Thèse - Caen. / Bibliography: p. [229]-233.

Thèse - Caen. / Bibliography: p. [229]-233.

Iludens! - a concept-opera comprises conceptual essay and music portfolio. The conceptual essay explores musical, dramatic, and ritualistic aspects that qualify play as a structuring factor in culture. It aims at producing a multi-layered amalgamation of Philosophical Anthropology and Art, focusing on the strategies for creating a new piece of music - in this case, a conceptual opera (or performative oratorio). The music portfolio features several pieces composed by me throughout the doctoral period. Some pieces have a more direct connection to my doctoral research. The largest and most important one is the concept-opera Iludens, through which I developed patterns of aesthetic creation inspired by philosophical conceptions related to the notion of play. Also, as agon1 is one of the crucial aspects I was able to identify in the history of play, I have explored some agonistic features in culture and provided an interpretation of elements of conflictive interaction using the tools of contemporary concert music. The conceptual essay and the main piece of the music portfolio are intimately related. I consider music according to the Greek classic notion of mousiké, namely an entity of multiple knowledge and applications, rather than a mere craft of physical sounds.

Thesis (doctoral)--Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Bonn. / Vita. Bibliography; p. 442-444.

Thesis (doctoral)--Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Bonn. / Vita. Bibliography; p. 442-444.

abstract: During the first half of the last decade, there was a heated debate regarding what type of critical approach best suits the study of video games. Those who argued for approaches traditionally associated with narrative studies were primarily interested in video games as a new frontier for storytelling. The opposition claimed that video games are not systems for storytelling, and that applying literature and film theories to video games dismisses the interactive nature of video games as games. The argument was bitter, but ended abruptly with no clear results or consensus. Yet are narratology and ludology, the two proposed critical theories, so disparate that the use of one means the exclusion of the other? This paper suggests the possibility that narratology and ludology share more in common than critics have thus far realized. Both games and story share themes of conflict, and in focalizing on the antagonist of single-player video games it becomes possible to trace the development of conflict and how it functions in the video game medium. In analyzing antagonists and the conflict they embody, it becomes apparent that narratology and ludology are not so incompatible in their methodologies and assumptions. Finally, because video games themselves are a multifaceted medium, it is only appropriate that critics use multiple theoretical approaches in their analysis to broaden critical knowledge of how the medium functions. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. English 2012

O balé Agon é considerado o ápice da produção conjunta entre Stravinsky e o coreógrafo russo George Balanchine, e sua concepção foi repleta de descontinuidades. As ideias iniciais que motivaram a composição do balé datam de 1948, entretanto, Stravinsky começou a esboçar os primeiros rascunhos somente no final de 1953 e concluiu a obra, após algumas interrupções, em meados de 1957. Durante os anos de criação do balé, Stravinsky operou mudanças significativas em seu processo composicional, alguns movimentos remetem ao diatonismo de seu período neoclássico, enquanto outros são construídos a partir de elaborações seriais, desenvolvidas pelo compositor após o início da década de 1950. Este trabalho expõe os diferentes aspectos envolvidos na concepção do balé e, através da análise dos processos composicionais presentes na obra, busca determinar pontos de conexão em meio às referências díspares estabelecidas no diálogo entre música e dança. / The ballet Agon is considered the apex of the partnership between Stravinsky and the russian choreographer George Balanchine, and its creation was full of discontinuities. The initial ideas that motivated the composition of the ballet came up in 1948, but only in the end of 1953 Stravinsky began sketching the first drafts, and then in 1957, after some interruptions, he completed the work. During this years, Stravinsky made significant changes in his compositional process, some movements refers to the diatonicism of his neoclassical period, while others are constructed from serial elaborations, all of them developed by the composer after the 1950s. This dissertation expounds the several different aspects about the creation of the ballet and through the analysis of the compositional processes in the work, it attempts to determine the connection among the disparate references established in the dialogue between music and dance.

O balé Agon é considerado o ápice da produção conjunta entre Stravinsky e o coreógrafo russo George Balanchine, e sua concepção foi repleta de descontinuidades. As ideias iniciais que motivaram a composição do balé datam de 1948, entretanto, Stravinsky começou a esboçar os primeiros rascunhos somente no final de 1953 e concluiu a obra, após algumas interrupções, em meados de 1957. Durante os anos de criação do balé, Stravinsky operou mudanças significativas em seu processo composicional, alguns movimentos remetem ao diatonismo de seu período neoclássico, enquanto outros são construídos a partir de elaborações seriais, desenvolvidas pelo compositor após o início da década de 1950. Este trabalho expõe os diferentes aspectos envolvidos na concepção do balé e, através da análise dos processos composicionais presentes na obra, busca determinar pontos de conexão em meio às referências díspares estabelecidas no diálogo entre música e dança. / The ballet Agon is considered the apex of the partnership between Stravinsky and the russian choreographer George Balanchine, and its creation was full of discontinuities. The initial ideas that motivated the composition of the ballet came up in 1948, but only in the end of 1953 Stravinsky began sketching the first drafts, and then in 1957, after some interruptions, he completed the work. During this years, Stravinsky made significant changes in his compositional process, some movements refers to the diatonicism of his neoclassical period, while others are constructed from serial elaborations, all of them developed by the composer after the 1950s. This dissertation expounds the several different aspects about the creation of the ballet and through the analysis of the compositional processes in the work, it attempts to determine the connection among the disparate references established in the dialogue between music and dance.

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the often tumultuous relationship between Friedrich Nietzsche and democracy. Nietzsche has always had an antipathy towards democracy. Nietzsche has claimed that democracy espouses a will to equality which levels the greatest men along with the most average men. For Nietzsche, his Ubermenschen must emerge from the muddle of mediocrity and similitude in order to set themselves apart from the herd. The herd is more than happy to live in a democratic society since no one will be rendered better or greater than anyone else. I argue that Nietzsche does not realize democracy's many assets. Liberal democracy could very well be the best political springboard for his Ubermenschen. For Nietzsche, higher culture emerges in spite of modernity's leveling snare. These great men engage in contests. They create their own rules and values. They say what they like. In a fascist society, these men would never be allowed to do as they please. One benefit of liberal democracy is that we are given the right to dissent. We are given the right to express ourselves. Democracy could facilitate the emergence of the elusive Ubermenschen. These are men who transcend the average and the ordinary. In this dissertation I begin by exploring Nietzsche's cultural criticisms. He devotes a great deal of energy condemning modernity and its leveling tendencies. Out of the cultural morass that is modernity comes this higher culture of which Nietzsche speaks highly. In chapter two, I argue that higher culture must begin with the individual. I will examine what it takes for a man to be able to transcend his mediocre culture. In chapter three, I examine the contemporary political climate and try to determine whether these great individuals could emerge in such a climate. Finally, in chapter four I examine which political system could best help this culture emerge. I argue that liberal democracy is the best environment for these higher men.

Inaug.-Diss.--Kiel. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.