Transcript Slide 1

The Importance of Richard Wagner
by Karen DiYanni (76)
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Karen Elizabeth DiYanni and Ned King Peterson were
married yesterday (June 3, 2007) in New York. Msgr.
(abbr. for Monsei’gneur or Mon’signor) Thomas Leonard
performed the ceremony at the Roman Catholic Church of
St. Vincent Ferrer.
The bride, 34, will continue to use her name professionally.
She is a violinist and a member of the New York Pops, and
has performed with the Orchestra of St. Luke's and the
Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, and on Broadway in the
orchestra for ''The Producers.''
She graduated from the Peabody Institute of Johns
Hopkins and received a master's in music and an artist's
diploma from Yale University.
Msgr. Stands for
http://dictionary.reference.com/
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Monsei’gneur
a french title of honor
given to princes,
bishops, and other
persons of eminence.
a person bearing this
title.
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Mon’signor
a title conferred upon
certain prelates, an
e’cclesi’astic of a high
order, as an archbishop,
bishop, etc.; a church
dignitary. .
a person bearing this
title.
Professor’s Daughter
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She is the daughter of Mary
Hammond DiYanni and
Robert J. DiYanni of
Bedford, N.Y. Her father is
the director of international
services at the College
Board, which is in New York,
and is a humanities
professor at New York
University. Her mother is a
high school mathematics
and science teacher at the
New York School for the
Deaf in White Plains.
Karl Marx
(May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883)
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a German philosopher,
political economist, historian,
political theorist, sociologist,
communist, and
revolutionary, whose ideas
are credited as the
foundation of modern
communism. Marx
summarized his approach in
the first line of chapter one
of The Communist
Manifesto, published in
1848: "The history of all
hitherto existing society is
the history of class
struggles."
Surplus Value
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"The production of surplus
value," from Karl Marx’s
'Capital' in ‘Lithographs, by
Hugo Gellert, 1934
li·’thog·ra·phy is
the art or process of
producing a picture, writing,
or the like, on a flat,
specially prepared stone,
with some greasy or oily
substance, and of taking ink
impressions from this as in
ordinary printing.
Inequality in Distribution
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Surplus value is a concept used famously
by Karl Marx in his critique of political
economy. It refers roughly to that part of the
new value created by production which is
claimed by enterprises as "ge’neric gross
profit". Marx argues its ultimate source is
unpaid surplus labor performed by the worker
for the capitalist, and that the surplus-value is
the primary basis for capital accumulation.
Friedrich Nietzsche
(October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900)
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a 19th-century German
philosopher and
classical philologist. He
wrote critical texts on
religion, morality,
contemporary culture,
philosophy and science,
using a distinctive style
and displaying a
fondness for metaphor,
irony and aphorism.
Übermensch (Overman, Superman),
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Nietzsche's influence remains substantial
within and beyond philosophy, notably in
existentialism and postmodernism. His style
and radical questioning of the value and
objectivity of truth have resulted in much
commentary and interpretation, mostly in the
continental tradition. His key ideas include the
death of God, perspectivism, the Übermensch
(Overman, Superman), the eternal
recurrence, and the will to power.
Richard Wagner
22 May 1813, ‘Leipzig – 13 February 1883
a city in E central Germany
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a German composer,
conductor, theatre director
and essayist, primarily
known for his operas (or
"music dramas", as they
were later called).
Unlike most other opera
composers, Wagner wrote
both the music and li’bretto,
the text or words of an
opera or similar extended
musical composition, for
every one of his works.
Gesamtkunstwerk ("total artwork")
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He transformed musical thought through his
idea of Gesamtkunstwerk ("total artwork"),
the synthesis of all the poetic, visual, musical
and dramatic arts, epitomized by his
monumental four-opera cycle Der Ring des
Nibelungen (1876). To try to stage these
works as he imagined them, Wagner built his
own opera house, the Bayreuth
Festspielhaus.
Stylistic Features
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Wagner's compositions, particularly those of
his later period, are notable for their complex
texture, rich chro’mati’cism--involving the
sharpening or flattening of notes or the use
of such notes in chords and harmonic
progressions--harmonies and orchestration,
and elaborate use of leitmotifs: musical
themes associated with particular characters,
lo’cales or plot elements.
Ludwig van Beethoven
(Baptized 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827)
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a German composer
and pianist. He was a
crucial figure in the
transitional period
between the Classical
and Romantic eras in
Western classical music,
and remains one of the
most acclaimed and
influential composers of
all time.
‘Epigraph
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An Epigraph is an inscription, esp. on a
building, statue, or the like.
Notice how the author begins her paper
with an epigraph, which suggests, in a
nutshell, the argument she will make in
the paper overall.
Arthur Schopenhauer
(22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860)
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German philosopher
known for his
atheistic pessimism
and philosophical
clarity.
desires can never be fulfilled
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Schopenhauer's most influential work, The
World as Will and Representation,
emphasized the role of man's basic
motivation, which Schopenhauer called will.
His analysis of will led him to the conclusion
that emotional, physical, and sexual desires
can never be fulfilled. Consequently, he
favored a lifestyle of negating human desires,
similar to the teachings of ancient Greek Stoic
philosophers, Buddhism, and Ve’danta.
Human nature is divine
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Vedanta is based on two simple
propositions:
Human nature is divine.
The aim of human life is to realize that
human nature is divine.
Buddhism
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Buddhism originated in India around the end of the
6th century BCE.
This period is sometimes known as the Axial Age.
Around this same time, major philosophical figures
lived in several parts of the world;
It was the age of Confucius (Confucianism) and Laozi
(Daoism or Taoism) in China;
This was the age of the great Greek philosophers,
including Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle;
In India, this was the period when the Buddha
developed his ideas.
‘Sakyamuni
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The founder of Buddhism is known by
several names.
He was a prince in one of the many royal
families living in what is now northern India
and southern Nepal;
His given name was Si’ddhartha, and he
was also called ‘Gautama;
He is sometimes known as ‘Sakyamuni,
which means “the light of the Sakya family.”
the Four Noble Truths
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The teachings of the Buddhism are fairly simple and
straightforward.
The key to his enlightenment is the realization of the
nature of suffering.
Suffering is part of the normal life of people;
Suffering arises from our attachment to things;
If we wish to be free of suffering, we must liberate
ourselves from our attachments;
There is a way to do this through meditation and
renunciation;
These are the Four Noble Truths;
The appearance of permanence
in things is an illusion
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Buddhism denies the permanence of phenomena;
All things arise and pass away; everything has a
beginning and an end;
The appearance of permanence in things is an
illusion; sometimes called maya;
This does not mean, as is sometimes said, that
nothing is real, merely that no reality is permanent;
Because all things pass away, attachment to them
can yield only suffering;
Therefore, the way to free oneself from suffering is
to realize and accept the impermanence of all
things, including oneself;
Johann Sebastian Bach
(31 March 1685 – 28 July 1750)
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a German composer,
organist, harpsichordist,
violist, and violinist
whose ecclesiastical and
secular works for choir,
orchestra, and solo
instruments drew
together the strands of
the Baroque period and
brought it to its ultimate
maturity.
Harpsichord and Baroque
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‘Harpsi’chord
A keyboard
instrument whose
strings are plucked
by means of quills or
plectrums
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the Baroque period
an artistic style
prevalent from the late
16th century to the
early 18th century.
It is most often defined
as the dominant style of
art in Europe between
the Mannerist and
Rococo eras, a style
characterized by
dynamic movement,
overt emotion and selfconfident rhetoric.
George Frideric Handel
(23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759)
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a German-English
Baroque composer
who is famous for
his operas,
oratorios, and
concertos.
Major Works and Influence
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His works include Messiah, Water Music,
and Music for the Royal Fireworks. He
was strongly influenced by the
techniques of the great composers of
the Italian Baroque and the English
composer Henry Purcell. Handel's music
was well-known to many composers,
including Haydn, Mozart, and
Beethoven.
Jo’hannes Brahms
(7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897)
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a German composer and
pianist, one of the leading
musicians of the Romantic
period.
Brahms's popularity and
influence were considerable;
following a comment by the
nineteenth-century
conductor Hans von Bülow,
he is sometimes grouped
with Johann Sebastian Bach
and Ludwig van Beethoven
as one of the Three Bs in
Vienna.