Indian:

reference to the Indian or Vedic  Culture/Civilisation; dates 1500- BC to 400 BC; origins NE Indian  sub-continent.

 

East Asia:

Reference to the Chinese Culture/Civilization, dates 1300 BC to 256 BC; origins Yellow River basin

 

Axum:

see Chapter VI page 208

 

Saba:

See Chapter VI page 210

 

Sassanids:

Chapter I, page 16, Chapter II page 72, Chapter VI page 212

 

Russian:

Spengler considers Russia a possible nascent Culture which will int eh future come to fruition.

 

Attic drama (end): 

Tragedy was not merely a show, but also a collective ritual of the polis, taking place in a sacred, consecrated space.  In the 5th century polis was a social gathering for maintaining & developing the mind.  A dramatist's role was to entertain & educate: he was expected to have a message.  Traditional myths provided the subject matter; the dramatist was meant to be innovative so as to sustain interest, which led to novel characterization of heroic figures and to use of the mythical past to talk about present issues.  The great age of Greek drama begins with Aeschylus (525-455 BC), writing 472-458 BC; a pioneer following Thespis (author first tragedy 534 BC), dominated Greek drama until his death.  After this Sophocles (497- 406 BC), emerged preeminent, writing from 470 to 410 BC.  Euripides (480-406 BC) was the final great tragedian of Athens, in direct competition with Sophocles.  While Sophocles seems to have won this competition Euripides won posthumously: more of his plays survived (18 of 92) as he was the most popular of the 3.  His characters talked about the present more controversially, more pointedly than those of Aeschylus or Sophocles, sometimes even challenging the democratic order.  His final play (produced posthumously in 405 at the Dionysia) was Alcmaeon at Corinth (a trilogy with The Bacchae and Iphigenia in Aulis)l the trilogy won first prize.  Drama in Attica swiftly declined following defeat (404 BC) in the Peloponnesian War.  The sudden end of empire, defeat in war & curtailing of democracy were shocks to the polis.  The theatre of Dionysus started performing old tragedies again.  Although theatre in Athens had lost its vitality, it continued into the Hellenistic period.  However, the primary Hellenistic theatrical form was not tragedy but 'New Comedy', comic episodes about the lives of ordinary citizens.  The only extant playwright from the period is Menander. One of New Comedy's most important contributions was its influence on Roman comedy (especially playwrights Plautus & Terence).

 

Euripides:

Euripides (480-406 BC) was the final great tragedian of Athens, writing between 438 and 405 BC.  After his death his standing grew & in the Hellenistic Age his dramas were a cornerstone of literary education, along with Homer, Demosthenes & Menander.  He was an innovator, in the representation of traditional, mythical heroes as ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances; this approach was adapted by later writers of comedy, some characteristic of romance.  He also focused on the inner lives and motives of his characters in a way previously unknown.  Unique among writers of Athens, he demonstrated sympathy towards the underrepresented members of society.  His male audience were often shocked by the 'heresies' he put into the mouths of characters.  His contemporaries associated him with Socrates as a leader of a decadent intellectualism, both frequently lampooned by comic poets (Aristophanes).  Like Socrates he was stigmatized; he chose voluntary exile in old age, dying in Macedonia. 

and see Chapter III, page 111

 

Florentine sculpture (end): * see Endnote <A>

The first great Florentine Renaissance sculptures were Ghiberti (1378 1455) & Brunelleschi, who in 1403 competed for the commission for the doors of the Florentine baptistery.  Later, Ghiberti’s assistant, Donatello (1386-1466) would develop life size free standing sculpture- he was especially fond of the David theme.  Verrocchio (1435-88), another Florentine painter& sculptor emerges, best known for his equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice.  Michelangelo was an active sculptor from 1500 to 1520; his great masterpieces David, Pietà, Moses, & pieces for the Tomb of Pope Julius II and Medici Chapel.  His most famous, the iconic David (1504) borrows Classic contrapposto pose but shows the subject BEFORE battle, exploring his psychological state, fear, confidence, tension.  No could ignore them.  Baccio Bandinelli tried to follow in the shoes of Michelangelo, taking over his project of Hercules and Cacus, destined for the Piazza della Signoria in Florence (the same Piazza David is sited).  It was not received well & is a forgotten piece. 

 

Michelangelo (sculpture):

Michelangelo was an active sculptor from about 1500 to 1520; his great masterpieces are David, Pietà, Moses, & pieces for the Tomb of Pope Julius II and Medici Chapel.  No one could ignore them.; his iconic David (1504) borrows Classic contrapposto pose but shows the subject BEFORE battle, exploring his psychological state, fear, confidence, tension.

 

instrumental music (end): * see Endnotes<B>

In the 1860s, a schism grew among romantic musicians over the direction of music.  Liszt & Wagner led a movement (the New German School or progressives) that contended that "pure music" had run its course with Beethoven, and that new, programmatic forms of music–in which music created "images" with its melodies–were the future of the art.  The composers of this school had no use for chamber music.  Spengler is clearly of the progressive camp as he references the 2 leaders of the German New School (the successors of Beethoven & the German masters) whose work marks the end of instrumental music.

 

Liszt:

1811- 1886, Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, famous for his prodigious virtuosic skill as a pianist; a friend to many composers (Chopin, Wagner, Berlioz, Schumann, Saint-Saëns, Grieg, Borodin.  The most prominent representatives of the New German School (music composition).  He left behind an extensive & diverse body of work which influenced his forward-looking contemporaries & which anticipated many 20th-century trends.  He invented the symphonic poem, developed thematic transformation & made radical departures in harmony.

 

Wagner:

See Chapter I pages 35, 45

 

Bruckner:

1824- 896, Austrian composer, organist & music theorist known for his symphonies, masses, Te Deum and motets.  His symphonies are emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism owing to their rich harmonic language, strong polyphonic character & length.  His work defined contemporary musical radicalism, owing to its dissonances, unprepared modulations & roving harmonies.  Unlike other musical radicals he reflected extreme humility before other musicians (especially towards Wagner to whom he dedicated his 3rd Symphony) & was self-critical of his work.  His symphonies were criticized for their large size, repetition, the composers tendency towards revising many of his works (often with the assistance of colleagues) & apparent indecision about which versions he preferred.  However subsequent composers (notably Mahler) greatly admired his music.

 

Walpurgis Night (scene from Goethe’s Faust): * see Endnote <C>

abbreviation of Saint Walpurgis Night, aka Saint Walpurga's Eve, the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century abbess in Francia, celebrated on the night of 30 April and the day of 1 May; this feast commemorates the canonization of Saint Walpurga and the movement of her relics to Eichstätt, both of which occurred on 1 May 870.

 

Doric springtime:

Spengler’s reference to the period of Culture, the Spring time in Apollonian Culture/Civilization, the first creative phase.

 

Terpander:

from Lesbos, Greek poet & citharede (professional performer-singer of the cithara or lyre) alive first half 7th century BC; the father of Greek music & thru it lyric poetry. During the Second Messenian War he settled in Sparta (summoned by command of the Delphic Oracle) & settled arguments among different classes in the city. In Sparta he gained the musical prize at the festival of Carnea.  His own poetical compositions were few & employed extremely simple rhythms. He simplified rules of the modes of singing of other neighbouring countries and islands and formed, out of these syncopated variants, a conceptual system. Although inventive of mind& a pioneer of a new era of music, his achievement was the systematizing of the musical styles that already existed in Greece and Anatolia.

 

Thaletas:

aka Thales of Crete,early Greek musician and lyric poet; a native of Crete from the city of Gortyna.He introduced from Crete into Sparta certain principles of music & rhythm which had not existed in Terpander's original system; he founded the 2nd musical school. In compliance with an invitation sent by the Spartans to him (in obedience to an oracle), he travelled to Sparta.  Here with the sacred character of his paeans& the humanizing influence of his music, he appeased the wrath of Apollo, who had visited the city with a plague.  He also brought tranquillity to the factions of Spartans at enmity with each other.He became the head of a new school of music, whose influence continued to be maintained after his death.

 

Aleman:

native of Sardis, alive circa 670 BC; as a youth possibly a slave in Sparta but thru his genius in lyric poetry, won his freedom; a noted performer of the citharede& flute, he composed verse for the latter instrument; famous for his compositions for choral dances, songs on love & gallantry; first to exclude hexameters from verses to be sung to the lyre (which later became known as Lyric Poems).  The Spartans invited Aleman to Sparta for military reasons.  Their army was marshalled & ordered by the flute and patriotic song was recognized as a great motivator. Thus the Spartans sought out this musician for their troop’s enjoyment & motivation.

 

Arabesque:

See Chapter II, page 72 and Chapter VI pages183, 196, 207, 212, 215

 

Chartres:

cathedral, Chartres, France,  50 miles SW of Paris; built 1194- 1220, stands at the site of 5 earlier cathedrals as Chartres became a bishopric in the 4th century; Gothic & Romanesque in styles  The building's exterior is dominated by heavy flying buttresses which allowed the architects to increase the window size significantly, while the west end is dominated by two contrasting spires – a 349 ft plain pyramid completed around 1160 & a 377 ft early 16th-century Flamboyant spire on top of an older tower.  Equally notable are the three great façades, each adorned with hundreds of sculpted figures illustrating key theological themes and narratives.

 

Reims:

cathedral, Reims, France, High Gothic style, built on the site of the basilica where Clovis I was baptized by Saint Remi, bishop of Reims in 496.  In 1211 construction on a new cathedral began intended to replace an earlier church destroyed by fire in 1210; it was modelled on Chartres Cathedral (begun about 1194); construction was overseen by 4 different architects & lasted 80 years; expansions and decorative work continued on the church for centuries.  The cathedral is where kings of France were traditionally crowned (it saw 25 coronations from Louis VIII in 1223 to Charles X in 1825).

 

Bamberg:

cathedral, Bamberg, Germany, sit of 2 older cathedrals which burnt down in 11 & 12th centuries; the current structure, a late Romanesque building with four large towers, was built in the 13th century.  It is 94 m long, 28 m broad, 26 m high; the 4 towers are each are 81 m high.  It contains many works of art, including the marble tomb of the founder and his wife, the Empress Kunigunde, considered a masterpiece of the sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider, and carved between 1499 and 1513.  Another treasure of the cathedral is an equestrian statue,s the Bamberg Horseman, depicting the Hungarian king Stephen I, dates from 1225 to 1237.

 

Naumburg:

City in E central Germany, along the Saale River, near the mouth of the Unstrut River, southwest of Halle. Founded by the margraves of Meissen 1000 AD at the crossing of 2 major trade-routes, Via Regia and the Regensburg Road.  It was granted to the bishop of Zeitz when he transferred his seat there in 1028.  A significant trading centre, the Naumburg Trade Fairs (first one in 1278) put the city on the commercial map.  However the emergence of Leipzig as a trade-fair centre from 1500 and the Thirty Years' War adversely affected the Naumburg economy.

 

Peter Vischer:

1455-1529, German sculptor (son of Hermann Vischer), most notable member of the Vischer Family of Nuremberg; a "master" in 1489; summoned by Philip, Elector Palatine to Heidelberg in 1494; returned to Nuremberg, where he worked with his 5 sons.  His chief early work-Tomb of Archbishop Ernest, Magdeburg cathedral (1495).  It is surrounded with statuettes of the Apostles under semi-Gothic canopies. Notable works include: Tomb of Bishop Johannes IV.Breslau cathedral (1496), Shrine of Saint Sebald in the Sebalduskirche at Nuremberg (1508-19).