Malevolent Muse

Malevolent Muse Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle version is available to download in english. Read online anytime anywhere directly from your device. Click on the download button below to get a free pdf file of Malevolent Muse book. This book definitely worth reading, it is an incredibly well-written.

Malevolent Muse

Author : Oliver Hilmes
Publisher : Northeastern University Press
Page : 343 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2015-05-05
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781555537890

Get Book

Malevolent Muse by Oliver Hilmes Pdf

Of all the colorful figures on the twentieth-century European cultural scene, hardly anyone has provoked more polarity than Alma Schindler Mahler Gropius Werfel (1879-1964), mistress to a long succession of brilliant men and wife of three of the best known: composer Gustav Mahler, architect Walter Gropius and writer Franz Werfel. To her admirers Alma was a self-sacrificing socialite who inspired many great artists. Her detractors found her a self-aggrandizing social climber and an alcoholic, bigoted, vengeful harlot - as one contemporary put it, "a cross between a grande dame and a cesspool." So who was she really? When historian Oliver Hilmes discovered a treasure-trove of unpublished material, much of it in Alma's own words, he used it as the basis for his first biography, setting the record straight while evoking the atmosphere of intellectual life in Europe and then in ŽmigrŽ communities on both coasts of the United States after the Nazi takeover of their home territories. First published in German in 2004, the book was hailed as a rare combination of meticulously researched scholarship and entertaining writing, making it a runaway bestseller and advancing Oliver Hilmes to his position as a household name in contemporary literature. Alma Mahler was one of the twentieth century's rare originals, worthy of her immortalization in song. Oliver Hilmes has provided us with an even-handed yet tantalizingly detailed account of her life, bringing Alma's singular story to a whole new audience.

Malevolent Muse

Author : Oliver Hilmes
Publisher : Northeastern University Press
Page : 343 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2015-04-22
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781555538453

Get Book

Malevolent Muse by Oliver Hilmes Pdf

Of all the colorful figures on the twentieth-century European cultural scene, hardly anyone has provoked more polarity than Alma Schindler Mahler Gropius Werfel (1879-1964), mistress to a long succession of brilliant men and wife of three of the best known: composer Gustav Mahler, architect Walter Gropius and writer Franz Werfel. To her admirers Alma was a self-sacrificing socialite who inspired many great artists. Her detractors found her a self-aggrandizing social climber and an alcoholic, bigoted, vengeful harlot - as one contemporary put it, "a cross between a grande dame and a cesspool." So who was she really? When historian Oliver Hilmes discovered a treasure-trove of unpublished material, much of it in Alma's own words, he used it as the basis for his first biography, setting the record straight while evoking the atmosphere of intellectual life in Europe and then in ŽmigrŽ communities on both coasts of the United States after the Nazi takeover of their home territories. First published in German in 2004, the book was hailed as a rare combination of meticulously researched scholarship and entertaining writing, making it a runaway bestseller and advancing Oliver Hilmes to his position as a household name in contemporary literature. Alma Mahler was one of the twentieth century's rare originals, worthy of her immortalization in song. Oliver Hilmes has provided us with an even-handed yet tantalizingly detailed account of her life, bringing Alma's singular story to a whole new audience.

Passionate Spirit

Author : Cate Haste
Publisher : Basic Books
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2019-09-10
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780465096725

Get Book

Passionate Spirit by Cate Haste Pdf

A new biography of Alma Mahler (1879-1964), revealing a woman determined to wield power in a world that denied her agency History has long vilified Alma Mahler. Critics accused her of distracting Gustav Mahler from his work, and her passionate love affairs shocked her peers. Drawing on Alma's vivid, sensual, and overlooked diaries, biographer Cate Haste recounts the untold and far more sympathetic story of this ambitious and talented woman. Though she dreamed of being the first woman to compose a famous opera, Alma was stifled by traditional social values. Eventually, she put her own dreams aside and wielded power and influence the only way she could, by supporting the art of more famous men. She worked alongside them and gained credit as their muse, commanding their love and demanding their respect. Passionate Spirit restores vibrant humanity to a woman time turned into a caricature, providing an important correction to a history where systemic sexism has long erased women of talent.

Analytical Essays on Music by Women Composers: Concert Music, 1900DS1960

Author : Laurel Parsons,Brenda Ravenscroft
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 297 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2022
Category : Music
ISBN : 9780190236984

Get Book

Analytical Essays on Music by Women Composers: Concert Music, 1900DS1960 by Laurel Parsons,Brenda Ravenscroft Pdf

"This is the second of four volumes in a multi-authored series of analytical essays on music by women composers from Hildegard of Bingen to the twenty-first century. Volume 2 presents detailed studies of compositions written between 1900 and 1960 by Alma Mahler-Werfel, Rebecca Clarke, Ethel Smyth, Ruth Crawford, Florence B. Price, Galina Ustvolskaya, J. M. Beyer, and Peggy Glanville-Hicks. Each chapter opens with a brief biographical sketch of the composer, followed by an in-depth analysis of a single representative composition, occasionally including other works where comparison strengthens the analytical argument. The repertoire explored by the authors includes art song, opera, choral, solo piano, chamber, and orchestral music. To enhance the volume's accessibility to readers who are not professional music theorists or musicologists, a glossary provides explanations of music-theoretical terms used in the book. The collection is designed to challenge and stimulate a wide range of readers. For academics, these thorough analytical studies can open new paths into unexplored research areas in music theory and musicology. Post-secondary instructors may be inspired by the insights offered here to include new works in graduate or upper-level undergraduate courses in early twentieth-century music or women and music. Finally, for performers, conductors, and music broadcasters, these thoughtful analyses can offer enriched understandings of this repertoire and suggest fresh, new programming possibilities to share with listeners-an endeavor of discovery for all those interested in twentieth-century music"--

Sorcerer's Serenade

Author : Vincent Netherward
Publisher : JN Bazaar Enterprise
Page : 217 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2023-09-13
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

Sorcerer's Serenade by Vincent Netherward Pdf

In the dark, mystical heart of London, Valyrian Jacyn, a fourth-generation sorcerer, stumbles upon an ancient grimoire known as the Enchiridion Greco Daemons. This dusty tome, discovered in the cryptic basement of the Bloodfluke Manor, once belonging to his enigmatic Great Grandmother, the Witch Wilhelmina Bloodfluke, holds the key to a world of arcane secrets and forbidden rituals. As Valyrian delves deeper into the grimoire's pages, he unravels a tapestry of eerie and enchanting history surrounding the Bloodfluke Manor. The manor's legacy is steeped in darkness, rife with stories of malevolent spirits, hidden chambers, and a lineage of powerful witches and sorcerers. Among the grimoire's chilling incantations and ominous instructions, one particular ritual stands out—the capture of a muse. Valyrian, drawn by the allure of this forbidden act, decides to partake in the ritual, ensnaring the muse Euterpe in a web of magic and desire. With Euterpe as his captive muse, Valyrian's dreams of rock and roll stardom begin to take shape. His band, "Valyrian and the Misfits," rises to fame with the enchanting compositions Euterpe provides, compositions infused with otherworldly power that captivates audiences far and wide. Yet, beneath the surface, Euterpe's growing resentment simmers. Her once-enchanting music becomes tainted with a dark undertone as she yearns for her freedom. Amidst Valyrian's success, his inner struggle with newfound power and the consequences of his actions deepen. Paranoia creeps into his life, and a rival sorcerer, Geoffrey Fitzaidan, learns of Valyrian's secret, setting the stage for a dangerous confrontation. Euterpe, determined to turn the tables, hatches a plan to break free from her captor's grasp. Valyrian's life takes a sinister turn as the muse's powers begin to manifest in ways he never anticipated. Throughout this twisted tale, Valyrian maintains a conversant tone, sometimes breaking the fourth wall with dark humor. As he navigates the treacherous waters of fame, power, and magic, he grapples with his own demons while facing external threats from rival sorcerers and the captive muse herself. In a climactic showdown between Valyrian and Euterpe, the consequences of their actions unravel, and the true price of power becomes evident. Dark humor weaves through the narrative, providing a unique perspective on a tale of redemption and transformation. The story takes an unexpected turn in the epilogue when the mysterious narrator is unmasked as none other than Wilhelmina Bloodfluke, Valyrian's great-grandmother. Her enigmatic presence throughout the tale leaves room for interpretation, adding a cryptic twist to the narrative's conclusion. "Sorcerer's Serenade: A Muse’s Captive Descent" is a dark fantasy novel that explores the intricate interplay of music, magic, and the human psyche. With its conversational tone, dark humor, and enigmatic twists, it invites readers to ponder the depths of redemption and the enduring power of the arcane.

The Magician

Author : Colm Toibin
Publisher : McClelland & Stewart
Page : 477 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2021-09-28
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780771096181

Get Book

The Magician by Colm Toibin Pdf

From the internationally bestselling author of Brooklyn and The Master comes the novel of a lifetime, Colm Tóibín's most dazzling and ambitious book yet. When the Great War breaks out in 1914 Thomas Mann, like so many of his fellow countrymen, is fired up with patriotism. He imagines the Germany of great literature and music, that had drawn him away from the stifling, conservative town of his childhood, might be a source of pride once again. But his flawed vision will form the beginning of a dark and complex relationship with his homeland, and see the start of great conflict within his own brilliant and troubled family. Colm Tóibín's epic novel is the story of a man of intense contradictions. Although Thomas Mann becomes famous and admired, his inner life is hesitant, fearful and secretive. His blindness to impending disaster in the Great War will force him to rethink his relationship to Germany as Hitler comes to power. He has six children with his clever and fascinating wife, Katia, while his own secret desires appear threaded through his writing. He and Katia deal with exile bravely, doing everything possible to keep the family safe, yet they also suffer the terrible ravages of suicide among Thomas's siblings and their own children. In The Magician, Colm Tóibín captures the profound personal conflict of a very public life, and through this life creates an intimate portrait of the twentieth century.

Ferruccio Busoni As Architect of Sound

Author : Associate Professor of Music History Erinn E Knyt,Erinn E. Knyt
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 329 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2023
Category : Music
ISBN : 9780197625491

Get Book

Ferruccio Busoni As Architect of Sound by Associate Professor of Music History Erinn E Knyt,Erinn E. Knyt Pdf

"This book presents a broad view of Busoni's compositional activities as not only connected to musical traditions of the past, especially the music of J.S. Bach and W.A. Mozart, but also as closely aligned with contemporary interest in experimentalism. Developments during the twentieth century included new means of pitch organization, the spatialization of sound, and the expansion of formal structures. Busoni helped pioneer these trends by writing pieces in which sound radiates from different directions, by creating montage formal structures, and by freely using all twelve pitches of the chromatic scale without avoiding consonances. In the process, the book brings Busoni's music into discourse with recent multivalent accounts of modernism in music that move beyond notions of rupture with the past as well as beyond elitist esotericism. In addition, it reveals that many of Busoni's innovations were rooted in interdisciplinary thinking that reconciled the spatial and the temporal in unique manners. While his abstract metaphysical notions of music transcended physical boundaries, the realization of his ideas was informed by an understanding of tangible architectural spaces and styles fostered by the study of buildings and floor plans. In addition, he engaged in a rich exchange of ideas with contemporary architects and artists, such as Henry Van de Velde and members of the Weimar Bauhaus. The book concludes by documenting ways Busoni's spatialized architectural music left a lasting imprint on future generations of composers, artists, and early film pioneers, such as Hans Richter, Heinrich Neugeboren, Wladimir Vogel, Stefan Wolpe, and Edgard Varèse"--

Thematizations of the Goddess in South Asian Cinema

Author : Anway Mukhopadhyay,Shouvik Narayan Hore
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Page : 265 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2022-11-16
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9781527591233

Get Book

Thematizations of the Goddess in South Asian Cinema by Anway Mukhopadhyay,Shouvik Narayan Hore Pdf

This collection presents cross-disciplinary explorations of the tropes, themes and representational frameworks constellating around the figure of the Goddess in South Asian cinema. It critically approaches the Goddess theme in various genres of South Asian cinema, using analytical tools culled from gender studies, comparative cultural studies, and religious studies, as well as film semiotics. The films discussed here represent variegated thematizations of the Goddess across regions in South Asia, including Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and various geo-cultural locations in India. As the volume highlights the regional and politico-cultural differences and commonalities in representational schemes between South Asian films of different genres through the Goddess motif, it will appeal to scholars of film studies, South Asian studies and comparative religion, and will hold a special appeal for those interested in Goddess cultures and theology.

The Bitch is Back

Author : Sarah Appleton Aguiar
Publisher : SIU Press
Page : 188 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 0809323621

Get Book

The Bitch is Back by Sarah Appleton Aguiar Pdf

When she wrote The Robber Bride, Margaret Atwood created a really villainous villain who happened to be a woman, partly in reaction to the fact that in Western literature the most meaty, wicked, and therefore interesting parts always seemed to go to male characters. Aguiar (English, Murray State U.) cites the beacon shone by Atwood in introducing her study, which discusses the dawning in contemporary literature of "the season of the bitch": a re-evaluation and reclaiming of female toughness, thorniness, and just plain badness in which women characters are also portrayed as more complete, possessed of motivations, and strongly individual. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

Gropius

Author : Fiona MacCarthy
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 576 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2019-04-30
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780674239906

Get Book

Gropius by Fiona MacCarthy Pdf

“This is an absolute triumph—ideas, lives, and the dramas of the twentieth century are woven together in a feat of storytelling. A masterpiece.” —Edmund de Waal, ceramic artist and author of The White Road The impact of Walter Gropius can be measured in his buildings—Fagus Factory, Bauhaus Dessau, Pan Am—but no less in his students. I. M. Pei, Paul Rudolph, Anni Albers, Philip Johnson, Fumihiko Maki: countless masters were once disciples at the Bauhaus in Berlin and at Harvard. Between 1910 and 1930, Gropius was at the center of European modernism and avant-garde society glamor, only to be exiled to the antimodernist United Kingdom during the Nazi years. Later, under the democratizing influence of American universities, Gropius became an advocate of public art and cemented a starring role in twentieth-century architecture and design. Fiona MacCarthy challenges the image of Gropius as a doctrinaire architectural rationalist, bringing out the visionary philosophy and courage that carried him through a politically hostile age. Pilloried by Tom Wolfe as inventor of the monolithic high-rise, Gropius is better remembered as inventor of a form of art education that influenced schools worldwide. He viewed argument as intrinsic to creativity. Unusually for one in his position, Gropius encouraged women’s artistic endeavors and sought equal romantic partners. Though a traveler in elite circles, he objected to the cloistering of beauty as “a special privilege for the aesthetically initiated.” Gropius offers a poignant and personal story—and a fascinating reexamination of the urges that drove European and American modernism.

Schoenberg's Correspondence With Alma Mahler

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2019-05-17
Category : Music
ISBN : 9780190053338

Get Book

Schoenberg's Correspondence With Alma Mahler by Anonim Pdf

A fresh perspective on two well-known personalities, Schoenberg's Correspondence with Alma Mahler documents a modern music friendship beginning in fin-de-siécle Vienna and ending in 1950s Los Angeles. This volume is the first English-language edition of the complete extant correspondence in new English translations from the original German, many from new transcriptions of handwritten originals, and it is the first English-language book of Schoenberg's correspondence with a female associate. These often quite candid letters afford readers a fascinating glimpse into the personalities, ideologies, institutions, protocols, and aesthetics of early twentieth-century European music culture. Critics, conductors, composers, and visual artists are appraised, kindly or venomously; visual artists and writers also appear. Above all, Alma Mahler (1879-1964) and Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) emerge as intriguing, complex individuals who transcend their conventional representations as, respectively, a femme fatale and a musical radical. For Schoenberg, Alma was a sympathetic confidante, a comrade in their shared battle against musical conservatism, yet also a canny negotiator of Vienna's social circles, a skill that brought Schoenberg into contact with important patrons. Not only did he invite Alma to his premieres, lectures, and art exhibitions, but Schoenberg also sent her scores of his music and drafts of his writings. He revealed to her his plans for his innovative new music society, the Society for Private Music Performances, and his development of a new method of composition with twelve tones. The letters remind us of how crucial the social and personal dimensions of music culture were to the early twentieth-century composers and musicians. Gender, ethnicity, and social class conditioned their opportunities in music---and in life---and their shared experience of fleeing fascism to a new country with a different culture and language resonates with our own epoch.

The Great Beyond

Author : Philip D. Beidler
Publisher : University of Alabama Press
Page : 186 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2022-05-03
Category : Art
ISBN : 9780817321260

Get Book

The Great Beyond by Philip D. Beidler Pdf

Essays from a master critic on how artistic giants from modernism onward confronted mortality—forging unexpected links between Twain, Woolf, Mahler, Wittgenstein, Beckett, Toni Morrison, and more While much about modernism remains up for debate, there can be no dispute about the connection between modernist art and death. The long modern moment was and is an age of war, genocide, and annihilation. Two world wars killed perhaps as many as 100 million people, through combat, famine, holocaust, and ghastly attacks on civilians. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is the fifth global pandemic since 1918, with more than a half-million American deaths and counting. It can hardly come as a surprise, then, that many of the touchstones of modernism reflect on death and devastation. In Philip D. Beidler’s exploration of the modernist canon, he illuminates how these singular voices looked extinction in the eye and tried to reckon with our finitude—and their own. The Great Beyond:Art in the Age of Annihilation catalogs through lively prose an eclectic selection of artists, writers, and thinkers. In 16 essays, Beidler takes nuanced and surprising approaches to well-studied figures—the haunting sculpture by Saint-Gaudens commissioned by Henry Adams for his late wife; Luchino Visconti’s adaptation of Mann’s Death in Venice; and the author’s own long fascination with Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. The threads and recurring motifs that emerge through Beidler’s analysis bridge the different media, genres, and timeframes of the works under consideration. Protomodernists Crane and Twain connect with near-contemporary voices like Sebald and Morrison. Robert MacFarlane’s 21st-century nonfiction about what lies underneath the earth echoes the Furerbunker and the poetry of Gertrud Kolmar. Learned but lively, somber but not grim, The Great Beyond is not a comfortable read, but it is in a way comforting. In tracing how his subjects confronted nothingness, be it personal or global, Beidler draws a brilliant map of how we see the end of the road.

Wondrous Transformations

Author : Alison Li
Publisher : UNC Press Books
Page : 273 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2023-09-14
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781469674865

Get Book

Wondrous Transformations by Alison Li Pdf

Harry Benjamin (1885–1986), a German-born endocrinologist, was a pivotal figure in the development of transgender medicine. He was physician to transgender pioneers such as Christine Jorgensen, the 1950s "Ex-GI" turned "Blonde Beauty" media sensation, and in turn, she and other collaborators helped to shape Benjamin's influential 1966 book, The Transsexual Phenomenon. Alison Li's much-needed biography of Benjamin chronicles his passion for hormones and his lifelong interest in sexology. Drawing from extensive research in archival documents, secondary sources, and interviews, Li tells the story of Benjamin's early ventures in gerontology and his later work with over a thousand transgender patients. Benjamin's contributions to treatment, education, research, and networking helped to create the institutional foundations of transgender medicine. Moreover, they set the stage for a radical reconsideration of gender identity, challenging us to reflect upon what it is to be male or female and to envision moving beyond these long-held categories.

Experiencing Mahler

Author : Arved Ashby
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 273 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2020-01-08
Category : Music
ISBN : 9781538104873

Get Book

Experiencing Mahler by Arved Ashby Pdf

Experiencing Mahler surveys the symphonies and major song sets of Gustav Mahler, presenting them not just as artworks but as vivid and deeply felt journeys. Mahler took the symphony, perhaps the most tradition-bound genre in Western music, and opened it to the widest span of human experience. He introduced themes of love, nature, the chasmic depth of midnight, making peace with death, facing rebirth, seeking one’s creator, and being at one with God. Arved Ashby offers the non-specialist a general introduction into Mahler’s seemingly unbounded energy to investigate the elements that make each work an experiential adventure—one that has redefined the symphonic genre in new ways. In addition to the standard nine symphonies, Ashby discusses Das Lied von der Erde, the three most commonly heard song sets (the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Kindertotenlieder, and Rückert-Lieder), and the unfinished Tenth Symphony (in Cooke’s edition). Experiencing Mahler is a far-reaching and often provocative search for meaning in the music of one of the most beloved composers of all time.

Love in a Time of Hate

Author : Florian Illies
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 369 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2023-09-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9780593713952

Get Book

Love in a Time of Hate by Florian Illies Pdf

An ingeniously orchestrated popular history brings to life the most pivotal decade of the twentieth century As the Roaring Twenties wind down, Jean-Paul Sartre waits in a Paris café for a first date with Simone de Beauvoir, who never shows. Marlene Dietrich slips away from a loveless marriage to cruise the dive bars of Berlin. The fledgling writer Vladimir Nabokov places a freshly netted butterfly at the end of his wife’s bed. Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, Zelda and Scott, Dalí and Gala, Picasso and his many muses, Henry and June and Anaïs Nin, the entire extended family of Thomas Mann, and a host of other fascinating and famous figures make art and love, write and row, bed and wed and betray. They do not yet know that they, along with millions of others, will soon be forced to contemplate flight—or fight—as the world careens from one global conflict to the next.