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Covid-19 in the History of Capitalism
Get PDFThe obvious role of capital in generating poverty, war, and environmental breakdown has not led to a parallel recognition of how deeply it shapes the ideology and practice of healthcare. Progressives view access to healthcare as a matter of “right,” but with rare exceptions they do not focus attention on the wider determinants of health policy – from the life-conditions that shape public health to the prevalence, in capitalist countries, of market-inspired remedies. Looking at the US experience and noting how capitalist priorities have permeated official policies toward Covid-19, this essay discusses how medical objections to these policies have been marginalized and how critiques that might otherwise have informed a socialist agenda have instead been weaponized by right-wing ideologues
Come \u3ci\u3etempesta\u3c/i\u3e in mar : Awe and Terror in Haydn’s Sacred Music
Get PDFHaydn’s so-called Sturm und Drang symphonies are renowned for exhibiting a range of disruptive features. While some commentators have attempted to link this with a personal crisis in Haydn’s life, there is no evidence to support the idea. Furthermore, it is misleading to make an association here between stormy musical writing in general and the German literary Sturm und Drang. The principal musical topos that Haydn employs is one that I have termed tempesta, and its origins lie in the storm scenes of Baroque opera. Here there was often a supernatural association involving a deity either as instigator or pacifier of the storm, and by extending the idea metaphorically, the same musical language could be used for rage or madness (such as Mozart’s arias for the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute).
Tempesta should be regarded as the fast counterpart to ombra, the topos associated with awe and horror. They are frequently juxtaposed (as in the Supper Scene of Mozart’s Don Giovanni), and by the end of the eighteenth century, they were well established as powerful topical devices that were important weapons in a composer’s expressive armoury. Both styles involve discontinuous elements in the music that were designed to unsettle audiences, such as flat minor keys, chromaticism, angular lines, restless motion, sudden contrasts, pauses etc. If we are looking for an aesthetic context for this kind of music, then the re-emergence of Classical ideas in the eighteenth century about the sublime would be more appropriate, where emotional responses to art and nature reached an elevated state. In particular, the more violent emotions associated with being frightened led to a category called the Sublime of Terror
Hua: Fusing Chinese Aesthetics Into Contemporary Styles
No full textHua pioneers a deep structural fusion of traditional Chinese aesthetics, centered on the philosophy of 韵味 (Yùnwèi), or resonant artistic essence, with contemporary global music practices. Moving beyond superficial hybridity, it develops rigorous approaches to embedding cyclical phrasing, modal lyricism, and heritage sensibilities within modern frameworks. Using inspiration from Mediterranean folk traditions, studying their rhythmic vitality and communal storytelling, creating dialogue between shared oral lineages. Through ethically grounded collaboration and production, the work transforms Yùnwèi into both creative compass and technical discipline: harmonizing improvisational spontaneity with contemplative depth. This methodology offers diasporic reconnection through embodied cultural memory, challenges global audiences with anti-exoticized narratives of Chinese culture, and provides musicians a blueprint for meaningful cross-cultural innovation. By treating tradition as an evolutionary continuum rather than an artifact, Hua asserts Yùnwèi as essential to the modern artistic identity, proving heritage’s capacity to catalyze forward-moving expression when rooted in integrity and intercultural respect.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-contemporary-performance/1334/thumbnail.jp
When I Think Of May
No full textNavigating Americana, Shoegaze, Country, Folk and Alternative throughout 8 songs, When I Think Of May effortlessly marries these otherwise distant styles, and captures all the emotions of Connor’s tumultuous last year, from elation, joy and boundless youth, to homesickness, longing, sadness, and isolation.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-cmat/1157/thumbnail.jp