Ideological heterogeneity in mass plays in Flanders and the Netherlands.

In many European countries mass theatre was a widespread expression of

'community art' which became increasingly popular shortly before the First

World War. From Max Reinhardt's lavish open-air spectacles to socialist

workers' Laienspiel (lay theatre), theatre visionaries focused on ever larger

groups for entertainment as well as political agitation.

Despite wide research on the Soviet and German cases, examples from

the...

The value of Plutarch's perception of physical reality and his attitude towards the natural spectacle.

Plutarch was very interested in the natural world around him, not only in terms of its elementary composition and physical processes, but also with respect to its providential ordering and 'wonders'. His writings teach us a lot about his perception of physical reality and about his attitude to the natural spectacle. He found his greatest inspiration in the ontological and epistemological fr...

The impact of Hegelian philosophy on 19th-century music criticism.

Music's status as an art form was distrusted in the context of German idealist philosophy which exerted an unparalleled influence on the entire nineteenth century. Hegel insisted that the content of a work of art should be grasped in concepts in order to establish its spiritual substantiality (Geistigkeit), and that no object, word or image could accurately represent the content and meaning of a musical work. In the mid-ninete...