Several Stories from Sergei Prokofiev's Correspondence

Прокофьевская переписка громадна, ее населяет неисчислимая персоналия. В контактах с непохожими друг на друга корреспондентами оттачивалось богатство проявлений собственного «я» композитора, структурировалась коммуникативная многогранность, вырабатывался баланс между упражнениями в дипломатичности и соблазнами тиранства. На страницах его корреспонденции живут люди знаменитые и никому не известные. Новый материал создает смысловые акценты разной природы: выделяются некоторые черты личности Прокофьева, появляются неожиданные сведения фактологического характера, в непривычном свете предстают факторы творческие. Каждодневная жизнь концертирующего музыканта, гастроли и непременные трудности, сопровождающие их, - главная тема многих прокофьевских писем. Корреспонденты Прокофьева в этой подборке: директор Российского музыкального издательства, в котором публиковались сочинения композитора, Гавриил Григорьевич Пайчадзе; замечательный художник, нарисовавший непривычного Прокофьева, Яков Наумович Милькин; выдающийся пианист и дирижер Александр Ильич Зилоти; знаменитая арфистка Ксения Александровна Эрдели; офицер Белой армии и агент НКВД Сергей Яковлевич Эфрон; невестка Льва Николаевича Толстого Софья Николаевна; именитый советский художник Пётр Петрович Кончаловский. Цель работы - осветить неизвестные страницы прокофьевской жизни в Европе, США и СССР в 1920-е - первой половине 1930-х годов. Prokofiev's correspondence is enormous; it is inhabited by innumerabLe personaLities. The muLtifaceted nature of inner-seLf of composer was reveaLed in his Letters, which dispLay a great diversity in styLe, to different peopLe wherein he strove to baLance between dipLomacy and tendency to tyranny. PeopLe famous and unknown are present on the pages of Prokofiev's correspondence. A new materiaL gives new accents of different nature, varied perspectives in his Letters: unknown information emerge, unwonted human characteristics are discovered, even new artisticaL principLes and some creative aspects become known in unaccustomed ways. Everyday Life of the musician, his concert trips and many troubLes which accompany such trips, are the centraL topic of many among the Prokofiev's Letters. Prokofiev's correspondents in this compiLation are director of the Russian MusicaL Edition where his works had been pubLished - GavriiL Grigorievich Paichadze; outstanding painter made one of the most unusuaL Prokofiev's portraits Yakov Naumovich MiLkin; great pianist and conductor ALexander IL'ich ZiLoti; famous harpist Ksenia ALeksandrovna ErdeLi; Sergey YakovLevich Efron - white army officer, NKVD agent; Lev Nikolaevich ToLstoy's ex'daughter-in-Law Sofia NikoLaevna; famous Soviet painter Piotr Petrovich KonchaLovsky. The main goaL of this work is to highLight some previousLy unknown passages of Prokofiev's Life. AdditionaLLy, unpubLished Letters offer new information about the cuLturaL and artistic processes in Europe, the USA and the USSR in the 1920s and earLy 1930s.

Cerebral Tuberculosis in an Active-duty Military Officer That Led to Tinnitus From a TB Brain Abscess; A Case Report; Case Report.

Tuberculosis has been a pertinent public health problem for both developing and developed nations. For developed nations, military personal has the higher risk since they do travel to developing nations to embark on their duties. Cerebral tuberculosis is rare and if they occur, they tend to manifest as either meningitis or tuberculoma. Tinnitus is more likely in men particularly persons exposed to loud noises along with other causes. We present a case of cerebral tuberculosis induced tinnitus in a 26-year-old male army officer who presented with a one-week episode of convulsive crises and loss of consciousness after being exposed to a loud noise while on duty. Cranial MRI showed right temporo-parietal and left parietal finger-like hyper-signals with edema on Flair and T2. However, brain CT-scan showed right parieto-temporal and left parietal sub cortical hypodensities and finger-like borders without contrast re-uptake. There was strong suspicion for TB brain abscess leading to a possible manifestation of tinnitus in this patient.Case presentationA 26-year-old male army officer presented with chief complaints of convulsive crisis and loss of consciousness when he heard a loud noise while on duty. He fell to the ground and was found unconscious and drooling by a colleague. He was immediately transferred by non-medical means to our hospital for management. The patient experienced rigidity as well as uncontrolled muscle spasms leading to jerky motions which lasted for about one to two minutes and occurred two hours before admission in a non-febrile context. The convulsive crises occurred two hours prior to admission in a non-febrile state. The patient was then worked up for review of systems (ROS)- SpO2 was 98%; RR was 24 cpm, BP = 125/91 mmHg, Pulse =103 bpm, Glasgow coma scale = 15/15, isochoric iso-reactive pupils, blood sugar = 1,11 g/l; Temperature = 37°C. No motor or sensitive deficits, no meningeal signs, no former convulsive crisis, there was symmetry for chest movements, no signs of respiratory distress, resonant percussion sounds. Also, there was no urine incontinence, dysuria, scrotal swelling and external genitalia deformations. No peripheral lymph nodes (cervical, axillary, inguinal) were palpable.Upon checking the labs, WBC: 5.05, HGB: 12.4 g/l, PLT: 313,000 electrolyte panel reveals all normal except moderate hypomagnesemia. HIV 1 and 2 serology was negative, Cardiovascular examination shows PPP, audible heart sounds at all four auscultation points, no MGR and RRR. On respiratory exam; there were no signs of distress, no tracheal deviation, resonant to percussion, CTAB and no CVAT. On abdominal exam; no HSM and normal bowel movement and sounds. Finally, Neurological; no acute distress (NAD), AAOx3, CN 2-12 intact, MME is normal, recall is 3/3, coordination and concentration intact, follows command and no motor or sensory deficits. Did bronchi fibroscopy along with broncho-alveolar lavage, in search of TB by PCR.ConclusionTinnitus remains the second most prevalent service-connected disability. Patients with cerebral TB abscess are at increased risk for this condition.

Elmer, the army officer in Peru©

Gangrene is always considered untreatable and can only be stopped by amputation. Often the surgery fails to remove all the infection and more of the limb has to be cut off. This is a report about stopping gangrene with a non-invasive treatment taking only a few minutes and not using any drugs.

The Battlefield as Enlightened Space: War, the Senses, and the Emotional Soldier, ca. 1790–1840

The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars produced a new generation of military authors and artists who recounted their wartime experiences with unprecedented vividness and immediacy. Exploring the intense conflict and suffering of men at war while also underscoring their virtue and heroism, this work typifies what has come to be known as “military Enlightenment.” This essay examines a selection of military texts and images that represent soldiers’ sensory and emotional experience of the wartime spaces of battlefield and bivouac: the anonymous Journal Kept in the British Army (1796), L. T. Jones's Historical Journal of the British Campaign on the Continent (1797), the work of the army officer and historian William Napier (1785–1860), and the Waterloo images of the army officer and painter George “Waterloo” Jones (1786–1869) presented the wider British public with a complex understanding of war. Even as they represented battlefield violence and death with visceral intensity, they understood battlefield space itself to be grounded in affective practices associated with enlightened modes of virtue, sensibility, and civility. There the chaos and horror of conflict gave way to duty, order, civility, and community, and the distinctions of rank were maintained, even as the common humanity of officers and their men was affirmed.

Defending the Dardanelles: Cevat Paşa, ‘The Hero of 18 March’

Cevat Paşa (General Cevat Çobanlı: 1870-1938) was an Ottoman Army officer who played a decisive role in the defence of the Dardanelles Strait against the Allied offensive during the First World War. He had been primarily responsible for the preparation and improvement of defensive plans as the commander of the Çanakkale Fortified Zone, as well as the implementation of these plans during the Allied naval assault of 19 February-18 March 1915. The ultimate failure of the offensive was mainly due to the careful planning and successful execution of defensive measures under the command of Cevat Paşa.