1.
Monaco
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Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a sovereign city-state and microstate, located on the French Riviera in Western Europe. France borders the country on three sides while the other side borders the Mediterranean Sea, Monaco has an area of 2.02 km2 and a population of about 38,400 according to the last census of 2015. With 19,009 inhabitants per km², it is the second smallest, Monaco has a land border of 5.47 km, a coastline of 3.83 km, and a width that varies between 1,700 and 349 m. The highest point in the country is a pathway named Chemin des Révoires on the slopes of Mont Agel, in the Les Révoires Ward. Monacos most populous Quartier is Monte Carlo and the most populous Ward is Larvotto/Bas Moulins, through land reclamation, Monacos land mass has expanded by twenty percent, in 2005, it had an area of only 1.974 km2. Monaco is known as a playground for the rich and famous, in 2014, it was noted about 30% of the population was made up of millionaires, more than in Zürich or Geneva. Monaco is a principality governed under a form of constitutional monarchy, although Prince Albert II is a constitutional monarch, he wields immense political power. The House of Grimaldi have ruled Monaco, with brief interruptions, the official language is French, but Monégasque, Italian, and English are widely spoken and understood. The states sovereignty was recognized by the Franco-Monegasque Treaty of 1861. Despite Monacos independence and separate foreign policy, its defense is the responsibility of France, however, Monaco does maintain two small military units. Economic development was spurred in the late 19th century with the opening of the countrys first casino, Monte Carlo, since then, Monacos mild climate, scenery, and gambling facilities have contributed to the principalitys status as a tourist destination and recreation center for the rich. In more recent years, Monaco has become a major banking center and has sought to diversify its economy into services and small, high-value-added, the state has no income tax, low business taxes, and is well known for being a tax haven. It is also the host of the street circuit motor race Monaco Grand Prix. Monaco is not formally a part of the European Union, but it participates in certain EU policies, including customs, through its relationship with France, Monaco uses the euro as its sole currency. Monaco joined the Council of Europe in 2004 and it is a member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie. Monacos name comes from the nearby 6th-century BC Phocaean Greek colony, according to an ancient myth, Hercules passed through the Monaco area and turned away the previous gods. As a result, a temple was constructed there, the temple of Hercules Monoikos, because the only temple of this area was the House of Hercules, the city was called Monoikos. It ended up in the hands of the Holy Roman Empire, an ousted branch of a Genoese family, the Grimaldi, contested it for a hundred years before actually gaining control
2.
Castellina in Chianti
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It is part of the Chianti Hills, between the valleys of the Arbia, Pesa and Elsa rivers. The first settlements in the dates from the Etruscan age. In the early Middle Ages the town was known as Salingolpe, in the 11th century Matilda of Tuscany gave it as fief to the counts Guidi and, subsequently, in the early 15th century it became a stronghold, of which today the Rocca remain. The massive Rocca, with a huge 14th-century tower and it houses a small Etruscan museum. Church of San Salvatore, with an early 15th-century fresco of Madonna with Child, the Via delle Volte underground tunnel. It consists of four 7th-6th century BC tombs, poggino necropolis, also in the neighbourhood. Romanesque church of San Martino, at Cispiano Church of San Giorgio alla Piazza, pieve of SantAgnese, with a Madonna with Child by Bicci di Lorenzo. History of Chianti Trip report with pictures and links from a stay outside Castellina in Chianti in July 2007
3.
Chanson
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A chanson is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specializing in chansons is known as a chanteur or chanteuse, the earliest chansons were the epic poems performed to simple monophonic melodies by a professional class of jongleurs or ménestrels. These usually recounted the deeds of past heroes, legendary. The Song of Roland is the most famous of these, the chanson courtoise or grand chant was an early form of monophonic chanson, the chief lyric poetic genre of the trouvères. It was an adaptation to Old French of the Occitan canso and it was practised in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Thematically, as its name implies, it was a song of courtly love, some later chansons were polyphonic and some had refrains and were called chansons avec des refrains. A Crusade song was known as a chanson de croisade, in its typical specialized usage, the word chanson refers to a polyphonic French song of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Early chansons tended to be in one of the formes fixes—ballade, the earliest chansons were for two, three or four voices, with first three becoming the norm, expanding to four voices by the sixteenth century. Sometimes, the singers were accompanied by instruments, the first important composer of chansons was Guillaume de Machaut, who composed three-voice works in the formes fixes during the 14th century. Guillaume Dufay and Gilles Binchois, who wrote so-called Burgundian chansons, were the most important chanson composers of the next generation and their chansons, while somewhat simple in style, are also generally in three voices with a structural tenor. Musicologist David Fallows includes the Burgundian repertoire in A Catalogue of Polyphonic Songs 1415-1480 and these works are typically still 3 voices, with an active upper voice pitched above two lower voices usually sharing the same range. The first book of music printed from movable type was Harmonice Musices Odhecaton and this genre sometimes featured music that was meant to be evocative of certain imagery such as birds or the marketplace. Many of these Parisian works were published by Pierre Attaingnant, composers of their generation, as well as later composers, such as Orlando de Lassus, were influenced by the Italian madrigal. Many early instrumental works were ornamented variations on chansons, with this becoming the canzone. French solo song developed in the late 16th century, probably from the aforementioned Parisian works, louis Niedermeyer, under the particular spell of Schubert, was a pivotal figure in this movement, followed by Édouard Lalo, Felicien David and many others. Another offshoot of chanson, called chanson réaliste, was a musical genre in France. Among the better-known performers of the genre are Damia, Fréhel, chanson can be distinguished from the rest of French pop music by following the rhythms of French language, rather than those of English, and a higher standard for lyrics. Canzone Russian chanson French historical chanson panorama Brown, Howard Mayer, in The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham
4.
Expressionist music
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Theodor Adorno sees the expressionist movement in music, as seeking to eliminate all of traditional musics conventional elements, everything formulaically rigid. This he sees as analogous to the ideal of the scream. As well Adorno sees expressionist music, as seeking the truthfulness of subjective feeling without illusions, the three central figures of musical expressionism are Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils, Anton Webern and Alban Berg, the so-called Second Viennese School. Other composers that have associated with expressionism are Ernst Krenek, Paul Hindemith, Igor Stravinsky. Another significant expressionist was Béla Bartók in early works, written in the decade of the 20th century, such as Bluebeards Castle, The Wooden Prince. Important precursors of expressionism are Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler, Musical expressionism is closely associated with the music Arnold Schoenberg composed between 1908 and 1921, which is his period of free atonal composition, before he devised twelve-tone technique. It can therefore be said to begin with Schoenbergs Second String Quartet in which each of the four movements gets progressively less tonal and this may be representative of Schoenberg entering the new world of atonality. In 1909, Schoenberg composed the one-act monodrama Erwartung and this is a thirty-minute, highly expressionist work in which atonal music accompanies a musical drama centered around a nameless woman. Having stumbled through a disturbing forest, trying to find her lover, the plot is entirely played out from the subjective point of view of the woman, and her emotional distress is reflected in the music. The author of the libretto, Marie Pappenheim, was a recently graduated medical student familiar with Freuds newly developed theories of psychoanalysis, in 1909, Schoenberg completed the Five Pieces for Orchestra. These were constructed freely, based upon the subconscious will, unmediated by the conscious, as such, the works attempt to avoid a recognisable form, although the extent to which they achieve this is debatable. Between 1908 and 1913, Schoenberg was also working on a musical drama, the plot begins with an unnamed man, cowered in the centre of the stage with a beast upon his back. The mans wife has left him for another man, he is in anguish and she attempts to return to him, but in his pain he does not see her. Then, to himself, the man goes to a forge. The woman returns, and the man implores her to stay with him, but she kicks a rock upon him, and the final image of the act is of the man once again cowered with the beast upon his back. This plot is highly symbolic, written as it was by Schoenberg himself, although she had returned by the time Schoenberg began the work, their relationship was far from easy. The central forging scene is seen as representative of Schoenbergs disappointment at the popular reaction to his works. His desire was to create a masterpiece, as the protagonist does, once again, Schoenberg is expressing his real life difficulties
5.
Classical music
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Classical music is art music produced or rooted in the traditions of Western music, including both liturgical and secular music. The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common-practice period, Western staff notation is used by composers to indicate to the performer the pitches, tempo, meter and rhythms for a piece of music. This can leave less room for such as improvisation and ad libitum ornamentation. The term classical music did not appear until the early 19th century, the earliest reference to classical music recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is from about 1836. This score typically determines details of rhythm, pitch, and, the written quality of the music has enabled a high level of complexity within them, J. S. The use of written notation also preserves a record of the works, Musical notation enables 2000s-era performers to sing a choral work from the 1300s Renaissance era or a 1700s Baroque concerto with many of the features of the music being reproduced. That said, the score does not provide complete and exact instructions on how to perform a historical work, even if the tempo is written with an Italian instruction, we do not know exactly how fast the piece should be played. Bach was particularly noted for his complex improvisations, during the Classical era, the composer-performer Mozart was noted for his ability to improvise melodies in different styles. During the Classical era, some virtuoso soloists would improvise the cadenza sections of a concerto, during the Romantic era, Beethoven would improvise at the piano. The instruments currently used in most classical music were largely invented before the mid-19th century and they consist of the instruments found in an orchestra or in a concert band, together with several other solo instruments. The symphony orchestra is the most widely known medium for music and includes members of the string, woodwind, brass. The concert band consists of members of the woodwind, brass and it generally has a larger variety and number of woodwind and brass instruments than the orchestra but does not have a string section. However, many bands use a double bass. Many of the used to perform medieval music still exist. Medieval instruments included the flute, the recorder and plucked string instruments like the lute. As well, early versions of the organ, fiddle, Medieval instruments in Europe had most commonly been used singly, often self accompanied with a drone note, or occasionally in parts. From at least as early as the 13th century through the 15th century there was a division of instruments into haut, during the earlier medieval period, the vocal music from the liturgical genre, predominantly Gregorian chant, was monophonic, using a single, unaccompanied vocal melody line. Polyphonic vocal genres, which used multiple independent vocal melodies, began to develop during the medieval era, becoming prevalent by the later 13th
6.
Pop music
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Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in the United States and United Kingdom during the mid 1950s. The terms popular music and pop music are used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular. Pop and rock were synonymous terms until the late 1960s, when they were used in opposition from each other. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music. Pop music is eclectic, and often borrows elements from other such as urban, dance, rock, Latin. Identifying factors include generally short to medium-length songs written in a format, as well as the common use of repeated choruses, melodic tunes. David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop music as a body of music which is distinguishable from popular, jazz, according to Pete Seeger, pop music is professional music which draws upon both folk music and fine arts music. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music, the music charts contain songs from a variety of sources, including classical, jazz, rock, and novelty songs. Pop music, as a genre, is seen as existing and developing separately, pop music continuously evolves along with the terms definition. The term pop song was first recorded as being used in 1926, Hatch and Millward indicate that many events in the history of recording in the 1920s can be seen as the birth of the modern pop music industry, including in country, blues and hillbilly music. The Oxford Dictionary of Music states that while pops earlier meaning meant concerts appealing to a wide audience. Since the late 1950s, however, pop has had the meaning of non-classical mus, usually in the form of songs, performed by such artists as the Beatles. Grove Music Online also states that, in the early 1960s pop music competed terminologically with beat music, while in the USA its coverage overlapped with that of rock and roll. From about 1967, the term was used in opposition to the term rock music. Whereas rock aspired to authenticity and an expansion of the possibilities of music, pop was more commercial, ephemeral. It is not driven by any significant ambition except profit and commercial reward, and, in musical terms, it is essentially conservative. It is, provided from on high rather than being made from below, pop is not a do-it-yourself music but is professionally produced and packaged. The beat and the melodies tend to be simple, with limited harmonic accompaniment, the lyrics of modern pop songs typically focus on simple themes – often love and romantic relationships – although there are notable exceptions
7.
Odeon Records
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Odeon Records was a record label founded in 1903 by Max Straus and Heinrich Zuntz of the International Talking Machine Company in Berlin, Germany. It was named after a theatre in Paris, whose classical dome appears on the Odeon record label. Straus and Zuntz bought the company from Carl Lindström that he had founded in 1897 and they transformed the Lindström enterprise into a public company, the Carl Lindström A. G. and in 1903 purchased Fonotipia Records, including their Odeon-Werke International Talking Machine Company. International Talking Machine Company issued the Odeon label first in Germany in 1903, while other companies were making single-side discs, Odeon made them double-sided. Between 1910 and 1911 Odeon was acquired by Carl Lindström, on January 30,1904, Odeon became a part of the Carl Lindström Company, which also owned Beka Records, Parlophone, Fonotipia, Lyrophon, Homophon and other labels. Lindström was acquired by the English Columbia Graphophone Company in 1926, in 1931 Columbia merged with Electrola, HMV and other labels to form EMI. The Berlin Odeon plant recorded, processed, and exported records to many countries, in the 1920s and 1930s about 70% of the German Odeon production was exported. Some Odeon recordings were leased to the American Okeh Records for distribution in the United States, Odeon discs were first manufactured in America, for export only, in 1905 or 1906 by the American Record Company, which produced lateral-cut, 10¾-inch 78 discs made of blue shellac. This business ceased in 1907 when ARC was sued by Columbia for patent infringement, Lindström tried again to open an American branch, this time through Otto Heineman, who worked for Lindströms company and was living in America when World War I broke out. Stuck in New York, Heineman created the Otto Heineman Phonograph Supply Company in 1915, then four years later started his own label, in 1919, OKeh began issuing foreign recordings in the United States on the Odeon label. During the 1920s, Odeon issued American jazz records in other countries, such as Germany, Italy, France, during the 1930s and 1940s Odeon sold its Swing Music Series. Odeon recorded and issued over 2700 titles of Indian music from the period 1900–1940, odeons shellac disc issues were in two phases, 1912–1916, and 1932–38. During the first phase their engineers visited many cities to record the diverse music of India. The company was based in Mumbai and Madras during the second phase, however the outbreak of World War II, and the subsequent trade embargoes, meant that the company had to wind-up its operations in India. The companys output included drama songs, speeches, folk music, classical music, drama sets, skits and plays and it has been estimated that about 600 titles have survived in private collections. The British Museum have digitised some of these records which are free in an online archive, list of record labels Odeon Records, Their ethnic output. Russian-records. com, Odeon-Record The British Library, Odeon record label recordings from the Indian subcontinent
8.
Barclay Records
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Barclay Records is a French record company and label founded by Eddie Barclay in 1953. Barclay was a bandleader, pianist, producer, and nightclub owner, with his wife, Nicole, who was the vocalist in his band, he started Barclay. The catalogue included the work of Stéphane Grappelli, Lionel Hampton, in 1978 the label was sold to Polygram Records. Barclay also had operations outside France, most notably in the U. S. Barclay Records is currently owned and distributed by Universal Music Group
9.
CBS News Radio
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CBS Radio News, historically known as the CBS Radio Network, provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by CBS Corporation, it is the last of the three original national U. S. radio networks owned by its parent company. CBS Radio News is one of the programming services distributed by Westwood One, the network is the oldest unit of the CBS Corporation and traces its roots to CBSs predecessor, United Independent Broadcasters, founded in 1927 with 47 affiliates. The next year, Columbia Records invested in the radio network, eventually, Columbia pulled its backing from the struggling web. William S. Paley bought a half-interest in what became the Columbia Broadcasting System in 1928, for more about the networks history, see CBS. Louis, KRLD in Dallas and WCCO in Minneapolis and its offerings include the top-of-the-hour newscasts and the half-hour news updates. In addition to the product, reports and actualities are made available to affiliates on its Newsfeeds. Newsfeeds are subscribed heavily to by WCBS, KYW and other top outlets, among its on-air programs are the CBS News-on-the-Hour and the morning Osgood File features with Charles Osgood. The network is home to the morning and evening editions of the CBS World News Roundup, steve Kathan anchors the morning show, while Bill Whitney hosts the evening edition. The daily Roundup dates back to a special on March 13,1938, each Friday, the network also produces the CBS News Weekend Roundup, a look at the top stories of the week, hosted by Dan Raviv, with a commentary from Charles Grodin. CBS Radio has an impressive list of reporters around the world including Barry Bagnato, Mark Knoller, Pam Coulter, Sabina Castelfranco, Robert Berger, Cami McCormick, Logan also reports for CBS Television, and many TV correspondents also appear on CBS Radio newscasts. In 2009, CBS launched a late night talk program hosted by Jon Grayson. CBS themselves handle the syndication of Graysons show, while syndication for Smerconishs show to non-CBS stations has been outsourced to Dial Global. Graysons show, Overnight America, also entered national syndication via Dial Global on January 30,2012, meanwhile, Smerconish discontinued the morning show in 2011. Three of CBSs television programs are currently simulcast on CBS Radio News, those are Face the Nation,60 Minutes, in addition, the Late Show with David Letterman Top Ten List was also broadcast by the network in a short-form-feature format until the shows conclusion in 2015. Other public-affairs features include CBS Healthwatch with Dr. Emily Senay, Raising Our Kids with WCBS morning anchor Pat Carroll, CBS has since announced plans to launch CBS Sports Radio in fall 2012 through a rival network, Cumulus Media Networks. During the overnight hours, CBSN carries a video simulcast of CBS Radio Newss top-of-the-hour reports, while the networks World News Roundup is the longest-running news show on radio or TV in the U. S. On February 2,2017, CBS Corporation announced that it had agreed to sell its radio unit with Entercom and it was not specified whether or not CBS Radio News was included in the sale
10.
RCA Records
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RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. It is one of SMEs three flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records and Epic Records. The label has released multiple genres of music, including pop, rock, hip hop, R&B, blues, jazz, the companys name is derived from the initials of the labels former parent company, the Radio Corporation of America. It is the second oldest recording company in US history, after sister label Columbia Records, RCAs Canadian unit is Sonys oldest label in Canada. It was one of only two Canadian record companies to survive the Great Depression, kelly, Enrique Iglesias, Foo Fighters, Kings of Leon, Kesha, Miley Cyrus, Giorgio Moroder, Jennifer Hudson, DAngelo, Pink, Tinashe, G-Eazy, Pitbull, Zayn and Wizkid. In 1929, the Radio Corporation of America purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company, then the worlds largest manufacturer of phonographs and phonograph records. The company then became RCA Victor but retained use of the Victor Records name on their labels until the beginning of 1946 when the labels were finally switched over to RCA Victor. With Victor, RCA acquired New World rights to the famous Nipper His Masters Voice trademark, in Shanghai, China, in 1931, RCA Victors British affiliate the Gramophone Company merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company to form EMI. This gave RCA head David Sarnoff a seat on the EMI board, in September 1931, RCA Victor introduced the first 33⅓ rpm records sold to the public, calling them Program Transcriptions. In the depths of the Great Depression, the format was a commercial failure, during the early part of the depression, RCA made a number of attempts to produce a successful cheap label to compete with the dime store labels. The first was the short-lived Timely Tunes label in 1931 sold at Montgomery Ward, in 1932, Bluebird Records was created as a sub-label of RCA Victor. It was originally an 8-inch record with a blue label. In 1933, RCA reintroduced Bluebird and Electradisk as a standard 10-inch label, another cheap label, Sunrise, was produced. The same musical couplings were issued on all three labels and Bluebird Records still survives eight decades after Electradisk and Sunrise were discontinued, RCA also produced records for Montgomery Ward label during the 1930s. Besides manufacturing records for themselves, RCA Victor operated RCA Custom which was the leading record manufacturer for independent record labels, RCA Custom also pressed record compilations for The Readers Digest Association. RCA sold its interest in EMI in 1935, but EMI continued to distribute RCA recordings in the UK, RCA also manufactured and distributed HMV classical recordings on the RCA and HMV labels in North America. During World War II, ties between RCA and its Japanese affiliate JVC were severed, the Japanese record company is today called Victor Entertainment and is still a JVC subsidiary. From 1942 to 1944, RCA Victor was seriously impacted by the American Federation of Musicians recording ban, virtually all union musicians could not make recordings during that period
11.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
12.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
13.
Music of France
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The music of France reflects a diverse array of styles. In the field of music, France has produced a number of prominent romantic composers, while folk and popular music have seen the rise of the chanson. The earliest known sound recording device in the world, the phonautograph, was patented in France by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville in 1857. France is also the 5th largest market by value in the world, French music history dates back to organum in the 10th century, followed by the Notre Dame School, an organum composition style. By the end of the 12th century, a form of song called the motet arose, in the 14th century, France produced two notable styles of music, Ars Nova and Ars Subtilior. Burgundy, the mostly French-speaking area unified with the Kingdom of France in 1477 and this was followed by the rise of chansons and the Burgundian School. Influential composers included Louis Couperin, François Couperin and Jacques Champion de Chambonnières, Jean Philippe Rameau, a prominent opera composer, wrote an influential treatise on musical theory, especially in the subject of harmony, he also introduced the clarinet into his orchestras. In the late Renaissance and early Baroque period, a type of secular vocal music called Air de cour spread throughout France. The first French opera may be Akébar roi du Mogol, first performed in Carpentras in 1646 and his first was Cadmus from 1673. Lullys forays into operatic tragedy were accompanied by the pinnacle of French theatrical tragedy, led by Corneille and Racine. Lully also developed the beat patterns used by conductors to this day. The French composer, Georges Bizet, composed Carmen, one of the most well known, Claude Balbastre was an organist, harpsichordist and fortepianist. He was one of the most famous musicians of his time, henri-Montan Berton, son of Pierre, is principally remembered as a composer of operas, most of which were first performed at the Opéra-Comique. Chélard earned his living for much of his career as a violist at the Paris Opera and his 1827 opera Macbeth was a flop in Paris, but a great success in Munich. Jeanne-Hippolyte Devismes married the director of the Paris Opéra and her only known works are a song, La Dame Jacinthe, and an opera, Praxitėle, which was a success and ran for 16 performances. Harpsichordist and composer Jacques Duphly contributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau dictionary, for articles relating to the art of playing the harpsichord, one of the major French composers of the time, and one of the most innovative composers of the early Romantic era, was Hector Berlioz. In the late 19th century, pioneers such as Georges Bizet, Jules Massenet, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Ravel, the last two had an enormous impact on 20th-century music - both in France and abroad - and influenced many major composers such as Béla Bartók and Igor Stravinsky. Erik Satie was also a significant composer from that era
14.
Piedmont
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Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.6 million, the capital of Piedmont is Turin. The name Piedmont comes from medieval Latin Pedemontium or Pedemontis, i. e. ad pedem montium, meaning “at the foot of the mountains”. Other towns of Piedmont with more than 20,000 inhabitants sorted by population and it borders with France, Switzerland and the Italian regions of Lombardy, Liguria, Aosta Valley and for a very small fragment with Emilia Romagna. The geography of Piedmont is 43. 3% mountainous, along with areas of hills. Piedmont is the second largest of Italys 20 regions, after Sicily and it is broadly coincident with the upper part of the drainage basin of the river Po, which rises from the slopes of Monviso in the west of the region and is Italy’s largest river. The Po collects all the waters provided within the semicircle of mountains which surround the region on three sides, from the highest peaks the land slopes down to hilly areas, and then to the upper, and then to the lower great Padan Plain. 7. 6% of the territory is considered protected area. There are 56 different national or regional parks, one of the most famous is the Gran Paradiso National Park located between Piedmont and the Aosta Valley, Piedmont was inhabited in early historic times by Celtic-Ligurian tribes such as the Taurini and the Salassi. They were later subdued by the Romans, who founded several colonies there including Augusta Taurinorum, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the region was repeatedly invaded by the Burgundians, the Goths, Byzantines, Lombards, Franks. In the 9th–10th centuries there were incursions by the Magyars. At the time Piedmont, as part of the Kingdom of Italy within the Holy Roman Empire, was subdivided into several marks, in 1046, Oddo of Savoy added Piedmont to their main territory of Savoy, with a capital at Chambéry. Other areas remained independent, such as the powerful comuni of Asti and Alessandria, the County of Savoy was elevated to a duchy in 1416, and Duke Emanuele Filiberto moved the seat to Turin in 1563. In 1720, the Duke of Savoy became King of Sardinia, founding what evolved into the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Republic of Alba was created in 1796 as a French client republic in Piedmont. A new client republic, the Piedmontese Republic, existed between 1798 and 1799 before it was reoccupied by Austrian and Russian troops, in June 1800 a third client republic, the Subalpine Republic, was established in Piedmont. It fell under full French control in 1801 and it was annexed by France in September 1802, in the congress of Vienna, the Kingdom of Sardinia was restored, and furthermore received the Republic of Genoa to strengthen it as a barrier against France. Piedmont was a springboard for Italys unification in 1859–1861, following earlier unsuccessful wars against the Austrian Empire in 1820–1821 and this process is sometimes referred to as Piedmontisation. However, the efforts were countered by the efforts of rural farmers
15.
Polyphony
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Within the context of the Western musical tradition, the term polyphony is usually used to refer to music of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Baroque forms such as fugue, which might be called polyphonic, are usually described instead as contrapuntal. In all cases the conception was probably what Margaret Bent calls dyadic counterpoint, with part being written generally against one other part. The term polyphony is also used more broadly, to describe any musical texture that is not monophonic. Such a perspective considers homophony as a sub-type of polyphony, traditional polyphony has a wide, if uneven, distribution among the peoples of the world. Most polyphonic regions of the world are in sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and it is believed that the origins of polyphony in traditional music vastly predate the emergence of polyphony in European professional music. Currently there are two approaches to the problem of the origins of vocal polyphony, the Cultural Model. Although the exact origins of polyphony in the Western church traditions are unknown,900, are usually considered the oldest extant written examples of polyphony. These treatises provided examples of two-voice note-against-note embellishments of chants using parallel octaves, fifths, rather than being fixed works, they indicated ways of improvising polyphony during performance. 1000, is the oldest extant example of notated polyphony for chant performance, European polyphony rose out of melismatic organum, the earliest harmonization of the chant. Twelfth-century composers, such as Léonin and Pérotin developed the organum that was introduced centuries earlier, the lyrics of love poems might be sung above sacred texts in the form of a trope, or the sacred text might be placed within a familiar secular melody. The oldest surviving piece of music is the English rota Sumer is icumen in. These musical innovations appeared in a context of societal change. After the first millennium, European monks decided to start translating the works of Greek philosophers into the vernacular, Western Europeans were aware of Plato, Socrates, and Hippocrates during the Middle Ages. However they had largely lost touch with the content of their surviving works because the use of Greek as a language was restricted to the lands of the Eastern Roman Empire. Once these ancient works started being translated thus becoming accessible, the philosophies had a impact on the mind of Western Europe. This sparked a number of innovations in medicine, science, art, European polyphony rose prior to, and during the period of the Western Schism. Avignon, the seat of the antipopes, was a center of secular music-making
16.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
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Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition. He had a influence on the development of church music. Palestrina was born in the town of Palestrina, near Rome, documents suggest that he first visited Rome in 1537, when he is listed as a chorister at the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica. He studied with Robin Mallapert and Firmin Lebel and he spent most of his career in the city. Italy itself had yet to produce anyone of comparable fame or skill in polyphony, from 1544 to 1551, Palestrina was the organist of the Cathedral of St. Agapito, the principal church of his native city. This book of Masses was the first by a composer, since in the Italian states of Palestrinas day, most composers of sacred music were from the Low Countries, France, Portugal. In fact the book was modeled on one by Cristóbal de Morales, during the next decade, Palestrina held positions similar to his Julian Chapel appointment at other chapels and churches in Rome, notably St John Lateran, and St Mary Major. In 1571 he returned to the Julian Chapel and remained at St Peters for the rest of his life, the decade of the 1570s was difficult for him personally, he lost his brother, two of his sons, and his wife in three separate outbreaks of the plague. He seems to have considered becoming a priest at this time, but instead he remarried and this finally gave him financial independence and he was able to compose prolifically until his death. He died in Rome of pleurisy in 1594, as was usual, Palestrina was buried on the same day he died, in a plain coffin with a lead plate on which was inscribed Libera me Domine. A five-part psalm for three choirs was sung at the funeral, Palestrinas funeral was held at St. Peters, and he was buried beneath the floor of the basilica. His tomb was covered by new construction and attempts to locate the site have been unsuccessful. Palestrina left hundreds of compositions, including 105 masses,68 offertories, at least 140 madrigals, in addition, there are at least 72 hymns,35 magnificats,11 litanies, and four or five sets of lamentations. The Gloria melody from a Palestrina magnificat is widely used today in the hymn tune. He published just two collections of madrigals with profane texts, one in 1555 and another in 1586, the other two collections were spiritual madrigals, a genre beloved by the proponents of the Counter-Reformation. Palestrinas masses show how his style developed over time. His Missa sine nomine seems to have been attractive to Johann Sebastian Bach. Most of Palestrinas masses appeared in thirteen volumes printed between 1554 and 1601, the last seven published after his death, one of his most important works, the Missa Papae Marcelli, has been historically associated with erroneous information involving the Council of Trent
17.
Feodor Chaliapin
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Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was a Russian opera singer. He himself spelled his surname, French-style, Chaliapine in the West, in English texts, his given name is most usually rendered as Feodor or Fyodor, and his surname is most usually seen as Chaliapin. This spelling also better reflects the fact that the name is pronounced with three syllables, not four, Feodor Chaliapin was born into a peasant family on February 1,1873 in Kazan, in the wing of merchant Lisitzins house on Rybnoryadskaya Street 10. This wing no longer exists, but the house with the yard where the wing was situated is still there, the next day, Candlemas, he was baptized in Epiphany Church on Bolshaya Prolomnaya street. His godparents were his neighbors, the shoemaker Nikolay Tonkov and Ludmila Kharitonova and his vocal teacher was Dmitri Usatov. Chaliapin began his career at Tbilisi and the Imperial Opera, St. Petersburg in 1894 and he was then invited to sing at the Mamontov Private Opera, his first role there was as Mephistopheles in Gounods Faust, in which he was a considerable success. At Mamontov he also met Sergei Rachmaninoff, who was serving as an assistant conductor there, with Rachmaninoff he learned the title role of Mussorgskys Boris Godunov, which became his signature character. Chaliapin returned the favor by showing Rachmaninoff how he built each of his interpretations around a culminating moment or point, Rachmaninoff put this approach to considerable use when he became a full-time concert pianist after World War I. On the strength of his Mamontov appearances, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow engaged Chaliapin, during the First World War, Chaliapin also appeared regularly at the Zimin Private Opera in Moscow. At the end of his career, Toscanini observed that the Russian bass was the greatest operatic talent with whom he had ever worked. In 1925, while performing in New York, his piano accompanist was a young Harry Lubin, Chaliapin toured Australia in 1926, giving a series of recitals which were highly acclaimed. Privately, Chaliapins personal affairs were in a state of disarray as a consequence of the Russian Revolution of 1917, at first he was treated as a revered artist of the newly emerged Soviet Russia. He still maintained, however, that he was not anti-Soviet, Chaliapin initially moved to Finland and later lived in France. Cosmopolitan Paris, with its significant Russian émigré population, became his base, and ultimately and he was renowned for his larger-than-life carousing during this period, but he never sacrificed his dedication to his art. Chaliapins attachment to Paris did not prevent him pursuing a international operatic and concert career in England, the United States. In May 1931 he appeared in the Russian Season directed by Sir Thomas Beecham at Londons Lyceum Theatre and his most famous part was the title role of Boris Godunov. Chaliapin made one film for the director G. W. Pabst. The film was made in three different versions – French, English, and German, as was sometimes the prevailing custom, Chaliapin starred in all three versions, each of which used the same script, sets, and costumes, but different supporting casts
18.
Ludwig van Beethoven
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Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he one of the most famous. His best-known compositions include 9 symphonies,5 piano concertos,1 violin concerto,32 piano sonatas,16 string quartets, his great Mass the Missa solemnis, and one opera, Fidelio. At the age of 21 he moved to Vienna, where he began studying composition with Joseph Haydn and he lived in Vienna until his death. By his late 20s his hearing began to deteriorate, and by the last decade of his life he was almost completely deaf. In 1811 he gave up conducting and performing in public but continued to compose, many of his most admired works come from these last 15 years of his life. Beethoven was the grandson of Ludwig van Beethoven, a musician from the town of Mechelen in the Duchy of Brabant in the Flemish region of what is now Belgium, who at the age of twenty moved to Bonn. Ludwig was employed as a singer at the court of the Elector of Cologne, eventually rising to become, in 1761. The portrait he commissioned of himself towards the end of his life remained proudly displayed in his grandsons rooms as a talisman of his musical heritage. Ludwig had one son, Johann, who worked as a tenor in the musical establishment and gave keyboard. Johann married Maria Magdalena Keverich in 1767, she was the daughter of Johann Heinrich Keverich, Beethoven was born of this marriage in Bonn. There is no record of the date of his birth, however. Of the seven children born to Johann van Beethoven, only Ludwig, the second-born, caspar Anton Carl was born on 8 April 1774, and Nikolaus Johann, the youngest, was born on 2 October 1776. Beethovens first music teacher was his father and he later had other local teachers, the court organist Gilles van den Eeden, Tobias Friedrich Pfeiffer, and Franz Rovantini. Beethovens musical talent was obvious at a young age, some time after 1779, Beethoven began his studies with his most important teacher in Bonn, Christian Gottlob Neefe, who was appointed the Courts Organist in that year. Neefe taught Beethoven composition, and by March 1783 had helped him write his first published composition, Beethoven soon began working with Neefe as assistant organist, at first unpaid, and then as a paid employee of the court chapel conducted by the Kapellmeister Andrea Luchesi. His first three piano sonatas, named Kurfürst for their dedication to the Elector Maximilian Friedrich, were published in 1783, Maximilian Frederick noticed Beethovens talent early, and subsidised and encouraged the young mans musical studies. Maximilian Fredericks successor as the Elector of Bonn was Maximilian Francis, the youngest son of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, echoing changes made in Vienna by his brother Joseph, he introduced reforms based on Enlightenment philosophy, with increased support for education and the arts
19.
Arturo Toscanini
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Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and of the 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for detail and sonority. He was at times the music director of La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Toscanini was born in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, and won a scholarship to the music conservatory. Living conditions at the conservatory were harsh, for example, his diet consisted almost completely of fish. When he became successful, he never ate anything that came from the sea and he joined the orchestra of an opera company, with which he toured South America in 1886. Carlo Superti and Aristide Venturi tried unsuccessfully to finish the work, in desperation, the singers suggested the name of their assistant Chorus Master, who knew the whole opera from memory. The public was taken by surprise, at first by the youth and sheer aplomb of this unknown conductor, for the rest of that season, Toscanini conducted eighteen operas, all with absolute success. Thus began his career as a conductor, at age 19, upon returning to Italy, Toscanini set out on a dual path for some time. He continued to conduct, his first appearance in Italy being at the Teatro Carignano in Turin, on November 4,1886, in the world premiere of the revised version of Alfredo Catalanis Edmea. This was the beginning of Toscaninis lifelong friendship and championing of Catalani, however, he also returned to his chair in the cello section, and participated as cellist in the world premiere of Verdis Otello under the composers supervision. The composer was impressed when Toscanini consulted him personally about Verdis Te Deum. Verdi said that he had left it out for fear that certain interpreters would have exaggerated the marking, gradually, Toscaninis reputation as an operatic conductor of unusual authority and skill supplanted his cello career. In the following decade, he consolidated his career in Italy, entrusted with the premieres of Puccinis La bohème. In 1896, Toscanini conducted his first symphonic concert and he exhibited a considerable capacity for hard work, conducting 43 concerts in Turin in 1898. By 1898, Toscanini was Principal Conductor at La Scala, where he remained until 1908, returning as Music Director and he brought the La Scala Orchestra to the United States on a concert tour in 1920/21, during which he made his first recordings. Outside Europe, Toscanini conducted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as well as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and he toured Europe with the New York Philharmonic in 1930. At each performance, he and the orchestra were acclaimed by critics, Toscanini was the first non-German conductor to appear at Bayreuth, and the New York Philharmonic was the first non-German orchestra to play there
20.
Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)
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The Symphony No.5 in C minor of Ludwig van Beethoven, Op.67, was written between 1804–1808. It is one of the compositions in classical music. First performed in Viennas Theater an der Wien in 1808, the work achieved its prodigious reputation soon afterward, E. T. A. Hoffmann described the symphony as one of the most important works of the time. The symphony consists of four movements, the first movement is Allegro con brio, the second movement is Andante con moto, the third movement is a Scherzo Allegro, the fourth movement is Allegro. Since the Second World War it has sometimes referred to as the Victory Symphony. V is the Roman character for the five, the phrase V for Victory became well known as a campaign of the Allies of World War II. That Beethovens Victory Symphony happened to be his Fifth is coincidence, some thirty years after this piece was written, the rhythm of the opening phrase – dit-dit-dit-dah – was used for the letter V in Morse code, though this is probably also coincidental. The BBC, during World War Two, prefaced its broadcasts to Europe with those four notes, the Fifth Symphony had a long development process, as Beethoven worked out the musical ideas for the work. The first sketches date from 1804 following the completion of the Third Symphony, the final preparation of the Fifth Symphony, which took place in 1807–1808, was carried out in parallel with the Sixth Symphony, which premiered at the same concert. Beethoven was in his mid-thirties during this time, his life was troubled by increasing deafness. In the world at large, the period was marked by the Napoleonic Wars, political turmoil in Austria, the symphony was written at his lodgings at the Pasqualati House in Vienna. The final movement quotes from a song by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle. The concert lasted for more than four hours, the two symphonies appeared on the program in reverse order, the Sixth was played first, and the Fifth appeared in the second half. The program was as follows, The Sixth Symphony Aria, Ah. perfido, the dedication appeared in the first printed edition of April 1809. There was little response to the premiere performance, which took place under adverse conditions. The auditorium was extremely cold and the audience was exhausted by the length of the program, however, a year and a half later, publication of the score resulted in a rapturous unsigned review in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung. In an essay titled Beethovens Instrumental Music, compiled from this 1810 review and another one from 1813 on the op.70 string trios, the symphony soon acquired its status as a central item in the orchestral repertoire. It was played in the concerts of the New York Philharmonic on 7 December 1842
21.
Maurice Ravel
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Joseph Maurice Ravel was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, in the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was internationally regarded as Frances greatest living composer. After leaving the conservatoire Ravel found his own way as a composer, developing a style of great clarity, incorporating elements of baroque, neoclassicism and, in his later works, jazz. He liked to experiment with form, as in his best-known work, Boléro. He made some arrangements of other composers music, of which his 1922 version of Mussorgskys Pictures at an Exhibition is the best known. As a slow and painstaking worker, Ravel composed fewer pieces than many of his contemporaries. Among his works to enter the repertoire are pieces for piano, chamber music, many of his works exist in two versions, a first, piano score and a later orchestration. Some of his music, such as Gaspard de la nuit, is exceptionally difficult to play. Ravel was among the first composers to recognise the potential of recording to bring their music to a wider public, from the 1920s, despite limited technique as a pianist or conductor, he took part in recordings of several of his works, others were made under his supervision. Ravel was born in the Basque town of Ciboure, France and his father, Pierre-Joseph Ravel, was an educated and successful engineer, inventor and manufacturer, born in Versoix near the Franco-Swiss border. His mother, Marie, née Delouart, was Basque but had grown up in Madrid, in 19th-century terms, Joseph had married beneath his status – Marie was illegitimate and barely literate – but the marriage was a happy one. Both Ravels parents were Roman Catholics, Marie was also something of a free-thinker, a trait inherited by her elder son and he was baptised in the Ciboure parish church six days after he was born. The family moved to Paris three months later, and there a younger son, Édouard, was born and he was close to his father, whom he eventually followed into the engineering profession. Maurice was particularly devoted to their mother, her Basque-Spanish heritage was an influence on his life. Among his earliest memories were folk songs she sang to him, the household was not rich, but the family was comfortable, and the two boys had happy childhoods. Ravel senior delighted in taking his sons to factories to see the latest mechanical devices, in later life, Ravel recalled, Throughout my childhood I was sensitive to music. My father, much better educated in art than most amateurs are, knew how to develop my taste. There is no record that Ravel received any formal schooling in his early years
22.
Bordighera
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Bordighera is a town and comune in the Province of Imperia, Liguria. Bordighera is located at 20 km from France and it is possible to see the French coast with an eye from the town. Having the Capo Sant’Ampelio which protrudes into the sea, it is the southernmost commune of the region, the cape is at around the same latitude of Pisa and features a little church built in the XIth Century for Sant’Ampelio, the patron saint of the city. Since Bordighera is built where the Maritime Alps plunge into the sea it benefits from the Foehn effect which creates a microclimate that has warmer winters. The name of the city appears for the first time as Burdigheta in 1296, the area was particularly prosperous during Roman times because it was situated on the via Julia Augusta in the Ist Century B. C. The Moorish pirates started becoming rarer and rarer even though some particularly cruel ones still occasionally happened such as the one by the pirate Hayreddin Barbarossa in 1543. With pirate attacks diminishing the importance of the area became obvious to the Dukes of Savoy. The small village was transformed into a fortified town and gained importance until it became independent from the rival city Ventimiglia in 1683. Bartholomew Oratory to build what will be called Magnifica comunità degli otto luoghi, the goal of this meeting is to unite and gain independence from the nearby rival city of Ventimiglia. In 1797 Bordighera loses its independence completely and becomes part of the Palms Jurisdiction, the next change of power inside the region comes in 1815 in which the whole Liguria is annexed to the Kingdom of Sardegna after the Congress of Vienna. That zone is what constitutes Bordighera today and the old town is simply called Old Bordighera or High Bordighera due to its position over the hill. The Golden Age of the city comes in the XIXth Century when the low city is constructed next to the Corniche road and the sea which attracted English tourists. The touristic interest in Bordighera seems to have been sparked by a novel from Giovanni Ruffini, Il Dottor Antonio which was published in 1855 in Edinburgh and featured the town. The institution hosts its first famous resident in 1861, the British Prime Minister Lord John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, in 1873, the railway station is inaugurated, it allowed to travel from Paris to Bordighera in only 24hrs, which at the time was remarkably fast. With the opening of the Calais-Rome Express railway on the 8th December 1883, in 1887, Stéphen Liégard, in his famous book La Cote d’Azur, dedicated several pages to Bordighera and gave it a name that will stick, Queen of the Palm Trees. He also quotes the fact that the Empress Eugenie was hosted at the Grand Hotel de Bordighera in the autumn of 1886, in July 1947, Evita Peron visited Bordighera and, in order to honour her visit the seaside promenade was named Lungomare Argentina. The road is 2. 300m long, which makes it the longest promenade out of all present in the Riviera. Bordighera was the first town in Europe to grow date palms, casa Coraggio, Bordighera is one of the historic buildings in the city, there lived writers George MacDonald and Edmondo De Amicis
23.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
24.
Paul Verlaine
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Paul-Marie Verlaine was a French poet associated with the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the fin de siècle in international, born in Metz, Verlaine was educated at the Lycée Impérial Bonaparte in Paris and then took up a post in the civil service. He began writing poetry at an age, and was initially influenced by the Parnassien movement and its leader. Verlaines first published poem was published in 1863 in La Revue du progrès, Verlaines first published collection, Poèmes saturniens, though adversely commented upon by Sainte-Beuve, established him as a poet of promise and originality. Verlaines private life spills over into his work, beginning with his love for Mathilde Mauté de Fleurville, Mathilde became Verlaines wife in 1870. At the proclamation of the Third Republic in the year, Verlaine joined the 160th battalion of the Garde nationale. He became head of the bureau of the Central Committee of the Paris Commune. Verlaine escaped the deadly street fighting known as the Bloody Week, or Semaine Sanglante, Verlaine returned to Paris in August 1871, and, in September, he received the first letter from Arthur Rimbaud. By 1872, he had lost interest in Mathilde, and effectively abandoned her and their son, Rimbaud and Verlaines stormy affair took them to London in 1872. In Brussels in July 1873 in a drunken, jealous rage, romances sans paroles was published while Verlaine was imprisoned. From there he went to teach in Boston, before moving to Bournemouth, while in England he produced another successful collection, Sagesse. He returned to France in 1877 and, while teaching English at a school in Rethel, fell in love one of his pupils, Lucien Létinois. Verlaine was devastated when Létinois died of typhus in 1883, Verlaines last years saw his descent into drug addiction, alcoholism, and poverty. He lived in slums and public hospitals, and spent his days drinking absinthe in Paris cafes and his poetry was admired and recognized as ground-breaking, and served as a source of inspiration to composers. Gabriel Fauré composed many mélodies, such as the song cycles Cinq mélodies de Venise and La bonne chanson, claude Debussy set to music Clair de lune and six of the Fêtes galantes poems, forming part of the mélodie collection known as the Recueil Vasnier. Reynaldo Hahn set several of Verlaines poems as did the Belgian-British composer Poldowski and his drug dependence and alcoholism caught up with him and took a toll on his life. Paul Verlaine died in Paris at the age of 51 on 8 January 1896, much of the French poetry produced during the fin de siècle was characterized as decadent for its lurid content or moral vision. But with the publication of Jean Moréas Symbolist Manifesto in 1886, along with Verlaine, Mallarmé, Rimbaud, Paul Valéry, Albert Samain and many others began to be referred to as Symbolists
25.
Voltaire
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Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 21,000 letters and over two books and pamphlets. He was an advocate of civil liberties, despite the risk this placed him in under the strict censorship laws of the time. As a satirical polemicist, he made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma. Some speculation surrounds Voltaires date of birth, because he claimed he was born on 20 February 1694 as the son of a nobleman. Two of his older brothers—Armand-François and Robert—died in infancy and his brother, Armand. Nicknamed Zozo by his family, Voltaire was baptized on 22 November 1694, with François de Castagnère, abbé de Châteauneuf, and Marie Daumard, the wife of his mothers cousin, standing as godparents. He was educated by the Jesuits at the Collège Louis-le-Grand, where he was taught Latin, theology, and rhetoric, later in life he became fluent in Italian, Spanish, and English. By the time he left school, Voltaire had decided he wanted to be a writer, against the wishes of his father, Voltaire, pretending to work in Paris as an assistant to a notary, spent much of his time writing poetry. When his father out, he sent Voltaire to study law. Nevertheless, he continued to write, producing essays and historical studies, Voltaires wit made him popular among some of the aristocratic families with whom he mixed. In 1713, his father obtained a job for him as a secretary to the new French ambassador in the Netherlands, the marquis de Châteauneuf, at The Hague, Voltaire fell in love with a French Protestant refugee named Catherine Olympe Dunoyer. Their scandalous affair was discovered by de Châteauneuf and Voltaire was forced to return to France by the end of the year, Most of Voltaires early life revolved around Paris. From early on, Voltaire had trouble with the authorities for critiques of the government and these activities were to result in two imprisonments and a temporary exile to England. One satirical verse, in which Voltaire accused the Régent of incest with his own daughter, the Comédie-Française had agreed in January 1717 to stage his debut play, Œdipe, and it opened in mid-November 1718, seven months after his release. Its immediate critical and financial success established his reputation, both the Régent and King George I of Great Britain presented Voltaire with medals as a mark of their appreciation. He mainly argued for tolerance and freedom of thought. He campaigned to eradicate priestly and aristo-monarchical authority, and supported a constitutional monarchy that protects peoples rights, the author adopted the name Voltaire in 1718, following his incarceration at the Bastille
26.
Charles Baudelaire
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Charles Pierre Baudelaire was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal, expresses the nature of beauty in modern. Baudelaires highly original style of prose-poetry influenced a generation of poets including Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud. He is credited with coining the term modernity to designate the fleeting, ephemeral experience of life in a metropolis. This obsessive idea is all a child of giant cities. Baudelaire is one of the innovators in French literature. He made Paris the subject of modern poetry and he would bring the citys details to life in the eyes and hearts of his readers. Baudelaire was born in Paris, France, on April 9,1821 and his father, François Baudelaire, a senior civil servant and amateur artist, was 34 years older than Baudelaires mother, Caroline. François died during Baudelaires childhood, in 1827, the following year, Caroline married Lieutenant Colonel Jacques Aupick, who later became a French ambassador to various noble courts. He stated in a letter to her that, There was in my childhood a period of passionate love for you, Baudelaire regularly begged his mother for money throughout his career, often promising that a lucrative publishing contract or journalistic commission was just around the corner. Baudelaire was educated in Lyon, where he boarded, Baudelaire was erratic in his studies, at times diligent, at other times prone to idleness. Later, he attended the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, studying law and he began to frequent prostitutes and may have contracted gonorrhea and syphilis during this period. He also began to run up debts, mostly for clothes, upon gaining his degree in 1839, he told his brother I dont feel I have a vocation for anything. His stepfather had in mind a career in law or diplomacy and his mother later recalled, Oh, what grief. If Charles had let himself be guided by his stepfather, his career would have very different. He would not have left a name in literature, it is true and his stepfather sent him on a voyage to Calcutta, India, in 1841 in the hope of ending his dissolute habits. The trip provided strong impressions of the sea, sailing, and exotic ports, on returning to the taverns of Paris, he began to compose some of the poems of Les Fleurs du Mal. At 21, he received an inheritance but squandered much of it within a few years
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Arthur Rimbaud
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Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet who is known for his influence on modern literature and arts, which prefigured surrealism. Rimbaud was known to have been a libertine and for being a restless soul, having engaged in an at times violent romantic relationship with fellow poet Paul Verlaine, which lasted nearly two years. After the end of his career, he traveled extensively on three continents as a merchant before his death from cancer just after his thirty-seventh birthday. As a poet, Rimbaud is well known for his contributions to Symbolism and, among other works, A Season in Hell, Arthur Rimbaud was born in the provincial town of Charleville in the Ardennes département in northeastern France. He was the child of Frédéric Rimbaud and Marie Catherine Vitalie Cuif. Rimbauds father, a Burgundian of Provençal extraction, was an infantry captain risen from the ranks, from 1844 to 1850, he participated in the conquest of Algeria, and in 1854 was awarded the Légion dhonneur by Imperial decree. Captain Rimbaud was described as good-tempered, easy-going and generous, with the long moustaches and goatee of a Chasseur officer. In October 1852, Captain Rimbaud, then aged 38, was transferred to Mézières where he met Vitalie Cuif,11 years his junior and she came from a solidly established Ardennais family, but one with its share of bohemians, two of her brothers were alcoholics. Her personality was the exact opposite of Captain Rimbauds, she was narrowminded, stingy, completely lacking in a sense of humour. When Charles Houin, a biographer, interviewed her, he found her withdrawn. Arthur Rimbauds private name for her was Mouth of Darkness, nevertheless, on 8 February 1853, Captain Rimbaud and Vitalie Cuif married, their first-born, Jean Nicolas Frédéric, arrived nine months later on 2 November. The next year, on 20 October 1854, Jean Nicolas Arthur was born, three more children followed, Victorine-Pauline-Vitalie on 4 June 1857, Jeanne-Rosalie-Vitalie on 15 June 1858 and, finally, Frédérique Marie Isabelle on 1 June 1860. Though the marriage lasted seven years, Captain Rimbaud lived continuously in the home for less than three months, from February to May 1853. The rest of the time his military postings—including active service in the Crimean War and he was not at home for his childrens births, nor their baptisms. Isabelles birth in 1860 must have been the last straw, as after this Captain Rimbaud stopped returning home on leave entirely. Though they never divorced, the separation was complete, thereafter Mme Rimbaud let herself be known as Widow Rimbaud, neither the captain nor his children showed the slightest interest in re-establishing contact. Fearing her children were being over-influenced by the children of the poor. Rimbaud moved her family to the Cours dOrléans in 1862 and this was a better neighbourhood, and the boys, now aged nine and eight, who had been taught at home by their mother, were now sent to the Pension Rossat
28.
Dimitri Mitropoulos
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Dimitri Mitropoulos, was a Greek conductor, pianist, and composer. He received international fame both as a conductor and composer of the 20th century. Mitropoulos was born in Athens, the son of Yannis and Angelikē Mitropoulos and his father owned a leather goods shop at 15, St. Mark Street, in downtown Athens. He was musically precocious, demonstrating his abilities at an early age, from the ages of eleven to fourteen, when Mitropoulos was in secondary school, he would host and preside over informal musical gatherings at his house every Saturday afternoon. His earliest acknowledged composition – a sonata for violin and piano and he studied music at the Athens Conservatoire as well as in Brussels and Berlin, with Ferruccio Busoni among his teachers. From 1921 to 1925 he assisted Erich Kleiber at the Berlin State Opera, at a 1930 concert with the Berlin Philharmonic, he played the solo part of Prokofievs Piano Concerto No.3 and conducted the orchestra from the keyboard, becoming one of the first to do so. Mitropoulos made his U. S. debut in 1936 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, from 1937 to 1949 he served as principal conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. In 1949 Mitropoulos began his association with the New York Philharmonic and he was initially co-conductor with Leopold Stokowski and became the sole music director in 1951. Mitropoulos expanded the Philharmonics repertoire, commissioning works by new composers, in 1958, he was succeeded as the Philharmonics conductor by a protégé, Leonard Bernstein. In January 1960, he guest conducted the Philharmonic in a performance of Mahlers Fifth Symphony, in addition to his orchestral career, Mitropoulos was an equally important force in the operatic repertoire. His musically incisive and dramatically vivid performances of Puccini, Verdi, Richard Strauss, the Mets extensive archive of recorded broadcasts preserves many of these fine performances. Mitropouloss series of recordings for Columbia Records with the New York Philharmonic included a complete performance of Alban Bergs Wozzeck. Many of these have been reissued by Sony Classics on CD, including most recently his stereo recordings of excerpts from Prokofievs Romeo and he recorded with the Minneapolis Symphony for RCA Victor during the 78-rpm era. He was also represented on the Cetra label, most notably with a recording of Richard Strausss Elektra. He was noted for having a memory and for his monk-like life style due to his deeply religious. He was quietly known to be homosexual and felt no need for a cosmetic marriage, among his relationships reportedly was one with Leonard Bernstein. He died in Milan, Italy at the age of 64 of heart failure, one of his very last recorded performances was Verdis La forza del destino with Giuseppe Di Stefano, Antonietta Stella and Ettore Bastianini at Vienna on 23 September 1960. A recording exists of the performance of Mahlers 3rd Symphony given by Mitropoulos with the Cologne Radio Symphony on 31 October 1960, Mitropoulos was noted as a champion of modern music, such as that by the members of the Second Viennese School
29.
Piano Concerto for the Left Hand (Ravel)
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The Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D major was composed by Maurice Ravel between 1929 and 1930, concurrently with his Piano Concerto in G. It was commissioned by the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his arm during World War I. Wittgenstein gave the premiere with Robert Heger and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra on 5 January 1932, before writing the concerto, Ravel enthusiastically studied the left-hand études of Camille Saint-Saëns. The first French pianist to perform the work was Jacques Février, Ravel is quoted in one source as saying that the piece is in only one movement and in another as saying the piece is divided into two movements linked together. According to Marie-Noëlle Masson, the piece has a structure, Slow-Fast-Slow. Whatever the internal structure may be, the 18-19 minute piece negotiates several sections in various tempi, towards the end of the piece, some of the music of the early slow sections is overlaid with the faster music, so that two tempi occur simultaneously. The concerto begins with the double basses softly arpeggiating an ambiguous harmony being the background to a solo of the contrabassoon. Although these notes are given great structural weight, they are also the four open strings on the double bass. As is traditional in a concerto, the material is presented first in the orchestra. Not so traditional is the dramatic piano cadenza which first introduces the soloist and this material includes both an A and a B theme, though the B theme receives little exposure. An additional theme introduced at the beginning exhibits several similarities to the Dies Irae chant, an excerpt from the faster section, sometimes referenced as the scherzo, is shown in the example. Throughout the piece, Ravel creates ambiguity between triple and duple rhythms and this example highlights one of the more notable instances of this. The piece was commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, a concert pianist who had lost his arm in the First World War. Although at first Wittgenstein did not take to its jazz-influenced rhythms and harmonies, Ravels other concerto, the Piano Concerto in G, is more widely known and played. In May 1930 Ravel had had a disagreement with Arturo Toscanini over the correct tempo for Boléro. In September, Ravel patched up the relationship and invited Toscanini to conduct the premiere of the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. Even before the premiere, in 1931 Alfred Cortot made an arrangement for piano two-hands and orchestra, however, Ravel did not approve of it and forbade its publication or performance. Cortot ignored this and played his arrangement, which caused Ravel to write to many conductors imploring them not to engage Cortot to play his concerto, after Ravels death in 1937, Cortot resumed playing his arrangement, and even recorded it with Charles Munch leading the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
30.
Paul Paray
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Paul Paray was a French conductor, organist and composer. He is best remembered in the United States for being the resident conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for more than a decade, Paul Paray was born in Le Tréport in 1886. His father, Auguste, was a sculptor and organist at St. Jacques church and he put young Paray in the societys orchestra as a drummer. Later, Paray went to Rouen to study music with the abbots Bourgeois and Bourdon and this prepared him to enter the Paris Conservatoire. In 1911, Paray won the Premier Grand Prix de Rome for his cantata Yanitza, as World War I started, Paray heeded the call to arms and joined the French Army. In 1914, he was a prisoner of war at the Darmstadt camp, after the war, Paray was invited to conduct the orchestra of the Casino de Cauterets, which included players from the Lamoureux Orchestra. This was a springboard for him to conduct this Orchestra in Paris, later he was music director of the Monte Carlo Orchestra, and president of the Concerts Colonne. In 1922, Paray composed music for the Ida Rubinstein ballet Artémis troublée and that year he and the Spanish violinist Manuel Quiroga premiered his Violin Sonata. In 1931, he wrote the Mass for the 500th Anniversary of the Death of Joan of Arc, in 1935, he wrote his Symphony No.1 in C major, which was premiered at the Concerts Colonne. He composed his Symphony No.2 in A major in 1941, Paray made his American debut with the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra in 1939. In 1952, he was appointed director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Following his departure from Detroit in 1963, Paray returned to France and he was in his tenth decade when he made his last conducting appearance in the United States, leading the Orchestra of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Paray could and did conduct the orchestral repertoire well. One of Parays most renowned recordings, made in October 1957, is that of the Saint-Saëns Symphony No.3 in C minor Organ, the circumstances surrounding the recording were fortuitous. Paray had built the Detroit Symphony Orchestra into one of the worlds most distinguished, marcel Dupré, a friend and fellow student from childhood, was organist for the session. Paray married Yolande Falck in Cassis, France, on 25 August 1942 and he was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity. The government of France awarded him its highest honor, the Grand-Croix de la Légion dhonneur and he died in Monte Carlo in 1979, aged 93. 1 in C major Symphony No.1 in B♭ major for cello, thévenet Lembarquement pour lidéal for voice and piano, words by Catulle Mendès Mortes les fleurs for voice and piano, words by P
31.
Popular Front (France)
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Blums government implemented various social reforms. All employees were assured a two-week paid vacation, and the rights of unions were strengthened, the socialist movements euphoria was apparent in SFIO member Marceau Piverts Tout est possible. However, the continued to stall, by 1938 production still had not recovered to 1929 levels. Blum was forced to stop his reforms and devalue the franc, with the French Senate controlled by conservatives, Blum, and thus the whole Popular Front, fell out of power in June 1937. Blum was then replaced by Camille Chautemps, a Radical, but Blum came back as President of the Council in March 1938, before being succeeded by Édouard Daladier, another Radical, the next month. After one year of activity, it lost its spirit by June 1937. The Socialists were forced out, only the Radicals were left and it failed to live up to the expectations of the left. The workers did gain new rights, but their 48 percent increase in wages was offset by a 46 percent rise in prices. Unemployment remained high, and overall production was stagnant. France joined other nations and refused to help the Spanish Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, the refusal bitterly disappointed the French Left. The idea of a Popular Front came from two directions, first, the view, following the 6 February 1934 riots, that the far-right had tried to organize a coup détat against the Republic. Thus, both the consequences of the 1934 riots, which had removed the second Cartel des gauches from power, the Radicals were at the time the largest party in the Chamber, governing throughout most of the Third Republic. The first Popular Front cabinet consisted of 20 Socialists,13 Radicals, through the 1936 Matignon Accords, the Popular Front government introduced new labor laws. Ensured that there would be no retaliation against strikers, the government sought to carry out its reforms as rapidly as possible. On 11 June, the Chamber of Deputies voted for the forty-hour workweek, the restoration of civil servants salaries, the Senate voted in favour of these laws within a week. The Blum administration democratised the Bank of France by enabling all shareholders to attend meetings, other measures carried out by the Popular Front government improved the pay, pensions, allowances and tax-obligations of public-sector workers and ex-servicemen. The 1920 Sales Tax, opposed by the Left as a tax on consumers, was abolished and replaced by a production tax, which was considered to be a tax on the producer instead of the consumer. The government also made some changes to the civil service, such as a new director-general for the Paris police
32.
Sciences Po
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Sciences Po, or Paris Institute of Political Studies is a selective university located in Paris, France, and is widely considered to be one of the most prestigious in France. Sciences Po is a university focused on the social sciences and its main campus encircles Boulevard Saint Germain in the 7th arrondissement. Undergraduate students can choose to study in one of its six campuses in Reims, Dijon, Le Havre, Nancy, Poitiers or Menton, each focusing on a different cultural. The institution is a member of several academic consortia, Sciences Po was created in 1872 to improve the training of public servants and politicians in the aftermath of the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian war of 1871. Many notable public figures are among its alumni, including most French presidents and it has also been strongly criticized for creating an oligarchy in French society and being at the centre of several scandals. Following defeat in the 1870 war, the demise of Napoleon III, and the Paris Commune, politically and economically, people feared Frances international stature was waning due to inadequate teaching of its political and diplomatic corps. ELSP was meant to serve as breeding ground where nearly all the major, non-technical state commissioners were trained. ”New disciplines such as International Relations, International Law, Political Economy. In August 1894, the British Association for the Advancement of Science spoke out for the need to advance the study of politics along the lines of ELSP. Sidney and Beatrice Webb used the purpose and curriculum of Sciences Po as part of their inspiration for creating the London School of Economics in 1895. As per ordinance 45-2284 issued on 9 October 1945, two entities were created from ELSP, Fondation nationale des sciences politiques or FNSP, and Institut détudes politiques de Paris or IEP Paris. Both entities were tasked by the French government to ensure “the progress, the epithet Sciences Po was applied to both entities, which inherited the reputation previously vested in ELSP. Frances Legislature entrusted FNSP with managing IEP Paris, its library, and budget, and they are not to be confounded with Sciences Pos satellite campuses. FNSP further strengthened its role as a publication center with significant donations from the Rockefeller Foundation. Sciences Po underwent various reforms under the directorship of Richard Descoings, in these years, Sciences Po introduced a compulsory year abroad component to its undergraduate degree, and began to offer a multilingual curriculum in French, English, and other languages. It was during this period that Sciences Po added its regional campuses, Sciences Po also implemented reforms in its admissions process. Previously, Sciences Po recruited its students exclusively on the basis of a competitive examination and this system was seen to favor students from prestigious preparatory high schools or those who could afford year-long preparatory courses. In March 2001, the governing council widened its admissions policy. Sciences Po is located in Paris, in the 6th and 7th districts,27 rue Saint-Guillaume houses the office since 1879
33.
Tirailleur
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A tirailleur, in the Napoleonic era, was a type of light infantry trained to skirmish ahead of the main columns. The French army currently maintains one tirailleur regiment, the 1er régiment de tirailleurs and this regiment was known as the 170th infantry regiment between 1964 and 1994. Prior to 1964, it was known as the 7e régiment de tirailleurs algériens, in the wars of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods the designation tirailleur was a French military term used at first to refer generically to light infantry skirmishers. The first regiments of Tirailleurs so-called were part of the Imperial Guard of Napoleon I, by the fall of the Empire, some 16 regiments had been created. The Guard Tirailleurs were usually grouped as part of the Young Guard, the Guard Tirailleur regiments were disbanded during the reorganization of the French Army in 1814 by the new royal government. On 28 March 1815, during Napoleon Is short-lived return to power, only the 1st and 3rd Regiments actually took the field for the Waterloo campaign. All regiments of Imperial Guard Tirailleurs were disbanded following the Emperors second abdication, the first tirailleurs employed in French North Africa were a metropolitan light infantry unit — the 1er bataillon de tirailleurs de Vincennes which disembarked in Algiers in early 1840. During the Crimean War the Algerian tirailleurs acquired the nickname of Turcos by which they were known over the next hundred years. The name reportedly arose from comparisons between the Algerian troops and the Turkish allies serving alongside the French and British forces at the siege of Sebastopol. First raised in 1841 as battalions of tirailleurs indigenes, the locally recruited Algerian infantry were organised into three regiments of Algerian Tirailleurs by a decree dated 10 October 1855, except for minor distinctions of insignia and uniform the Tunisian tirailleurs regiments had the same appearance as their Algerian counterparts. It was only in 1921 that the French government decided to name them officially Tunisian Tirailleurs Regiments, in 1914, during World War I, the 1st Regiment of Moroccan Tirailleurs was created. At the end of the period of French rule in 1956 six regiments of Moroccan tirailleurs were still in existence. The recruitment of Muslim tirailleurs was mainly voluntary, although a form of conscription was introduced in Algeria in 1913. The proportion of French European to Maghrébin personnel had risen to about 30% by the end of World War II, France made extensive use of tirailleurs in its colonial campaigns. The most numerous of these, after the tirailleurs algériens noted above, were the tirailleurs sénégalais, both played an important role in the occupation of Morocco as well as in the Rif War of the 1920s. Before and during World War II, tirailleurs were recruited from the Maghreb, from French West Africa, Regiments were recruited from the regions of French Indochina, Annam, Tonkin, and Cambodia. The regiments were named after the territory in which they were recruited, thus tirailleurs Annamites, tirailleurs Tonkinois and tirailleurs Cambodgiens. During World War I tirailleurs from North African territories served on the Western Front as well as at Gallipoli, the Great Mosque of Paris was constructed afterwards in honour of the Muslim tirailleurs who had fought for France
