Monthly Archives: February 2013

Professor Paul Hills: IAS Public Lecture, UWA – “Colour and Language in Renaissance Venice”

Institute of Advanced Studies Public Lecture
“Colour and Language in Renaissance Venice”, Professor Paul Hills, The Courtauld Institute of Art
Date: 1 May 2013
Time: 6pm
Location: Gentilli Lecture Theatre, 2nd floor, Geography Building, UWA
Parking: P18 & P19, Fairway entrance 1
Cost: Free, but RSVP essential. To register a place: Click here.

If, as the linguist John Lyons has argued, individual colours as distinct from colour as a whole, ‘are the product of the lexical and grammatical structure of particular languages’, the question I wish to raise with reference to Venetian art and culture of the later fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, is how language directs attention by rendering particular named tints salient in consciousness. How did language divide up the manifold experience of colour in the city, and of the artefacts and artistic representations produced in it? In what ways did the lexicon and grammatical usage of colour terms change or expand in the period between about 1480 and 1580, and what does this imply about patterns of discrimination? And what can the Venetian evidence tell us about which comes first, lexical invention or diversification in manufactures such as polychrome silks. What in short is the relation between the materials of colour, their use in representations such as oil painting, and linguistic practices?

Paul Hills is well known for his publications on light and colour in Italian Renaissance art. After studying at Cambridge, he took an MA and a PhD at the Courtauld Institute in London. During his time as lecturer at Warwick University, from 1976-1998, he directed the History of Art programme in Venice. He has been a visiting professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York; at Villa I Tatti, The Harvard Center for Renaissance Studies; and at the Royal College of Art.

In 2003 Hills was appointed Andrew Mellon Visiting Professor at the Courtauld, and took up a permanent post there in 2004. In July 2012 he was appointed Emeritus Professor.

He has lectured on Renaissance art at many international venues, including Harvard University, the Prado, the Louvre, and the National Gallery in London. His books include David Jones (Tate Gallery, 1981), The Light of Early Italian Painting (Yale, 1987), Venetian Colour: Marble, Mosaic, Painting and Glass, 1250-1550 (Yale, 1999), and The Renaissance Image Unveiled: from Madonna to Venus (National Galleries of Scotland, 2010). His work on Italian art has been translated into Spanish, Italian and French.

Josie and the Emeralds – “Travelling to the Question” Concert

Josie and the Emeralds are a Sydney based group who performs rarely heard works from the Renaissance along with the occasional foray into contemporary music including arrangements and compositions by their director, Brooke Green. Josie and The Emeralds will be performing with the renowned US viola gamba player, Mary Springfels on her brief visit to Australia. They also warmly welcome guest soprano Belinda Montgomery, who will also perform with them in this tantalisingly rare and beautiful concert of Renaissance and contemporary music for two sopranos and five viols.

Josie and the Emeralds will perform Renaissance gems by Weelkes, Jenkins, Tye, Parsons, and Byrd, as well as new music by Brooke Green including the première of Travelling to the Question inspired by Hildegard of Bingen, Nick Cave and Martin Heidegger.

Saturday March 23, 4:00pm
Glebe Town Hall, 160 St Johns Rd, Glebe
Limited seating, bookings advisable
$30 (full price), $25 (students and pensioners)

The Radical Enlightenment – Call For Papers

The Radical Enlightenment: the big picture and its details
Brussels
16-17 May, 2013

Conference Website

Organizers: Centre for Ethics and Humanism and the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science , Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences at the Free University of Brussels (Vrije Universiteit Brussel).

The objectives of this conference are: to push forward our historical and philosophical understanding of the ‘Radical Enlightenment’, to identify important figures (materialists, atheists, freethinkers, Spinozists, pantheists, freemasons, /philosophes/, etc.) within the Radical Enlightenment and to unravel their significance and influence, to understand the origins and spread of the Radical Enlightenment and the reactions against it (with attention to correspondence networks and communities, manuscripts, pamphlets, clandestine literature, etc.), and to reflect on the impact of the Radical Enlightenment on contemporary thinking. We welcome general historical and philosophical contributions and detailed case-studies of both well-known and lesser known figures.

Invited speakers:

  • Jonathan I. Israel (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton)
  • Beth Lord (Department of Philosophy, University of Aberdeen)
  • Eric Schliesser (Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, Ghent University)
  • Winfried Schröder (Institut für Philosophie, Philipps-Universität Marburg)
  • Wiep van Bunge (Faculty of Philosophy, Erasmus University Rotterdam)
  • Else Walravens (Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, Free University of Brussels)

The organizers welcome contributed papers that fall within the scope of the conference. Abstracts consisting of 500 words should be sent as a .doc or .docx file to steffen.ducheyne@vub.ac.be. A separate sheet containing the author’s affiliation should be included. 30 minutes are allotted to contributed papers (including Q&A). The deadline for submission is 31 March 2013. Notification of acceptance will be given by 5 April 2013. A selection of the presented papers will be published afterwards.

Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus Project – 2 Postdoc, 1 Postgrad positions – Call For Applications

The project Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (PAL) is dedicated to the edition and study of the Arabic and Latin versions of Ptolemy’s astronomical and astrological texts and related material. These include works by Ptolemy or attributed to him, commentaries thereupon and other works that are of immediate relevance to understanding Ptolemy’s heritage in the Middle Ages and the early modern period up to 1700 A.D.

The project is hosted by the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften in Munich for a period of 25 years starting in 2013. It is supervised by Prof. Dr. Dag Nikolaus Hasse (University of Würzburg) and carried out by five scholars as follows: two research leaders, Dr. David Juste (formerly University of Sydney) and Dr. Benno van Dalen (formerly University of Munich); two post-doctoral researchers; and one doctoral student.

We welcome applications for the two post-doctoral researchers (no age limit):

Two full-time positions for a period of 2 years, which can be extended to a maximum a 5 years pending positive evaluation. The positions are expected to commence between 1 July and 1 October 2013.

The monthly salary range is € 3726-4599 liable to deductions for tax, social security benefits and retirement provisions. The salary will be dependent on relevant academic experience (German pay scale TV-L E13).

The postdoctoral researchers will have office facilities at the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften in Munich, together with the other project members, and are normally expected to work there full time. The contract will be with the University of Würzburg.

Qualifications and skills: applicants must hold a PhD in an area relevant to the project, have an excellent knowledge of Arabic and/or Latin, a good command of English (the primary language of publication of the project), and preferably have research experience in line with PAL objectives, in particular in the history of medieval or early modern science, in editing Arabic or Latin texts, and/or in handling manuscripts. Candidates qualified for preparing the catalogue of Arabic manuscripts are especially encouraged to apply. Knowledge of German is desirable.

The postdoctoral researchers are expected to be active members of the research team and to take part in the various aspects of the project, including decision-making. This is particularly important as the project is in its first years of operation. More specifically, the postdoctoral researchers are expected to:

  • each be responsible for one module or research unit (see project description §9), which they are expected to have completed by the end of the contract. This module will be chosen in consultation with the other project members and in accordance with the candidate’s expertise and interests. In most cases, it will consist of a critical edition of an Arabic or Latin text (or both);
  • devote part of their time (approx. 25%) to implementing material for the PAL web interface, in particular the digital reproductions and online transcriptions of the Corpus Ptolemaicum;
  • participate in other aspects of the project, including the organisation of the first PAL international conference (scheduled in 2015), the edition of the proceedings of that conference, the implementation of the Greek-Arabic-Latin astronomical and astrological glossary, or others to be agreed on among the project members.

The successful candidates agree to publish the main result of the module for which they are responsible (e.g., a critical edition or a catalogue) in the PAL book series and on the PAL web interface. All contributions by members of the research team will be published under their own name and authorship will be duly acknowledged in every collaborative output, including online publications.

Applications should be sent in English or German to Prof. Dr. Dag Nikolaus Hasse by email (info@ptolemaeus.badw.de) before 15 April 2013. Applications should include a complete CV with a list of publications; a letter of motivation, in which the applicant is asked to address the above description and qualifications and to propose a starting date; and the names and contact details of up to two academic referees who may be contacted by the project members.

Applicants may be invited to a phone or Skype interview.
Receipt of the application will be acknowledged.
The outcome of all applications will be notified by email as early as possible.
For further enquiries, please contact David Juste (info@ptolemaeus.badw.de).

We welcome applications for the doctoral student:

One 3-year position expected to commence between 1 July and 1 October 2013.

The monthly allowance is € 2071 (German pay scale 65% TV-L E13), liable to deductions for tax, social security benefits and retirement provisions.

The contract will be with the University of Würzburg and Professor Hasse will normally serve as the main supervisor or as one of the two co-supervisors. There is also a possibility of joint supervision with the Warburg Institute (University of London) and Professor Charles Burnett, in which case the doctoral student would be offered the opportunity to spend time at the Warburg Institute. The doctoral student is otherwise expected to work in Munich, together with the research team, or in Würzburg.

Qualifications and skills: applicants must hold a Master or an equivalent degree in an area relevant to the project, have an excellent knowledge of Arabic and/or Latin and a good command of English (the primary language of publication of the project). Applicants should also have research interests in line with PAL objectives, in particular in the history of medieval or early modern science, in the making of critical editions of Arabic or Latin texts, and/or in handling manuscripts. The doctoral dissertation can be written in English (preferred) or German.

The doctoral student will be able to spend most of his/her working time on his/her dissertation, whose topic will be in line with PAL objectives and will normally include the edition of an Arabic or Latin text (or both). The contract carries with it no teaching or administrative duties, but the doctoral student is expected to devote part of his/her time to other aspects of the project.

The doctoral student will be given the opportunity to publish his/her doctoral dissertation in the PAL book series and, where relevant, on the PAL web interface, and he/she agrees to publish his/her dissertation in priority through those media. All contributions by the doctoral student will be published under his/her own name and authorship will be duly acknowledged in every collaborative output, including online publications.

Applications should be sent in English or German to Prof. Dr. Dag Nikolaus Hasse by email (info@ptolemaeus.badw.de) before 15 April 2013. Applications should include a complete CV (with a list of publications where applicable); an outline (1-3 pages) of the proposed research project; and two letters of recommendation by academic referees. The letters of recommendation must be sent directly by the referees, either by email or by post (Prof. Dr. Dag Nikolaus Hasse, Institut für Philosophie, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Residenz – Südflügel, 97070 Würzburg, Germany).

For further enquiries, contact Dag Nikolaus Hasse or David Juste at info@ptolemaeus.badw.de.

Professor William M. Reddy – Public Lecture: “Do Emotions have a History? The Example of Romantic Love”

“Do Emotions have a History? The Example of Romantic Love”, A Public Lecture by Professor William M. Reddy (Duke University, North Carolina)
Presented by the Centre for the History of Emotions and the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies

Date/Time: Thursday 14th March 5.15pm
Location: Elisabeth Murdoch Theatre A, Elisabeth Murdoch Building, University of Melbourne, Parkville 3010
RSVP: Please RSVP HERE
Queries: jessica.scott@unimelb.edu.au

In general, emotions are not subject to voluntary control; we do not get to pick which ones we will feel. Some emotions, like fear or anger, may trigger physiological changes. Others, like pride or nostalgia, do not. Are emotions hard-wired? Or are they subject to cultural or historical variation? Or perhaps, some are hard-wired, others shaped by culture?

For decades experts have been divided on the subject. The question of romantic love is a good entry point for appreciating the complexities social scientists face in trying to make sense of emotions. It seems that romantic love, of one kind or another, can be found in almost every part of the world. Is it universal, a product of neurotransmitters interacting with subcortical structures?

The record suggests, on the contrary, not only that romantic love has gone through some striking transformations over the centuries, but also that collective action can make a difference in how we feel .

—

Professor William M. Reddy is William T. Laprade Professor of History and Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Duke University, North Carolina. Author of the seminal work on the History of Emotions, The Navigation of Feeling: A Framework for the History of Emotions. (Cambridge University Press, 2001), his most recent book is The making of Romantic Love: Longing and Sexuality in Europe, South Asia and Japan, 900-1200CE (University of Chicago Press) was published in 2012.

Saints and the City: Workshop for Graduates and Young Post-Graduates – Call For Papers

Saints and the City: Urban Holiness before Modernity
Workshop for Graduates and Young Post-Graduates
Erlangen, 8–10 July 2013

Saints in the city, living holy men and women, have set their mark on the life of western urban centres for hundreds of years. What specifically were the hallmarks of urban holiness in the Pre-Modern West? How did urban holiness develop and what influence did its embodying representatives exercise on political, social and cultural discourse? What forms of media conveyed their message? Are there comparable phenomena in the Near and Far East?

The Erlangen workshop will pursue answers to these questions on an interdisciplinary basis. Younger researchers (those pursuing doctorates or having completed them and still younger 35 years of age) are invited to present their research findings for discussion by a large and varied audience. Prof. Dr. Albert Dietl (Art History, Regensburg) will give a keynote evening lecture on the topic of “Urban Patrons in Medieval Italy” (in collaboration with the Art Historical Institute of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg).

The Erlangen Interdisciplinary Centre for European Medieval and Renaissance Studies IZEMIR (http://www.mittelalter.phil.uni-erlangen.de) and the DFG-Research Groups «Holiness and Sanctification in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Intercultural Perspectives in Europe and Asia» (http://www.sakralitaet.uni-erlangen.de) will offer five fellowships of 250 € in support of travel and attendance costs for presenters. Interested persons should send a CV and brief description of their proposed topic by 15 April 2013 to the following address:

Prof. Dr. Michele C. Ferrari
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität
Mittellatein und Neulatein
Kochstr. 4/3
D-91054 Erlangen
Michele.C.Ferrari@as.phil.uni-erlangen.de

The Art of Lying in the Eighteenth Century – Call For Papers

The Art of Lying in the Eighteenth Century
Amsterdam, 17-18 January 2014

On Friday January 17 and Saturday January 18, 2014 the annual conference of the Werkgroep 18de Eeuw will be held in Amsterdam. The major theme of the conference is: The Art of Lying.

Lying and cheating were daily practice in the eighteenth century. That is, if we believe the many pamphlets, newspapers, comedies, criminal biographies and criminal records. Before one knew one had lost his money, goods, reputation or health. Despite the severe penalties on stealing and murdering and despite all Enlightenment ideals, trickery and deceit seem to have been rather mainstream. Historical criminologists have shown that it is a misconception to think that cheating only existed in the lower classes or in the margins of eighteenth century society. In each social class fraud and corruption were common. Persons like Casanova and Cagliostro were operating in the highest circles. Some of the wealthiest people were specialized in real estate fraud and illegal speculation, not to mention the corruption in politics and in the (para)medical sector. At the same time, an anti-movement started. Eighteenth-century ‘philosophes’ were fascinated by the truth and the late eighteenth-century revolutions could not have taken place without the desire to eradicate corruption.

The conference aims for an interdisciplinary and international approach to the phenomenon of fraud and corruption. Topics may include an international affair such as the South Sea Bubble, the corruption of regents, the medical malpractice of quacks or the vicissitudes of a local thief. We will also focus on the ways in which the criminal world was represented in the media. Possible key questions to be addressed are:

  • What was the top 10 list of famous con men in the eighteenth century, nationally and internationally?
  • What was the relationship between truth and lying in the eighteenth century?
  • To what extent were corruption and fraud considered to be normal?
  • Could one survive without lying?
  • Can we consider the Enlightenment movement as a response or an antidote to this culture of lying?
  • How were con men, thieves and murders punished and sentenced?
  • How did the late eighteenth-century revolutions contributed to a transformation of a culture of lying into a more just society?
  • Why became the genre of criminal biography so popular in the eighteenth century? And why in general do we find so many crooks, thieves and swindlers in eighteenth-century literature?
  • In what sense did literature and the arts play an active part in combating fraud?
  • Can we state that neither the Enlightenment nor the Judeo-Christian tradition – both considering lying as a sin – have been able to change human nature?

Historians, art historians, criminologists, philosophers, sociologists, economists, literary and medical historians, are all invited to give an inspiring lecture of approximately twenty minutes. We also welcome scholars who want to bridge the gap between past and present. Please submit proposals (approximately 300 words in Dutch or English) before March 15, 2013 by email to: devriesmarleen@hotmail.com. Contributors will be notified that their proposal has been accepted by April 1, 2013.

Note: On Friday, January 17, we will host one or more guest speakers from abroad. This day will therefore be in English, and all lectures should be conducted in English. The language for Saturday, January 18, will be Dutch.

International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies: Early Career Seminar – Call For Applications

International Seminar for Young Eighteenth-Century Scholars
Gotha, Forschungszentrum Gotha der Universität Erfurt, Schloss Friedenstein, Pagenhaus, 99867 Gotha
26-30, August, 2013

The International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ISECS) invites applications from scholars in all fields of eighteenth-century studies within the context of a one-week International Seminar for Young Eighteenth-Century Scholars. Formerly the East-West Seminar, this event brings together each year young researchers from a number of countries. In 2013, the meeting will take place in Gotha (Germany) and will beorganized by the German Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (DGE18J) and the Research Center Gotha.

The Seminar will be held from Monday August 26th to Friday August 30th 2013 in Gotha, under the direction of Martin Mulsow (Universität Erfurt). This year, the theme of the seminar will be:

“Exploring the Early Modern Underground: Freethinkers, Heretics, Spies”

Framing the issues

What do freethinkers, alchemists, heretics, criminals, counterfeiters, spies, magicians, radicals, and members of secret societies have in common? It seems that such individuals operated partly or fully within the “underground”, and that overlapping and exchange between them took place, or may have taken place. One can define “underground” as the social space within which individuals’ dealings and identities are systematically veiled, often in order to avoid persecution. This field of inquiry has hitherto been divided between distinct domains of scholarly expertise, which have only rarely taken cognizance of each other, e.g. the research into the littérature clandestine (carried out by historians of philosophy specializing in the Radical Enlightenment), the historical study of criminality (a prominent branch of social history and historical anthropology since the 1970s), the religio-historical study of sects (conducted by theologians and historians), the study of censorship (the domain of book historians), and historical political science (focusing, for instance, on the Jacobins), to say nothing of specialized research into the history of magic, alchemy, economic history, and other fields of inquiry.

Seldom has a comprehensive consideration of the “underground”, with all its diversity and overlapping, been undertaken. In 1996 Peter Burke sketched a “Map of the Underground”, but this concept has yet to be carried out fully. It seems, therefore, fruitful to undertake an interdisciplinary and methodologically reflective investigation of the “underground”. The seminar will offer young scholars an opportunity to present and discuss their own work, and so to explore pertinent strands connecting their discipline with others, working on related aspects of the “underground”.

The eighteenth-century underground doubtlessly differed from that of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Robert Darnton’s studies have shown how reduced book prices and the expansion of readership, together with the new ideas of the Enlightenment, had enabled the clandestine book-market to flourish across political borders. The work of Jonathan Israel and John Pocock have allowed us an insight into the broad spectrum of contents and the varieties of different cultures of the Enlightenment, which are mirrored in the varieties of underground cultures. What local peculiarities offer themselves for investigation? What particular conditions of censorship and concealment?

1. Practices of the Underground: secrecy, anonymity, pseudonymity, encryption, and allusion.

The Underground developed its own practices, concerning especially “publishing” and the dissemination of ideas. To these belong writing “between the lines”, the art of allusion, publishing anonymously and pseudonymously, the use of invisible ink, and encryption. But what logic was there behind these tactics? When did one publish anonymously, and when under a pseudonym? Did the choice of the latter entail meaning and intertextuality? What were the consequences of the underground’s opacity for its agents? What reactions did they elicit (rumours, insider knowledge, lexica of anonymous works)? Can we trace within the eighteenth century a development in the practices of secrecy – new encryptions or new forms of communication?

2. The contents of the Underground: radical critique of religion, blasphemy, political subversion, and heterodox spirituality.

The content-related reasons for expressing one’s view in secret were varied; they range from fear of revenge, in the case of personal defamation (or even a book review) to the risk of persecution tempted by revolutionary agitation against Church and Crown. Did clandestinity ensure that the communicated contents were particularly substantial and high-minded (since, unlike open publications, one needn’t have taken precautions), or were there perhaps also particularly “popularised” clandestine texts, aiming at potential proselytes? In the seminar we will be especially interested in overlaps in such subject-matters. When and why did the Radical Enlightenment link itself with pornography? When did political critique coalesce with defamation? How did philosophical theory and religious spirituality overlap? Where did the inconspicuous crossovers between diplomacy, espionage, and learned exchange lie? When did secret learning become a trade in secrets? When did freethinkers stumble into criminal circumstances?

3. Persecution and socialisation: censorship, police, and secret societies.

How does the Underground’s rationale look from a sociological perspective? To what extent did censorship, prohibitions, and persecution contribute to the shaping of the Underground? Were certain groups driven into the Underground? How did censorship and the authorities in each case define what was allowed and what is forbidden? Did the eighteenth century witness a structural transformation of censorship? How did the persecuted find each other in the Underground and how did they communicate? Did they use certain rituals, distinctive marks of identification, or secret languages? How did the formation of groups occur clandestinely? In what walks of life (religion, politics, criminality, and commerce) did a clandestine formation of groups take place in the Age of Enlightenment? Which locations were used therefore (inns, lodges, salons, back rooms)?

Recommended literature:

  • Peter Burke: “A Map of the Underground. Clandestine Communication in Early Modern Europe”, in: Günter Gawlick und Friedrich Niewöhner (Hg.): Jean Bodins Colloquium Heptaplomeres, Wiesbaden 1986, pp. 186-200.
  • Sylvie Aprile und Emmanuelle Retaillaud-Bajac (Hg.): Clandestinités urbaines. Les citadins et les territoires du secret (XVIe-XXe), Rennes 2008.
  • Robert Darnton: The Literary Unterground of the Old Regime, Cambridge, Mass. 1985.

The seminar is limited to 15 participants. The proposals (approx. 2 pages, single-spaced) should be based on an original research project (e.g. a doctoral dissertation) that deals with one of the aspects mentioned above. Because this is a seminar rather than a conference, each participant will be given approximately one hour to present the texts and questions that will then form the basis of a group discussion.

Preference will be given to scholars who are at the beginning of their academic career (PhD or equivalent for less than six years). Applications should include the following information:

  • a brief curriculum vitae with date of PhD (or equivalent)
  • a list of principal publications and scholarly presentations
  • a brief description of the proposed paper (approx. 2 pages, single-spaced)
  • one letter of recommendation

Travel and Accommodation:

Travel and hotel assistance will be provided (in part or in full) by the organizers who reserve plane tickets and rooms. Lunch will be served on site; the cost of evening meals is covered by participants.

Proceedings:
As is the case each year, the proceedings of the seminar will be published by Honoré Champion Éditeur (Paris) in the »Lumières internationales« series.

Deadlines:

We invite submission of proposals; the deadline for abstracts is March 31, 2013. All applications should be sent by mail, the postmark attesting to the date of mailing, to the following address:

Prof. Dr. Martin Mulsow
ISECS-Early Career Seminar
Forschungszentrum Gotha der Universität Erfurt
Schloss Friedenstein, Pagenhaus
99867 Gotha
Germany
forschungszentrum.gotha@uni-erfurt.de

“Frontier Shakespeare” Roundtable – UWA

The ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, Europe 1100–1800 presents:

Frontier Shakespeare: Africa, The UK, and Western Australia

Date:  Tuesday 26th February 2013
Time:  5pm to 7pm
Venue: Octagon Theatre, University of Western Australia

This roundtable will be followed at 8pm by the opening night performance of the Two Gents on the New Fortune stage. For tickets to the performance visit: www.ticketsWA.com

The arrival of Two Gents Productions at the New Fortune Theatre in Perth in 2013 is another stage in a global trajectory. The Two Gents performed The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Vakomana Vaviri Ve Zimbabwe) in the world’s first Shona translation at Shakespeare’s Globe for the Globe to Globe festival. This award-winning festival, celebrating the London 2012 Olympics, hosted thirty-seven companies from around the world. WA’s own Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company represented Australia, performing Shakespeare’s Sonnets in the first ever translation of Shakespeare into Nyungar. A performance of these sonnets opens the Perth International Arts Festival 2013.

The “Frontier Shakespeare” roundtable brings the Two Gents together with Kate Cherry (Artistic Director, Black Swan State Theatre Company), Paige Newmark (Artistic Director, Shakespeare WA), Robert Marshall (Executive Producer of Live Recordings at Shakespeare’s Globe), Emeritus Professor Chris Wortham, who taught literature in Zimbabwe for many years, and Winthrop Professor Robert White, a pre-eminent scholar in the field of Shakespeare and emotions. These stalwarts of Shakespearean research and production will discuss the global appeal of Shakespeare and what characterises Western Australian performances of Shakespeare. In this roundtable conversation we consider what happens when you dis-place Shakespeare and when you re-place the plays elsewhere.

What happens when you deprive Shakespeare of his tongue and re-word the plays for a different audience? What happens when you exchange the histories, fairytales and myths that underpin the plays with those from other cultures? We consider whether these adaptations, translations, and appropriations are more concerned with global futures or national pasts and whether Frontier Shakespeare is a cultural act of globalization. We invite you to join in the discussion.

Dr Penelope Woods, Research Associate at the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (CHE) at UWA, who recently arrived from Shakespeare’s Globe, will lead this conversation. It will consider the role of emotions in adapting and re-presenting Shakespeare’s plays and ask whether emotions translate across time and between cultures when language can’t.

For more information, contact: Penelope Woods (penelope.woods@uwa.edu.au), Tel: +61 8 6488 3858 or www.historyofemotions.org.au.

Dr Andrew Lawrence-King – ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions lecture

ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions lecture
“A Baroque History of Time: Hearts, Stars, and the First Operas”, Dr Andrew Lawrence-King, Senior Visiting Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (1100-1800)

Date: Friday March 8, 2013
Time: 11am to 12.30pm
Location: Hartley Concert Room, Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide
 

The lens of a History of Emotions allows us to refresh our view of early 17th-century music-drama, sharing the period fascination with communicating emotions (muovere gli affetti) by embodied presentation (in genere rappresentativo) in a new style of acted music (musica recitativa). Historical Performance Practice Studies engage us with the discourse of our performer-colleagues four hundred years ago, challenging us to understand their belief-systems at both cosmic and individual levels, the grand philosophy and personal assumptions that underpin pragmatic performance decisions. Musicians today equate ‘expressivity’ with rubato. In the seicento too, rhythm was given a high priority, but within a pre-Newtonian concept of time. Just as the effects of Einstein’s 20th-century relativity seem ‘paradoxical’ to us, so 17th-century attitudes to musical time differ from our inherited 18th/19th-century assumptions.

The Early Modern philosophy of time was founded on Aristotle and Plato, whose theoretical concepts were applied even in the hurly-burly of a theatrical production or the real-life drama of a  sword-duel. For singers and swordsmen alike, tempo signifies both kronos and kairos (measured time and the opportune moment). Arithmetic, geometry and music are related in an intellectual hierarchy topped by astronomy, swordsmanship and dancing. The structure of the cosmos, the beating of the human heart and musical rhythm are interconnected in philosophical theory and in the practical use of the slow, steady beat of tactus. In the historical context of measured rhythm, our modern ideas about recitative need radical revision. Close reading of the prefaces to the first ‘operas’, the anonymous (c1630) guide for a music-theatre’s artistic director, Il Corago, and the first continuo treatises reveals a consistent period view that differs sharply from our modern practice.

Perhaps the most glaring anachronism in today’s Early Music is the presence of conductors. Removing them and their 19th/20th– century rubato devolves responsibility for tactus back to singers and continuo-players, redefining their roles. To the heartbeat of a steady tactus, word accentuation, syllable speed, poetic imagery, vocal pitch, harmonic intensity, and emotional content are all forever changing, often from one extreme to its opposto. Now we can reassess the much-vaunted ‘freedoms’ of the period: Peri’s derivation of musical monody from an actor’s spoken declamation, Caccini’s sprezzatura di ritmo and Frescobaldi’s detailed instructions for ‘guiding Time’ in toccatas and madrigals.

—

Dr Andrew Lawrence King is a Senior Visiting Research Fellow with the Centre, working with Professor Jane Davidson on early 17th Century baroque opera performance practices.  Andrew Lawrence-King is a harpist and early music specialist, and is currently the director of The Harp Consort. He also is also a conductor who directs from one of several continuo instruments, including harp, organ, harpsichord & psaltery.  In 2011 Dr Lawrence King won a coveted grammy award as harp soloist in the category of Best Small Ensemble Performance, performing alongside Jordi Savall. 

For further information please email: emotions@uwa.edu.au