This is a stylistic study of the four versions of Liszt's Three Petrarchan Sonnets with special emphasis on the revision of poetic settings to the music. The various revisions over four versions from 1838 to 1861 reflect Liszt's artistic development as seen especially in his use of melody, harmony, tonality, color, tone painting, atmosphere, and form. His use of the voice and development of piano technique also play an important part in these sonnets. The sonnets were inexplicably linked with the fateful events in his life and were in a way an image of this most flamboyant and controversial personality. This study suggests Liszt's importance as an innovator, and his influence on later trends should not be underestimated.

This study investigates the motives behind the rhetorical strategies of rejection and acceptance used by John Bright in his four Parliamentary speeches opposing the Crimean War. Kenneth Burke's dramatistic pentad was used to evaluate the four speeches. An examination of the pentad's five elements reveals that Bright had six motives for opposing the war. To achieve his purpose in giving the speeches--to restore peace to England and the world--Bright' used the major rhetorical agencies of rejection and acceptance. Bright's act, his selection of agencies, and his purpose were all definitely influenced by the scene in which they occurred.

ABSTRACT THE FATAL LAMP AND THE NIGHTMARE AFTER CHRISTMAS: THE RICHMOND THEATRE FIRE OF 1811 By Amber Marie Martinez, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Performance A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Theatre Pedagogy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2015 Director: Dr. Noreen C. Barnes, Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Theatre “How strange a preface the loud laughter excited by a pantomime, to volumes of smoke and fire” (The American Standard, 27 December 1811). Building fires were not exactly uncommon back in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. When the church bells began to ring at any time other than Sunday morning, it usually meant a building was on fire. On the night of December 26th 1811, in the midst of a pantomime at the Richmond Theatre, a small flame licked a piece of a backdrop and set it on fire. Fed by the column of air in the hollows and passages of the theatre, and increased by the extremely flammable wood of the boxes, pit, and the canvas ceiling of the lower seats, the fire seemed "like a demon of wrath converging its hundred arms to the center of human life” (Burning of the Richmond Theatre, 1812). I will attempt to examine the night of the Richmond Theatre Fire, an event which shocked a city and soon after the country. 72 persons perished in the flames with more victims dying of their burns within the following days. Every part of the state held someone who lost a friend or relative in the disaster. People were unable to mention the catastrophe without exciting tears of grief. This thesis acts to remind us of one of the most tragic events in our country’s history by exploring the firsthand accounts of people who escaped the fire; a conflagration which fueled the course of religious transformation, aided to regulate laws of theatre buildings, and captivated a nation for a century, before being gradually forgotten over time.

The purpose of this study is to analyze four late solo piano works of Franz Liszt that all bear the name "Mephisto" in their titles, in order to examine, identify and trace the development in the use of harmonic and melodic idioms that produced non-tonal or "omnitonic" effects, on the one hand, and to emphasize the need to duly accord Liszt a recognition of historical position as the nineteenth century's most influential avant garde composer whose attitude and approach had helped to shape much of the ideal of the atonal composition of this century, on the other. Chapter One presents the issues and the purpose of this study; Chapter Two investigates the principal forces that shaped Liszt's mature compositional style; Chapter Three identifies and discusses the requisites for tonal and atonal compositions; Chapter Four analyzes the four "Mephisto" dances: Waltz no.1 (1860); Polka (1883); Waltz no.3 (1883); and Bagatelle (1885). Chapter Five summarizes the findings from this study and attempts to identify in these late works of Liszt a pattern of conscientious, continuous, purposeful and progressive use of devices toward creating musical effect that would defy the established tonal requisites and undermine the tonal orientation in the composition. This study submits that it was Liszt who had first shown a way to free music from the shackles of prescribed idiomatic constraints, and to force us the listeners to approach and appreciate music for its own sound's sake. Additionally, this study submits that this effort of Liszt should be understood and appreciated in terms of programmatic association; that is, Liszt found in the persona of Mephisto the Diablo the ideal imagery for depicting the nature of the "music of the future" where tonality would be freed from any prescribed procedural requisites.

M.A. (History) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

by Li Chi Man. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-137). / PREFACE --- p.iii / Chapter Chapter One --- PROLOGUE- THE CLASSICAL AND ROMANTIC STYLES --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter Two --- THE CONCEPT OF DIALECTICS AND TRANSCENDENCE --- p.9 / Chapter Chapter Three --- STUDY OF FRANZ LISZT'S SYMPHONIC POEMS --- p.15 / Les preludes (1848) --- p.18 / Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne (1848-9) --- p.27 / Tasso: lamento e trionfo (1849) --- p.38 / Heroide funebre (1849-50) --- p.47 / Prometheus (1850) --- p.55 / Mazeppa (1851) --- p.63 / Festklange (1853) --- p.71 / Orpheus (1853-4) --- p.79 / Hungaria(1854) --- p.86 / Hunnenschlacht (1857) --- p.95 / Die Ideale (1857) --- p.103 / Hamlet (1858) --- p.112 / Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe (1881-2) --- p.120 / Chapter Chapter Four --- EPILOGUE - SOME OBSERVATIONS --- p.128 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.134

John Humphrey Noyes was the founder of the Oneida Community, one of the most successful utopian ventures in nineteenth-century America. Early in his life, Noyes was a deep religious thinker, but he founded Oneida as an ideal society based on extending the family unit, and not as a church. Noyes's social theories eventually overwhelmed his former religious concentration. The purpose of this thesis is to locate in Noyes's religiously-oriented youth the sources of his social interests. Few scholars have studied in depth the childhood and young manhood of John Humphrey Noyes, but that is where the roots of his social theories are to be found. Noyes did write his religious autobiography, but completely passed over his formative years. Further, he never wrote the analysis of his social ideas and experiences that he had once promised. However, many of his early letters and journals have been compiled and edited by his relatives; and his immediate family left reminiscences of his youth. These works provide most of the available information on the childhood of Noyes. Large gaps in his history do exist, however. Therefore, the modern psychological theories of Erik Erikson are used to illuminate the otherwise shadowy areas of Noyes's early life.

This thesis presents an account of a prominent eighteenth-century European naturalist, Peter Pallas (1741-1811), in the setting to which he contributed his scientific talents—the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. A complete outline of Pallas' life is presented for purposes of continuity, but the heart of the thesis is presented in chapters four and five, which combined, relate the major features of Pallas' career in Russia. These two chapters are set against pertinent background material, most of which is involved with the institution itself which supported Pallas. The St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences is surveyed in its origin and development in the eighteenth century and material is presented which will outline the ups and downs of the development of academic life in Russia as well as the general milieu in which Pallas fitted. This milieu, it has been concluded, was one of lively and relatively unfettered advance in the development of science in Russia, to which Pallas contributed a great deal of stimulus by way of his widely known and respected accomplishments. The focal point of Pallas' career is represented by his Siberian expedition of 1768-1774, a momentous six-year scientific enterprise to which a central part of the research has been directed. The account of the Pallas Expedition presented here is entirely original, utilizing chiefly his own travel account and the Proceedings (Protokoly) of the Academy, from which source, in the absence of archival materials, can be gained the general content of Pallas' communications to the Academy during his absence. To add perspective, the Pallas Expedition has been set against the historical and contemporary background of Russian scientific exploration in the eighteenth century. An appendix has also been included which lists the Russian-sponsored eighteenth-century scientific expeditions. The follow-up to Pallas' expedition--the remainder of his career in St. Petersburg--is equally a central part of the study. As an academician in St. Petersburg from 1774 to 1793, Pallas was a luminary of European natural science as well as a pillar of scientific achievement in Russia. In historical terms and seen against the background of the Academy of which he was a part, Pallas’ scholarly contributions in Russia have been outlined, most of which can be explained as a consequence of his expedition. A wide selection of available secondary material has been utilized to explain Pallas’ academic career supplemented by some original research supplemented by some original research (chiefly from the Academy Proceedings) and the opportunity I have had to see and scan most of his major publications pertaining to zoology and botany, the major fields to which he contributed. Although of German background, Pallas spent most of his adult life in Russia (1767-1810). His career there forms one of the highlights of foreign scientific expeditionary achievement during the century that Russia relied almost exclusively on foreigners to establish the serious beginnings of both. His contributions--expeditionary and academically in the realm of biology--for obvious reasons are more closely connected to the Russian arena; perhaps for that reason he has failed to attract deserved notice alongside the eighteenth-century European naturalists who are now more popularly known. This thesis attempts no more than to account historically for the career of Peter Simon Pallas in Russia and to present his remarkable accomplishments. A categorized, partially annotated bibliography is appended, preceded by a bibliographic explanation.

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L'ambiguïté est la principale caractéristique de la littérature fantastique. Cette ambiguïté occupe donc une place prépondérante dans les théories du fantastique. Mais, la question est de savoir s'il existe un seul type d'ambiguïté. Afin de répondre à cette interrogation, nous avons choisi d'analyser trois nouvelles de Théophile Gautier: « La Morte amoureuse » (1836), « Le pied de momie » (1840) et « Jettatura » (1856). Ces récits se sont avérés un exemple de choix pour l'étude de l'ambiguïté parce qu'ils présentent cette dernière de deux manières différentes: d'une part, à travers le rapport que le rêve entretient avec la réalité et d'autre part, à travers celui que la superstition pourrait avoir avec le rationalisme. Ainsi avons-nous focalisé notre attention dans le premier chapitre sur les définitions du fantastique et sur la genèse de ce genre littéraire afin de rendre compte de son aspect insaisissable. Dès lors, nous avons pu relever deux types d'ambiguïtés: celle qui se rapporte au récit (l'objet du récit, les personnages et le cadre spatio-temporel) et celle qui concerne l'attitude du lecteur qui demeure partagé entre la croyance et le doute. Pour sa part, le deuxième chapitre a été consacré à l'étude de « La Morte amoureuse » et du « Pied de momie ». Cette analyse nous a permis de distinguer l'ambiguïté narrative disjonctive de l'ambiguïté narrative polysémique. Par ailleurs, en abordant le thème de la superstition dans « Jettatura », nous avons souligné l'opposition existant entre le regard funeste du protagoniste et le regard créateur de l'auteur pour démontrer que la mise en abîme de la peinture dans la littérature pouvait être employée comme un procédé de l'ambiguïté. De ce fait, grâce à l'étude des récits gautiéristes, nous sommes parvenus à prouver qu'il y avait plusieurs types d'ambiguïtés: les ambiguïtés narratives et verbales, les ambiguïtés disjonctives et polysémiques. Pourtant, au cours de notre recherche, nous n'avons évoqué que les ambiguïtés narratives. Cette étude est donc loin d'être exhaustive, elle contribue quand même à mieux comprendre la littérature fantastique puisqu'elle permet de mettre au jour la difficulté à cerner le monde réel. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Théophile Gautier, Littérature fantastique, «La Morte amoureuse », « Le pied de momie », « Jettatura », Rêve, Réalité, Rationalisme, Superstition, Ambiguïté narrative disjonctive, Ambiguïté narrative polysémique.