Oxford University Press's Blog, page 961
April 2, 2013
Celebración de la Semana Nacional de Bibliotecas (14 al 20 de Abril)
Acceso Gratuito al Oxford English Dictionaryy a Oxford Reference en América del Norte y del Sur
Celebre la semana de bibliotecas del 14 al 20 de abril, con acceso gratuito a dos de los productos en línea más populares de Oxford. Empezando de Abril 14 hasta Abril 20, todo el mundo en América del Norte y del Sur tendrá acceso gratuito al Oxford English Dictionary y a Oxford Reference. El acceso gratuito será a través de un nombre de usuario y contraseña que va a ser anunciado en este OUPblog en abril 14. Todo el mundo tendrá acceso con la misma clave hasta el último día de la semana.
Estamos librando el acceso a este contenido gracias al trabajo arduo y vital que los bibliotecarios realizan para apoyar a los usuarios y para celebrar esta semana honrando a las bibliotecas. Además, estaremos anunciando un concurso especial sólo para bibliotecarios el 14 de abril que tratará sobre los acontecimientos que tendrán en sus bibliotecas para la semana nacional de bibliotecas.
El Oxford English Dictionary describe la evolución y el uso de las palabras y es reconocido como el recurso más comprensivo y autoritario del idioma inglés. El Oxford English Dictionary Online brinda el contenido más reciente del Oxford English Dictionary al igual que el Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary. El OED Online incluye más de 600,000 significados de palabras, utilizando 3 millones de citas y cubre todas las variedades del idioma inglés incluyendo el estadounidense y el británico, y es actualizado 4 veces al año con nuevas entradas.
Oxford Reference reúne más de 2 millones de entradas en un sólo recurso, desde referencias temáticas, citas, y diccionarios de lenguajes en el Oxford Quick Reference a los galardonados Oxford Companions y enciclopedias en el Oxford Reference Library.
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¡Esperemos que disfrute de estos recursos gratuitos durante la Semana Nacional de Bibliotecas!
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National Library Week Celebration (14-20 April)
Free access to the OED and Oxford Reference in North and South America
Celebrate National Library Week, 14-20 April 2013, with free access to two of Oxford’s most popular online products. Starting 14 April and running through 20 April, everyone in North and South America will have free access to the OED and Oxford Reference. Free access will be through a username and password announced here on the OUPblog on 14 April. Everyone will have access through the same login, which will last until the end of the week.
We’re freeing up this unprecedented amount of OUP content in thanks for all the hard and vital work that librarians do to support their patrons and in celebration of the week honoring libraries. In addition, we will be announcing a special contest just for librarians on 14 April, which will bring attention to the events that libraries hold during National Library Week.
The Oxford English Dictionary traces the evolution and use of words and is widely acknowledged to be the most authoritative and comprehensive record of the English language. The Oxford English Dictionary Online gives you the latest content of the full Oxford English Dictionary as well as the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary. The OED Online includes more than 600,000 meanings of words using over 3 million quotations; coverage of British, American, and all varieties of English; and is updated 4 times a year with new entries.
Oxford Reference brings together over 2-million entries into a single cross-searchable resource, from subject reference, quotation, and language dictionaries in the Oxford Quick Reference collection to award winning Oxford Companions and Encyclopedias in the Oxford Reference Library.
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We hope you will enjoy using these free resources during National Library Week!
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Autism is many diseases
The field of autism is riddled by several unsolved mysteries.
One concerns the rate of children who suffer from autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). A study released last year by the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network used school behavioral assessments and clinical reports of children who were 8 years old in 2008 and applied a standard checklist of criteria for diagnosis. This study said that the likelihood of ASD was 1 in 88 in the United States. A new study published this March (2013), was based on a 2011-2012 phone survey of parents with children aged 6 to 17 years of age and identified as many as 1 in 50 of those children with ASD. The new study noted that the increase may have included children with milder cases and may have been the result of diagnoses of children with previously unrecognized ASD. However, whatever the actual number, these are shocking figures.
A second unsolved problem in the field of autism is how to identify infants who will later be diagnosed with autistic features. Since there is evidence that targeted educational therapies started at a very early age can make a difference in later social development, a number of current clinical studies are focused on the challenge of early infant identification. The importance of this problem can not be overstated because medical therapies, possibly even curable ones, are already in the pipeline for certain individual disease entities with autistic features.
A third deeply troubling unsolved question is in regard to the etiology of autistic behavior. In the 1970s, the earliest reliable epidemiological studies showed about 2 in every 1000 children were diagnosed with autism or an autistic-like impairment compared to today’s dramatically different prevalence figures noted above. Are these increases solely due to more accurate and complete diagnostic acumen or are one or more other factors also involved? There are many studies examining this unresolved controversial problem.
But one important mystery about autism has been solved. The belief that autism was a single disease, as originally described by Kanner, is known to be incorrect. The first clues came from biochemistry where blood results were so variant that they could not be used to predict a result in a child diagnosed with autism. For example, blood studies of the neurotransmitter, serotonin, was found to be elevated in some children, within normal ranges in others or below normal in a third group. Recently with the advent of genetic research, an explosion of new information is now available and has established that autism is, in fact, many different diseases. A constantly increasing number of distinct individually rare genetic and genomic causes of ASD are being reported. The evidence is building that the genetic architecture of ASD resembles that of intellectual disability with its hundreds of genetic and genomic disorders involved, each accounting for a very small fraction of cases.
The mutations found in these children with ASDs fall into two groups: those with family members who also have the mutations and those with that occur de novo. Regarding familial studies, studies of identical twins have shown a markedly increased (but not 100%) co-occurrence of autistic features in such twins compared to fraternal twins. And there is evidence of autism risk across generations. For example in a recent Swedish study, a statistically significant association was found between advanced parental age at the time of the birth of the parent and the risk of autism in the grandchildren. Regarding de novo studies, the recent whole-exome sequencing studies in populations of autistic children have showed an increased rate of these rare de novo mutations.
Just as we know that intellectual disability is a series of neurodevelopmental syndromes due to chromosomal imbalances, submicroscopic deletions and duplications called copy number variants (CVAs), classic genetic mutations, infectious, endocrine and toxic etiologies — so is similar information now being published and accumulated in the literature about children with ASDs. There are virtually no studies on intellectual disability as one single disease entity any more. Although a majority of children with autism still remain without a specific diagnosis at this time in medical history, each month the number of idiopathic cases decreases. Imaging, a variety of genomic techniques and rodent models are helping us progress in our understanding of how autistic features occur. Rather than look at autism as one disease, a more sophisticated subgrouping of patients with ASD in research studies is now needed. We also need to slowly and painstakingly determine the etiology in each beautiful child, one by one, who presents with autistic features.
Mary Coleman MD is Medical Director of the Foundation for Autism Research Inc. She is the author of 130 papers and 11 books, including six on autism. Her latest book is The Autisms, Fourth Edition co-authored with Christopher Gillberg MD. Read her previous blog posts “Can a child with autism recover?” and “Is there an epidemic of autism?”.
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Image credit: A hand writing the word Autism on a chalkboard under colorful puzzle piece drawings. Image by sdominick, iStockphoto.
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ASD is now the approved new diagnostic category for autism
Many parents and professionals are debating the American Psychiatric Association (APA) approved DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) revised diagnosis of autism. DSM-5 is expected to be available for purchase by the time of the APA Annual Meeting in May 2013.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), the revised diagnostic category, is a developmental neurobiological disorder, characterized by severe and pervasive impairments in reciprocal social interaction skills and communication skills (verbal and nonverbal), and by restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped behavior, interests, and activities. The current DSM-IV-TR describes Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) as the diagnostic umbrella, with five subtypes. With the upcoming changes in DSM-5, the separate diagnostic classifications under PDD will be subsumed under one category Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This puts autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified, and childhood disintegrative disorder under ASD. The new ASD diagnostic category will include specifiers for severity and verbal abilities, and also include associated features such as known genetic disorders, epilepsy, and intellectual disability.
The new ASD diagnostic category will also combine the current three domains (social, communication, and behaviors) into two domains (social and communication deficits, and fixated interests and repetitive behaviors), based upon the belief that deficits in communication and social behaviors are inseparable. Much debate has been triggered by these APA approved changes. One concern raised is whether the new ASD label will exclude individuals currently diagnosed with autism or PDD. A second issue highlighted is the fear of loss of school placement and funding if the new ASD label excludes a child previously diagnosed with autism or PDD. A third objection voiced is the loss of identity of individuals diagnosed with Asperger’s Disorder into the broader ASD category. Researchers have defended the new categorization as an improvement in evidence-based criteria which will not negatively impact individuals with ASD.
Time will tell if the new ASD diagnostic category is an improvement in the field of autism, and if researchers show the benefit rather than detriment.
Martin J. Lubetsky, MD is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and the Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Services and Center for Autism and Developmental Disorders at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC, and Chief of Behavioral Health at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. Dr. Lubetsky is a past recipient of the Grandin Award from the Advisory Board On Autism and Related Disorders (ABOARD). He is co-editor and co-author of Autism Spectrum Disorder.
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Image credit: via iStockphoto.
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The rise of interfaith marriage
In the last decade, 45% of all marriages in the United States were between people of different faiths. The rapidly growing number of mixed-faith families is a sign of openness and tolerance among religious communities in the United States, but what’s good for society as a whole often proves difficult for individual families. As Naomi Schaefer Riley shows in her provocative new book ‘Til Faith Do Us Part: How Interfaith Marriage is Transforming America, interfaith couples are actually less happy than others and certain combinations of religions are more likely to lead to divorce.
In this interview on Today, Riley discusses the rise of interfaith marriages and what that means for America.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Naomi Schaefer Riley is a former Wall Street Journal editor and writer whose work focuses on higher education, religion, philanthropy, and culture. She is the author of ‘Til Faith Do Us Part: How Interfaith Marriage is Transforming America, God on the Quad, and The Faculty Lounges.
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Ways to be autism aware
(1) Be aware that people with autism can usually understand more than they can express.
Autism doesn’t change the fact that everyone understands more than they can express. When we learn a new language, we can understand what someone is saying long before we can create sentences that demonstrate the depth of our knowledge. Babies can understand a great deal of language before they begin to speak their first words.
People with autism often communicate differently to express what they know and want to share. Some will write thoughts on paper, or draw a picture demonstrating intent. They may use sign language, or a stack of picture cards to convey wants and needs. Many people with autism use shorter sentences with simplified language. This does not mean they are not thinking and comprehending full sentences with higher-level vocabulary. Being willing to communicate in a different way will allow you to be aware that communication comes in many forms. Autism Community provides resources and strategies to assist with communication and children with autism.
(2) Be aware that people with autism can be sensitive.
We learn our senses in first or second grade and can name ‘the five senses’ as tasting, touching, hearing, smelling, and seeing. In addition, we have two other senses that can let us know whether we are upside down or right side up and whether we are being squeezed or free to move. Almost all persons with autism have sensitivities that include one or more of these seven areas. In fact, most people in general have sensitivities in these areas as well. The difference is in the severity of the sensitivities. Some people with autism are hypersensitive to some of these areas and some are hyposensitive to some areas. Every person with autism is different; in fact, every person is different (whether they have autism or not)!
When near someone with autism, pay close attention to the way she reacts to sounds and lights, or how close she wants to stand to others. An awareness of these sensitivities can make a big difference in the way a person with autism engages in social events and activities. The Sensory World of Autism shows the sensory perspective of children with autism spectrum disorder that also struggle with sensory challenges.
(3) Be aware that people with autism think differently.
Someone who has autism often thinks differently. Different is not better or less than — it is just different. Someone with autism may need a longer period of time to process a question or statement. It is also common for a person with autism to think visually (or in pictures) and to be able to express thoughts easier using visual cues or images. An awareness of cognitive differences can go a long way toward being aware of the individual personhood of those with autism.
(4) Be aware that people with autism probably have a specific interest or topic that may help with communication.
Many of us have a specific area of interest that we enjoy discussing. Persons with autism often have an area of interest as well. It can be difficult for someone with autism to stop talking about or communicating this interest; therefore, it can be a great way to get to know someone by asking about this topic.
This awareness can be a terrific ‘ice breaker’ or a way to deepen a relationship with someone who has autism. The Indiana Resource Center for Autism at Indiana University offers unique strategies for parents and teachers in regarding to teaching and motivating children with autism.
(5) Be aware that people with autism tend to focus on the trees rather than the forest.
It can be difficult for someone with autism to think critically without focusing on minute details. If the discussion is about clothing, it may be necessary for the person with autism to discuss the stitching style used by the designer or seamstress. This often leads to the area of interest a person with autism may have, and is part of the cognitive patterning unique, yet familiar, to him. Be aware that the repetition or consistent use of minutiae rather than broad thinking is part of cognitive processing for a person with autism.
(6) Be aware that a child (or adult) with autism may be having a moment in public that seems confusing to you.
Because of sensory, cognitive, communication, and social differences, people with autism (and/or their family members) may sometimes have moments in public that can appear to be very different than they are. Because some people do not understand the differences and challenges that surround a family living with autism, they sometimes offer comments they feel may be helpful, or worse, judging glances and verbal recriminations to a family already in the middle of a negative moment or meltdown.
Being aware of the frustrations and challenges inherent within a family, and remembering to walk a mile in their shoes before coming to a conclusion, can be an excellent start in developing an awareness of autism. Moreover, what family doesn’t have its moments?
(7) Be aware that people with autism may need help with social circumstances.
Social situations can be beyond awkward for someone who has autism. The combination of sensitivities, communication differences, and expectations others have can be overwhelming. Having a friend to help guide a person with autism through the event, or a set of cards with conversation starters, etc. can be very helpful.
Be aware of the possible confusion and uncomfortable feelings someone with autism can have when placed in a social situation. Planning ahead with the needs of the person in mind can lead to a successful and less stressful social encounter. Social stories can be used to help facilitate positive, appropriate social skills.
(8) Be aware that a family that includes a person with autism may be tired and stressed.
It can be exhausting to be part of a family that includes one or more persons with autism. The daily challenges can mount and become overwhelming. Knowing that families who have members with autism (or other challenges) are often under a great deal of stress is a first step toward an empathic view. Families may honestly be too tired to set up play dates, go out to eat, or meet at the park, because the planning and implementation of these seemingly ordinary events can be overshadowed by the demands of daily life (cognition, communication, sensitivities, social challenges).
Awareness of and compassion for the needs of a family is sometimes demonstrated by planning events that take the needs of the entire family into consideration, or even, letting a family ‘off the hook’ knowing they may be exhausted from the demands of their daily lives. Support groups such as the Autism Society of America and Autism Speaks can help families connect with other families to share their stories and obtain services.
(9) Be aware that a child with autism may have siblings that get less attention than they do.
Siblings of those with autism may sometimes feel ignored or set aside because the needs of a brother or sister with autism overshadow the needs of the sibling at times. Developing an awareness of the specific feelings a sibling may have, and responding to that sibling in a way that conveys understanding can make a big difference in the life of that child or adult. Sibshops is a national organization that assists and provides programming for siblings of children with disabilities.
(10) Be aware that a person with autism is a person and not a label.
Autism is a label. Cans, cars, clothing, and technology have labels. People are not labels. A person with autism is a person. Be aware at all times that labels define and limit — real understanding comes with knowing the individual and responding to her needs.
Alice M. Hammel and Ryan M. Hourigan are the authors of Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs: A Label-Free Approach and the forthcoming Teaching Music to Students with Autism. Alice Hammel teaches for James Madison and Virginia Commonwealth Universities, and has years of experience teaching instrumental and choral music. Ryan Hourigan is Assistant Professor of Music Education at Ball State University and a recipient of the Outstanding University Music Educator Award from the Indiana Music Educators Association. The companion website to Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs provides more resources.
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Image credit: (1) via iStockphoto. (2) Having fun in a music class. Photo by SolStock, iStockphoto.
The post Ways to be autism aware appeared first on OUPblog.
Ways to be Autism aware
(1) Be aware that people with autism can usually understand more than they can express.
Autism doesn’t change the fact that everyone understands more than they can express. When we learn a new language, we can understand what someone is saying long before we can create sentences that demonstrate the depth of our knowledge. Babies can understand a great deal of language before they begin to speak their first words.
People with autism often communicate differently to express what they know and want to share. Some will write thoughts on paper, or draw a picture demonstrating intent. They may use sign language, or a stack of picture cards to convey wants and needs. Many people with autism use shorter sentences with simplified language. This does not mean they are not thinking and comprehending full sentences with higher-level vocabulary. Being willing to communicate in a different way will allow you to be aware that communication comes in many forms. Autism Community provides resources and strategies to assist with communication and children with autism.
(2) Be aware that people with autism can be sensitive.
We learn our senses in first or second grade and can name ‘the five senses’ as tasting, touching, hearing, smelling, and seeing. In addition, we have two other senses that can let us know whether we are upside down or right side up and whether we are being squeezed or free to move. Almost all persons with autism have sensitivities that include one or more of these seven areas. In fact, most people in general have sensitivities in these areas as well. The difference is in the severity of the sensitivities. Some people with autism are hypersensitive to some of these areas and some are hyposensitive to some areas. Every person with autism is different; in fact, every person is different (whether they have autism or not)!
When near someone with autism, pay close attention to the way she reacts to sounds and lights, or how close she wants to stand to others. An awareness of these sensitivities can make a big difference in the way a person with autism engages in social events and activities. The Sensory World of Autism shows the sensory perspective of children with autism spectrum disorder that also struggle with sensory challenges.
(3) Be aware that people with autism think differently.
Someone who has autism often thinks differently. Different is not better or less than — it is just different. Someone with autism may need a longer period of time to process a question or statement. It is also common for a person with autism to think visually (or in pictures) and to be able to express thoughts easier using visual cues or images. An awareness of cognitive differences can go a long way toward being aware of the individual personhood of those with autism.
(4) Be aware that people with autism probably have a specific interest or topic that may help with communication.
Many of us have a specific area of interest that we enjoy discussing. Persons with autism often have an area of interest as well. It can be difficult for someone with autism to stop talking about or communicating this interest; therefore, it can be a great way to get to know someone by asking about this topic.
This awareness can be a terrific ‘ice breaker’ or a way to deepen a relationship with someone who has autism. The Indiana Resource Center for Autism at Indiana University offers unique strategies for parents and teachers in regarding to teaching and motivating children with autism.
(5) Be aware that people with autism tend to focus on the trees rather than the forest.
It can be difficult for someone with autism to think critically without focusing on minute details. If the discussion is about clothing, it may be necessary for the person with autism to discuss the stitching style used by the designer or seamstress. This often leads to the area of interest a person with autism may have, and is part of the cognitive patterning unique, yet familiar, to him. Be aware that the repetition or consistent use of minutiae rather than broad thinking is part of cognitive processing for a person with autism.
(6) Be aware that a child (or adult) with autism may be having a moment in public that seems confusing to you.
Because of sensory, cognitive, communication, and social differences, people with autism (and/or their family members) may sometimes have moments in public that can appear to be very different than they are. Because some people do not understand the differences and challenges that surround a family living with autism, they sometimes offer comments they feel may be helpful, or worse, judging glances and verbal recriminations to a family already in the middle of a negative moment or meltdown.
Being aware of the frustrations and challenges inherent within a family, and remembering to walk a mile in their shoes before coming to a conclusion, can be an excellent start in developing an awareness of autism. Moreover, what family doesn’t have its moments?
(7) Be aware that people with autism may need help with social circumstances.
Social situations can be beyond awkward for someone who has autism. The combination of sensitivities, communication differences, and expectations others have can be overwhelming. Having a friend to help guide a person with autism through the event, or a set of cards with conversation starters, etc. can be very helpful.
Be aware of the possible confusion and uncomfortable feelings someone with autism can have when placed in a social situation. Planning ahead with the needs of the person in mind can lead to a successful and less stressful social encounter. Social stories can be used to help facilitate positive, appropriate social skills.
(8) Be aware that a family that includes a person with autism may be tired and stressed.
It can be exhausting to be part of a family that includes one or more persons with autism. The daily challenges can mount and become overwhelming. Knowing that families who have members with autism (or other challenges) are often under a great deal of stress is a first step toward an empathic view. Families may honestly be too tired to set up play dates, go out to eat, or meet at the park, because the planning and implementation of these seemingly ordinary events can be overshadowed by the demands of daily life (cognition, communication, sensitivities, social challenges).
Awareness of and compassion for the needs of a family is sometimes demonstrated by planning events that take the needs of the entire family into consideration, or even, letting a family ‘off the hook’ knowing they may be exhausted from the demands of their daily lives. Support groups such as the Autism Society of America and Autism Speaks can help families connect with other families to share their stories and obtain services.
(9) Be aware that a child with autism may have siblings that get less attention than they do.
Siblings of those with autism may sometimes feel ignored or set aside because the needs of a brother or sister with autism overshadow the needs of the sibling at times. Developing an awareness of the specific feelings a sibling may have, and responding to that sibling in a way that conveys understanding can make a big difference in the life of that child or adult. Sibshops is a national organization that assists and provides programming for siblings of children with disabilities.
(10) Be aware that a person with autism is a person and not a label.
Autism is a label. Cans, cars, clothing, and technology have labels. People are not labels. A person with autism is a person. Be aware at all times that labels define and limit — real understanding comes with knowing the individual and responding to her needs.
Alice M. Hammel and Ryan M. Hourigan are the authors of Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs: A Label-Free Approach and the forthcoming Teaching Music to Students with Autism. Alice Hammel teaches for James Madison and Virginia Commonwealth Universities, and has years of experience teaching instrumental and choral music. Ryan Hourigan is Assistant Professor of Music Education at Ball State University and a recipient of the Outstanding University Music Educator Award from the Indiana Music Educators Association. The companion website to Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs provides more resources.
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Subscribe to only music articles on the OUPblog via email or RSS.
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Image credit: (1) via iStockphoto. (2) Having fun in a music class. Photo by SolStock, iStockphoto.
The post Ways to be Autism aware appeared first on OUPblog.
April 1, 2013
April Fools! And the winner is…
This is no April fool. The results of the contest to write the best spoof of a Grove Music article are really in! We received many excellent submissions and thank all contributors for providing us with entertainment, hysterical laughter, and frequent groans of recognition. Our choice was extremely difficult.
Our contest judges included:
Deane Root, editor in chief of Grove Music Online, Professor of Music, and Director and Fletcher Hodges, Jr. Curator of the Center for American Music, University of Pittsburgh, has been immersed in Grove style since he worked under Stanley Sadie on the first New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. (Read what Deane has to say about the history of Grove Music)
Charles Hiroshi Garrett, Associate Professor of Musicology at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance serves as editor in chief for The Grove Dictionary of American Music, second edition. He is currently working on Joking Matters, a book that explores music, humor, and contemporary culture.
Anna-Lise Santella edits Grove Music/Oxford Music Online and Oxford’s other reference music publications.
The judges selected the three finalists whose articles appear below for their superior deployment of Grove style and excellent senses of humor. Deane Root has put the judges’ evaluations into words:
The bronze medal (though, on name alone, I was tempted to award the silver): “Silberstraum, Aurelia.” Author Jane Peppercorn (more commonly known as Susan Barbour) has created a spicy account of a subject who, we are told, spread herself around. While we appreciate the word play and the accompanying image, the photographs that Grove attaches to biographies are customarily those of the biographees. Moreover, we try to avoid devoting as much as a third of an entry to the subject’s love life. The judges especially enjoyed the many references to the Lord Peter Wimsey novels of Dorothy Sayers.
Richard Tauber (c1928-1939)
Photo: New York Public Library Digital Gallery
Silberstraum, Aurelia (b Linz, c 14 Feb 1893; dSalzburg, 21 June 1967). Austrian operatic soprano. She was also acclaimed for her interpretations of lieder and sacred music, especially Roman Catholic mass settings. The oldest of five daughters, she alone was born out of wedlock. Her parents, touring actors, placed her at a local convent. Hearing her unusually mature voice, the sisters encouraged her to sing in their services. Linz native Richard Anton Tauber heard her and offered to help her to a career. She suffered unrequited love for his son, tenor Richard Tauber, at one point following him to Vienna. Her subsequent liaison with a wealthy, musical English nobleman was said to have been engendered by his resemblance to Tauber.
In Vienna, Silberstraum reveled in violent, erotic roles including Donizetti’s Lucia, Strauss’s Salome and Elektra, and Verdi’s Desdemona, whose body on stage famously made a beautiful, if unnatural, death.
While Silberstraum was raised Catholic, her mother was of Jewish background; in 1936 the British Foreign Office smuggled her and her family out of Austria. Silberstraum’s first performance in London created a sensation: clouds of journalistic witnesses gathered to hear her sing Franck’s Panis Angelicus for a wedding at St. James’s Church, Piccadilly. One guest wrote of Silberstraum’s singing: “thought entire church would lift off the ground and float into the Empirean [sic]”; another noblewoman, however, objected to “operatic stars singing church music” as “indecent”.
Silberstraum intended to settle in New York City but was recruited by Howard Hansen of the Eastman School of Music upstate. After a quiet recital and teaching career, she retired to Salzburg.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
H.L. Delagardie Wimsey: Diary. Lbl MS 451211 (1936)
D.L. Sayers and J.P. Walsh: Thrones, Dominations (NY, 1998)
JANE PEPPERCORN
***
The silver medal: “Grundy, Donald.” Author Jonatan Ausrufer (better known by the English translation of his pseudonym, Jonathan Bellman) cries out for recognition of composers richly grounded in rural ethnicity, and knows his American-music, Pennsylvania German, and church history. Points are awarded for giving us the birds in so colorful a fashion; however, we strive to keep our language clean and clear of construable innuendo. Chuck Garrett adds that he liked this one because it was “creative and silly” and we were all particular fond of “the Heinrich of Allentown.”
Grundy, Donald [Dietrich Grundig] (b ?Lebanon, Penn., 1829; d Allentown, Penn., 30 February 1886). Pennsylvanian composer and choirmaster of German descent. Little is known of his youth in Pennsylvania German communities beyond his being a precocious boy intended for a career in church music. His nickname, “the Heinrich of Allentown,” resulted from the success of a youthful composition (Vogelkrieg: The Distelfink of Lehighton and the Bläßhuhn of Mauch Chunk, for wind band). He is also the originator of the “Whig theory” of American composition, wherein composers’ artistic vision is subject to and limited by the musical visions of their church consistories and (especially) the members’ spouses. This may have been a reaction to the Yoder Schism of 1856, from which his home church (St. Eberhard’s Lutheran) never really recovered, but the records of this period are fragmentary.
His most famous surviving work was the whimsically titled collection Amerikan Lider for Ril Amerikan Yugnt, the most popular of which was the “Haeli, Haeli hinkle dreck/Bis morey frii geht alles weck” rhyme. (A cantata for double choir and soloists based on this same text was left unfinished at his death.) Many of his hymns share the characteristic of bass interjections on the word Fedumsei! after soprano entrances. Grundy’s works are still occasionally heard in the churches of Lehigh County, though the rough humor of the original texts is usually softened.
JONATAN AUSRUFER
***
And finally, the gold medal goes to Maurizio Papa (a.k.a. Keith Clifton) for his article, “Del Marinar, Stella.” In this entry on what would appear to be a compass-like figure, author Maurizio Papa has sired a veritable likeness of Grove’s 19th-century opera-singers’ bios, incorporating sly references to real musicians and compositions with altered realities, in sum a travesty of travesties. (We would, however, incorporate the bibliographical citation into the article’s text.)
Del Marinar, Stella (b Faenza, 2 March 1824; d Rome, 26 July 1886). Italian soprano, librettist, and teacher. Following lessons in solfeggio, organ, and voice from her stepfather, Marcello Alvarado, Del Marinar studied briefly with Luigi Fagioli (a protégé of Senesino) before traveling to Venice in 1843, where she came to the attention of Giuseppe Baldi-Gallucci, impresario of the Teatro degli Angeli, who cast her in the title role of Rodolfo Minghella’s Amore per tutti (1845). She later achieved success in a wide variety of roles for Italian and French theaters, including the Théâtre Italien (Bellini’s Amina and Wagner’s Isolde), Teatro San Carlo (the title role of Mozart’s Figaro sung en travesti, down an octave), and La Scala (Gilda and Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto on alternate evenings). Vocal trouble after 1870 led to a second career as a librettist. Working in collaboration with composer Carlo Barilla, she specialized in gender-bending adaptations of popular operas. Among their fifteen efforts, L’Italiano in Algieri (Covent Garden, 1872), Le garçon du régiment (Opéra-Comique, 1873), and Nabucca (La Fenice, 1875) proved the most durable, remaining in the repertoires of their respective houses—with appropriately revised casting—for over a decade.
Hoping to revive her singing career after a second period of vocal distress, Del Marinar married conductor Riccardo Nucci in 1880, who led her final stage performances in the title role of Patrizio Ciofi’s Il gatto della luna (La Scala, 1881). A three-volume autobiography was penned in the year before her death. One of most gifted vocal stylists of her generation, she influenced several generations of singers while charming the surly Italian press, who dubbed her “la Marinissima.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
S. Del Marinar: Ma Vie douce en musique (Baden-Baden, 1885).
MAURIZIO PAPA
***
The judges also wish to confer an honorable mention to Helena Manchariot, better known as Helen Arney, for her hilarious article, “Ohrwurm, Grimwald.” While we didn’t think this article could have escaped detection by the editors — one of the requirements of the contest — we did want to acknowledge this display of musical humor. The Grove Music staff has recently been heard singing “C ist für Canon” to the tune of a song from Sesame Street. One of our judges did, however, suggest that the author might have done better with the pseudonym Helena Handbasket.
Ohrwurm, Grimwald (b Cuxhaven c1702; d Cuxhaven, 4 Nov 1769)
German composer, keyboardist and trombone player, famous for lengthy works of unchallenging technical nature.
Eldest son of a piemaker, Ohrwurn taught himself to play when the complete works of Pachelbel were donated by local merchant and loyal customer, Baldur Liebekuchen. Encouraged by Ohrwurm’s after-hours improvisations at the bakery, Liebekuchen paid for the 21 year old to study with JS Bach in Leipzig. Letters to his patron show little respect for learning, writing that the great master’s music was “just too fiddly”.
Back in Saxony, Ohrwurm took over the family business but continued to compose. Of many works, mostly written for local musicians, he is most distinctly remembered for his contribution to the Canon canon.
Usually focusing on a single ostinato bass pattern, his style of repetitive composition varied minutely over time and is said to have inspired later minimalists Satie, Reich, Glass and Nyman. In the late 1990s it seemed mysterious that Ohrwurm was not more well known, until analysis of recent works including Riley’s “In C” revealed intimate connections with Ohrwurm’s “C ist für Canon” of 1738 (Prof Rauchenfeuer et al, 2007). It would perhaps have been scandalous for any twentieth century figure to have championed this obscure composer whose inspiration so clearly manifests itself in their own work.
For Ohrwurm, life reflected art, and his personal circumstances were as circular as his music. Married five times, it has been suggested that he suffered an undiagnosed form of obsessive compulsive disorder (Verrückt wie ein Frosch, Garboy et al, 1985) which may have contributed to the downfall of each of his marriages as well as the stagnation of his musical talent.
His cause of death was recorded as copper poisoning, from repeated polishing of his beloved trombone.
HELENA MANCHARIOT
***
Congratulations, Keith! We’ll be contacting you soon about obtaining your prize: a year’s subscription to Grove Music Online and $100 in OUP books. Thanks to all of our contributors and a happy April Fool’s Day to all!
Anna-Lise Santella is the Editor of Grove Music/Oxford Music Online. When she’s not reading Grove articles, or writing about women’s orchestras — her article, “Modeling Music: Early Organizational Structures of American Women’s Orchestras” was recently published in American Orchestras in the Nineteenth Century, edited by John Spitzer (U. Chicago, 2012) — you can find her on twitter as @annalisep.
Oxford Music Online is the gateway offering users the ability to access and cross-search multiple music reference resources in one location. With Grove Music Online as its cornerstone, Oxford Music Online also contains The Oxford Companion to Music, The Oxford Dictionary of Music, and The Encyclopedia of Popular Music.
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On the 100th anniversary of the assembly line
On 1 April 1913, Henry Ford symbolically pressed a lever that catapulted factory workers into the modern era. That lever was the assembly line, which was started at his Highland Park factory on that date. From then on the organized chaos and time-wasting labor of the typical factory floor were transformed into a process that was much quicker and economical, and far less strenuous. It allowed production to explode exponentially, which was good for everyone, for in the process employees made far more money, and that money was enough to buy the sophisticated standardized product they were producing: the Model T. So Ford got happier workers, and a brand new market among them. His practices spread quickly throughout industry and throughout the world.
The Ford Motor Company assembly line (1928)
The assembly line was a technical marvel that allowed the complete system of mass production to evolve. The revolutionary $5 a day wage he announced in January 1914 sustained it. But from the beginning, there was a great deal of controversy over these things.
Ford’s competitors thought he had lost his mind, especially when they heard that part of that $5 wage was to be a share in profits. To them he was a flaming radical, infringing on a sacred right of capitalism, the right of its owners to keep the profit it earned. Ford however was influenced by the Emersonian notion of just compensation: if you didn’t offer that, you got something else instead, something not at all good. Later he was to say he believed workers had a right to a share in profits, and that owners had an obligation to provide it. This was a truly radical statement.
But in truth Ford had to do something like this to meet overwhelming demand. His plant was in turmoil as new assembly lines were set up every day, amid clangorous noise and a constant need to go faster and faster. Turnover among the workers was nearly complete, as many of them felt no incentive to bear these new working conditions.
Work was now democratized, broken down to tiny units of standardized effort that anyone could do with a few minutes of training, even if they didn’t speak English. But it was also mind-deadening and infinitely repetitive. Furthermore, craft and skill were taken from the workers lives. Henceforward, those qualities were to be found only in planners and engineers. The only thing that mattered for laborers was that they showed up and did their jobs. In 1936, when Charlie Chaplin’s satire on factory work, Modern Times, was shown in Pittsburgh, nobody laughed because it was too close to the truth. So the $5 day was Ford’s necessary solution to this situation. People were willing to put up with almost anything to get it.
There was another problem with mass production. This one was for Ford himself, and it was both intractable and unexpected. He always said he was in the business of making men in his factories, but the kind of men he made were modern urban factory workers, many drawn from the rural America in which Ford himself was raised. He expected that they would share the same old fashioned homespun American values that he espoused, but now they were living in urban society with time and money of their own to spend on their leisure. They wanted to participate in the good citified life they saw all around them. So jazz and the Charleston replaced fiddlers and barn dances, and speakeasies and film palaces became the places where the sheiks and shebas of the modern urban workplace congregated after hours, drinking and smoking and raising hell. Ford was horrified, especially when he realized that this situation was irreversible, and a surprising consequence of his life’s work. More and more, he pulled back from the sort of men he was making in his factories.
Today the progeny of the proletariat whom Ford helped into the middle class with his system are told education and skill are the keys to a better life in modern society. The problem is that that there is an ever widening economic gulf between those who have acquired education and skills and those who have not, which many fear could sooner or later undermine the cohesion of the social fabric. Ford’s solution to the problem of dealing with those who were left behind was to provide a system that could bring them up to speed with everyone else. It was a businessman’s solution to business problems, and not eleemosynary, but it served the times well. But who is providing a modern solution for the millions and tens of millions who have never gotten ahead, or feel themselves slipping further and further behind those who have the resources to get ahead? Telling them to go out and get what they do not have and cannot get is no solution. Henry Ford brought the uneducated, unskilled common man new levels of material prosperity with mass production. Would that someone of equal genius and equal concern might come along now with a similarly effective idea for the problems of the common man of today.
Vincent Curcio is the author of Henry Ford; Suicide Blonde: The Life of Gloria Grahame; Chrysler: The Life and Times of an Automotive Genius; and, with Steven Englund, Charlie’s Prep. He was the General Manager and Producer of Lucille Lortel’s White Barn Theater for 25 years.
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Image credit: Literary Digest 1928-01-07 Henry Ford Interview / Photographer unknown via Wikimedia Commons
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March Madness: Atlas Edition – Championship Round
While everyone is wondering which of the Elite Eight will make it to the Final Four, Mexico and Indonesia are battling it out for the title of “Country of the Year.” It’s time for the finals of March Madness: Atlas Edition! While players battle it out on the court, countries in our tournament are competing for the coveted title of “Country of the Year” based on statistics drawn at random from Oxford’s Atlas of the World: 19th Edition.
Last week we asked: By current estimates, which country’s capital is expected to be more populated in 2015?
Madagascar vs. Indonesia WINNER: Indonesia
Turkey vs. Mexico WINNER: Mexico
Did you know Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, is expected to have 21.5 million inhabitants by 2015, making it the fifth most populated city in the world? Mexico City is expected to have 19.1 million inhabitants by 2015. Even though Turkey and Madagascar didn’t fare as well on the population front, they still have the chance to compete for the respectable third place title.
For the Championship, we want to know: Which country has a larger industrial output (that includes mining, manufacturing, construction, and energy)?
For Third Place: Madagascar vs. Turkey
For the Championship: Indonesia vs. Mexico
To determine the winners in this week’s round, select the country that has a larger industrial output. You can print out our Atlas bracket (below) and place your bets, or play along on our Facebook page. Check back on 8 April to find out who the winner is!
Tournament schedule:
Sweet Sixteen: 11 March Which country has the highest GDP per capita?
Round of 8: 18 March Which country has a higher level of endemism?
Final Four: 25 March Which country’s capital will be more populated by 2015?
Championship: 1 April This week: Which country has a larger industrial output?
Winner Announced: 8 April
Oxford’s Atlas of the World — the only world atlas updated annually, guaranteeing that users will find the most current geographic information — is the most authoritative resource on the market. The Nineteenth Edition includes new census information, dozens of city maps, gorgeous satellite images of Earth, and a geographical glossary, once again offering exceptional value at a reasonable price.
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