The Importance of Richard Wagner by Karen DiYanni (76)

1. The Importance of Richard Wagner by Karen DiYanni (76) • Karen Elizabeth DiYanni and Ned King Peterson were married yesterday (June 3, 2007) in New York. Msgr. (abbr. forMonsei’gneur or Mon’signor) Thomas Leonard performed the ceremony at the Roman Catholic Church of St. Vincent Ferrer. • The bride, 34, will continue to use her name professionally. She is a violinist and a member of the New York Pops, and has performed with the Orchestra of St. Luke's and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, and on Broadway in the orchestra for ''The Producers.'' • She graduated from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins and received a master's in music and an artist's diploma from Yale University.

2. Monsei’gneur a french title of honor given to princes, bishops, and other persons of eminence. a person bearing this title. Mon’signor a title conferred upon certain prelates, an e’cclesi’astic of a high order, as an archbishop, bishop, etc.; a church dignitary. . a person bearing this title. Msgr. Stands forhttp://dictionary.reference.com/

3. Professor’s Daughter She is the daughter of Mary Hammond DiYanni and Robert J. DiYanni of Bedford, N.Y. Her father is the director of international services at the College Board, which is in New York, and is a humanities professor at New York University. Her mother is a high school mathematics and science teacher at the New York School for the Deaf in White Plains.

4. a German philosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist, and revolutionary, whose ideas are credited as the foundation of modern communism. Marx summarized his approach in the first line of chapter one of The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848: "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." Karl Marx(May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883)

5. "The production of surplus value," from Karl Marx’s 'Capital' in ‘Lithographs, by Hugo Gellert, 1934 li·’thog·ra·phy is the art or process of producing a picture, writing, or the like, on a flat, specially prepared stone, with some greasy or oily substance, and of taking ink impressions from this as in ordinary printing. Surplus Value

6. Inequality in Distribution • Surplus value is a concept used famously by Karl Marx in his critique of political economy. It refers roughly to that part of the new value created by production which is claimed by enterprises as "ge’neric gross profit". Marx argues its ultimate source is unpaid surplus labor performed by the worker for the capitalist, and that the surplus-value is the primary basis for capital accumulation.

7. a 19th-century German philosopher and classical philologist. He wrote critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy and science, using a distinctive style and displaying a fondness for metaphor, irony and aphorism. Friedrich Nietzsche(October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900)

8. Übermensch (Overman, Superman), • Nietzsche's influence remains substantial within and beyond philosophy, notably in existentialism and postmodernism. His style and radical questioning of the value and objectivity of truth have resulted in much commentary and interpretation, mostly in the continental tradition. His key ideas include the death of God, perspectivism, the Übermensch (Overman, Superman), the eternal recurrence, and the will to power.

9. a German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas (or "music dramas", as they were later called). Unlike most other opera composers, Wagner wrote both the music and li’bretto, the text or words of an opera or similar extended musical composition, for every one of his works. Richard Wagner22 May 1813, ‘Leipzig  – 13 February 1883a city in E central Germany

10. Gesamtkunstwerk ("total artwork") • He transformed musical thought through his idea of Gesamtkunstwerk ("total artwork"), the synthesis of all the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, epitomized by his monumental four-opera cycleDer Ring des Nibelungen (1876). To try to stage these works as he imagined them, Wagner built his own opera house, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.

11. Stylistic Features • Wagner's compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their complex texture, rich chro’mati’cism--involving the sharpening or flattening of notes or the use of such notes in chords and harmonic progressions--harmonies and orchestration, and elaborate use of leitmotifs: musical themes associated with particular characters, lo’cales or plot elements.

12. a German composer and pianist. He was a crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music, and remains one of the most acclaimed and influential composers of all time. Ludwig van Beethoven(Baptized 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827)

13. ‘Epigraph • An Epigraph is an inscription, esp. on a building, statue, or the like. • Notice how the author begins her paper with an epigraph, which suggests, in a nutshell, the argument she will make in the paper overall.

14. German philosopher known for his atheistic pessimism and philosophical clarity. Arthur Schopenhauer(22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860)

15. desires can never be fulfilled • Schopenhauer's most influential work, The World as Will and Representation, emphasized the role of man's basic motivation, which Schopenhauer called will. His analysis of will led him to the conclusion that emotional, physical, and sexual desires can never be fulfilled. Consequently, he favored a lifestyle of negating human desires, similar to the teachings of ancient Greek Stoic philosophers, Buddhism, and Ve’danta.

16. Human nature is divine • Vedanta is based on two simple propositions: • Human nature is divine. • The aim of human life is to realize that human nature is divine.

17. Buddhism • Buddhism originated in India around the end of the 6th century BCE. • This period is sometimes known as the Axial Age. • Around this same time, major philosophical figures lived in several parts of the world; • It was the age of Confucius (Confucianism) and Laozi (Daoism or Taoism) in China; • This was the age of the great Greek philosophers, including Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; • In India, this was the period when the Buddha developed his ideas.

18. ‘Sakyamuni • The founder of Buddhism is known by several names. • He was a prince in one of the many royal families living in what is now northern India and southern Nepal; • His given name was Si’ddhartha, and he was also called ‘Gautama; • He is sometimes known as ‘Sakyamuni, which means “the light of the Sakya family.”

19. the Four Noble Truths • The teachings of the Buddhism are fairly simple and straightforward. • The key to his enlightenment is the realization of the nature of suffering. • Suffering is part of the normal life of people; • Suffering arises from our attachment to things; • If we wish to be free of suffering, we must liberate ourselves from our attachments; • There is a way to do this through meditation and renunciation; • These are the Four Noble Truths;

20. The appearance of permanence in things is an illusion • Buddhism denies the permanence of phenomena; • All things arise and pass away; everything has a beginning and an end; • The appearance of permanence in things is an illusion; sometimes called maya; • This does not mean, as is sometimes said, that nothing is real, merely that no reality is permanent; • Because all things pass away, attachment to them can yield only suffering; • Therefore, the way to free oneself from suffering is to realize and accept the impermanence of all things, including oneself;

21. a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose ecclesiastical and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity. Johann Sebastian Bach(31 March 1685 – 28 July 1750)

22. ‘Harpsi’chord A keyboard instrument whose strings are plucked by means of quills or plectrums the Baroque period an artistic style prevalent from the late 16th century to the early 18th century. It is most often defined as the dominant style of art in Europe between the Mannerist and Rococo eras, a style characterized by dynamic movement, overt emotion and self-confident rhetoric. Harpsichord and Baroque

23. a German-English Baroque composer who is famous for his operas, oratorios, and concertos. George Frideric Handel(23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759)

24. Major Works and Influence • His works include Messiah, Water Music, and Music for the Royal Fireworks. He was strongly influenced by the techniques of the great composers of the Italian Baroque and the English composer Henry Purcell. Handel's music was well-known to many composers, including Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.

25. a German composer and pianist, one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Brahms's popularity and influence were considerable; following a comment by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow, he is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the Three Bs in Vienna. Jo’hannes Brahms(7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897)