Texte remanié de: Diss.--Köln, 1969. / Bibliogr. p. 13-24. Notes bibliogr. Index.

Texte remanié de: Diss.--Bonn, 1999. / Bibliogr. p. 305-320.

Texte remanié de: Dissertation--Fakultät für Geisteswissenschaften--Duisburg--Universität, 2003.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Pennsylvania State University, 2003.

My dissertation examines concepts of creative agency in early modern thought and baroque poetics, with an emphasis on the theater of Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681). Calderón and his contemporaries inherited from theology the idea that creative authority and power are concentrated in divinity, while humanity cannot, in a strict sense, create at all. While ancient philosophical and scriptural sources often describe a demiurgic God in anthropomorphic terms, the Christian doctrine of ex nihilo creation separates categorically an omnipotent deity from human "makers," who may refashion pre-given materials but not engender anything radically new. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, however, this hierarchy was challenged by literary, political, and psychological insights that endow humanity with an exalted creative potential and an enhanced efficient power over the world. As paradigmatic of this intellectual-historical movement towards the envisioning of a demiurgic humanity, I analyze the "human dignity" tradition and the literary-psychological discourse surrounding the faculty of the ingenio. The intersection of theological ideas with these currents of thought produces a fruitful tension in baroque literature, particularly in the work of Calderón. I argue that Calderón was deeply troubled by the Faustian undercurrent of his century, and that this concern plays out not only in his explorations of the question of poetic "darkness," but also in his treatment of biblical and mythological creator figures like Solomon, Nimrod, Prometheus, and the craftsmen of holy and idolatrous images. Throughout the thesis, I place Calderón's ideas on creative power and efficient knowledge or ciencias in relation to other early modern figures like Huarte de San Juan, Francis Bacon, and Giambattista Vico. This thesis is a contribution to the study of baroque poetics, of early modern Spanish theater, and of the place of aesthetics in the intellectual landscape of the seventeenth century. / Romance Languages and Literatures

The performance of opera arias composed by George Frideric Handel in our modern day is complicated by the necessity of including improvised embellishments, which were a standard component of the eighteenth-century genre of opera seria. Furthermore, discussions concerning the concepts of historical authenticity and performance practice muddle the issue of preparing Handel's music for presentation. In recent years scholars have prepared ornamented versions of select Handel arias in consultation with eighteenth-century performance practice treatises and other contemporary materials that provide considerable insight into the purpose and execution of ornamentation in performances Handel himself oversaw. What remains relatively unexplored, however, is the relationship between eighteenth-century embellishments and the Baroque affections, or passions. The affections, or passions, were rationalized emotional states derived from the Greek and Latin doctrines of rhetoric and oratory which Baroque composers sought to evoke and express in their music. This study explores the correlation of Baroque affections with ornaments as a legitimate approach to the composition of embellishments for Handel's opera arias. The tradition of rhetoric, the conventions of late Baroque Italian opera seria as a form, and the practice of ornamentation as an integral part of these conventions are examined. The study also provides a survey of eighteenth-century literature concerning the relationship of the musical representation of affects and ornamentation. Lastly, a review of Handel's operatic career and of the plots of the Agrippina, Rinaldo and Rodelinda will provide a context for the preparation of "affective" ornamented versions of six arias from these operas. In closing, a brief discussion of the early music movement and of the debates surrounding the use of the term "authentic" in relation to historic performance practices will illuminate the relevance of the relationship between affect and ornament to twenty-first century performances.

Giovanni Battista Montano (1534-1621), who was born in Milan and trained as a woodcarver, relocated permanently to Rome in the early 1570s where his interest in sculpting was replaced by intense study of the city’s antique monuments and ruins. Although Montano carried out several sculptural and architectural projects during his time in Rome, it is his surviving corpus of drawings that testifies to his passion of exploring ancient architecture through the medium of drawing. While Montano was not famous during his lifetime, a large body of his intriguing designs became celebrated and widely circulated after his death thanks to the 1624 publication of Montano’s designs by his loyal pupil, Giovanni Battista Soria. Montano’s lifelong work differs from virtually all of his predecessors and contemporaries in its “fantastical” and ornamental nature. This thesis explores Montano’s artistic training as it relates to his later interest in imaginatively reconstructing antique buildings, along with his disregard for archaeological or historical accuracy. The subject matter upon which Montano focused is discussed, along with his objective in creating a large corpus of half-historical, half-invented drawings. His drawing techniques are explored with specific reference to the largest group of extant Montano drawings, today housed in Sir John Soane’s Museum, London, England, and also in reference to three original Montano drawings in the Centre Canadien d’Architecture/Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal. Also explored is the legacy and impact of Montano’s drawings and the later publications of his designs on the works of Roman Baroque architects, specifically Borromini and Bernini. This thesis ultimately attempts to understand the impact of the intellectual and artistic environment surrounding Montano in late sixteenth and early seventeenth century Rome, his drawing techniques, his choice of subject matter, and the reception that his unique works received from contemporary artists and intellectuals, along with those of the following generation. / Thesis (Master, Art History) -- Queen's University, 2008-09-25 21:15:35.035

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The performance of opera arias composed by George Frideric Handel in our modern day is complicated by the necessity of including improvised embellishments, which were a standard component of the eighteenth-century genre of opera seria. Furthermore, discussions concerning the concepts of historical authenticity and performance practice muddle the issue of preparing Handel's music for presentation. In recent years scholars have prepared ornamented versions of select Handel arias in consultation with eighteenth-century performance practice treatises and other contemporary materials that provide considerable insight into the purpose and execution of ornamentation in performances Handel himself oversaw. What remains relatively unexplored, however, is the relationship between eighteenth-century embellishments and the Baroque affections, or passions. The affections, or passions, were rationalized emotional states derived from the Greek and Latin doctrines of rhetoric and oratory which Baroque composers sought to evoke and express in their music. This study explores the correlation of Baroque affections with ornaments as a legitimate approach to the composition of embellishments for Handel's opera arias. The tradition of rhetoric, the conventions of late Baroque Italian opera seria as a form, and the practice of ornamentation as an integral part of these conventions are examined. The study also provides a survey of eighteenth-century literature concerning the relationship of the musical representation of affects and ornamentation. Lastly, a review of Handel's operatic career and of the plots of the Agrippina, Rinaldo and Rodelinda will provide a context for the preparation of "affective" ornamented versions of six arias from these operas. In closing, a brief discussion of the early music movement and of the debates surrounding the use of the term "authentic" in relation to historic performance practices will illuminate the relevance of the relationship between affect and ornament to twenty-first century performances.

A Baroque violin was initially made. It was then incrementally converted to a Romantic (modern) setup by replacing the short neck with a longer, more slender neck and adding a longer ebony fingerboard, a heavier bassbar and soundpost. This increased the total mass from 386 to 440 g. Several different Baroque and modern configurations, with baroque and modern style bows, were used for acoustical measurements and playing tests with professional violinists. Chladni patterns were similar in both versions and also when the bridge was placed below the soundholes. The Baroque version gave higher body mode frequencies than the Romantic. Placing the bridge below the soundholes lowered the frequency of the 800 Hz resonance to 600 Hz. Saunders Loudness Tests showed a response that varied strongly over the body resonances. For the transition from Baroque to Romantic setup, hand bowing showed an increase of 1 dB and machine bowing about 5 dB. The compliance of the body added to the air lowered the main air resonance by 5 Hz, equivalent to adding about 130 cc to the 2000 cc air volume. The top plate stiffness measured at the bridge feet was about 10 kN/m higher at the treble foot than at the bass foot, for all locations of the soundpost outside the treble foot. The stiffness at the bass foot remained constant. This was reversed when the soundpost was placed between the two feet: the stiffness at the treble foot was then lower than at the bass foot. The rocking and bounce frequencies of the bridge were lowered from 3000 and 6000 Hz respectively to about 2.5 and 3 kHz when fitted to the violin. Thinning the bridge waist lowered the rocking frequency. Recordings of performances on the violin were made for many combinations of physical state (baroque or romantic), type of string and bow, position of bridge, and others. Long-term average spectra for these recordings are compared here, and an online appendix includes these recordings in a way that allows them to be readily compared: www.phys.ul1sw.edu.au/music/people/mclennanappendix.html