Academic literature on the topic 'Bel canto Analysis'

In order to improve the intelligent analysis effect of Bel Canto music and improve the singing skills of Bel Canto, this paper uses the machine semantic recognition algorithm to identify the characteristics of Bel Canto music, builds a Bel Canto music feature recognition model, and analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of each Bel Canto semantic feature clustering method and the applicable data set types. Finally, this paper applies the Bel Canto semantic feature clustering method to multicomponent signal parameter estimation, uses the clustering method to cluster the time-frequency analysis of nonstationary signals, obtains the time-frequency distribution of each signal component, and then estimates the parameters of each single-component signal. The experimental results show that the Bel Canto music feature recognition method based on machine semantics proposed in this paper has a good effect.

As we all know, as the soul of music artists, the cultivation of music sense is an indispensable and important part of Bel Canto teaching. Traditional music classroom education lags behind the development of the information age. According to the educational method of Bel Canto teaching, the recognition experiment of Bel Canto audio is carried out, which helps students analyze the content of music sense contained in music works, and teachers cultivate students’ music sense and music theory knowledge according to effective results. In order to better let students appreciate the true meaning of music, it is necessary to add online tools to assist Bel Canto teaching. Traditional methods neither teach students in accordance with their aptitude from the actual situation, but use the rapidly developing computer technology to match resources, nor does it seriously cultivate students’ ability to appreciate music and perceive emotions. Based on the above problems, this paper starts from the field of deep learning and plans to build a hybrid model related to LSTM. The results of this paper are as follows: (1) The CNN-LSTM model has the highest recognition rate curve, and the recognition rate of some emotions is over 90%; the loss rate tends to be stable at 200 iterations, and the convergence speed is rapid. (2) After preprocessing, the emotion recognition rate is higher, and the average accuracy of audio features extracted based on spectrogram + LLDs in emotion is about 0.7. (3) According to the actual scene application, the best effect of music sense cultivation is to use the model to assist classroom teaching, and the highest score can reach 8.8 points. In addition, the error between the emotional expression identified by the model and the original work is between 0 and 0.5 points, and the emotional expression effect is excellent. (4) The model can also recognize different kinds and times of emotion in 5-minute Bel Canto works. The above experimental results show that the model basically meets the requirements of the subject, and its performance is excellent, but the details need to be optimized.

Background. The category of style is one of the most used in modern musicology. This is due to objective reasons: the attention of the “consumer” of a cultural product is mostly not focused on its author recently. The coexistence of individual performance versions of composer’s works is one of the reasons that problems of stylistic attribution of musical art do not lose their relevance. In different areas of musical practice these problems are interpreted in different ways and get various degrees of theoretical understanding. The area of vocal art deserves special attention. An analysis of specialized literature suggests that the ever-increasing number of appropriate studies has not yet influenced the crystallization of the definition of “vocal style” in the scientific sense. This is due to the fact that the meaning of the term “vocal style” has many dimensions that reflect technological, aesthetic, historical, individual and national parameters of creativity. This resulted in the purpose of proposed article – to identify the singular and general in the interpretation of the category “vocal style” in Western European and Chinese art discourse. The research methodology is determined by its objectives; it is integrative and based on a combination of general scientific approaches and musicological methods. The leading research methods are historical, genre-stylistic and interpretative analyzes. Results. The word style first appeared in ancient Greece, where it was called a tool for writing on wooden tablets covered with wax. Later, the word style began to be used to describe not only human activity, but himself. At the same time, there is no case in Confucius’s “Analects” of using this definition. Central to the aesthetic block of Confucius’ teaching is not the question of the style of art, but the degree of influence that it has on the formation of the five moral qualities. As for questions directly about the style of artistic creation, Chinese scholars believe that they were first addressed by a contemporary and follower of Confucius, literary theorist Liu Xie, in whose works for the first time in the history of Chinese culture the word “style” was used. We note that in both Europe and China the studies of ancient thinkers have become the foundation for centuries and millennia that determined the essential parameters of the worldview of peoples and civilizations and stimulated the development of human thought. So nowadays style is similarly understood as a certain set of features that characterize either a particular person or the results of his activities. As for a narrower understanding of style (in our case – vocal style), it historically developed much later, which was preceded by a long evolution of vocal art and the accumulation of relevant scientific works. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the specific of vocal performance, the essence of which involves working with verbal texts, their artistic representation, and, consequently, the determinism of not only musical but also artistic embodiment of the work. Thus, in European treatises of Renaissance and Baroque periods it is not about the performer, but about the style of specific musical works, basic parameters of which are determined by the place of performance and the appropriate type of expression. At the same time, there are studies which examine the national aspect of the phenomenon of vocal performance, that is perceived as a consequence of the interaction of several factors: temperament, climate and landscape. It is interesting that even in the baroque treatises maxims about the advantages of the Italian school bel canto can be found; and nowadays it continues to determine the development of not only European but also world vocal art. We emphasize that we can not find Chinese treatises dating from the XVII–XVIII centuries, which are devoted to the comprehension of vocal art in the European sense of the word. After all, academic vocal culture in this country has begun to develop only in the early twentieth century and therefore imitated and appropriated the aesthetic and technology of the dominant European vocal style bel canto. It is known that the definition of bel canto is most often used in two cases: as a designation of a certain historical style, which is most vividly embodied in works of V. Bellini and G. Donizetti, and as a designation of singing technique. So we see that, as in other performing arts, the definition of style contains two interdependent parameters: technological and artistic and aesthetic. And the latter in the case of exactly vocal schools can be interpreted as a mobile factor. The similarity of interpretation of the definition of vocal style (namely one of its varieties – bel canto) in European and Chinese art literature is the result of the fact that eastern and western cultures are gradually approaching each other in the process of historical development. Conclusions. A comparative analysis of European and Chinese scientific sources suggests that the issues of musical stylistics occupied an important place in the minds of thinkers even before our era. And although both in the East and in the West the category of style was perceived as a mean of realization of the individual worldview of the man-creator, we can still talk about the difference in vectors of study of this problem. For example, if in the East it was perceived as a fundamental part of the ethical, in the West – the aesthetic. The formation of the phenomenon of “vocal style” was a natural consequence of the development of European vocal culture, where concepts of “technique” and “style” gradually crystallized. They became the basis of European vocal art, the assimilation of which has led to the phenomenal success of the modern Chinese school bel canto.

Abstract I Puritani is the masterpiece that crowned the creation of the Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini, being remarked and appreciated for the richness of his melodicity and profound symbols filled with the inspiration and creativity of a creator. This was the last of the ten works composed by Bellini, whose disappearance was premature, at only 33 years, but the passion and talent with which he created revealed a work dominated by essence and emotion, which establishes a close connection between chant and the poetic text, providing new expressive valences to the lyrical universe. The extremely difficult and demanding vocal writing raises serious challanges, the Bel-canto style meaning not only a “beautiful chant” but also a difficult texture, a certain specific phrasing and a spread of spectacular acute tones.

Formulation of the problem. U. Giordano is a bright representative of the late romantic tradition of the Italian opera of the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. Among the brightest stage versions of his most famous opera “Andrea Chenier”, within this study we have selected a number of the key implementations of Andrea Chenier’s part, which show the constant and mobile signs of the interpretation of this famous opera image. The purpose of the study is to identify the features of interpreting the image of Andrea Chenier from the opera of the same name by the performers of various schools in the aspect of the interaction of historical traditions and modern tendencies from viewpoint of comparative interpretation science. Analysis of recent publications on the topic of the article. The Italian opera of the XIX century is the object of many fundamental researches. The monograph of O. Stakhevych [7] demonstrates a multifaceted approach to the problems of becoming and development the bel canto style; in the study by M. Cherkashina [9], the music theatre of Bellini and Donizetti is presented as an independent phenomenon of Italian operatic history in its first period. I. Drach [2] points to debatable and sometimes subjectivity of interpretation of the concept “bel canto”. The evolution of the Italian opera already at the beginning of the XX century is considered in the study of L. Kirillina [3]; reference information about the Italian opera can be found in English-language articles from Grove’s dictionary [17]. An interesting concept is the book of A. Mallach [14] – the author traces the very fast path of the Italian opera from verismo to modernism. As for U. Giordano’s creativity directly, beside the small articles of encyclopaedic character [12; 13], the publication of M. Morini [15] is the most fundamental and complete. It collected not only researches of the composer’s creativity, but also reviews by contemporaries U. Giordano, his correspondence, registers of his performances and music recordings. The study of C. Ruizzo [16] contains arguments about the components of verismo in the work of U. Giordano, in particular, analyzes the finale of the III pictures of the opera “Andre Chenier”. Regarding this opera, we will separate the mini-guide by Burton D. Fisher [11], the articles of I. Sorokina [8], G. Marquezi [5], H. W. Simon [6], C. Duault [10]. The authors discuss not only the dramatic features of this opera masterpiece, the figure of the main character, but also the influences that this opera made, for example, on “Tosca” by J. Puccini. Statement of the main content of the article. The opera “Andrea Chenier” is a sign composition of the verismo era, despite the fact that its main character is the well-known politician, French poet and journalist. After composing (1895) and the premiere (1896, Milan), the opera was staged in Genoa, Mantua, Parma, Turin, New York (1896), Kharkov, Moscow; Budapest, Buenos-Aires, Florence, Naples, Prague, Santiago (1897), Antwerp, Barcelona, Berlin, Cairo, Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro (1898); in 1907, in the production of Covent Garden, E. Caruso played the title role. The composer and librettist brought to the stage as the protagonist of opera bright, courageous and ambitious person, so it is not surprising that both separate arias and the party of Shenier still belong to the repertoire of many prominent tenors of the planet – F. Tamagno, J. Martinelli, E. Caruso, B. Gigly, G. Lauri-Volpi, A. Cortis, F. Corelli, M. Del Monaco, P. Domingo, L. Pavarotti, M. Alvarez. The opera “Andre Chenier” is a model of the golden age of verismo, and it is endowed with all the main features of this direction of Italian art. However, the protagonist, in addition to being a poet, is also a revolutionary, that is, an uneasy person, a hero, and it is the fact that deduces this work for the stylistic limits of verismo by demonstration of a strong, extraordinary character. These features are embodied in the musical characteristics of Chenier. The main thing in interpreting his famous Improvisation “Un di al’azzurro spazio” (the 1 act of the opera) by E. Caruso is the very elaboration, exact construction of the melodic line and the bright climax, that is, combination the features both a lyrical and a dramatic role specializations that E. Caruso was possessed in equal measure. B. Gigli’s singing (which we consider an example of a dramatic embodiment of the image) is characterized by the refinement of the mezzo voce and the richness, when he sings in full voice, therefore his performance of the Improvisation, in general, is more emotional (a high-profile register, a rhythmic emphasizing that gives a distinct organization the image). M. Del Monaco performs the Improvisation not so much playing by the shades of his strong voice as leading the almost continuous melodic line, which gives mostly lyrical colours to the Chenier’s image. The aria “Come un bel di Maggio” from the 4 act performed by F. Corelli is a model of the exalted lyrics, the lyrical culmination of the opera. F. Corelli performs the aria legato that is tellingly to the bel canto tradition, with a full sound, as if the sound hovers and penetrates everywhere through the skilful addition of dramatic notes (the last sounds of the upper tenor range – si, la of the first octave). P. Domingo interprets Andrea’s image as a whole more dramatically, but in a fairly wide range – from the pathetic (Act 1), the sublime, lyrical (recognition in love in the Act 2) to the tragic (monologue “Yes, I was a soldier” of the Act 3) and the dramatic (Act 4). His striking rubato, aimed at acutely emotional expression, is impressive, P. Domingo has literally speaking in the some parts of the recitatives and even the arias, and that, in conjunction with accelerando, fills the musical language by the speech expression. The interpretation by P. Domingo corresponds to Chenier’s status as a revolutionary hero. Conclusions. Composing the opera, U. Giordano counted on the Italian tenor in the main role, according to the traditions of the bel canto era (strong upper notes, wide range, and equal voice sounding in different registers). The tradition of interpreting the image of Chenier, laid by the first performer J. Borgatti, generally is preserved. The analysis of the most famous interpretations of the Chenier’s part (performed by E. Caruso, B. Gigli, M. Del Monaco, F. Corelli, P. Domingo, J. Carreras, and L. Pavarotti) demonstrated the leading role of the Italian bel canto school. This applies to the principle of canto è riflesso, singing without forcing the sound, the role of breathing, which transforms into the singing sound, the predomination of the head register (la voce di testa), and the integrity of the cantilena. For instance, M. Del Monaco and F. Corelli are lyrical tenors; they sing brightly, with a shine light decoration of high notes. In the performance of B. Gigli, there is a constant movement forward; L. Pavarotti, F. Corelli, J. Carreras, being within the limits of the lyric and dramatic role specifications, transmit in music the power of deep feelings. Instead, B. Gigli and, P. Domingo especially demonstrate the power of drama in the role specification of the Italian tenor, thereby enhancing the heroic side of the image of Shenier. The prospect of further study of the topic is associated with the emergence of new interpretations of the image of A. Chenier in the 21st century, which opens up new dimensions of the science about art interpretation.

In the 1880s, the realization that Bellini had extensively reused melodies from early or unfinished works in his most famous operas provoked a small aesthetic crisis in Italy. Although today such reuse of material is no longer looked upon as a scandalous breach of compositional integrity, scholars have been slow to examine Bellini's self-borrowings for clues to the evolution of his style or to his attitudes toward the relations between melody and drama. Most of Bellini's self-borrowings show the composer simplifying his melodies, reducing harmonic and melodic variety as if to distance himself from bel canto convention. At the same time, melodic convention is essential to understanding the borrowings, a fact that becomes particularly obvious in those cases where dramatic parallels between the two contexts of a melody are obscure or nonexistent. For example, the recasting of a cheerful cabaletta in Zaira as a lament in I Capuleti e i Montecchi relies on a resemblance between melodic figures conventionally used to imitate tears or laughter-but also critiques those conventions. An allusive relationship between refrains in Il pirata and I puritani similarly derives its logic more from a shared musical evocation of solitude and empty space than from any overt dramatic resemblance between the two scenes. The article argues that for Bellini self-borrowing was entangled with the looser techniques of allusion and reliance on melodic convention. For this reason, study of the self-borrowings provides a model for engaging with the musical language of early nineteenth-century Italian opera, redressing the tendency to dismiss its musical detail as "merely" conventional and thus unworthy of analysis.

Statement of the problem. The article is devoted to the outstanding figure of vocal art of Slobozhanshchyna Mykola Fedorovych Manoilo (1927–1998), the opera singer, who was awarded the title of “People’s Artist of the USSR” (1976) for impeccable performance of baritone parts of the classical repertoire on the stage of Kharkiv Theatre of Opera and Ballet, as well as of the chamber repertoire compiled of Ukrainian folk songs and works by Ukrainian composers. Based on his own experience of studying in the class of solo singing of M. Manoilo (1988), the author of the article offers the experience of scientific and methodological generalization of creative principles of vocal pedagogy of the teacher, while emphasizing the role of Manoilo as a unique singer. The relevance of the topic and its practical significance are stipulated by the urgent need of vocal pedagogy to form a tradition of scientific reflection on the specialization of the vocalist, the representation of classical guidelines and methods in the modern dimension, establishing creative contacts of different generations. The purpose of the article is to reveal the pedagogical principles by M. Manoilo as an outstanding representative of the Kharkiv vocal school, genealogy and dominant features of his performing creative work. Analysis of recent research and publications. The creative figure of M. Manoilo has not yet received serious coverage in the domestic musicology yet. Existing sources are brief biographic descriptions in reference books and encyclopaedias, the anthology “Ukrainian singers in the memoirs of contemporaries, compiler I. Lysenko (2003), or mentions of his name in books on the artistic life of Kharkiv (O. Chepalov, 2012; Tsurkan, 2013). The methodology contains a number of interrelated approaches to the study of the phenomenon of the singer’s artistic personality: historiographical, biographical, performing, and phenomenological. Presentation of basic research material. M. Manoilo inherited the principles of vocal pedagogy from P. Golubev, who taught at the Kharkiv Conservatory (1930–1953) and was the successor of the classical school of Italian bel canto singing, as a student of F. Bugamelli, which was involved by I. Slatin in teaching vocals at the Kharkiv Music College (1901–1918). The creative principles of the artist-interpreter M. Manoilo are a compendium of his mastery: ● orientation on the generally accepted standard of sounding of a voice (bel canto); ● persistent search for individual reading of the role on the path of constant musical and intellectual self-growth; ● word culture; ● unity of sound-forming technology and artistic and aesthetic principles of a musical work, due to its genre and stylistic nature; ● psychological authenticity (own experience of “entering” the image and its “living-through”) and the singer’s ability for self-analysis; ● mental and psychological signs of artistic personality – great persistence and strength of character, the desire to reach the highest point (acme) of creative self-representation. The “denominator” of M. Manoilo’s performing skills is the style – the performer’s orientation for the accuracy of the composer’s text. The results obtained. The principles of M. Manoilo’s vocal pedagogy were based on the basis of generalization of own scenic experience as a system of generally acquired and personality-oriented principles: – sound culture (uniformity of construction of the singing range; flexibility, strength, flight of voice, use of mixed register, rounding, covering); sound word culture; attention to diction; – author-centrism of the singer’s interpretation of the vocal-stage image; – high artistic taste, which is formed through the education of musicality, diverse repertoire, and a sense of performance drama; – high artistic taste, which is formed through the education of musicality, diverse repertoire, and a sense of performance drama; – trust in intuition, which the singer should constantly “check” with his/her own intellect according to the composer’s text. Conclusions. As the heir of the Italian tradition of singing, in all genres of performance M. Manoilo represented such qualities as: proper breathing (free passage of all resonator zones), beautifully designed, high-quality singing tone, theatrical voice, which was overlapping the sound of the orchestra, sonority, flight, equality of the whole range. From the domestic singing paradigm one should add to Manoilo’s artistic portfolio the following: ● recitative-speech cut of vocal intonation (melodic nature of singing is enriched by the relief of declamatory vocalization); ● clear diction of the word being sung to reach the minds and hearts of listeners and establish a dialogue with the author; ● cordocentrism – a particularly intense intra-emotional tone of performance as a personification of the Ukrainian “philosophy of the heart” (Н. Skovoroda); ● integrative type of performing thinking – the unity of poetic-intonation and stage-artistic image of the singer. If a super-goal of music is, according to Aristotle, the entelechy, then singing technique is a way to achieve it. Such was the universal basis of M. Manoilo’s requirements of to himself, as well as to the students of his solo singing class

I testi per musica offrono molteplici spunti e stimoli per l'insegnamento e l'apprendimento della lingua italiana. I due generi principali, l'opera lirica e la canzone, consentono di approfondire anche lo sviluppo storico del nostro idioma e di affrontare le varietà stilistiche e sociolinguistiche del passato e del presente; inoltre il modo di fruizione principale e più genuino di questi testi verbali (quello che, appunto, li unisce all'esecuzione canora e musicale) è per sua natura multimodale, tratto che in anni più recenti ha acquisito ulteriori potenzialità grazie allo sviluppo della multimedialità. Senza contare che a partire sia dall'opera lirica sia dalla canzone gli insegnanti possono elaborare dei percorsi interdisciplinari pensati appositamente per le diverse categorie di studenti a cui di volta in volta si rivolgono. Il saggio presenta un esempio concreto di analisi linguistica e di una possibile applicazione didattica di natura multimodale, multimediale e interdisciplinare prendendo in esame l'opera che ha inaugurato la stagione 2021-2022 del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, il Macbeth di Giuseppe Verdi, e le canzoni prime classificate al Festival di Sanremo dello stesso anno: una scelta sperimentata in alcuni corsi accademici e che ha dato esiti positivi perché più aderente e vicina al contesto culturale, informativo e massmediatico in cui gli studenti sono immersi. Bel-canto and songs in teaching Italian as L1, L2 and LS. General considerations and teaching experiences Texts written to be sung offer many possibilities to teach and learn the Italian language in a pleasant way. The two main genres of these texts for music - opera and song - also allow to deepen the historical development and the stylistic and sociolinguistic varieties of the Italian language. Multimodality is an intrinsic feature of the fruition of sung texts; furthermore, in recent years the development of multimedia has offered new possibilities in this direction. In addition, both opera and song allow us to deal with interdisciplinary arguments. The paper presents an example of linguistic analysis and a possible multimodal, multimedia and interdisciplinary didactic application: it analyzes the opera that inaugurated the 2021-2022 season of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi, and the first classified songs at the Sanremo Festival of the same year. This choice has been tested in some academic courses, giving positive feedback: in fact, the students approached these texts with greater interest because they considered them to be closer to the cultural and informative context they experience every day.

The article deals with the development of the manner in which Geneva’s institutional psychiatric power is undermined during the 1970s. An attempt is thus made to situate the former disagreements into a broader perspective. thereby referring to the so-called «anti-psychiatry» of the 1960s. Following a presentation of the Bel-Air Clinic in regards to its context and reforms, the paper features an analysis of the criticisms and demands purported by alternative groups in matter of psychiatry. As such, the paper ranges from the denunciation of psychiatric repression in Canton Geneva, to the subsequent critical eruption of the reorganisation of the psychiatric structures, up to the legislative amendments of the 1980s.

An aural analysis of bel canto: traditions and interpretations as preserved through selected sound recordings. The thesis addresses the lack of an aural appreciation of bel canto operatic traditions. Further it asserts that sound recordings are invaluable in examining aspects of improvisation and ornamentation of the melodic line that are characteristic of this tradition. A detailed aural analysis also provides valuable and unique insights into the bel canto techniques demonstrated by the performers as perceived aurally. The incentive to undertake this research from an aural perspective exclusively developed from the writer’s physical limitations. This differs from more traditional methods of research which would focus on contemporary critiques on the subject. The essence of the aural research undertaken has been to compare different recordings by different singers in various eras, and to establish the ways bel canto traditions have been preserved, maintained, nurtured and performed. The project focuses on selected operas from the nineteenth century repertoire of Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini. Two arias are analysed as case studies, each one examining aspects of bel canto opera from the twentieth century to the present. The first case study focuses on the soprano aria ‘Casta Diva’ from Bellini’s Norma, while the second is the tenor aria ‘Una furtiva lagrima’ from L’Elisir d’Amore by Donizetti. Each case study is documented, and includes transcribed excerpts from the chosen aria to illustrate and interpret bel canto traditions through both preserved and re-mastered recordings. Comparisons are made between different singers, describing which aspects of performance display the characteristics and qualities of bel canto. High quality sound recordings are indispensable in making an aural approach, particularly if there are no longer suitably skilled singers available to perform the works live, since it is through this medium of sound recordings, as well as live performances, that future generations can appreciate these operatic techniques. It is hoped that this thesis will contribute to a significant appreciation of the Italian bel canto tradition of the nineteenth century and the transmission of its various techniques.
Thesis (M.Mus.) -- University of Adelaide, Elder Conservatorium of Music, 2010

碩士
國立臺北教育大學
音樂學系碩士班
98
This literary work covers five chapters. The first chapter is the introduction, which contains the research motivation as well as the range of study. The second chapter talks about 19th century Italian Bel Canto Opera's characteristic, and discusses the composer’s life, the creation course and music work characteristic. The third chapter then introduces the opera "I Capuleti e i Montecchi" and how the script originates, how the actors performed in the play, the plot content, and analyzes the classical romanza song which Juliet sings, “Oh! Quante volte, Oh! Quante”, in view of the music structure, harmony, and interpretation. The fourth chapter inquired into "La Sonnambula" and how the script originates, the actor’s roles, the plot content, and chooses to discuss the songs, “Come per me sereno” and “Ah! Non credea mirarti”, to make the music analysis with interpretation. The fifth chapter is the conclusion, does compared with two operas and to present paper's research makes uniform.

This chapter presents a detailed analysis of the lex Pompeia de provinciis of 52. The law should be seen as the product of collaboration between Pompey and Cato in the first half of 52. Cato had been instrumental in creating Pompey’s sole consulship and his role in Milo’s trial shows that their cooperation continued; moreover, Pompey’s law gave effect to a senatus consultum passed the previous year probably with Cato’s backing. Although Cassius Dio presents the law as an attempt to control electoral competition, the lex Pompeia was also a far-sighted provincial reform which transformed the way in which provincial commands were created and conceptualized. Besides requiring an interval between magistracy and promagistracy, the law gave the senate much greater control over provincial appointments and thus provided the framework for a policy of provincial governance closely associated with Cato.

This chapter argues for a direct connection between Marcus Cato’s Stoic philosophy and his political thinking. In particular, Cato’s Stoic concept of the equality of human beings imposed standards of conduct towards enemies and allies that sometimes went beyond Roman mores, reflected in his restrictive attitude to triumphs and his proposal that Julius Caesar should be handed over to the German tribes. At the centre of the chapter is an analysis of Cato’s letter to Cicero as a Stoic document which highlights the inseparability of provinces and res publica in Cato’s thought. Cato’s Cyprus mission in 58–56 affords a case study of how he applied his ethical principles in practice, which Cato himself actively promoted as an example for others. A discussion of the ‘Egyptian question’ in the 50s demonstrates the interest of Cato and his friends in major foreign policy questions.

Mathematical and philosophical thought about continuity has changed considerably over the ages. Aristotle insisted that continuous substances are not composed of points, and that they can only be divided into parts potentially; a continuum is a unified whole. The most dominant account today, traced to Cantor and Dedekind, is in stark contrast with this, taking a continuum to be composed of infinitely many points. The opening chapters cover the ancient and medieval worlds: the pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander, and a recently discovered manuscript by Bradwardine. In the early modern period, mathematicians developed the calculus the rise of infinitesimal techniques, thus transforming the notion of continuity. The main figures treated here include Galileo, Cavalieri, Leibniz, and Kant. In the early party of the nineteenth century, Bolzano was one of the first important mathematicians and philosophers to insist that continua are composed of points, and he made a heroic attempt to come to grips with the underlying issues concerning the infinite. The two figures most responsible for the contemporary hegemony concerning continuity are Cantor and Dedekind. Each is treated, along with precursors and influences in both mathematics and philosophy. The next chapters provide analyses of figures like du Bois-Reymond, Weyl, Brouwer, Peirce, and Whitehead. The final four chapters each focus on a more or less contemporary take on continuity that is outside the Dedekind–Cantor hegemony: a predicative approach, accounts that do not take continua to be composed of points, constructive approaches, and non-Archimedean accounts that make essential use of infinitesimals.

Two historical episodes form the background to the research presented here: the first is the remarkably rapid transition in the course of the nineteenth century from the ancient Aristotelian view that a true continuum cannot be composed entirely of points to the now standard, entirely punctiform frameworks for analysis and geometry found in modern texts (stemming from the work of Bolzano, Cauchy, Weierstrass, Dedekind, Cantor, et al.). The second is the mid-to-late twentieth-century revival of pre-limit methods in analysis and geometry using infinitesimals, viz. non-standard analysis due to Abraham Robinson, and the more radical smooth infinitesimal analysis based on intuitionistic logic. One goal of the present work is to develop a systematic comparison of these and related including (alternatives constructivist and predicative conceptions), balancing various trade-offs, helping articulate a modern pluralist perspective. A second main goal (pursued in the opening chapters) is to develop thoroughgoing regions-based theories of classical continua that are mathematically equivalent (inter-reducible) to the currently standard, punctiform accounts of modern texts. Although in this project the work has been preceded by various writings, as explained below, it is believed the theories developed here are more streamlined, unified, and comprehensive than others in the contemporary literature. Finally, the book considers various limitations of the systems developed and some of the more striking implications for contemporary philosophy stemming from the pluralism take we our work to support.

This chapter turns to metaphysical matters. Some analytic metaphysicians have occupied themselves with the nature (or the possible nature) of space and time (or space–time), and with the relationship between physical objects and the regions of space or space–time they occupy. Some of the issues concern the boundaries of objects and the notion of contact. The first goal is to give a somewhat biased overview of a portion of this literature, arguing that many of the issues are much easier to negotiate if we assume a regions-based space or space–time. The chapter then turns to some apparent limitations of the semi-Aristotelian accounts of space or space–time. For example, the natural analogue of Lebesgue measure is not countably additive (although it is finitely additive), and there seems to be no straightforward way to account for continuous variation in our frameworks other than by just introducing “points” via “extensive abstraction”. Finally, the question is broached of adjudicating whether space or space–time really is punctiform. The tight connection between our regions-based, gunky theories and the more standard Dedekind–Cantor punctiform theories indicates that space or space–time can be described, completely and adequately either way.

The research carried out in the monograph aimed to create a measurement and interpretation system which is to obtain reliable results of well logging with the accuracy of laboratory measurements. Continuous core measurements allow for the generation of logging results without the impact of the borehole and facilitate the depth matching of the core to well log data. Four main chapters can be distinguished in this work: research methodology with a description of the devices used; partial results of core measurements made on various types of rocks; a proposal for a research system, and comprehensive data interpretation for selected boreholes. The methodological part concerned the description of the equipment for continuous measurements of cores in the field of natural gamma radioactivity (K, U, Th) with the application for bulk density measurements using the gamma-gamma method, X-ray fl uorescence spectrometers (XRF) for measuring the chemical composition of rocks and computed tomography (CT) for imaging of the core structure as well as determination of radiological density in Hounsfi eld units (HU). Rock studies were carried out on material representing formations of diff erent lithologies, such as shales, sandstones, limestones, dolomites, anhydrite, siltstones and heterolithic sandstone-siltstone-claystone complexes. The results of measurements made using individual methods have been described in detail and compared with the results of laboratory measurements and well logging data. Test measurements with data processing and interpretation were made on the cores from five boreholes (T-1, O-4, Pt-1, L-7, P-5H), whereas a comprehensive interpretation of the results was carried out for three other boreholes (J-1, P-4, T-2). The new methodology of spectral gamma measurements made it possible to obtain precise concentrations of potassium, uranium and thorium in rocks with high and low radioactivity. The results made it possible to standardise the archival gamma-ray logs made with the Russian-type probes from imp/min to API standard units and to obtain data on the content of K, U, and Th in the core intervals. Using the Cs-137 source in the device for the gamma equipment made it possible to carry out measurements of the bulk density in g/cm3 units. The lithological interpretation based on XRF measurements and mineralogical-chemical models allowed to obtain logs with increased resolution and a more signifi cant number of minerals than was the case with the interpretation of the well logging. In addition, it has been shown that the XRF measurement methodology can be used during the geosteering procedure. The results of the core tests using the CT computed tomography method were presented in combined images and continuous curves of density in HU units. The experience and the presentation of the full scope of measurement and interpretation workflow allowed to propose a procedure for conducting a full range of analyses, considering various types of material provided for research. The procedure considers the full range of analyses as well as the measurements of selected parameters depending on the client’s needs. Keywords: petrophysics, core analyses, XRF spectrometry, computed tomography, gamma profiling, lithological interpretation

This chapter discusses Mary Lou Williams’s work to establish the Bel Canto Foundation in the late 1950s and 1960s, primarily through her Bel Canto Thrift Shop. Williams worked tirelessly to manage her shop, to account for her finances, and to aspire to realize a support system for musicians in need. She strove to forge a new sense of community between jazz artists and the broader society. Previous analyses of the foundation effort and management of the thrift shop have not included the musicians who were recipients of Williams’s charity. Ever the meticulous recordkeeper, Williams extensively documented her foundation efforts. Her business papers add to the Bel Canto story a record of several musicians who experienced Williams’s charity, regardless of the foundation’s ultimate fate. Confident in her ability to manage a substantial project like this foundation because she had secured revenue for herself through the ongoing retrieval and management of her composition copyrights, Williams strove to become more than a regular parishioner in her new Catholic community. Williams’s daily labor comes to light as the outworking of her conception of a divine call—during the period that she and her Catholic friends contested the specific nature of this call.

This chapter, “I Gave You Everything,” analyzes Callas’s magic as a stage performer and the revolutionary nature of her short career that continues to resonate today. Her dark and penetrating voice was very different from the light voices of the coloratura sopranos who dominated bel canto roles in the first half of the twentieth century. The power of Callas’s artistry was the product not only of her voice and her musicianship, but also of her acting ability, her enormous capacity to render emotional truth and merge with her audiences. Her vision of opera as combining singing and acting in the joint pursuit of emotional truth meant an emphasis on the cohesion and integrity of the entire performance. Callas’s perfectionism drove her dynamic success but it also prevented her from dealing effectively with escalating vocal difficulties resulting from a precipitous loss of weight and undertaking overly taxing roles early in her career.

Since the emergence of bel canto in China, traditional Chinese singing has been greatly influenced. Modern Chinese opera not only inherits the essence of Chinese national music, but also includes the unique vocal abilities of bel canto. It is thanks to Chinese national music and bel canto, which give Chinese opera singing in modern opera a whole new artistic experience that makes contemporary Chinese opera singing aimed at diversified development. The article analyzes the direction of development of bel canto in the field of Chinese art and the influence of bel canto on the direction of development of Chinese opera singing. Clarify the direction of development of the Chinese operatic art.

Abstract High entropy alloys (HEAs) can be manufactured in many conventional ways, but it becomes difficult of fabricating heterogeneous materials and structures. Selective Laser Melting (SLM) method generally melts pure elemental powders or prefabricated alloy powders without alloying process. In-situ alloying in SLM, which is also called Laser Additive Alloying (LAA), using pure elemental powders becomes a promising method for creating HEA with heterogeneous structures. However, the effect of the diffusion of elements in the molten pool on the formation of HEA remains unclear. In this paper, the well-discussed Cantor HEA was studied in an in-situ alloying situation, where pure elemental powders (Co, Cr, Mn, Ni, Fe) distributed on a powder bed were irradiated by laser and were subsequently allowed to cool back to room temperature. The diffusion of specific elements, with respect to their original clusters, was tracked via Mean Square Displacement (MSD) as well as the final composition of key locations. Our model was verified by showing a good agreement with the overall average diffusion rates of each element in the Cantor HEA qualitatively in other works from literature. Results initially showed that as the energy density increases, better diffusion was observed through a pixel overlay analysis about the mixing of different elements. The best-case scenario of diffusion from the pixel overlay map indicated a strong presence of 3 to 4 elements after the laser scanning. Given the conditions in the MD simulation, there was no apparent segregation of elements during the alloying process. In addition, we also conducted a simulation by implementing a 0.03 nm/ps laser scanning in a meander 2-track scan in order to completely melt the powder bed. After cooling and equilibration, Polyhedral Template Analysis was applied to analyze the crystal structure of the solidified powder bed in the presence of increasing components. When the powders of Cantor HEA were alloyed using LAA approach, all elements experienced a complex diffusion behavior, elements like Cr also experienced a relatively rapid diffusion compared to other elements. Despite this, Cr only diffused for a short period and diffused minimally during the in-situ alloying process. The analysis of element-specific behavior, such as diffusion, can provide a framework for the LAA production of HEA. This MD study provides a detailed analysis about the effect of diffusion on the formation of HEA system if in-situ alloying is adopted, the findings of this study can be used to guide the material design and the appropriate parameters for manufacturing process of new HEAs. This study can also be extended to analyze the effect of diffusion on the thermomechanical properties of HEAs.