Handel and the English Chapel Royal during the reigns of Queen Anne and King George I

Handel's association with the English Chapel Royal began soon after he settled in London, and continued intermittently for the remainder of his life. ' The thesis traces this association until'the death of King George I in 1727. Handel's Chapel Royal music is examined with dual reference to the Chapel's musical traditions and the development of the composer's style. Political events influenced the extent of Handel's involvement with the Chapel at different periods: the relationship between the composers, the Chapel Royal and the British Court is described within the historical contexts drawing on many unpublished sources. After an introductory survey of the repertoire of Handel's Chapel Royal music, the musical history of the Chapel during the period preceding Handel's arrival in London is described, paying special attention to performances of instrumentally-accompanied services and anthems, and the ceremonial Thanksgiving Services of Queen Anne's reign. Handel's experience of church music In Italy and Germany previous to his arrival in England is described, and the contemporary English anthems of William Croft are examined by way of an introduction to Handel's first English Verse Anthem. Two chapters are devoted, to Handel's Chapel Royal compositions from the period 1710-1714, including his music celebrating the Peace of Utrecht. Chapters 6 and 7 investigate the circumstances surrounding Handel's disassociation from the Chapel in 1715-1722 and his subsequent re-establishment there during the last years of George I's reign. The significance, of Handel's appointment as Composer to the Chapel is considered, and a chronology for his Chapel Royal music from the 1720p suggested. The music is examined in detail, and described with reference to related antecedent Chandos Anthems., The later history of Handel's Chapel Royal music is surveyed briefly in the final chapter. Factual background material is collected in an extended supplement and fifteen appendices

Telescope to Observe Planetary Systems (TOPS): a high throughput 1.2-m visible telescope with a small inner working angle

The Telescope to Observe Planetary Systems (TOPS) is a proposed space mission to image in the visible (0.4-0.9 micron) planetary systems of nearby stars simultaneously in 16 spectral bands (resolution R~20). For the ~10 most favorable stars, it will have the sensitivity to discover 2 R_E rocky planets within habitable zones and characterize their surfaces or atmospheres through spectrophotometry. Many more massive planets and debris discs will be imaged and characterized for the first time. With a 1.2m visible telescope, the proposed mission achieves its power by exploiting the most efficient and robust coronagraphic and wavefront control techniques. The Phase-Induced Amplitude Apodization (PIAA) coronagraph used by TOPS allows planet detection at 2 lambda/d with nearly 100% throughput and preserves the telescope angular resolution. An efficient focal plane wavefront sensing scheme accurately measures wavefront aberrations which are fed back to the telescope active primary mirror. Fine wavefront control is also performed independently in each of 4 spectral channels, resulting in a system that is robust to wavefront chromaticity.Comment: 12 pages, SPIE conference proceeding, May 2006, Orlando, Florid

Centerscope

Centerscope, formerly Scope, was published by the Boston University Medical Center "to communicate the concern of the Medical Center for the development and maintenance of improved health care in contemporary society.

Correcting the ‘grossest faults’: Charles Jennens and the Composition of Handel’s <i>Messiah</i>

The correspondence between Charles Jennens and Edward Holdsworth includes criticisms by Jennens, sometimes trenchant, of Handel’s setting of the text in Messiah. A fresh detailed examination of the musical sources, building on work previously presented in Music & Letters, has revealed more specific evidence for the substance of Jennens’s criticisms. Handel’s performing score of Messiah has a large number of alterations to the verbal text by Jennens, and further alterations are found in a manuscript score of the oratorio from his library. By putting together the musical and documentary evidence it is possible to assess when Jennens made these alterations, the effect that they may have had on Handel’s performances, and the extent to which Handel accepted or rejected his librettist’s suggestions or demands. These matters are particularly relevant to Handel’s first London performances of Messiah, in 1743 and 1745. Although most of the accessible evidence concerns the verbal text and its setting, the musical sources also provide a few clues to Jennens’s criticisms of the musical composition. The article presents comparative transcriptions of passages in ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth’ as found in Handel’s autograph, Jennens’s score, and Walsh’s editions, with interpretation of the differences in the light of Jennens’s comments. It also suggests that the ‘Aylesford’ copies of Messiah, taken together, reveal Jennens’s preferred scheme for the movements of the oratorio

Space-based formaldehyde measurements as constrains on volatile organic compound emissions in east and south Asia and implications for ozone

We use a continuous 6-year record (1996–2001) of GOME satellite measurements of formaldehyde (HCHO) columns over east and south Asia to improve regional emission estimates of reactive nonmethane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), including isoprene, alkenes, HCHO, and xylenes. Mean monthly HCHO observations are compared to simulated HCHO columns from the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model using state-of-science, “bottom-up” emission inventories from Streets et al. (2003a) for anthropogenic and biomass burning emissions and Guenther et al. (2006) for biogenic emissions (MEGAN). We find that wintertime GOME observations can diagnose anthropogenic reactive NMVOC emissions from China, leading to an estimate 25% higher than Streets et al. (2003a). We attribute the difference to vehicular emissions. The biomass burning source for east and south Asia is almost 5 times the estimate of Streets et al. (2003a). GOME reveals a large source from agricultural burning in the North China Plain in June missing from current inventories. This source may reflect a recent trend toward in-field burning of crop residues as the need for biofuels diminishes. Biogenic isoprene emission in east and south Asia derived from GOME is 56 ± 30 Tg yr−1, similar to 52 Tg yr−1 from MEGAN. We find, however, that MEGAN underestimates emissions in China and overestimates emissions in the tropics. The higher Chinese biogenic and biomass burning emissions revealed by GOME have important implications for ozone pollution. We find 5 to 20 ppb seasonal increases in surface ozone in GEOS-Chem for central and northern China when using GOME-derived versus bottom-up emissions. Our methodology can be adapted for other regions of the world to provide top-down constraints on NMVOC emissions where multiple emission source types overlap in space and time.Earth and Planetary SciencesEngineering and Applied Science

GPI Spectra of HR8799 C, D, and E in H-K Bands with KLIP Forward Modeling

We demonstrate KLIP forward modeling spectral extraction on Gemini Planet Imager coronagraphic data of HR8799, using PyKLIP. We report new and re-reduced spectrophotometry of HR8799 c, d, and e from H-K bands. We discuss a strategy for choosing optimal KLIP PSF subtraction parameters by injecting fake sources and recovering them over a range of parameters. The K1/K2 spectra for planets c and d are similar to previously published results from the same dataset. We also present a K band spectrum of HR8799e for the first time and show that our H-band spectra agree well with previously published spectra from the VLT/SPHERE instrument. We compare planets c, d, and e with M, L, and T-type field objects. All objects are consistent with low gravity mid-to-late L dwarfs, however, a lack of standard spectra for low gravity late L-type objects lead to poor fit for gravity. We place our results in context of atmospheric models presented in previous publications and discuss differences in the spectra of the three planets

Binary systems and their nuclear explosions

Peer ReviewedPreprin

A group singing program improves quality of life: An international study

People with Parkinson’s (PwPs) may experience stigma, isolation, stress and anxiety due to the chronic nature of Parkinson’s. Complementary therapies, including singing, have been reported to impact positively on quality of life (QoL) in PwPs. This paper reports on an international trial of Sing to Beat Parkinson’s®, a community group singing program, involving PwPs from Australia, the UK, and South Korea on QoL and mental well-being. PwPs (N=95; mean age=70.26; male 45%) participated in a standardized 6-month weekly group singing program, which included breathing exercises, vocal warm-ups and preferred song singing. PDQ39 and modified DASS21 were administered at baseline and follow-up to assess QoL and mental well-being, respectively. MANOVA and ANOVAs were performed with significance set as p<.05. MANOVA showed statistically significant multivariate effects of Time, Country, Time by Country and Time by Gender interactions on QoL. Follow-up univariate ANOVAs revealed main effects of Time on Stigma and Social Support domains of QoL; both improved. Further, MANOVA revealed a multivariate effect of Time on mental well-being; anxiety and stress significantly decreased from pre-test to post-test. This first international singing study with PwPs demonstrated that group singing enhanced some aspects of quality of life and mental well-being. Participating in a weekly group singing program for a 6-month period impacted positively on social support, and feeling stigmatized, as well as reductions in anxiety and stress. The findings are encouraging and warrant further research using more robust designs that include comparator groups.I was one of the travel grants recipients and the Health and Social Care Research Centre has supported me to attend this conference. The poster abstract will be published in Journal of Parkinson's Disease