Agent 47. Birth of the Hitman
Extraits
Comics
Agent 47. Birth of the Hitman
L'agent 47 est l'un des tueurs à gages les plus efficaces de la planète : discret, méthodique et sans pitié. Mais avant de travailler pour la mystérieuse I.C.A., lui et son agent de liaison Diana Burnwood ont suivi des chemins bien différents... Pour une Diana encore adolescente, tout bascule lorsque sa famille disparaît dans une explosion de voiture. Seule survivante, elle trouve refuge auprès d'une criminelle afin d'apprendre ce dont elle a besoin pour échafauder sa vengeance. De son côté, le jeune 47 cherche à fuir l'obscur Institut qui les ont créés, lui et les autres " sujets ", dans le but de produire de parfaits assassins. Grâce à ce préquel officiel, découvrez le passé de l'agent 47, le fameux "Hitman" de la franchise d'infiltration développée par 10 Interactive ! Véritable hommage à la créativité débridée du tueur, ce récit complet vous entraînera du coeur de l'Amérique au mur de Berlin, en passant par la zone d'exclusion de Tchernobyl.
02/2019
12 ans et +
Les 8 royaumes mortels Tome 1 : La cité de Pierre-de-Vie
Raised as a slave in the Darkoath camps of Aqshy, Kiri dreams of a better life. Of a city of wonders, the place of her birth… Lifestone ! She despairs of ever reaching it until a fateful day arrives when her barbarian captors are attacked by Sigmar's noblest warriors, the Stormcast Eternals. Seizing her chance, Kiri flees through a mysterious realmgate that takes her far from the fiery lands of Aqshy. She arrives in the realm of Ghyran and finds the city of Lifestone. But a curse lies on this place, withering its noble spirit. Her path leads her to a special group of children who, like her, are realm-marked the prophecised saviours of Lifestone. There's Thanis, the fighter ; Alish, the inventor ; Kaspar ; the sneak and Elio, the healer. But dark forces are allying against the children and will do anything to stop them achieving their destiny.
06/2019
Non classé
The Whitman-Hartmann Controversy
The facts in the relationship of Sadakichi Hartmann and Walt Whitman have never been clarified, particularly Hartmann's controversial interview with the poet and its publication in the "New York Herald", April 14, 1889. Of more importance was Hartmann's attempt to found a Whitman Society and the opposition of jealous Whitman associates who frustrated his efforts, although a Whitman Society was founded as the result of his initial work. Further, Hartmann's life-long interest in the poet and his various publications are not generally known. The introduction and edition of his writings will elucidate this literary association.
12/1976
Comics
La saga de Ra's Al Ghul
Ra's al Ghul, la Tête du démon, est le leader d'une organisation internationale du crime. Avec sa fille, Talia, il a affronté Batman de nombreuses fois et leurs liens se sont resserrés au fil du temps. Mais quels sont les secrets des origines de ce génie du crime à l'ambition démesurée ? (contient : Batman - Birth of the Demon TPB : Son Of The Demon, Bride Of The Demon & Birth Of The Demon).
07/2014
Monographies
Hilma af Klint. The Five Notebook 1
In 1896, Hilma af Klint and four other like-minded women artists left the Edelweiss Society and founded the "Friday Group", also known as "The Five". They met every Friday for spiritual meetings, including prayers, studies of the New Testament, meditation and séances. The medium exercised automatic writing and mediumistic drawing. Eventually they established contact with spiritual beings whom they called "The High Ones". In 1896, the five women began taking meticulous notes of the mediumistic messages conveyed by the spirits. In time, Hilma af Klint felt she had been selected for more important messages. After ten years of esoteric training with "The Five", aged 43, Hilma af Klint accepted a major assignment, the execution of The Paintings for the Temple. This commission, which engaged the artist from 1906 to 1915, changed the course of her life. In 1908, Rudolf Steiner, leader of the German Theosophical Society, held several lectures in Stockholm. He also visited af Klint's studio and saw some of the early Paintings for the Temple. In 1913, Steiner founded the Anthroposophical Society, which af Klint joined in 1920 and remained a member for the rest of her life.
01/2022
Critique littéraire
The failed infanticide
Simply go through the pages of this piece of work and discover in all sincerity the story of a life, full of philosophy. It all started from the denial of a pregnancy in 1974 and the desire to share the course of my life. I confide in you today a piece of my story. I am sharing with you what I have lived so as to show you that a birth near death is not a fatality, if you walk with a determined step by converting your suffering into strength and courage, in order to be able to live and expand yourself.
05/2014
Littérature française
Birth days
" On ne sait rien à propos de la naissance de Muriel Ortisveiler. Elle serait née au coin d'une rue, se serait détachée d'un mur de pierre en plein après-midi, ou élevée du sol comme une plante, mais quoi qu'il en soit tout d'un coup elle aurait été là. Toutefois personne dans la rue ne l'avait vue apparaître, le phénomène spectaculaire de sa naissance surnaturelle passa donc totalement inaperçu. Au début elle n'avait pas d'histoire, pas de mémoire antérieure à cet instant où il lui avait semblé sortir d'un mur, mais plus tard quelques personnes croisées par hasard se souvinrent d'elle avant ce jour-là, aussi racontèrent-elles quelques bribes de son passé. Elle aurait surgi au centre d'une ville où elle avait jusqu'à présent vécu, mais dans un quartier très différent. A cette époque où elle arriva de façon si aberrante tout était gai, ajoutait-on, et tout - rigoureusement tout - était possible. Cette époque inouïe avait été celle de la confiance et de l'opulence pour une partie de l'humanité et Muriel était née au cœur de cette partie dynamique et confiante du monde. "
08/2000
Non classé
The German Effect on D.H. Lawrence and his Works 1885-1912
This study analyzes in depth the German effect upon D.H. Lawrence and his works from his birth in 1885 to his departure from England in 1912. German literary, philosophical and musical works had considerable impact on Lawrence's formation as an artist. They also influenced the creation of his own literary theory, entering his life concurrently with the three problems of class, woman and religion, which evolved into his major literary themes. The German effect is thus demonstrated to be the confirmation of Lawrence's strong tendency toward subjectivism in literary art : it strengthened his conviction that his art set him apart from all classes of society ; it encouraged the development of his view of women as the sexual, not the maternal, mediatrix to art ; and it fortified his denial of traditional Christianity and assisted his creation of his personal vitalistic creed.
12/1978
Religion
Revelation and Theology
This book examines the theological epistemologies of two of this century's most prominent theologians, Hans Urs von Balthasar and Karl Barth. Both theologians responded to modernist theologies by drawing from the best of their own traditions. Both tried to reinstate theology as a true science which takes its object, namely, the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, seriously. They therefore make excellent conversation partners. This book closely traces their arguments as they seek to formulate their understanding of theological knowledge and theological science from a christological and trinitarian perspective, based on the concrete self-disclosure of God in Jesus Christ.
11/1999
Critique littéraire
Bibliothèque. Tome 1, Codices 1-83, Edition bilingue français-grec ancien
Lettre à Tarasius 1 Théodore, 2 Adrien, 3 Nonnosos, 4 Théodore d'Antioche, 5 Sophronios, 6-7 Grégoire de Nysse, 8 Origène, 9-13 Eusèbe, 14 Apollinaire, 15-20 Synodes, 21 Philopon, 22 Théodose, 23 Conon, 24 Sur Philopon, 25 Jean Chrysostome, 26 Synésius, 27 Eusèbe, 28 Socrate de Constantinople, 29 Evagre, 30 Sozomène, 31 Théodoret de Cyr, 32 Athanase, 33 Justus, 34 Africanus, 35 Philippe, 36 Livre du Chrétien, 37 Sur la politique, 38 Théodore, 39 Eusèbe, 40 Philostorge, 41 Jean d'Egée, 42 Basile, 43 Philopon, 44 Philostrate, 45 Andronicianus, 46 Théodoret de Cyr, 47-48 Josèphe, 49 Cyrille, 50 Nicias, 51 Hésychius, 52 Synode de Sidè, 53-54 Synode contre Pélage et Céleste, 55 Philopon, 56 Théodoret, 57 Appien, 58 Arrien, 59 Synode du chêne, 60 Hérodote, 61 Eschine, 62 Praxagoras, 63 Procope, 64 Théophane, 65 Théophylacte, 66 Nicéphore, 67 Serge, 68 Céphalion, 69 Hésychius, 70 Diodore, 71 Dion Cassius, 72 Ctésias, 73 Héliodore, 74 Thémistius, Lesbonax, 75 Philopon, 76 Josèphe, 77 Eunape, 78 Malchus, 79 Candidus, 80 Olympiodore, 81 Théodore, 82 Dexippe, 83 Denys d'Halicarnasse
01/1959
Rock
Alfred Wertheimer. Elvis and the Birth of Rock and Roll, Edition français-anglais-allemand
Le Kind du Rock'n Roll est né ! Les coulisses de la légende d'Elvis.
06/2022
Philosophie
«Phädon», or «On the Immortality of the Soul»
This is the first modern translation of Moses Mendelssohn's classic work of 1767, the Phädon. It includes Mendelssohn's own introduction and appendix, as well as footnotes and explanatory introduction by David Shavin. (Charles Cullen's translation of 1789 is the only other extant translation.) The "modern Socrates" of the German classical period, Mendelssohn has created a beautiful translation and elaboration of Plato's Phädo led to a revolution in thought, and a subsequent renaissance in Germany. The debt of the German classical period to ancient Greece is embodied in Mendelssohn's Phädon, as is the promise of the American Revolution. The translation and accompanying notes recapture Mendelssohn's unique marriage of depth of thought and breadth of appeal.
12/2006
Non classé
Shakespeare's Reception in 18th Century Italy
The history of Shakespeare's reception in 18th century Italy is scanty and fragmentary. The present study attempts to join the scattered fragments of the mosaic together and to interpret the resulting picture in the light of current theories of comparative literature. Hamlet has been chosen as an exemplary case in Shakespearian production because it is associated with the very first milestones in Shakespeare's introduction into the Italian literary system. Hamlet also exemplifies on the one hand Italy's cultural indebtedness to France in the field of Shakespearian translation (the first Italian staging of a Shakespearian play was a Hamlet translated from Ducis' adaptation), and, on the other, the need for Northern European literary works to undergo profound changes before they could be assimilated in Italy. The process of Shakespeares's reception in 18th century Italy was made even more tortuous by a missed opportunity, again concerning Hamlet. The first complete Italian translation of the play by Alessandro Verri has never to this day been staged or published ; its impact on the development of Italian literature was only indirect through its influence on Verri's own creative works, which finally contributed to the birth of the Italian Romantic movement.
06/1993
Non classé
The Christology of Mark
In our world of research, logics and measurement many of the ideas of (the New Testament and of) the Fathers (pre-existence, incarnation, Virgin Birth, demons,etc.) are today no longer acceptable. For those people who, like the author, see in the Chalcedonian Jesus Christ a mythological creature, Markus' christology is an alternative which at present will surely be more welcome. "Jesus could be, ontologically speaking, nothing more than a man and, nevertheless, he could have been used by God... in a unique way for the sake of our salvation".
02/1991
Religion
Everyday Men
This study is about everyday men. They are approached through a unique marriage of biblical theology and empirical research which gives birth to a missionary challenge. Part One attempts to build a theological foundation for looking at people from the aspect of belief and unbelief. It sees this distinction as a crucial theme in the biblical material which remains relevant to men everywhere. The author discovers five elements of Christian belief in the biblical material while unbelief spans the five elements by its void, denial, or choice of an alternative. Part Two starts with a random sample, in-depth interview of fifty men in a "working-class" area of Birmingham, England. The interviews attempt to discover the nature and saliency of the men's belief and unbelief in the Christian faith. The analysis stresses the qualitative response with the emphasis on listening to the men describe their lives, values, beliefs, and lack of beliefs in their own words. The findings are also compared to other related studies, prompting some conclusions regarding the meaning of these findings. The author attempts to bring the biblical material to bear on the findings about ordinary people and asks whether they can be described as believers or unbelievers. From this starting point, it becomes obvious that the scope of unbelief is very broad. Part Three takes the understanding of God's Word and men's words and moves toward a missiological goal of approaching unbelievers with a gospel for today. It sees both the content and context of the gospel as important. The cultural problem is briefly considered and specific approaches are suggested in relation to the climate of unbelief in "working-class" English culture.
08/1987
Comics
War of the Realms - Deadpool N° 2 : Deadpool, agent secret
Pour arrêter l'avancée de Malekith, Deadpool doit vaincre Ulik aux côtés de deux vieux "amis", Luke Cage et Iron Fist. Et pendant que Wade Wilson continue sa mission d'agent secret, nous le retrouvons aussi face à la Panthère Noire en territoire wakandais. Les belles aventures de Skottie Young, Chris Hastings et Daniel Kibblesmith se poursuivent, sur des dessins de Nic Klein, Ricardo Lopez Ortiz et Salva Espin.
03/2020
Anglais apprentissage
Sophie's Choice. William Styron
Sophie's Choice has met a tremendous success since publication in 1979 and has been
translated in many languages, including Japanese and Russian; it bas been made into
a movie by Alan Pakula, with Meryl Streep in the unforgettable leading rote, and even gave birth to an opera. As usual William Styron gets down to brass tacks with one of the most awe-inspiring themes of the twentieth century: the final solution and the horror of the death-camps. In this bilingual study the emphasis is laid on the complexity of the narrative technique, the link between sexuality and violence, and the entanglement of historical, religious, philosophical and psychoanalytical references that make up the fabric of personal drama and human tragedy that Sophie's Choice
represents.
10/2004
Sciences politiques
The Structure of Political Communication in the United Kingdom, the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany
Political Communication in The United Kingdom, the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany differs in terms of what the peoples expect to take issue with, how they are prepared to talk about them, which choices they can make to solve problems and, finally, whom or which organizations they delegate to resolve them. This comparative media study of The Economist, Time and Der Spiegel attempts to extract the differences in politics of the three societies.
11/1987
Littérature française
The Shipping Agent has Disappeared
Mrs. Lemardeley, an elderly lady living in Granville, is attacked one night in July. Customs officer Weber, asked by the local police to investigate, suspects that burglary was the real motive. Except nothing is missing. When Mrs. Lemardeley's two children are also both victims of the same man, Weber starts to look into the family's colonial past. Who is the attacker and what is his interest in the family ? As the criminal manages to repeatedly evade capture, Weber follows a trail of clues which eventually lead him to discover the truth. But can he find his man before it's too late ?
09/2010
Monographies
Andrea Sacchi and Cardinal del Monte. The Rediscovered Frescoes in the Palazzo di Ripetta in Rome
This fascinating and beautifully illustrated book presents for the first time the rediscovered frescoes painted by Andrea Sacchi (1599-1661) for the loggia of Cardinal del Monte's Roman palace near via di Ripetta, Rome. Considered lost by generations of scholars, Andrea Sacchi's fresco cycle has survived in a private apartment in Rome. Largely unpublished and rarely mentioned in recent literature, the frescoes underwent a revelatory restoration in 2010-11. For the past three years, the author was granted exclusive access to study them thoroughly - resulting in this monograph. Accompanied by beautiful and full photographic documentation, this study aims to compare the painted images with the detailed description given by the biographer Giovan Pietro Bellori ; to shed light on the iconography and style, above all with respect to the sources used ; and to integrate this key commission within Sacchi's early career. The cycle's iconography is explored with careful verification of early sources that now allows us to resolve some particularly complex problems of interpretation - above all those relating to alchemy. Cardinal del Monte's Palazzo di Ripetta housed a fully equipped pharmacological laboratory. Research on this cycle of frescoes has also made it possible to discover new archival evidence regarding Sacchi's date and place of birth.
08/2022
Manga
L'attaque des titans : birth of Livaï Tome 1
Un groupe de bandits équipés de harnais de manoeuvre tridimensionnelle sévit dans les bas-fonds de la capitale. Leur leader aurait même largement le niveau d'un militaire du Bataillon d'exploration... Le chef d'escouade Erwin Smith décide alors de proposer un marché à cet homme du nom de Livaï. Comment un voyou a-t-il pu devenir le plus fort de tous les soldats ?
04/2015
Histoire internationale
On the Border - The Otherness of God and the Multiplicity of the Religions
The Christian theology of religions at present faces a crisis. What precisely is the task of the theology of religions ? Does it merely consist in interpreting the non-Christian religions as steps, phases or contributions in the light of Christianity ? Has one from the theological side conceded the maximum to the non-Christian religions by acknowledging them as anonymous Christianity (Karl Rahner)? This study is an exploration on how one shall liberate the religion of the other from anonymity : how one shall leave the other with his/her own name. The model of thought employed in this study is gained through an analysis of the intercultural process of understanding, explained with instances from Africa and South America.
01/1994
Religion
The Spiritual Narratives of Adoptive Parents
Although much attention has been given to the various social and psychological experiences of two essential parts of the adoption triad – adopted persons and birth parents – adoptive parents are largely overlooked in the literature. More particularly, sparse information has been collected on the issue of adoptive parents' spiritual narratives. Cultural and religious traditions significantly affect how adoptive parents interpret and make spiritual and theological meaning of their unique experiences. Ryan Noel Fraser's cutting-edge research uncovers the distinctive re-authoring process of Christian adoptive parents' faith narratives resulting from the experience of receiving a child through adoption. The Spiritual Narratives of Adoptive Parents is ideal for courses in family studies, marriage and the family, adoption studies, pastoral theology, pastoral counseling, Christian counseling, theological anthropology, and practical theology.
07/2013
Comics Super-héros
Hitman Tome 1
Agressé par un parasite extraterrestre, le tueur à gages de Gotham, Tommy Monaghan obtient deux dons surhumains : une vision à rayons-X et la capacité de lire dans les pensées. Désormais, entre deux parties de billard au bar Chez Noonan, Tommy remplit des contrats placés sur la tête des métahumains. Au cours, de ces expéditions périlleuses qui mettent en danger la vie de ses proches, celui qui se fait appeler Hitman croise la route d'Etrigan le Démon, de Batman et du Joker, et même d'animaux aquatiques zombies !
09/2023
Histoire et Philosophiesophie
The Undergrowth of Science. Delusion, self-deception and human frailty
Walter Gratzer's themes in the stories he relates in The Undergrowth of Science are collective delusion and human folly. Science is generally seen as a process bound by rigorous rules, which its practitioners must not transgress. Deliberate fraud occasionally intrudes, but it is soon detected, the perpetrators cast out and the course of discovery barely disturbed. Far more interesting are the outbreaks of self-delusion that from time to time afflict upright and competent researchers, and then spread like an epidemic or mass-hysteria through a sober and respectable scientific community. When this happens the rules by which scientists normally govern their working lives are suddenly suspended. Sometimes these episodes are provoked by personal vanity, an unwillingness to acknowledge error or even contemplate the possibility that a hard-won success is a will o' the wisp; at other times they stem from loyalty to a respected and trusted guru, or even from patriotic pride; and, worst of ail, they may be a consequence of a political ideology which imposes its own interpretation on scientists' observations of the natural world. Unreason and credulity supervene, illusory phenomena are described and measured, and theories are developed to explain them - until suddenly, often for no single reason, the bubble bursts, leaving behind it a residue of acrimony, recrimination, embarrassment and ruined reputations.
Here, then, are radiations, measured with high precision yet existing only in the minds of those who observed them; the Russian water, which some thought might congeal the oceans: phantom diseases which called for heroic surgery; monkey testis implants that restored the sexual powers of ageing roués and of tired sheep; truths about genetics and about the nature of matter, perceptible only to Aryan scientists in the Third Reich or Marxist ideologues in the Soviet Union; and much more. The Undergrowth of Science explores, in terms accessible to the lay reader, the history of such episodes, up to our own time, in ail their absurdity, tragedy and pathos.
01/2000
Histoire de France
«Die Welt war meine Gemeinde»- Willem A. Visser ’t Hooft. A Theologian for Europe between Ecumenism and Federalism
Willem A. Visser 't Hooft (1900–1985), Dutch pastor and theologian, was one of the most significant personalities in the Protestant Ecumenical movement. Deeply influenced by Karl Barth, and filled with a strong Ecumenical spirit, he was closely involved in the founding of the World Council of Churches, of which he was elected General Secretary. During the Second World War, many Protestants became convinced of the need for an international political system which, beside uniting the nations and peoples of Europe, would guarantee them fundamental freedoms and mutual respect for their historical, cultural and confessional traditions. The directors of the WWC were strongly committed to federalism, partly because of the political traditions of the states from which their member churches originated (Switzerland ; Great Britain and its Commonwealth ; the United States), and partly because of their conviction that a simple confederation of states, based on the model of the League of Nations, would be completely incapable of containing national ambitions. In spring 1944, Visser 't Hooft welcomed into his Geneva home the representatives of the European Resistance, who, under the leadership of Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi, signed the International Federalist Declaration of the Resistance Movements. These historic transnational encounters, aimed not only at coordinating military action or seeking diplomatic contacts but at exploring ways to "build" peace and re-establish the future of the Continent on new foundations, marked a profound break with the past.
12/1985
Non classé
Lingua Legis in Translation
This book describes the historical development of the Polish and English lingua legis. The intention is to point out the major differences between the legal realities, which significantly affect the process of translation. Secondly, the following characteristic features of lingua legis, concerning the level of words and syntagmas, are touched upon : vocabulary used in lingua legis including technical and semi-technical terms, conservatism of legal texts (Latin and Latinisms ; synonymous strings, archaic adverbs etc.), borrowings, terms with non-precise meanings (the problem of indeterminacy), neologisms, euphemisms, vulgarisms, performative verbs, metaphors and religious elements, prepositional phrases, time expressions, compound nouns and the problems connected with nominalization, false cognates which cause major misunderstandings, and finally methods of providing translation equivalents. The problem of ambivalence is analysed as well. The problems connected with the Polish-English and English-Polish translation of the texts belonging to the following legal genres are examined : university diplomas and certificates, statutes, judgments, law reports, powers of attorney, petitions, contracts and deeds, testaments, birth, death and marriage certificates, and popular fiction.
07/2007
Histoire et Philosophiesophie
Thinking about Physics
Physical scientists are problem solvers. They are comfortable "doing" science: they find problems, solve them, and explain their solutions. Roger Newton believes that his fellow physicists might be too comfortable with their roles as solvers of problems. He argues that physicists should spend more time thinking about physics. If they did, he believes, they would become even more skilled at solving problems and "doing" science. As Newton points out in this thought-provoking book, problem solving is always influenced by the theoretical assumptions of the problem solver. Too often, though, he believes, physicists haven't subjected their assumptions to thorough scrutiny. Newton's goal is to provide a framework within which the fundamental theories of modem physics can be explored, interpreted, and understood.
"Surely physics is more than a collection of experimental results, assembled to satisfy the curiosity of appreciative experts," Newton writes. Physics, according to Newton, has moved beyond the describing and naming of curious phenomena, which is the goal of some other branches of science. Physicists have spent a great part of the twentieth century searching for explanations of experimental findings. Newton agrees that experimental facts are vital to the study of physics, but only because they lead to the development of a theory that can explain them. Facts, he argues, should undergird theory.
Newton's explanatory sweep is both broad and deep. He covers such topics as quantum mechanics, classical mechanics, field theory, thermodynamics, the role of mathematics in physics, and the concepts of probability and causality. For Newton the fundamental entity in quantum theory is the field, from which physicists can explain the particle-like and wave-like properties that are observed in experiments. He grounds his explanations in the quantum field.
Although this is not designed as a standalone textbook, it is essential reading for advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, professors, and researchers. This is a clear, concise, up-to-date book about the concepts and theories that underlie the study of contemporary physics. Readers will find that they will become better-informed physicists and, therefore, better thinkers and problem solvers, too.
01/2000
Anglais apprentissage
LA VIERGE ET LE GITAN : THE VIRGIN AND THE GIPSY
When the vicar's wife went off with a young and penniless man the scandal knew no bounds. Her two little girls were only seven and nine years old respectively. And the vicar was such a good husband. True, his hair was grey. But his moustache was dark, he was handsome, and still full of furtive passion for his unrestrained and beautiful wife. Why did she go ? Why did she burst away with such an éclat of revulsion, like a touch of madness ? Nobody gave any answer. Only the pious said she was a bad woman. While some of the good women kept silent. They knew. The two little girls never knew. Wounded, they decided that it was because their mother found them negligible. The ill wind that blows nobody any good swept away the vicarage family on its blast. Then lo and behold ! the vicar, who was somewhat distinguished as an essayist and a controversialist, and whose case had aroused sympathy among the bookish men, received the living of Papplewick. The Lord had tempered the wind of misfortune with a rectorate in the north country. [...] "Lorsque la femme du pasteur s'enfuit avec un jeune homme sans le sou, le scandale ne connut pas de bornes. Ses deux fillettes n'avaient que sept et neuf ans respectivement. Et le pasteur était un si bon mari. Certes, il avait les cheveux gris, mais sa moustache était restée noire, il était bel homme et brûlait encore d'une passion furtive pour sa belle épouse immodeste. Pourquoi était-elle partie ? Pourquoi s'était-elle arrachée à lui, dans un tel éclat de dégoût, comme un grain de folie ? Personne n'apporta de réponse. Seules, les dévotes dirent que c'était une mauvaise femme. Cependant que certaines femmes de bien gardaient le silence. Elles comprenaient, elles. Les deux fillettes ne comprirent jamais. Blessées, elles jugèrent que c'était parce que leur mère les tenait pour quantité négligeable. Le vent du malheur qui est censé être bon à quelque chose balaya de son souffle les habitants de la cure. Puis, miracle, le pasteur, qui avait une certaine éminence comme essayiste et polémiste, et dont la situation avait su émouvoir certains intellectuels, fut nommé à la paroisse de Papplewick. Le Seigneur avait adouci l'ouragan du malheur par un bénéfice de recteur dans le nord du pays. " [...]
02/1993
Musique classique
Songs of Love. 12 Romances. 12 Lieder. Soprano (tenor) and piano.
Leokadiya Kashperova (1872-1940), hitherto consigned to a footnote in musical history as Stravinsky's piano teacher, is undergoing rediscovery. A double graduate of the St Petersburg Conservatoire, she emerged as a virtuoso pianist and composer in the romantic tradition. She was associated with some of the great musicians of her day, including Balakirev and Auer. She performed in both Germany and the UK in the 1900s, but her career petered out after 1920. Songs of Love was first published in 1904. No evidence survives of any public performance in Kashperova's lifetime although it is very likely that they were performed at her regular 'musical evenings at home on Tuesdays' mentioned in her Memoirs. The transparency of the piano writing strongly suggests that she would accompany herself singing. Kashperova, by all accounts, possessed a fine voice, and in the summer of 1906 she decided 'to learn from the artistry', as she put it, of the tenor Raimond von Zur-Mühlen who was widely celebrated for having developed (with Clara Schumann) the Lieder-Abend tradition. His summer-schools on the Baltic coast were frequented by aspiring singers from all over Europe, even Japan and India. Kashperova herself was responsible for the poetic lyrics of Songs of Love (in both Russian and German), which may well have emerged from her own bittersweet experience of life and love ; she was not to marry until 1916 at the age of forty-four. That Kashperova is the author of both the music and the lyrics of Songs of Love would suggest that they express very personal sentiments. Instrumentation : soprano (tenor) and piano
12/2023
