Academic literature on the topic '1697-1718'

AbstractMedieval misrepresentations of Islam as a farrago of beliefs promulgated by a false prophet in the Qur'an were still current in seventeenth-century England. The pioneer of a more scholarly and objective view was Edward Pococke, the first Laudian Professor of Arabic at Oxford. His Specimen historiae Arabum (1650), written in Latin, and based on his wide reading and personal knowledge of the Muslim Near East, was influential in creating a new image of Islam for the Europeans. A wider readership was addressed by Simon Ockley, Sir Thomas Adams Professor of Arabic at Cambridge, whose work, The History of the Saracens (1708, 1718), dealt with the Arab conquests and the early caliphs. The publication (1734) by George Sale of a sound English translation of the Qur'an, accompanied by a long and scholarly Preliminary Discourse, formed a landmark in Islamic studies, but the old polemical spirit lived on. The true nature of imposture fully display'd in the life of Mahomet (1697) by Humphrey Prideaux was a two-handed engine, smiting both Islam and contemporary Christian heresy. This example was followed nearly a century later by Joseph White (another Laudian Professor), whose Bampton Lectures, A comparison of Mahometism and Christianity (1784), constituted a work of apologetics rather than scholarship.

Some years ago an exhibition of rare books was held to mark the recent opening of the renovated assembly hall of Moscow University. One of the exhibits was a contemporary edition of Newton’s Principia , and examination revealed that it was a first edition of the Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica , published in London in 1687. A historian of science must find this a striking fact, given the current opinion that, until the October Revolution at least, Russia had not possessed a copy of the first edition.1 A copy was donated as a great treasure by the Royal Society of London to the Soviet Academy of Sciences in 1943, on the occasion of the tercentenary of Isaac Newton’s birth." Further investigations revealed the more striking fact that this copy of the Principia reached Russia in the time of Newton: it was bought by Robert Erskine, chief physician to Peter the Great in 1718, among other books from the library of Archibald Pitcairn. Pitcairn’s library together with some private collections formed the nucleus of the St Petersburg Academy Library. Almost 100 years later, in 1814, a part of the academical collection, including the copy of the first edition of the Principia , was transferred to Moscow University, in whose library it remains up to this day. See figures 1 and 2. The conjecture that a copy of the first edition of the Principia might have existed in Russia in Peter the Great’s time has been made before, mainly because Peter the Great had visited England in 1697/98 (the so-called ‘Great Embassy’), and many Englishmen versed in mathematics and physics had joined the Tsar’s service.

Ce travail est consacré à l’étude du personnage allégorique de la Folie sur la scène de l’Académie Royale de Musique entre 1697 et 1718. Qu’il soit suggéré ou personnifié, ce caractère féminin est abondamment présent dans les spectacles de cette période. A la fin du règne de Louis XIV, la Folie fait peu à peu son entrée à l’Opéra. Entourée de Momus, du Carnaval, de Bacchus, de l’Amour et des personnages de la commedia dell’arte, la Folie « ramène les tendres Jeux », « chasse la Raison cruelle » et invite sans cesse à « goûter les charmes de la vie ». En accédant à l’Opéra, cette figure extravagante et enjouée signale une évolution de ton qui préfigure le changement de mœurs associé à la Régence. Mais au-delà de la philosophie hédoniste qu’elle dispense, quel est le sens caché des paroles de la Folie ? Faut-il voir dans la présence de ce personnage une remise en cause de l’ordre établi, de la politique sociale et de l’austérité marquant la fin du règne ? Son utilisation permet-elle, sous la couverture d’une « maladie de l’âme », de critiquer la politique et les mœurs de Louis XIV ? Qui se cachent derrière le discours subversif de la Folie ? Quel est le rôle de cette figure dans les débats esthétiques de l’époque ? Cette recherche explore le rôle, ainsi que le traitement musical, dramatique et scénique d’une telle figure à travers l’étude d’ouvrages créés à l’Opéra. Nous proposons ici un portrait physique, moral et social de la Folie, à la lumière de multiples documents musicaux, textuels et iconographiques de l’époque, et présentons différents traits de caractère du personnage et plusieurs thèmes qui lui sont liés afin de comprendre les raisons de sa présence à cette époque
This work is devoted to the study of the allegorical figure of Folly on the stage of the Académie Royale de Musique between 1697 and 1718. Suggested or personified, this female character is abundantly present in the spectacles of this period. At the end of the reign of Louis XIV, Folly appears little by little at the Opera. Surrounded by Momus, Carnival, Bacchus, the god of love and the characters of the commedia dell'arte, Folly "brings back the soft Games", "banishes the cruel Reason" and continually invites to "taste the charms of life”. By accessing the Opera, this extravagant and playful figure indicates a change of tone that foreshadows the changing attitudes of the Regency. But beyond the hedonistic philosophy that she provides, what is the hidden meaning of Folly’s words? Should we see a calling into question of the established order, the social policy and the austerity marking the end of the reign? Does its use allow, under the cover of a “disease of the soul”, to criticize the policy and manners of Louis XIV? Who hides behind the subversive speech of Folly? What is the role of this figure in the aesthetic debates of the period? This research explores the role, as well as musical, dramatic and scenic treatments of such a figure through the study of works created at the Opera. We propose here a physical, moral and social portrait of Folly, in the light of multiple musical, textual and iconographic documents of the time, and present different character traits and several themes that are related to it in order to understand the reasons for its presence at this time

A partir du XVIIIe siècle, le personnage de Charles XII de Suède a donné naissance à un mythe historico-littéraire du "héros nordique". D'emblée, ce personnage d'un "Alexandre du nord" a attiré l'attention et les réflexions des plus grands esprits européens. Or, c'est essentiellement sa biographie par Voltaire qui est à l'origine de ce succès et de l'extension de cette légende : son "Charles XII" fut sans doute, de toutes ses œuvres, la plus souvent éditée, tant en France qu'à l'étranger. Il faut s'interroger sur les raisons pour lesquelles Voltaire choisit un tel sujet, en apparence si opposé aux idées de l'auteur de "Candide" : motifs d'ordres littéraire, politique, mais aussi de nature personnelle, car ce choix révèle des aspects très secrets de la personnalité de l'historien. D'autant que, tout au long de sa carrière, le suédois et ses aventures ne cesseront de nourrir ses réflexions sur les problèmes du pouvoir, cependant que son travail de biographe lui avait permis de mettre au net et en œuvre ses principes d'historien. Par la suite, le personnage de Charles XII, malgré la concurrence de celui de Napoléon, continuera de vivre : en France, mais aussi en Suède (chez V. Von Heidenstam et Strindberg) et en Russie (chez Pouchkine) ou il devient le symbole et l'enjeu de luttes idéologiques; en Allemagne, où il deviendra une des références préférées des écrivains du troisième Reich. Il aura donc profondément marqué l'imaginaire des peuples. Une relecture de sa biographie permet une relecture du reste de l'œuvre voltairienne et une découverte assez inattendue du caractère profond de l'auteur
From the eighteenth century, the character of Charles the XIIth of Sweden gave birth to a historic and literary myth of the "northern hero". Straight off, this character, an "alexander of the north". Attracted the attention and the thinkings of the greatest minds in Europe. Now, the success and the spread of this legend are fundamentally based on his biography by Voltaire: without any doubt, his Charles XII was, among the whole of his works, the most frequently published, in France as well as in foreign countries. Therefore, it is fitting to ask oneself about the reasons why Voltaire once chose such a subject matter, outwardly so contrary to the author of Candide's ideas. Causes of literary, of political, but also of personal nature, for this choice reveals some very hidden aspects of the historian's personality. More especially as the swede and his adventures, year and year out, will feed Voltaire's thinkings about problems concerning political power, while his work, as a biographer, had allowed him to define and to use his historical principles. Later on, the character of Charles the XIIth, in spite of Napoleon's rivalry, lived away : in France; but in Sweden too (in V. Von Heidenstam's and Strindberg's works), and in Russia (in Pushkin's) : there, he became the symbol and the stake of ideological struggles; he will become one of the favorite references of the third Reich’s writers, and will have been, in all nations' imaginary, one of the most outstanding. Re-reading his biography provides a complete re-reading of the remainder of Voltaire’s work, and a rather unexpected discovery of Voltaire personality's depths