with description of the major achievements. The author concludes that for almost two centuries, the Old Russian literary landmark has undergone a propaedeutic reception in China, which gradually intensified after the May Fourth Movement. It experienced stagnation after the first complete translation of the “Tale” into Chinese language, and a breakthrough in the image of this work in modern Chinese science, which currently interprets “The Tale of Igor's Campaign” as a literary-historical text.

Beyond the Warring States

The intellectual impact of the First World War in China is often understood as having led to a disenchantment with the West and a discrediting of the authority of “science”, while at the same time ushering in a renewed sense of cultural as well as national “awakening”. Important developments such as the May Fourth Movement, the rise of Chinese Marxism, and the emergence of modern Confucianism have become integral parts of the narrative surrounding the effects of the “European War” in China, and bear witness to the contested relation between tradition and modernity in twentieth-century Chinese thought. Through a case study of a number of wartime and post-war texts written by the “cultural conservative” thinker and publicist Du Yaquan (1873–1933), this paper tries to draw attention to the complexity and occasional ambiguity of responses to the “Great War” in modern Chinese intellectual history. More specifically, the following pages offer an analysis of Du’s critique of “materialism” in the context of his quest for social freedom and cultural continuity, his enduring commitment to scientific notions of social evolution and political governance, and his approach to the relations among war, the nation-state, the individual, and the international interstate order developed against the background of the First World War.

Is “New Culture” a Proper Translation of Xin wenhua?

For several decades, we have been witnessing a profound renewal in our understanding of the “New Culture Movement”. However, the aptness of “new culture” as a proper translation for xin wenhua 新文化 has almost never been discussed. The present paper argues that uniformly translating xin as “new” and wenhua as “culture” tends to blur the picture instead of making it clearer, for by so doing one unconsciously endorses the narrative of radical Chinese intellectuals while silencing other voices. Furthermore, the article puts forward the idea that terms such as wenhua 文化 encompassed a “multiplicity of potential readings” that have much to do with the transformation of Chinese language at the beginning of the 20th century, and with the emergence of a new conceptual repertoire. In their attempts to appropriate xin wenhua and turn it into a seemingly coherent movement with an agenda, Chinese intellectuals were fighting a war over the topic of “civilization/culture”, but also, and perhaps primarily education. Yet, by employing the term “culture” in academic writing today, we tend to produce a historical dissonance for their use of this term is not our own: we thus fall into the trap of semantic transparency, and forget that the concept of “culture” has a problematic history in both China and the West. By questioning the use of wenhua with regard to the May Fourth Movement, I provide evidence that the accepted translation of culture can be problematic if one does not clearly spell out the meaning located behind it, as the Chinese wenhua often did not mean “Chinese culture” in our modern, all too modern, anthropological sense.

Creating Public Opinion, Advancing Knowledge, Engaging in Politics: The Local Public Sphere in Chengdu, 1898–1921

Situated far from coastal cities and foreign concessions, Chengdu yields insights into the role of the local press and its specific publics in the political evolution of the late Qing and early Republic. Despite its remote location, Chengdu developed its own modern press in the late Qing, relying on print entrepreneurs and modern journalists recruited from the ranks of the local literati and traditional sociability, in particular teahouses. They all played a role in forming a modern reading public which came to understand itself as a distinct local political community in dynamic interaction with national politics and transnational networks. The local press evinced three successive but intertwined ideals of publicness: as a link between the state and the people and a vector of enlightenment, as a professional forum for public opinion and as a tool for political mobilization. In solidifying public opinion around the local community, the press served as a forum and catalyst for political activism in the 1911 Railroad Protection movement and the 1919 May Fourth movement, events which were shaped as much by local dynamics as they were by national developments.

Imagination and Memory: Inter-movement Thematic Recall in Beethoven and Brahms

Like several of his predecessors, Brahms reintroduces themes from one movement into a later one in several of his instrumental works. Historical circumstances and changing historical consciousness affected a composer's use of thematic recall. For Beethoven (per Elaine Sisman) recalling an earlier theme provided the creative stimulus to move forward to the end of a piece, in accordance with the linear concept of history that defined Beethoven's Enlightenment world view. Brahms's use of inter-movement thematic recall often expresses a more wistful and melancholy view of the past and focuses on the ability of recall to provide a dramatic narrative. In his earliest use of cyclical return, the Op. 5 Piano Sonata (1853), the Andante second movement is echoed and transformed by the ‘Ruckblick’ fourth movement, as Brahms plays on the poetic inscription of the former movement to raise the specter of lost love and mortality. In a more complex web of thematic recall, the op. 78 Violin Sonata (1878) combines allusions to a pre-existing pair of interrelated songs from his Op. 59 with a newly composed, recurring instrumental theme to create a multi-layered, somber character in the piece. Both of those works draw on an earlier, romantic sense of yearning for return. Near the end of his career, however, the quiet emergence and eventual dissipation of opening material at the close of the Op. 115 Clarinet Quintet (1891) reflects Brahms's awareness of his place at the end of an artistic tradition, and thereby conveys a post-Romantic conception of history.

The Cultural Spirit of the “May Fourth Movement” and Lu Xun’s Ambivalent Thinking

The “May Fourth Movement” is undoubtedly a turning point in the history of modern Chinese society and culture. It must be acknowledged that the direction of development of Chinese culture was largely influenced by famous Chinese writer, educator and revolutionary Lu Xun (1881–1936). The structure of Lu Xun’s ideas and the influence of Lu Xun’s ideas today have shaped the ever-living “Lu Xun’s culture”. The main essence of Lu Xun’s culture is embodied in many important judgments regarding the development of the nation, society and culture. These judgments are aimed not only at the past, but also at the future and the present. Many of his thoughts were a century ahead their time. Speaking about Lu Xun’s anti-traditionalist approach to the development of new culture, one cannot ignore the rationalistic cultural spirit of the enlightenment ideology behind it. Lu Xun’s pessimism at the beginning of the “May Fourth Movement” and the subsequent bitterness can serve as a key to understanding the cultural spirit of the “May Fourth Movement” and its logical connection with Lu Xun’s culture. Analyzing Lu Xun’s criticism of China’s unrealized democracy and his skepticism about the new culture, one can see that Lu Xun’s inner mood is shrouded in a shadow of disappointment. Moreover, until the end of his days, he was accompanied by pain caused by too sober and deep perception of life. In addition, the reason for Lu Xun’s distrust is that too often, due to his decency and simplicity, he was deceived. We believe that the spiritual world of Lu Xun has always been characterized by the presence of two levels: Lu Xun is open, throwing loud calls, and Lu Xin is hidden, suffering and lonely. At the same time, his inherent sharpness stems from a deep understanding of the situation, and his bitterness comes from a firm will and an uncompromising attitude to his views. The reason for such bitterness is due to the strength and immensity of the objects of his resistance. Lu Xun’s views have enriched the thinking of China and all mankind.