Thesis--Musicology--Cambridge (Mass.)--Harvard univ., 1996. / Bibliogr. p. 418-430.

This four movement cantata is scored for solo mezzo-soprano, chamber chorus, and large chamber ensemble. The text that is set in this piece is an amalgamation of adaptations of three poems by Walt Whitman (Proud Music of the Storm; That Music Always Round Me; Darest Thou Now, O Soul) and a poem by W.B. Yeats (The Everlasting Voices), from which the work derives its name. The piece depicts a journey of the soul from a place of intellectual and spiritual barrenness to a place of enlightenment and fulfillment, aided by musical forces of the universe. These forces, embodied by the chorus and chamber ensemble, seek out a despairing human soul, embodied by the solo mezzo-soprano. The musical forces infuse themselves into the soul, which is then empowered to not only understand the musical art but to explore the depths of humanity and to fully connect with the universe.

In this research I challenged myself in order to achieve a better understanding of singing coloratura and searched for different techniques that would help me on the way. I found that for me there are five key elements that I explored further : energy, connection and clarity of sound, avoiding the tension, column of air and patience.

In the West, operas in Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Russian are the best known in collegiate and professional classical music settings. Given the changes in social climate in recent decades, however, attention is being given to the study and performance of under-represented minorities. There have been operas composed in the West on Asian topics, but one does not yet hear operas in Asian languages programmed as part of a regular season in major opera houses in the United States. The challenge for Western singers is threefold: access to the music, reading and pronouncing the language, and understanding the nuance of the rich Chinese culture in the libretto. This study presents the following five arias: "We Have to Be Apart," from The Dawns Here Are Quiet (这里的黎明静悄悄) by Tang Jianping; "The Daughter of Yimeng" and "Milk, Tears and Blood," from The Mountain of Yimeng (沂蒙山) by Luan Kai; "Forgetting Everything While Turning," from Saying Goodbye to Cambridge Again (再别康桥) by Zhou Xue Shi; and "Lullaby," from the opera The Orphan of Zhao (赵氏孤儿) by Lei Lei. It includes a brief biographical introduction to the composer and librettist for each opera, a synopsis of the plot, a description of the character singing the aria, transcriptions and romanizations of the text, IPA, word-by-word and poetic translations, translations of all musical directions in the score written only in Chinese, explanations of the cultural context, and vocal recommendations for performance. The purpose of the current dissertation is to study five arias for mezzo-soprano from Chinese operas with a view to making them accessible to Western singers.

Snowfall is a prominent component of the Earth’s hydrologic cycle. Global observations of snowfall are essential for the monitoring of the status of the Earth system, and because of their wide coverage, nowadays, remote sensing instruments are fundamental tools in the measurement of precipitation. The principal uncertainty in the interpretation of radar data are the scattering properties of the hydrometeors which are strictly connected to their microphysical characteristics. The presented study propose a comprehensive approach that analyze the all snow physical characteristics: single particle modeling, snowfall automatic microphysical retrieval, scattering simulations and remote sensing. A state of the art snow aggregation algorithm (SAM) has been implemented to model the snowflake accurate morphology, simulating the basic physical governing phenomena of snow formation and growth. The algorithm has been further extended to model the initial stage of snowflake melting. The snowflake models are used as input of computer scattering simulations. The analysis of the radiative properties obtained with the spherical models and the complex aggregated particles produced by SAM shows that the former are inadequate to represent the scattering characteristics of large aggregated particles. An innovative methodology has been developed to automatically estimate the mean snow mass-size relation using particle size distribution, velocity fits, snow accumulation and Rayleigh radar reflectivity. The radar reflectivities at Ka and W band simulated with T-matrix spheroidal models and using the retrieved mass-dimensional relation cannot match the observation. When the same simulation is performed with the usage of DDA scattering calculations the results reproduce better the observed radar reflectivities. This outcome gives validity to both the microphysical and the scattering model. A multi-perspective approach, that simultaneously include the microphysical and scattering simulation of snowflake properties, is the way forward to solve the uncertainties related to snowfall remote sensing.

abstract: This fifteen-minute cyclical mass uses excerpts from the text of the Mass Ordinary and is laid out into five movements and across three different languages: Kyrie (Latin), Gloria (Chinese), Credo (English), Sanctus (Chinese), and Agnus Dei (Latin). Rather than following the tradition of celebrating devotion, this mass tells the story of the abuse of power in political and religious leadership. Movements sung in Latin represent the devout Christian base whose motives and inspiration remain pure and divine. The English movement, Credo, has been altered from the original and represents the manipulation and distortion of scripture, truth, and facts by self-serving leaders and politicians. Finally, Chinese movements represent those who are persecuted for their convictions and their identity. The turmoil of the Chinese movements is characterized by atonality and fast tempos with contrasting, meditative, lyrical B sections. The outer Latin movements contain the familiar Kyrie and Agnus Dei texts in triple canon with the orchestra. The English middle movement is simultaneously familiar and awkward, with harmonies that almost function, under an altered Credo text. After an aria-like passage, the orchestra takes the “I believe” figure and manipulates it in a modal fugato, culminating in a climactic version of the main motive. A repeated double-dotted quarter note—sixteenth-note rhythm followed by a fast tremolo in the castanets make up the central “bangu motive.” This motive is derived from traditional Beijing Opera, in which the bangu is the principal percussion element. As a rhythmic motive, fragments of it appear in every movement and in several different instrument groups. These fragments undergo various transformations before a version of it arrives as the final Agnus Dei rhythmic figure. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Music 2018

This thesis tackles the problem of the automated detection of the atmospheric boundary layer (BL) height, h, from aerosol lidar/ceilometer observations. A new method, the Bayesian Selective Method (BSM), is presented. It implements a Bayesian statistical inference procedure which combines in an statistically optimal way different sources of information. Firstly atmospheric stratification boundaries are located from discontinuities in the ceilometer back-scattered signal. The BSM then identifies the discontinuity edge that has the highest probability to effectively mark the BL height. Information from the contemporaneus physical boundary layer model simulations and a climatological dataset of BL height evolution are combined in the assimilation framework to assist this choice. The BSM algorithm has been tested for four months of continuous ceilometer measurements collected during the BASE:ALFA project and is shown to realistically diagnose the BL depth evolution in many different weather conditions. Then the BASE:ALFA dataset is used to investigate the boundary layer structure in stable conditions. Functions from the Obukhov similarity theory are used as regression curves to fit observed velocity and temperature profiles in the lower half of the stable boundary layer. Surface fluxes of heat and momentum are best-fitting parameters in this exercise and are compared with what measured by a sonic anemometer. The comparison shows remarkable discrepancies, more evident in cases for which the bulk Richardson number turns out to be quite large. This analysis supports earlier results, that surface turbulent fluxes are not the appropriate scaling parameters for profiles of mean quantities in very stable conditions. One of the practical consequences is that boundary layer height diagnostic formulations which mainly rely on surface fluxes are in disagreement to what obtained by inspecting co-located radiosounding profiles.

No description available.

The quality of temperature and humidity retrievals from the infrared SEVIRI sensors on the geostationary Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellites is assessed by means of a one dimensional variational algorithm. The study is performed with the aim of improving the spatial and temporal resolution of available observations to feed analysis systems designed for high resolution regional scale numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. The non-hydrostatic forecast model COSMO (COnsortium for Small scale MOdelling) in the ARPA-SIM operational configuration is used to provide background fields. Only clear sky observations over sea are processed. An optimised 1D–VAR set-up comprising of the two water vapour and the three window channels is selected. It maximises the reduction of errors in the model backgrounds while ensuring ease of operational implementation through accurate bias correction procedures and correct radiative transfer simulations. The 1D–VAR retrieval quality is firstly quantified in relative terms employing statistics to estimate the reduction in the background model errors. Additionally the absolute retrieval accuracy is assessed comparing the analysis with independent radiosonde and satellite observations. The inclusion of satellite data brings a substantial reduction in the warm and dry biases present in the forecast model. Moreover it is shown that the retrieval profiles generated by the 1D–VAR are well correlated with the radiosonde measurements. Subsequently the 1D–VAR technique is applied to two three–dimensional case–studies: a false alarm case–study occurred in Friuli–Venezia–Giulia on the 8th of July 2004 and a heavy precipitation case occurred in Emilia–Romagna region between 9th and 12th of April 2005. The impact of satellite data for these two events is evaluated in terms of increments in the integrated water vapour and saturation water vapour over the column, in the 2 meters temperature and specific humidity and in the surface temperature. To improve the 1D–VAR technique a method to calculate flow–dependent model error covariance matrices is also assessed. The approach employs members from an ensemble forecast system generated by perturbing physical parameterisation schemes inside the model. The improved set–up applied to the case of 8th of July 2004 shows a substantial neutral impact.

High-frequency seismograms contain features that reflect the random inhomogeneities of the earth. In this work I use an imaging method to locate the high contrast small- scale heterogeneity respect to the background earth medium. This method was first introduced by Nishigami (1991) and than applied to different volcanic and tectonically active areas (Nishigami, 1997, Nishigami, 2000, Nishigami, 2006). The scattering imaging method is applied to two volcanic areas: Campi Flegrei and Mt. Vesuvius. Volcanic and seismological active areas are often characterized by complex velocity structures, due to the presence of rocks with different elastic properties. I introduce some modifications to the original method in order to make it suitable for small and highly complex media. In particular, for very complex media the single scattering approximation assumed by Nishigami (1991) is not applicable as the mean free path becomes short. The multiple scattering or diffusive approximation become closer to the reality. In this thesis, differently from the ordinary Nishigami’s method (Nishigami, 1991), I use the mean of the recorded coda envelope as reference curve and calculate the variations from this average envelope. In this way I implicitly do not assume any particular scattering regime for the "average" scattered radiation, whereas I consider the variations as due to waves that are singularly scattered from the strongest heterogeneities. The imaging method is applied to a relatively small area (20 x 20 km), this choice being justified by the small length of the analyzed codas of the low magnitude earthquakes. I apply the unmodified Nishigami’s method to the volcanic area of Campi Flegrei and compare the results with the other tomographies done in the same area. The scattering images, obtained with frequency waves around 18 Hz, show the presence of high scatterers in correspondence with the submerged caldera rim in the southern part of the Pozzuoli bay. Strong scattering is also found below the Solfatara crater, characterized by the presence of densely fractured, fluid-filled rocks and by a strong thermal anomaly. The modified Nishigami’s technique is applied to the Mt. Vesuvius area. Results show a low scattering area just below the central cone and a high scattering area around it. The high scattering zone seems to be due to the contrast between the high rigidity body located beneath the crater and the low rigidity materials located around it. The central low scattering area overlaps the hydrothermal reservoirs located below the central cone. An interpretation of the results in terms of geological properties of the medium is also supplied, aiming to find a correspondence of the scattering properties and the geological nature of the material. A complementary result reported in this thesis is that the strong heterogeneity of the volcanic medium create a phenomenon called "coda localization". It has been verified that the shape of the seismograms recorded from the stations located at the top of the volcanic edifice of Mt. Vesuvius is different from the shape of the seismograms recorded at the bottom. This behavior is justified by the consideration that the coda energy is not uniformly distributed within a region surrounding the source for great lapse time.