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Three Scenes in Dreamland is a 17-minute piece for mixed choir and instrumental ensemble. It consists of three movements: "Crystal Sky," "The Chanting Light" and "The Field Where I Was Born, Where I Died." Each movement uses a particular combination of the available instruments. The work is inspired by various aspects of Chinese culture and Buddhism, and certain possibilities of combining Western and non-Western musical elements are explored over the course of the three movements.

Thesis--Brandeis University. / "A thematic index of Cesti's cantatas": leaves 106-159. "A selection of Cesti's cantatas": score (leaves 160-248). Includes bibliographical references.

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Thesis (D.M.A.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2999-01-01

In this dissertation I explore social identity, secularism, and Indian Muslims' conceptions and experiences of living in a secular state while debating among themselves the meanings of ethical Muslim selfhood. Through participant observation and interviews based on over 15months of intensive field research, undertaken in a predominantly Muslim area of south-east Mumbai, my research focused on two groups of Muslim men--middle-class entrepreneurs and householders in their early to mid thirties, and senior students, from their late teens to early twenties, from a madrasa (Islamic seminary) attached to a prominent mosque in the city. Owing to its complex and intense dynamism, I also emphasize the city as an important agent in shaping everyday life. The core of my work is to explore secular life and secularism, central to India's liberal conception of itself as a pluralist democracy, that emerge through the lived experiences of Muslim men engaging with various daily pressures and transactions in an intensely dynamic urban context while trying to maintain a self understood to be ethical in terms of an inherited Islamic tradition. In discussing everyday phenomena such as piety and religious authority, gender, childraising, popular culture, personal and professional pursuits and ethical conduct, I demonstrate that the ostensibly `religious' domain of Islam is not necessarily the only, or even primary, basis for achieving selfhood for even those who identify as observant and devout Muslims. Rather, I argue, the religious domain of Islam in this context is defined as such and intersected by discourses and practices of the self as a political and economic agent, that is, a self defined in terms of political modernity. Thus this dissertation also contributes to the current anthropological rethinking of categories like `religion', `secularism', and `politics' in relation to social processes and subjects: a series of projects that are related, in the Indian context, to modernity and liberal conceptions of statehood, sovereignty, and personhood. A major conclusion of this work is that while most Indian Muslims have largely internalized (and accept) the liberal differentiation of politics and religion, the modern secular project in India nevertheless remains incomplete.

Cette étude porte sur une tradition picturale méconnue, celle des Liumin tu (portraits d’errants, de mendiants, etc.), et se propose d’analyser et de définir ce genre avant qu’il ne sombre dans l’oubli général. Cette tradition se rattache à l’œuvre de Zheng Xia (1041-1119) qui, en 1074, soumit au trône un mémoire accompagné d’une peinture représentant les victimes d’une famine, pour demander des secours et dénoncer l’origine politique de la crise. La première partie de ce travail est consacrée au prototype du genre et à sa postérité directe : les mémoires illustrés, produits à partir de l’époque Ming par des fonctionnaires. Nous nous sommes interrogée sur les procédés employés pour décrire et mettre en image la catastrophe et ses victimes, mais aussi sur les fonctions de ces ouvrages et leurs modalités de transmission. Au XVIe siècle, apparaissent également des peintures qui présentent, à côté des réfugiés, des mendiants et d’autres déclassés. Au moins deux grands types émergent : les œuvres qui s’attachent à souligner les souffrances de ces gens, et celles les dépeignant dans des situations comiques ou grotesques. Dans la deuxième puis la troisième partie, nous suivons parallèlement le développement de ces deux traditions aux époques Ming et Qing. Il est apparu que si certaines œuvres décrivent les misères de ces chemineaux pour indigner et émouvoir le spectateur, comme les mémoires illustrés, d’autres présentent les maux de la société à travers ces personnages. Les peintres pouvaient combiner ces deux niveaux de commentaire dans une même œuvre et tenir plusieurs discours, suivant les situations auxquelles ils étaient confrontés et le public auquel ils s’adressaient. / This dissertation focuses on a neglected tradition in Chinese painting known as Liumin tu (images of refugees, beggars, etc.), and proposes to define and analyze this genre, lifting it from general oblivion. This tradition is associated with Zheng Xia, who, in 1074, submitted a memorial to the throne along with a painting of disaster refugees in order to request assistance and denounce the misguided politics of the time. The first part of this study is devoted to the genre’s prototype and to a selected group of illustrated memorials produced by officials during the Ming and Qing period. The examples analyzed prompt an inquiry into the methods used to describe and paint disasters and their victims, the functions of these works, and their modes of transmission. In the 16th century, paintings appear that also present, alongside refugees, beggars and other street characters. At least two types emerge during this era: paintings endeavoring to highlight the plight of these people, and those depicting them in comic or grotesque situations. The second and third parts of this dissertation follow the developments of these two latter genres. It emerges that, while some works deploy the misery of these vagrants to move the viewer and fill him with indignation, as the illustrated memorials do, others instead aim to portray the ills of society through these same characters: beggars symbolizing those who beg for favors; blind people serving as a metaphor for people blinded by power and glory, and so on. Painters could combine these two levels of commentary in the same work and take different stances, depending on the situations they faced and the public they addressed.

Important tenets of Enlightenment thought, specifically natural theology and philosophical naturalism, mark both the libretto and certain aspects of the music of Haydn's Creation. The opening chapters of the dissertation establish the philosophical, historical, literary, and musical milieu as shaped by leading thinkers of the period. Influences of important precursors are discussed, including Milton's Paradise Lost and earlier "creation" oratorios. The libretto of Creation, through its revisionist treatment of the biblical account of creation, reflects a shift from the orthodox Christian, apologetic perspective of Handelian oratorio toward a deistic representation of biblical truth. Paralleling this shift away from theological orthodoxy is The Creation's departure from the contrapuntal textures of Baroque oratorio--associated by James Webster and Hermann Danuser with the element of the musical "sublime"--to a pluralistic musical palette including elements from secular genres such as opera and symphony. These parallel shifts move the work toward naturalism. The Creation's ultimate message is one of Enlightenment optimism produced by the oratorio's religious tolerance--demonstrated by the omission of the Fall narrative--and musical eclecticism. Musical inclusivity is conveyed by a mixture of styles and conventions that cross normative standards for setting sacred texts. The analysis of text-music relationships in Creation builds on theoretical constructs of Danuser and Kramer, focusing on smaller- to larger-level musical sections that demonstrate the contrast in style and values represented by the sublime and idyllic. Both texts and music of The Creation elevate values of naturalism while simultaneously "rescinding" the sublime element into the beautiful or "idyllic." Concluding chapters focus on reception history of The Creation in both Austria and England, Haydn's two target audiences for the work.

Writing fiction within a feminist framework is a helpful way in bringing up women’s issues to a wider readership that is not necessarily familiar with feminist scholarship. Through creative narrative an author can dispel misunderstandings, correct misconceptions and represent underrepresented women who have been rendered invisible or pushed to the margins by hegemonic discourses. My novella tells the story of a group of Muslim women doing community work in Turkey. Navigating their way in contemporary Turkey, these women dispel the upheld literary stereotypes of Muslim women. Through their work and dedication, these women show that they are not victims of a suppressive religion, or escapees from an oppressive culture. Instead they see themselves as participants in a noble cause for the benefit of the wider society. The impetus for their service is drawn from the main sources of their religion: Quran and the example of the prophet Muhammad.

Even in our secular age, the sacred continues to be a powerful cognitive space in the landscape of the imagination. I am a Roman Catholic and amongst those who struggle to exist both in the structured universe of the sacred, and the contemporary plurality of the city. The mystery of the incarnation provides a theological argument for the indwelling of the Spirit in creation through time. With the advent of secularism however, it is possible to conceive of a time outside the sacred. Tension within theology in academia, faith in politics, or religion in a pluralistic society, reveals a boundary between our beliefs and our public face which becomes a rigid barrier – distinct as the private and public. Conflicting temporal structures of the sacred and secular give definition to this divide. Architecture has historically placed itself as interlocutor, negotiating complex thresholds in order to engage meaning. Contemporary sacred architecture, however, has avoided confrontation with the public realm. Thick edges distinguish the realms of the sacred and the quotidian. This thesis engages the border between the sacred and the secular. An analysis of the temporal structures of contemporary sacred space and its civic environment opens up an exploration of one such border around St. Basil’s Church in Toronto. The definition of a threshold at this edge challenges our contemporary divide by exploring potential transitions. Between the church and the street, architecture inhabits the edge, expanding and articulating connections. Methods are explored for constructing built forms which promote a transition between, and interaction of, sacred and secular temporalities. At this threshold, individual creativity provides metaphors for ontology. Crossing this threshold creates opportunities for overlap between the time of the sacred and the time of the secular. These transitions challenge how we imagine both the church and the city in contemporary architecture.