Musicians and Composers of the Renaissance Essay example -- Music, Wil

John Warrack, author of 6 Great Composers, stated, â€Å"Any study of a composer, however brief, must have as its only purpose encouragement of the reader to greater enjoyment of the music† (Warrack, p.2). The composers and musicians of the Renaissance period need to be discussed and studied so that listeners, performers, and readers can appreciate and understand the beginnings of music theory and form. The reader can also understand the driving force of the composer, whether sacred or secular, popularity or religious growth. To begin understanding music composition one must begin at the birth, or rebirth of music and the composers who created the great change. The Renaissance period of history occurred during the 15th and 16th centuries. Renaissance in its basic definition means rebirth. According to Merriam Webster, renaissance formally means, â€Å"a movement or period of vigorous artistic and intellectual activity† (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary). Renaissance is the title given to the period of great change in music and art. The Renaissance period ushered in a culture of music that the public could enjoy. Most importantly it was a period that encouraged musicians and composers to create music and take risks with voices, instruments and notes. The Renaissance period is known primarily for its changes in educating musicians. Composers and musicians alike were trained in choir schools that were held in churches. They were taught music theory, singing and academic courses like grammar and mathematics. Several famous composers were educated in these institutions. One of those who profited from such training was Guillaume Dufay. Mowen 2 Guillaume Dufay was born an illegitimate son of a priest near Brussels. He be... ...s, madrigals, and instrumental music for viola and keyboard. Prior to his death in 1623, Byrd composed 140 keyboard pieces, three Latin Masses and a Mass in English. Researchers state that Byrd’s â€Å"influence on English music was profound (Matthews, Thompson, p.282). William Byrd, Thomas Tallis, Tomas Luis de Victoria, Orlande de Lassus, Giovanni da Palestrina, Josquin de Prez, Johannes Ockeghem and Guillaume Dufay helped shine a light onto the dark ages of music and arts. These men and many more, ushered in a culture of arts Mowen 7 appreciation. Because of these composers and musicians, music was enjoyed by the public and revered by the church. Because of their creativity and their willingness to take musical risks, these composers were the fathers of the Renaissance, the rebirth, the life of the vigorous and intellectual activity, the beginning of music. Musicians and Composers of the Renaissance Essay example -- Music, Wil John Warrack, author of 6 Great Composers, stated, â€Å"Any study of a composer, however brief, must have as its only purpose encouragement of the reader to greater enjoyment of the music† (Warrack, p.2). The composers and musicians of the Renaissance period need to be discussed and studied so that listeners, performers, and readers can appreciate and understand the beginnings of music theory and form. The reader can also understand the driving force of the composer, whether sacred or secular, popularity or religious growth. To begin understanding music composition one must begin at the birth, or rebirth of music and the composers who created the great change. The Renaissance period of history occurred during the 15th and 16th centuries. Renaissance in its basic definition means rebirth. According to Merriam Webster, renaissance formally means, â€Å"a movement or period of vigorous artistic and intellectual activity† (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary). Renaissance is the title given to the period of great change in music and art. The Renaissance period ushered in a culture of music that the public could enjoy. Most importantly it was a period that encouraged musicians and composers to create music and take risks with voices, instruments and notes. The Renaissance period is known primarily for its changes in educating musicians. Composers and musicians alike were trained in choir schools that were held in churches. They were taught music theory, singing and academic courses like grammar and mathematics. Several famous composers were educated in these institutions. One of those who profited from such training was Guillaume Dufay. Mowen 2 Guillaume Dufay was born an illegitimate son of a priest near Brussels. He be... ...s, madrigals, and instrumental music for viola and keyboard. Prior to his death in 1623, Byrd composed 140 keyboard pieces, three Latin Masses and a Mass in English. Researchers state that Byrd’s â€Å"influence on English music was profound (Matthews, Thompson, p.282). William Byrd, Thomas Tallis, Tomas Luis de Victoria, Orlande de Lassus, Giovanni da Palestrina, Josquin de Prez, Johannes Ockeghem and Guillaume Dufay helped shine a light onto the dark ages of music and arts. These men and many more, ushered in a culture of arts Mowen 7 appreciation. Because of these composers and musicians, music was enjoyed by the public and revered by the church. Because of their creativity and their willingness to take musical risks, these composers were the fathers of the Renaissance, the rebirth, the life of the vigorous and intellectual activity, the beginning of music.

Fantasy V Reality †Streetcar Named Desire Essay

Fantasy v reality Remember: AO1 communicate clearly the knowledge, understanding and insight appropriate to literary study, using appropriate terminology and accurate and coherent written expression. DuBois World * â€Å"old south† mindset * Aging Southern belle who lives in a state of perpetual panic about her fading beauty * Beginning she was half sane, then contributing people drive her to insanity. * Loss of reality, represents fantasy * â€Å"The state of your life is nothing more than a reflection of your mindset.† * â€Å"It wouldn’t be make believe if you believed in me† – Scene 7 * Story of a changing South containing characters struggling with the loss of aristocracy to the new American immigrant, the fallout of chivalry to a new mind-set of sex and desire, and a woman grasping desperately at the last bit of fantasy she can muster. DuBois World * â€Å"old south† mindset * Aging Southern belle who lives in a state of perpetual panic about her fading beauty * Beginning she was half sane, then contributing people drive her to insanity. * Loss of reality, represents fantasy * â€Å"The state of your life is nothing more than a reflection of your mindset.† * â€Å"It wouldn’t be make believe if you believed in me† – Scene 7 * Story of a changing South containing characters struggling with the loss of aristocracy to the new American immigrant, the fallout of chivalry to a new mind-set of sex and desire, and a woman grasping desperately at the last bit of fantasy she can muster. The structure of A Streetcar Named Desire is best seen through a series of confrontations between Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski. In the first scene the confrontation is not so severe, but it increases in severity until one of the two must be destroyed. To understand fully the scenes of confrontations, the reader should have a good understanding of what is at stake in each encounter. That is, he should understand some of the differences between the DuBois world and the Kowalski world. Kowalski World * â€Å"new south† mindset * Beastly, Stanley possesses an animalistic physical vigor that is evident in his love of work, of fighting, and of sex * Represents reality * â€Å"He acts like an animal, has an animal’s habits! Eats like one, moves like one, talks like one! There’s even something sub-human — something not quite to the stage of humanity yet! Yes, something — ape-like about him, like one of those pictures I’ve seen in — anthropological studies.With his Polish ancestry, he represents the new, heterogeneous America† – Scene 4 (Blanche) * Destroys Blanche’s fantasy Kowalski World * â€Å"new south† mindset * Beastly, Stanley possesses an animalistic physical vigor that is evident in his love of work, of fighting, and of sex * Represents reality * â€Å"He acts like an animal, has an animal’s habits! Eats like one, moves like one, talks like one! There’s even something sub-human — something not quite to the stage of humanity yet! Yes, something — ape-like about him, like one of those pictures I’ve seen in — anthropological studies.With his Polish ancestry, he represents the new, heterogeneous America† – Scene 4 (Blanche) * Destroys Blanche’s fantasy Exploration of boundary between exterior and interior sets. Two room Kowalski apartment reflects surrounding streets. Scene 10: grotesque menacing shapes, jungle noises and distorted music are employed to reflect Blanche’s terror. Scenes 10 and 11: The use of distorted shapes and jungle cries as symbols of human cruelty. Scene 9: We hear the vendor’s cry of the Mexican Woman, â€Å"Flores, flores para los muertos† (flowers, flowers for the dead). It follows the moment when Mitch denounces Blanche as a liar and thereupon refuses to marry her. Blanche and Stella have huge dependence on male companions as it is their only way to achieve happiness (their sustenance and self image are reflected through men) Scene 4 Blanche recognises that Stella could be happier without the abusive husband for support, but this is hypocritical as she calls Shep Huntleigh for financial support. Stella chooses Stanley for love – Williams does not criticize but makes it clear that there is a FUTURE with him. A Streetcar Named Desire Plot Analysis Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice. Initial Situation â€Å"Meat!† Yes, that’s right – the early interactions between Stella and her husband constitute the initial situation of A Streetcar Named Desire. It’s important for us as the reader/audience to see the status quo of the Kowalski’s relationship before Blanche shows up and alters it for the duration of the play. Conflict Blanche arrives; something is up The immediate physical incongruity of Blanche and her surroundings lets us know that she isn’t going to fit in well here in New Orleans. Her first conversation with Stella hints at secrets she’s trying to hide. And her first encounter with Stanley is wrought with tension, sexual and otherwise. All the news of the loss of Belle Reve doesn’t help, either. Complication Blanche’s relationship with Stanley grows more and more antagonistic, especially as Stanley learns more about Blanche’s past in Laurel. Blanche and Stanley’s relationship grows more and more difficult, with Blanche constantly insulting him, and Stanley becoming more angry and aggressive. Stanley also learns about Blanche’s secret past, which he informs Stella and Mitch of. These multiple, small complications are what modern writer and essayist John Barth calls â€Å"incremental perturbations† – the water gets muddier bit by bit as the play progresses, and every new complication adds a layer of intensity and emotional weight to the story. Climax Scene Ten – the rape Did you notice that Stanley says to Blanche, â€Å"We’ve had this date with each other from the beginning!†? We know that 1) Stanley doesn’t like Blanche, 2) he takes out his anger physically, and 3) he’s practically defined by his sexual aggression. This scene seems the inevitable result of their increasingly antagonistic relationship. Suspense Already happened In this play, the suspense stage can be found in Scene Ten with the Climax. The suspense builds as we watch Blanche interact with Stanley, make a frantic phone call, declare repeatedly that she’s â€Å"caught in a trap,† and try to run away. Once the rape is over, we enter Scene Eleven without further suspense. Denouement Scene Eleven With the rape and the birth of Stella and Stanley’s child over and done with, the play’s final scene has â€Å"falling action† written all over it. Blanche’s descent into madness is complete, and we’re now looking at the aftermath to the destruction that took place at the earlier climax. Conclusion Stanley and Stella on the porch together Stella’s reaction to Blanche’s condition and story regarding her husband, and her decision to carry on her marriage in spite of it, constitute the play’s conclusion. This is summed up nicely in the image of her sitting on the porch with her baby in her arms, accepting comfort from her husband after her sister’s just been carted off to an institution. Dialogue Scene 9: â€Å"when I die, I’m going to die on the Sea.† – showing how after everything Blanche is accused of and put through, her fantasy is to be by the sea, washed clean and tranquil. Scene 9: â€Å"die..hand in hand of some nice- looking ship’s doctor, a very young one..† – Again, Blanche has always fantasized over young men, there are many references to Blanche and young men throughout the play. Scene 9: â€Å"I don’t want realism, I want magic. Magic.† – Throughout the play Blanche is the symbol of Fantasy. She dislikes the way things are in reality, and so let’s herself live in her own dream world. Scene 4: â€Å"He acts like an animal, has an animal’s habits! Eats like one, moves like one, talks like one!† – Blanche likes to think of people in a more outworldy way. She tries to justify the way Stanley is by saying he’s just not human. Stage directions Scene 7: Contrapuntal staging – irony with Blanches singing and Stanley’s gossiping. â€Å"it wouldn’t be make believe, unless you believe in me† – Blanches fairy like songs , bringing her back to her dream world, wanting to escape from reality. The music of the ‘Blue Piano’. – every now and then Blanche breaks through her fantasy world and into reality again, this is shown when the ‘blue piano’ plays. It is a memory of her dead husband, and the way that he died. From Blanche’s reaction towards the music playing, we can tell it is a memory she wishes to forget: ‘she sways and covers her face’, ‘the polka tune fades out. Her breath is drawn and released in long, grateful sobs.’ Bibliography: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/streetcar/themes.html Blue piano, magic AO3 perspectives and viewpoints: * Marxist viewpoint: Looking at the play ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, it can be analysed through a Marxist perspective, reading into how the class struggle throughout the play is prominent in establishing Blanche’s role. Blanche and Stella are from a well off background, a plantation called â€Å"belle reve†. Stella has lived in New Orleans and has adapted well to the unfair male structure of the world she lives in, however the arrival of Blanche attempts to undo this with her intellect. However, even Blanche herself unable to break free from the convention of being second class citizen due to her status as a female, despite being intellectually superior to the males. The class struggle between Blanche and Stanley is a key focus point throughout the play, with Blanche looking down on Stanley, constantly referring to him as a â€Å"polack†, a derogatory term she uses to set her superiority amongst him. This however backfire massively as it causes huge tensions between Stanley and Blanche, ending once the rape of Blanche has been successfully attempted. This can show in William’s point of view how despite room for change, the American 1940s is not ready for equality and change, with the class perspective overruling equality. Ironically in the Marxist viewpoint, equality should be achieved by all in a socialist society; A Streetcar Named Desire elaborates on how the ideas of class equality is nothing more than a pipedream which cannot be attempted nor achieved in the dense capitalist America the play is set in. It can be further extrapolated to assume that Williams’ play is one to show the bitter struggle between fantasy and reality, with Marxism being the fantasy which cannot be achieved. * Queer theory viewpoint: Links can be established with William’s own gay perspective of his personal life, uses the play a streetcar named desire to show the oppression he himself faces through being a gay man in the American 1940s; it was considered an illegal immoral activity, and so he could not openly state his personal life. Through using blanche he portrays his own fractured psyche, linking his oppression as a homosexual to the oppression she faces in the misogynistic structure of America at that time. Whilst a time of change many things were still suppressed, with homosexuals and females being considered to be lower class than men, even males with a lower class background than the females. This can link well with how Blanche is treated during the play, despite coming from a higher class than the men of the play, she herself is supressed in her activities, and is considered mentally incapable and weak by the male characters as the play progresses. It can be inferred that Williams uses the female characters of the play to convey his own sense of inferiority during the American 1940s. Williams’ ideas of fantasy versus reality feature prominently though the ‘queer’ perspective; he clearly shows Blanche’s own broken mind, elaborating by the end how she sees â€Å"lurid reflections appear on the walls in odd, sinuous shapes†. This can be seen as Blanche’s own struggle with fantasy versus reality, unable to distinguish the two. AO4 Other work: The themes of Streetcar are typical of Williams work. The idea of feeling trapped in a fantasy world, much like in ‘The Glass Menagerie’. The contrast in gender, woman feeling much more insecure about the reality of the outside work than the men of the plays was a common idea for many of Williams’ plays. The themes of fantasy in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ are also similar to those of ‘Summer and Smoke.’ The sexual and spiritual characteristics of Blanche are much like that of the character Alma in ‘Summer and Smoke’ Williams’ personal life: Williams sister was diagnosed with Schizophrenia and he remained close with her throughout his life. It can be inferred that this greatly influenced the ideas of mental illness’s being basis for fantastical elements within his plays. In the late 1930s Williams accepted he was homosexual, this was a crime during his period in which he lived in. this mean that Williams arguably included the idea of homosexuality in many of his plays as a way of escaping the troubles of his personal life. For example it is suggested that Blanche’s young lover who ended his life in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ was homosexual. Historical background: ‘The American Dream’ was a key idea in the US during the 1940’s as it was soon after ‘The Great Depression’ This dream is often mentioned throughout the play, the name of Blache and Stellas old house being ‘Belle Reve’ translating to ‘beautiful dream’

Using the Spanish Auxiliary Verb Haber for the Perfect Tenses

Just by learning the conjugation of one verb, you can vastly increase the verb tenses and forms you have available in Spanish. It may come as no surprise that the verb is haber, which is translated as the auxiliary verb to have. As an auxiliary verb, haber in Spanish and to have in English are used to form the perfect tenses. Perfect Tenses Used for Completed Actions No, they arent called the perfect tenses because theyre better than the others. But one meaning of perfect, one we dont see very often today outside of literature, is complete. The perfect verb tenses, then, refer to completed actions (although they arent the only way of referring to completed actions). Contrast two ways of referring to something that happened in the past: He salido (I have left) and estaba saliendo (I was leaving). In the first instance, it is clear that the act described by the verb is completed; its something that was over at a specific time. But in the second case, there is no indication when the departure was completed; in fact, the act of leaving still could be occurring. In both English and Spanish, the perfect tenses are formed by using a form of the verb haber or to have followed by the past participle (el participio in Spanish). In English, the participle typically is formed by adding -ed to verbs; the Spanish participle, which has origins related to the English participle, typically is formed by using the ending of -ado for -ar verbs and -ido for -er and -ir verbs. Numerous irregular forms, such as seen and visto, exist in both languages. Types of Perfect Tenses The tense of the resulting verb depends on which tense of haber is used. Use the present tense of haber to create the present perfect tense, the future tense to create the future perfect tense, and so on. Here are examples of the various tenses using haber salido (to have left) in the first-person singular and unconjugated forms. Present perfect indicative: He salido. I have left.Past perfect indicative (pluperfect): Habà ­a salido. I had left.Preterite perfect indicative: Hube salido. I had left.Future perfect indicative: Habrà © salido. I will have left.Conditional perfect indicative: Habrà ­a salido. I would have left.Present perfect subjunctive: (que) haya salido. (that) I have left.Past perfect subjunctive: (que) hubiera salido. (that) I had left.Perfect infinitive: haber salido (to have left)Perfect gerund: habiendo salido (having left) Note that the preterite perfect indicative tense isnt used much in speech or modern writing. Youre most likely to find it in literature. Note also that when standing alone, the subjunctive forms are indistinguishable in English from the indicative forms. In Spanish, the structure of the sentence, not how the verb is translated into English, will determine when the subjunctive is used. See the lessons on the subjunctive mood for more information on this verb mood. Sample Sentences Using the Perfect Tenses Here are some more involved sample sentences that you can examine to see how the perfect tenses are used. You will notice that they generally are used like the same tenses in English. He comprado un coche nuevo pero no puedo manejarlo. (I have bought a new car but I cant drive it. Present perfect indicative.)El traficante de armas no habà ­a leà ­do a Shakespeare. (The arms trafficker had not read Shakespeare. Past perfect indicative)Si yo hubiera hecho esa pelà ­cula  ¡los crà ­ticos me habrà ­an comido vivo! (If I had made that film, the critics would have eaten me alive! Past perfect subjunctive.)Hoy estoy aquà ­; maà ±ana me habrà © ido. (I am here today; tomorrow I will have gone. Future perfect.)No creo que hayan ganado los Rams. (I dont believe the Rams have won. Present perfect subjunctive.)Querà ­amos que hubieran comido. We wanted them to have eaten. Past perfect subjunctive.)Para morirse bien es importante haber vivido bien. (In order die well it is important to have lived well. Perfect infinitive.)Habiendo visto Bogotà ¡ en pantalla cientos de veces, creo que nada va a sorprenderme. (Having seen Bogota on a screen hundreds of times, I think nothing is going to surprise me. Perfect gerund.) Key Takeaways Haber is an common auxiliary verb in Spanish that functions as the equivalent of the English have as an auxiliary verb.Haber forms the perfect tenses, which are used similar to the perfect tenses of English and indicate that an action has or will be completed.Perfect tenses can be used in Spanish for the past, present, and future in both the indicative and subjunctive moods.