Despite most pianists' claims of historical deference and creative agency, their performances of Brahms's piano works are nothing like the early-recorded performances of the composer and his... Show moreDespite most pianists' claims of historical deference and creative agency, their performances of Brahms's piano works are nothing like the early-recorded performances of the composer and his students: gaps that are mediated by understandings of Brahms's Classical canonic identity, the performance norms that protect that identity, and those norms' underlying aesthetic ideology of control. This predication of Brahmsian identity on restraint leaves the composer and his students in a precarious situation, as their recordings evidence an approach that is governed by the inhibitions typically associated with Romanticism. This volume seeks to problematize understandings of Brahms's identity: by investigating the origins and vestiges of the aesthetic ideology of control; by analysing and copying the recordings of pianists in the composer's inner circle; and by applying these pianists' styles in ways that are just as disruptive to modern notions of Brahmsian identity as their early-recorded models. In so doing, a thoroughly Romantic performance style emerges that catalyses a fundamental shift in understanding as related to Brahms's identity; thereby opening up a new palette of expressive and technical resources, and both elucidating and narrowing persistent gaps between modern and early-recorded Brahms style, as well as between what performers believe, know, and ultimately do. Show less
Alexandria, the capital of Egypt during the Hellenistic and Roman periods is often hailed as the ancient cosmopolitan center of Mediterranean par excellence. Since the foundation of the city by... Show moreAlexandria, the capital of Egypt during the Hellenistic and Roman periods is often hailed as the ancient cosmopolitan center of Mediterranean par excellence. Since the foundation of the city by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, several traditions- along with their representatives, mainly Greek and Egyptian- coexisted and interacted with each other, resulting in a multiculturalism in Alexandrian society. However, in the past scholarship, the Greek cultural aspect of the city has been extensively discussed, while the Egyptian part has never been fully overviewed and interpreted. Such interpretations caused in a large extent, from the one side, a deformed picture of the Alexandria’s Greek-ness, almost equal to this of a Greek “colony” separated from Egypt –Alexandria ad Aegyptum- and from the other side a blur picture about the role of the Egyptian tradition in the Greco-Egyptian interaction and the life of Alexandrian society. However, over the last decade an alternative framework of understanding has been developed in several case studies, while discoveries from the underwater missions indicate that the city had much more Egyptian characteristics than hitherto believed. Therefore, the thesis aims to provide an overview and interpretation of the Egyptian elements and influences in Alexandria, focusing on issues of ideology, culture, identity and public life. In this way, it has been attempted to offer a better understanding of the multicultural life of Alexandria in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Show less