horoscope for Wallenstein by Kepler:

In 1628, following the military successes of General Wallenstein leading the Emperor Ferdinand's armies, Kepler became an official advisor to Wallenstein. Though not the general's court astrologer per se, Kepler provided astronomical calculations for Wallenstein's astrologers and occasionally wrote horoscopes himself.

 

a outrance:

French meaning excessive

​

Chaldean astronomy:

see Chapter II Numbers page 63 and 68

 

Greek pediments or frieze (serially built): *see Endnote 34

Spengler use of “serially” suggests a representation of things being produced in a series of similar images or actions, one after another; the viewer in the frieze starts at the beginning and the unbroken scene moves forward across a single visual plane or base line.  He contrasts this with an idea borrowed from Western music- the concept of contrapuntal composition in which both the fore and background is populated with different figures, in which the viewer might see contrasting actions and/or themes and where the contrats might lead to tensions.  

​

Bride of Messina:

tragedy by Schiller; premiered 1803 in Weimar; a controversial works owing to the use of elements from Greek tragedies (considered obsolete in 1803); an attempt to combine antique & modern theatre; it is set in Sicily, when Paganism & Christianity met, part of the play's theme.

 

House of Atreus (curse of): * see Endnote 35

The curse of the House of Atreus goes through 5 generations.  Starting with Tantalus, continues with Pelops, then Atreus, then Agamemnon and finishes with Orestes.  Suggests original sin or pollution which is carried on through the blood line.