The article presents a methodological update on the lexical profile of informal spoken English with the emphasis on movies, television programs, and soap operas. The study analyzed Mark Davies’s mega-corpora with data containing approximately 625 million words and employed Paul Nation’s comprehensive and up-to-date British National Corpus/Corpus of Contemporary American English wordlists. Data from the analyses showed that viewers would need a vocabulary knowledge at 3,000 and 5,000 words frequency levels to understand 95 and 98% of the words in (...) scripted dialogs, respectively. Soap operas were found to be less lexically demanding compared to TV programs and movies. Findings are expected to fill in the methodological gaps between vocabulary assessment and vocabulary profiling research. (shrink)

Just like in case of dramas, novels and works of art in general, music can be used to nourish that living and experimental law that, in a given context, is effectively in force.From the point of view of the content of their libretto, lyrical operas are very interesting for the study of law in literature, but the music of lyrical operas takes preeminence and importance due to its emotional strength and expressive power.The matter, as Roberto Vacca states in (...) his Diritto Sperimentale, is alive and close to reality, and in lyrical operas there is no escape for sociological, psychological and moral observations that can escape a jurist’s or a law philosopher’s attention. Law often dominates on the opera stage and fascinates due to its capacity to inoculate that artist’s knowledge that colours itself with juridical elements: the opera raises the curtain to the world of law and lets it venture in its own extraordinary world. This paper is based on the analysis of Gianni Schicchi by G. Puccini, the last panel of the triptyque which includes Il Tabarro and Suor Angelica.The succession law is often the subject matter of narrative or drama works: Gianni Schicchi deals with the theme of Buoso Donati’s opening of succession, the episode cited by Dante Alighieri in The Divine Comedy, in canto XXX of Inferno. It belongs to the Italian opera buffa genre and was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on 14 December 1918 and was an immediate success. The source is a short episode in which the protagonist is instructing a false will. The work outlines with great precision the climate and environment of the Medieval Florence: the references to the succession law make it possible to carry out a historical comparative analysis with the entities currently in force. The writing theme aptly conveys semantic meanings that perfectly match the score which deals with the theme of human greed that contrasts both macabre and necessary call for a punishment according to the law. (shrink)

Music, language, and drama come together in opera to make a whole that conveys emotional reality. In this book, Irving Singer develops a new mode for understanding and experiencing the operas of Mozart and Beethoven, approaching them not as a musical technician but as a philosopher concerned with their expressive and mythic elements. Using the distinction between the sensuous and the passionate as framework for his discussion, Singer explores not only the treatment of love in these operas but (...) also the emotional and intellectual orientation of these two great composers. Singer contrasts the cool sensuality of the Don in Mozart's Don Giovanni with Leonora's passionate love for her husband in Beethoven's Fidelio and compares the erotic playfulness of some of Mozart's letters with Beethoven's fervent letter to "the immortal beloved." Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, Così Fan Tutte, and The Magic Flute all express the conflict between the sensuous and the passionate, but it is only in The Magic Flute, says Singer, that this conflict is resolved. Beethoven, an admirer of The Magic Flute, emulated both its music and its ideology, and produced in Fidelio the greatest of all operas about married love. Written while Singer was also at work on the three-volume The Nature of Love, Mozart and Beethoven can be read as a companion volume to this masterful trilogy and as a forerunner to his later work on philosophy in film. (shrink)

Sexual depictions were analyzed in 139 episodes of seven drama serials on British mainstream television over a four-week period in November–December 2006. Scenes that depicted sexual behavior and talk about sexual matters were counted separately. Further distinctions were made on the basis of the levels of intimacy and the graphic nature of portrayals. A total of 506 sexual scenes were found that occurred at the rate of 6.5 per hour across the seven soaps, but this figure was inflated by one (...) late-night serial that averaged 16.0 scenes per hourly episode. Nearly two-thirds of these scenes were restricted to talk about sexual matters, while the others contained overt depictions of sexual behavior. Sexual intercourse was relatively rare and restricted in terms of overt depictions to the late-night serial. Passionate kissing was far more prevalent throughout these programs regardless of the time of day the program was transmitted. When sexual intercourse was featured, this was generally in the context of loss of virginity or of infidelity. (shrink)

Opera, maintains the author of this comprehensive and provocative volume, finds itself in an artistic predicament that goes beyond previous generational disruptions and "is our own, and special." Arguing that we cannot solve the problem unless we recognize and define it, and that we cannot hope to envision the artform's future unless we first come to terms with its past, he examines all elements of recent operatic practice as revealed in performance--"Performance," he declares, "is our text." He asserts that with (...) renewal of the repertory long at a virtual standstill, we have tried to substitute auteurial production methods and cultural revisionism in its place, with disastrous results. Accordingly, Opera as Opera draws on performances encountered over an eighteen-year period to first analyze styles and techniques of production (direction and design), and then to trace, in copious detail, the developments in the performing disciplines of conducting, singing, and acting that have loosened our connection to the canon. "The masterworks," it flatly states, "are not before us." In a central section, it also surveys the more general cultural background of this situation, in particular the influence of modern and postmodern philosophy and literary criticism, and the turn away from the master narrative which in the author's view was the principal generating force behind opera's greatest era. Whether the reader's primary interest is musical or theatrical, whether it lies with intellectual and aesthetic matters or with into-the-weeds discussion of the work of the performers who bring opera to life, he or she will find much that will stimulate and challenge in this deeply informed, incisively written book."--Publisher's description. (shrink)

If opera had existed in Elizabethan London, the world's Top Bard, as W.H. Auden called him, might have become the world's Top Librettist. As Gary Schmidgall shows in this illuminating study, Shakespeare's expressive ways and dramaturgical means are like those of composers and librettists in numerous and often astonishing ways. No wonder that well over two hundred operas have been based on Shakespeare's plays. Ranging widely through the Shakespearean canon and the standard operatic repertory, Schmidgall presents a fascinating comparison, (...) focusing on similarities of expressive style, scenic structure, staging, and performance practice. Shakespeare and Opera offers extended discussions of issues central to both theatrical genres, including their shared demand for virtuoso display, the comparable functions of set speeches and arias, and the similarities of verbal and musical rhetoric, and the charges of unreality and melodrama that have dogged them both. In addition, Schmidgall provides concise essays on the most intriguing Shakespeare-based operas, including works of Verdi, Wagner, Bellini, Rossini, Berlioz, Thomas, Vaughan Williams, Barber, and Britten. He enriches his argument with the insights of the great composers who never set Shakespeare (Mozart, Puccini, and Strauss among them), major observers of the legitimate stage (from Samuel Johnson to Eric Bentley) and the musical stage (from Joseph Addison to Joseph Kerman), as well as the incisive views of influential artists, critics, and performers as diverse as Walt Whitman, H.L. Mencken, and Laurence Olivier. For all who love the stage, Shakespeare and Opera offers endless insight and fascination. Schmidgall's extended comparison of the two dramaturgies provides a fresh perspective on Shakespeare, musical theater, comparative drama, and theater history. (shrink)

INTRODUCTION Opera and film. Though these two cultural forms are not often thought of together, they have actually existed in an interesting symbiosis, ...

With Richard Wagner, opera reached the apex of German Romanticism. Originally published in 1851, when Wagner was in political exile, Opera and Drama outlines a new, revolutionary type of musical stage work, which would finally materialize as The Ring of the Nibelung. Wagner's music drama, as he called it, aimed at a union of poetry, drama, music, and stagecraft. ø In a rare book-length study, the composer discusses the enhancement of dramas by operatic treatment and the subjects that make the (...) best dramas. The expected Wagnerian voltage is here: in his thinking about myths such as Oedipus, his theories about operatic goals and musical possibilities, his contempt for musical politics, his exaltation of feeling and fantasy, his reflections about genius, and his recasting of Schopenhauer. ø This edition includes the full text of volume 2 of William Ashton Ellis's 1893 translation commissioned by the London Wagner Society. (shrink)

Paul Thom argues that opera is a set of practices framed by the concepts of work, interpretation, performance, and art. His argument is that operatic works have the potential to be art, but so do operatic productions, independently of their value as interpretations of the works they stage.

In this paper, I make two claims: an opera’s music, both vocal and instrumental, is part of the ontology of its fictional world, and song constitutes the normative mode of communication and expression in the fictional world. I refute Carolyn Abbate’s influential arguments that both of these claims are untrue. Abbate’s contention that opera characters do not have epistemic access to the music is based on false premises and gives rise to serious interpretive problems. My account of operatic metaphysics refines (...) and extends the work of Edward T. Cone and Peter Kivy. Where I diverge from their respective accounts is in my contention that the orchestral music typically does not have a fictional author. Often its real author is the only agent to which it may be logically attributed. (shrink)

This collection of 8 essays introduces literary and cultural theorists into the domain of operatic textual analysis, long the exclusive preserve of musicologists. The contributors include some of the most distinguished critics of the past 30 years, most of them writing about opera for the first time.

A third chapter takes up two problem operas, _Don Giovanni_ (1787) and _Così fan tutte_ (1790). Understood in light of the foregoing, these operas are complex but ultimately consistent with the Republic of Love. In _Così fan tutte_, Mozart musically departs from the spirit of Da Ponte’s cynical libretto (an expression, perhaps, of Da Ponte’s own career). Mozart is drawn inexorably toward a different type of journey: from superficial playfulness to genuine emotional depth. This journey cannot be happily (...) completed in the social world of the libretto. _Don Giovanni_ is an enduring enigma, and this chapter investigates a group of “Romantic” interpretations that see the work as glorifying the Don and his violence toward women as an expression of some type of life force. This chapter rejects those interpretations, and also, though more tentatively, the idea that here, too, Mozart’s music is at odds with Da Ponte’s libretto. Both libretto and, even more clearly, the music focus on the journey of the three female characters from wounded honor and the quest for revenge to new emotions of delight, love, and forgiveness. (shrink)

A characteristic feature of Wagnerian and post-Wagnerian opera is the tendency to link scenes with numerous and often surprisingly lengthy orchestral interludes, frequently performed with the curtain closed. Often taken for granted or treated as a filler by audiences and critics, these interludes can take on very prominent roles, representing dream sequences, journeys and sexual encounters, and in some cases becoming a highlight of the opera. Christopher Morris investigates the implications of these important but strangely overlooked passages. Combining close readings (...) of individual musical texts with an investigation of the critical discourse surrounding the operas, Morris shows how the interludes shed light not only on the representational and narrative capacities of the orchestra, but also on the supposed 'absolute' realm of instrumental music, a concept to which many critics appealed when they associated the interludes with 'purely musical' and 'symphonic' qualities. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to examine the ‘regulatory intervention’ of Verdi’s fathers using several examples: Oberto Conte di San Bonifacio, protagonist of the composer’s first opera; the Doge Francesco Foscari of I due foscari (1844); Giorgio Germont, representative par excellence of the onstage exercise of autorité paternelle in La Traviata (1853); Amonasro, the king of Ethiopia from Aida (1871); and, last but not least, the troubled political leader Simon Boccanegra in the remake of the opera dated 1881.

Mozart assimilated the ethical, legal, and social values of the bourgeois marriage, which in the late eighteenth century presupposed that conditions for the union of a man and a woman were freedom and love and seemed to be the mediation between the instances of the individual, family, religion, and the state: these values correspond to the affirmation of the new code of sentimental love as opposed to the gallant and the courtly. Such assimilation is well documented in the letters. On (...) February 7, 1778, Wolfgang, who at the time was in love with Aloysia Weber (considered by his father, Leopold, of a lower social class than the Mozarts), passionately supports the idea that a marriage should be contracted for love and not for money as often do aristocrats. On December 15, 1781, confessing to Leopold his love for the sister of Aloysia, Constanze, and therefore his decision to marry her, Wolfgang affirms his conviction that a bachelor lives only in half: “Ein lediger Mensch lebt in meinen Augen nur halb. Ich hab halt solche Augen, ich kann nicht dafür. Ich habe es genug überlegt und bedacht. Ich muß doch immer so denken.” Still, on November 4, 1787, Mozart, writing to his friend Gottfried von Jacquin, contrasts the pleasure of a fickle and capricious love (“das vergnügen einer flatterhaften, launigten Liebe”) to the happiness of true and reasonable love (“eine wahre, vernünftige Liebe”). (shrink)

Opera can be seen as a baroque form of art, since it established itself at the same time and setting baroque aesthetics arose, and as such it bears all the contradictions inherent to this artistic movement. Both are the offspring of early modernity’s heavily visual culture from which they emerged and share its fundamental contradiction: visual spectacle’s unique ability to move individuals, such as opera’s capacity to overwhelm the senses, was the cause of both devotion and disdain. This mentality—the baroque (...) mentality—also played out in the law field, as the political and legal power of the then rising absolute state held visual spectacle as an important tool of legitimation. Contemporary society and law, ridden with screens are also marked by visuality and its axienties, a phenomenon Richard Sherwin calls ‘digital baroque’. In this context, law also becomes a feared spectacle. Trusting law’s power and ability to make just decisions thus becomes a challenge similar to trusting images. This article aims at drawing a parallel between the challenge Tragédie em musique—early French opera, a courtly amusement used as propaganda of the ancien régime—faced in order to affirm its legitimacy as a form of art and law in the age of the digital baroque’s quest for legitimating its power, and also at demonstrating the way in which the concept of sublime, the aesthetical solution for Tragédie em Musique’s challenge, can also be a useful tool for solving contemporary law’s ultimate quest. (shrink)

This section provides the first full edited transcription—from Latin and Italian vernacular language—of the Opera geometrica. Further, as above said, facsimile texts are added, including our critical comments as footnotes to this chapter.

This section provides information and background on the selection of Opera geometrica (Fig. 1). We have worked on transcription from Latin and Italian vernacular language, which is the original language of the Torricelli’s text. Further facsimile texts are added for readers and our critical comments can be found as footnotes to this chapter.

1. Opera philosophica -- 2, [pt.] 1, 3, [pt.] 1. Opera theologica.

Bernard Williams, who died in 2003, was one of the most influential moral philosophers of his generation. A lifelong opera lover, his articles and essays, talks for the BBC, contributions to the Grove Dictionary of Opera, and program notes for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the English National Opera, generated a devoted following. This elegant volume brings together these widely scattered and largely unobtainable pieces, including two that have not been previously published. It covers an engaging range of (...) topics from Mozart to Wagner, including sparkling essays on specific operas by those composers as well as Verdi, Puccini, Strauss, Debussy, Janacek, and Tippett. Reflecting Williams's brilliance, passion, and clarity of mind, these essays engage with, and illustrate, the enduring appeal of opera as an art form. (shrink)

Excerpt from Opera Omnia The Works of J ohn of Salisbury have never before been collected together, nor have they ever until now, either wholly or in part, been printed in this country. Yet the writer was without doubt superior to all his contempo raries, and his Works are by far the most valuable compositions which have come down to us, from the twelfth and thirteenth cen tuties. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic (...) books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. (shrink)

Maurice Ravel's operas L'Heure espagnole and L'Enfant et les sortilèges are pivotal works in the composer's relatively small œuvre. Emerging from periods shaped by very distinct musical concerns and historical circumstances, these two vastly different works nevertheless share qualities that reveal the heart of Ravel's compositional aesthetic. In this comprehensive study, Emily Kilpatrick unites musical, literary, biographical and cultural perspectives to shed new light on Ravel's operas. In documenting the operas' history, setting them within the cultural canvas (...) of their creation and pursuing diverse strands of analytical and thematic exploration, Kilpatrick reveals crucial aspects of the composer's working life: his approach to creative collaboration, his responsiveness to cultural, aesthetic and musical debate, and the centrality of language and literature in his compositional practice. The first study of its kind, this book is an invaluable resource for students, specialists, opera-goers and devotees of French music. (shrink)

[Bd.] I. Opera theologica.--[Bd.] II. T. 1-2. Opera philosophica.

This study aims to explore sustainability in the performing arts through a human-centered lens, focusing on Italian Opera houses and the perspectives of both current and potential audiences. It emphasizes how these institutions can nurture social inclusion and raise public awareness to broaden their audience base, all while maintaining financial viability and fostering stakeholder well-being. Adopting a mixed-methods approach—encompassing a literature review, desk analysis, and a quantitative survey—this research uncovers that Italian Opera houses—as part of a creative sector—have struggled to (...) achieve economic sustainability. Moreover, attempts to expand their audience solely by promoting social inclusion and environmental sustainability have not been entirely successful. Findings highlight various barriers that compromise inclusivity; for instance, many attendees perceive ticket prices and the exclusive location of venues in major cities as key obstacles to participation. Although the study’s scope is specific to Italian Opera houses and may not directly apply to other cultural contexts, it offers essential human-centered insights into how economic viability intersects with audience motivations. By recognizing individuals’ needs, values, and barriers to engagement, the research underscores the importance of empathetic and inclusive management practices that can resonate with a broader demographic. Ultimately, this work provides guidance for policymakers, cultural managers, and opera and symphony foundations seeking to adopt human-centered strategies to enhance sustainability, social inclusion, and audience engagement. Through a focus on stakeholder well-being and collaborative approaches, Italian Opera houses can develop stronger connections with the public and secure a more sustainable future. (shrink)

Adorno unquestionably loved opera music as much as he hated opera as a cultural institution. His take on opera in the twentieth century led him to write its socio‐political obituary, while recognizing at the same time that opera continued to attract a steady stream of would‐be onlooker‐auditors. Paradoxically for Adorno, opera continued to appeal to audiences, and – from his dialectical reckoning – characteristically for precisely the wrong reasons. His opera analyses address the sociology of musical theater, performance hermeneutics, and (...) the direct consideration of music itself (though given his typical writing mode this writing is perhaps best characterized as criticism rather than analysis, as the latter term is commonly employed within musicology). Adorno's interests principally revolve around modern opera (Schoenberg, Berg, Strauss, Weill, especially) but also, if to a lesser extent, canonic works from Mozart to Verdi. Wagner, Wagnerian music drama, and cultural Wagnerism more generally were special cases for Adorno, and subjects he returned to repeatedly throughout his adult life, coinciding with the rise and fall of National Socialism and the Wagner cult, which in the 1930s and 1940s war years comfortably accommodated fascist proclivities. Adorno recognized the socio‐cultural agency of opera as a still‐prestigious cultural leftover of nineteenth‐century bourgeois triumphalism, which he vigorously opposed. In its place, he labored to promote what he regarded as a more socially responsible musico‐operatic practice to supplant the aesthetic and social complacency of the established order, ideas that after his death have found considerable currency, nowhere more evident than in late‐modern opera productions throughout the world. (shrink)

The authors study opera from the perspective of the theories of psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, and argue that opera's second death corresponded with the rise of psychoanalysis in the early 20th century. With a preface by Lanfossi and an afterword by Alberto Toscano.

Lo studio, nato originariamente come recensione, oltre a presentare come Biagio Amata ha affrontato e condotto a termine l’opera di Arnobio di Sicca, offre una panoramica sul latino cristiano, ancora non del tutto valorizzato nei suoi aspetti linguistici e semantici. Il mondo accademico e, ancor più, quello della scuola ancora succube di un anacronistico e asfittico retaggio, continua a considerare il latino cristiano un sottoprodotto del mondo antico, ignorando a quali risultati sono giunti i pensatori, che di quel latino si (...) sono serviti. Tra questi Arnobio, insieme con Tertulliano e Cipriano, detiene un posto di primo piano, perché la sua opera conduce il lettore nel vivo delle lotte, che caratterizzavano l’epoca immediatamente successiva alla persecuzione di Diocleziano. Biagio Amata, che oggi è considerato il più grande specialista di Arnobio, con i suoi studi e soprattutto con la snella e maneggevole traduzione, porta alla conoscenza degli studiosi un’opera di incalcolabile valore storico e archeologico e offre abbondante materiale per ulteriori studi e ricerche. (shrink)

La Famiglia Salesiana della città di San Severo, guidata dalle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice, ha voluto celebrare la presenza educativa salesiana nella provincia di Foggia, prendendo spunto da un ideale centenario dell’opera della congregazione salesiana in San Severo, che ha avuto inizio nel 1905, ma che in realtà si è conclusa nel 1969. Il saggio, dopo aver sottolineato l’impegno di don Michele Rua per il Mezzogiorno d’Italia, ricostruisce i momenti salienti dell’opera di San Severo dalla sua fondazione alla chiusura, ponendo (...) in risalto, in particolar modo, l’ambiente educativo dell’oratorio e l’operosa collaborazione tra salesiani, chiesa locale e cittadini. Una storia, questa collaborazione educativa a favore dei giovani, che continua ancora. (shrink)

This article is devoted to the study of Kirill Molchanov’s opera "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" (1973) as a musical and dramatic representation of the Great Patriotic War. The research focuses on the opera’s musical text, based on Boris Vasilyev’s novella of the same name, as well as the system of characters and their vocal expressions. The subject of the analysis is the means of musical expressiveness used by the composer to construct the images of female heroism, collective memory, and (...) emotional truth. The opera is considered not only as a theatrical work, but also as a cultural form of historical representation and a musical space of remembrance for the generation that survived the war. The work of Vladimir Molchanov is of particular scientific interest as a striking example of artistic understanding of the military theme in the context of Russian and Chinese musical traditions of the late 20th - early 21st centuries.The study applies methods of comprehensive artistic analysis, including musical-stylistic, structural-dramaturgical, and intonational approaches. A comparative method is also used to examine both the Russian version of the opera and its Chinese interpretation, revealing national and cultural differences in the portrayal of war. The study integrates interdisciplinary tools from cultural studies, music semiotics, and memory theory.The scientific novelty lies in the interpretation of K.V. Molchanov’s opera as a lyrical and documentary statement, where the traditional model of heroic pathos is replaced by emotionally authentic, confessional expression. For the first time, the article analyzes the vocal scenes of Vaskov, Zhenya, and Rita, as well as choral fragments, as artistic markers of collective memory. It is shown that the use of speech intonation, polystylism, montage dramaturgy, and the absence of classical aria structures bring the opera closer to cinematic language. The author concludes that The Dawns Here Are Quiet functions as a musical requiem, in which sounding intonation becomes a bearer of historical truth and a vehicle for intergenerational memory. This study opens up new perspectives in the field of contemporary music. (shrink)

Many foreign friends first learn about Chinese culture through the numerous Chinese restaurants found all over the world, and soon discern that China is a country with delicious cuisine. The second impression of Chinese culture is often Peking Opera, whose masks are now almost emblematic of China. Many countries design posters using Peking Opera masks to signal a “Year of Chinese Culture.” To understand Chinese culture, therefore, some knowledge about Peking Opera is indeed indispensable.

This paper provides a reading of the opera criticism of Bernard Williams in the light of his philosophical writings. Beginning with the observations that his philosophical writing lacks engagement with musical and aesthetic issues, and his operatic writing appears to present no particular philosophy of the subject, I try to draw together certain themes by mapping Williams's operatic concerns onto his philosophical project more generally. I argue that the 'excessive' nature of the artform—the idea that opera tends to exceed its (...) musico-dramatic functions—was of particular interest to Williams, partly because it resonated with his dislike of easy theoretical solutions to thorny practical issues. More specifically, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte is related, via the way the way its emotional register exceeds its dramatic context, to the issues examined by Williams in his work on moral luck. Similarly, I discuss the way Williams's essay on Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande seems to hint at an account of the emotions which is otherwise missing from Williams's oeuvre. (shrink)

In this paper, I forge a strong educational bond between opera and the humanities: opera as liberal education, not just additional to or exemplary of. After rehearsing the well-known present-day criticisms of liberal education, I first make the diagnosis that the trouble with liberal education as teaching and learning the humanities is not so much its theoretical justification as its practical implementation. To neutralize the criticisms and to solve the problem of how to practically realize a theoretically defensible goal, my (...) proposal is, next, to exploit opera as the vehicle of liberal education. Finally, I detail my proposal, offering suggestions about the way opera as liberal education can function on the curriculum. (shrink)

In order to explore the particular configuration of Roger Bacon’s views on what we call magic and thus complete Part III of volume I, I will now treat the second half of what Bridges printed as the last section of Opus Maius, Book IV, the section entitled ‘Astrologia’ (390–403). As we will recall, I discussed the first part of this section in the Excursus and in Chap. 2. The part of this section to be discussed here treats the uses of (...) astrology that go beyond mere knowledge—what we would call “magic,” but which Roger decidedly does not, using instead the phrase ‘opera et verba sapientiae’ (“the works and words of wisdom”). It thus falls within the operative (operativa) part of the science of the stars, not the interpretive or judicial (iudiciaria) part that was explored in Chaps. 4 and 6. For Roger, as we saw, what he calls “magic” is entirely negative, as what they call “divination” is also for both him and Thomas, and “necromancy” is for the Magister Speculi and “nigromancy” for Thomas. This chapter should be read in relation to the contemporary discussion of talismans and the power of words in Albert’s authentic works, the Speculum astronomiae, and Thomas Aquinas’s discussions in Summa contra gentiles III.105, Summa Theologiae II.II.96.2 and the De operationibus occultis naturae as just discussed in Chap. 7. (shrink)

With the publication of these two volumes the ground has now been prepared for a long awaited event, the critical edition of the works of Henry of Ghent. Henry was one of the outstanding philosophizing-theologians at the University of Paris in the second half of the thirteenth century and, during the period between the death of Thomas Aquinas in 1274 and the ascendancy of John Duns Scotus near the beginning of the fourteenth century, no other Master surpassed him in terms (...) of influence or importance. During his tenure there as Master in the theology faculty, Henry conducted fifteen Quodlibetal disputes. His written versions of these, along with his Summa of ordinary Disputed Questions, constitute his most important surviving works. And of these, his Quodlibets rank first. Henry's philosophical and theological views were highly original and drew considerable reaction from other leading Masters of the time, especially from Giles of Rome, Godfrey of Fontaines, and somewhat later, from Duns Scotus. While his personal thought cannot be reduced to that of any earlier thinker or tradition, his views were heavily influenced by Augustine, by Avicenna, and by various other Neoplatonic currents. At the same time, while he was quite familiar with the texts and thought of Aristotle, he reacted strongly against the more radical form of Aristotelianism developed by Siger of Brabant, Boethius of Dacia, and other Masters in the Arts Faculty at Paris in the 1260s and 1270s. Aquinas's incorporation of many Aristotelian positions into his own thought was also suspect in Henry's eyes. Given this background, Henry himself may be regarded as an outstanding representative of the Neo-Augustinian philosophical current which surfaced at Paris around 1270, which triumphed with the condemnation of 219 propositions by Stephen Tempier, Bishop of Paris, in 1277, and which would continue to be a dominant philosophical force until the end of the century. The need for a critical edition of his Quodlibets and his Summa has long been recognized, since the only printed versions date from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In these first two volumes of Henry's Opera omnia Macken has prepared the way for the critical edition of Henry's works and especially of his Quodlibets. Here one finds a valuable catalog, based on first-hand inspection, of the widely scattered manuscripts of Henry's works. The catalog also contains expert codicological descriptions of the contents of these manuscripts, including works whose authenticity remains doubtful. Manuscripts are also considered which contain works that treat ex professo of Henry's doctrine. This is followed by an appendix which surveys ancient references to other manuscripts allegedly containing Henry's works, which manuscripts have not yet been found. Then there is a Répertoire, not of manuscripts but of Henry's works themselves, including certainly authentic works, works of doubtful authenticity, and finally, in another short appendix, works which have been falsely ascribed to him. A third part of this survey of Henry's works is devoted to manuscripts of other writers who discuss Henry's doctrine ex professo. The two volumes conclude with all the necessary indices. One must congratulate Macken for the care, the industry, and the meticulous scholarship with which he has prepared these two volumes. Not only are they of great value to anyone interested in the manuscript tradition of Henry's works and doctrine; they also include helpful descriptions of the writings of many other medieval authors which are contained in many of these same manuscripts. They will undoubtedly be carefully combed for decades to come by other scholars interested in these same authors and manuscripts. These volumes will be indispensable for libraries of institutions making any serious claim to expertise in the history of medieval philosophical and theological thought. One can only wish Macken and his international team of collaborators every success in their next immediate task, the actual edition of Henry's most important works, his fifteen Quodlibetal Questions.--J.F.W. (shrink)

The latest volume in the splendid critical edition of the Opera philosophica et theologica of William of Ockham in progress at the Franciscan Institute of St. Bonaventure University under the general editorship of Gedeon Gál, O.F.M. The project itself is something of a phenomenon in the area of critical editions of medieval Latin texts in terms of the rapidity at which quality volumes are produced at remarkably reasonable costs. Since 1967 five quarto volumes, totaling some three thousand four hundred pages, (...) have appeared. Three of these contain the first portion of Ockham’s most important theological work, the Ordinatio of his "commentary" on book 1 of the Sentences. The final portion is scheduled to appear early in 1979 as volume 4 of the Opera theologica. Volume 1 of the philosophical opera contains the monumental Summa Logicae, and volume 3 will also appear this year, thus completing with the present volume the edition of the most important of Ockham’s logical works. Editors are also assigned and are already at work on the other major non-political writings, notably the Quodlibet and commentaries on Aristotle’s Physics. Since the Opera politica Guillelmi de Ockham were published in three octavo volumes by the University of Manchester Press, we may expect to have very shortly substantially all the works of the Venerable Inceptor, thanks to the exceptional industry of a team of highly qualified researchers as well as substantial grants by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the De Rance Corporation. Two of the editors of individual works in the present volume are deceased. Father Philotheus Boehner, O.F.M., who came to the Franciscan Institute from Germany before the outbreak of World War II, first conceived of and began work on the critical edition. His text of the Tractatus de praedestinatione was first published in 1945 in Franciscan Institute Publications, Text Series No. 2 and was subsequently translated into English by M. M. Adams and N. Kretzmann in 1969. It differs little in Brown’s revision, which adds variants from the Bruges MS, unavailable to Boehner because of the war. The other posthumous edition is that of E. A. Moody. This too appeared in the aforesaid Text Series as No. 14. The present text is identical with the earlier version, but observations and suggested alternate readings by the general editor are added in footnotes. The thirty-two pages of introduction contains a wealth of information. To mention but two items: One concerns the probable reason why Ockham only incepted in theology but never served as regent master. This apparently had little or nothing to do with Lutterall’s opposition, as Chancellor of the University, to Ockham’s views and his summons later to the papal court at Avignon. It stemmed rather from the Franciscan custom of promoting those bachelors who had completed their magisterial studies to regent master on the basis of seniority. At his time a junior like Ockham could expect a wait of eight to ten years. It was during this period, beginning probably in 1321 that he began his lectures on logic, probably at the Franciscan house of studies in London where he later composed the Summa Logicae and his exposition of Aristotle’s Physics, before the summer of 1324 when he went to Avignon. Another item is the effective refutation of the authenticity views of Prantl and Anneliese Maier of the Expositiones and their relationship to the spurious and derivative Notabilia. As a final comment, we note that this second volume of the Opera philosophica contains all the works of Ockham edited by Marcus de Benevento under the title Expositio aurea et admodum utilis super artem veterem edita per Ven. Inceptorem Guilielmum de Occham, [[sic]] cum quaestionibus Alberti Parvi de Saxonia.—A.B.W. (shrink)

Who has the power to institutionalize culture? How is it that cultural forms become legitimated and appropriated by certain groups? And what are the organizational forms that guarantee the continuity of the interlocks among classifications, etiquette, and resources in the long run? This article explores these questions by observing the struggle over the institutionalization of opera as high culture during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century in Buenos Aires, a region of the world understudied by cultural sociologists. It (...) contends that to answer these questions we need to observe the contested dynamics though which the process of institutionalization happens. It also shows how this contestation affects, in the long-term, the processes of evaluation and legitimation of the classification upheld, and the consequences it has in terms of audience stratification. In the Discussion section, I present a novel framework for the study of pathways to high culture institutionalization that highlights how the role of the state and competing stakeholders can introduce variable relationships among the elites, the arts, and social closure. (shrink)