Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Philip K. Dick

2010-01-28T18:18:53Z

Bossk538:

'''Philip K. Dick''' is a popular author of [[Science Fiction]] novels and short stories. Dick was born on December 16, 1928 in [[Chicago]] and passed away on March 2, 1982 due to heart failure. His books earned him several nominations for the [[Hugo Award]] and [[Nebula Award]], including winning the 1963 Hugo Award for ''The Man in the High Castle'' about an alternate future in which Germany and Japan had won World War II and divided the United States between them, Germany ruling the East Coast and Japan the West Coast.

Dick was an atheist who had a number of spiritual experiences, visions, and revelations, but attributed them to his drug use, or mental illness. He routinely asserted the weakness of faith, such as when he said, "reality is that which, when one stops believing in it, doesn't go away." Many of his stories involve intervention into human affairs by fantastic, space-dwelling deities.

In spite of his general left wing outlook, Dick was staunchly [[pro-life]], and wrote a story, "The Pre-Persons" in the wake of Roe v. Wade, in which Congress in a future USA rules that a child does not have a soul until he or she is able to perform algebra, and may be terminated at any time up to that.

==Writings Made Into Movies==
* ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' (1968) - ''[[Blade Runner]]'' (1982)
* "We Can Remember it For You Wholesale" (1966) - ''[[Total Recall]]'' (1990)
* ''Confessions of a Crap Artist'' (1975) - ''Confessions d'un Barjo'' (1992)
* "Second Variety" (1953) - ''Screamers'' (1995)
* "The Minority Report" (1956) - ''[[Minority Report]]'' (2002)
* "Impostor" (1953) - ''Impostor'' (2002)
* "Paycheck" (1953) - ''Paycheck'' (2003)
* ''A Scanner Darkly'' (1977) - ''A Scanner Darkly'' (2006)
* "The Golden Man" (1954) - ''Next'' (2007)

==References==
[http://www.philipkdick.com Philip K. Dick, the Official Site]

[[Category:Authors|Dick, Philip K]]
[[Category:Science fiction]]

Arnold Schoenberg

2010-01-28T02:37:53Z

Bossk538:

'''Arnold Schönberg''' (1874-1951), Austrian composer, was largely self-taught; not having any formal training until he was in his twenties. His early works, written around the turn of the century, especially the massive “Gurrelieder” orchestral song cycle and passionately lyrical “Verklärte Nacht” for strings, continue the Germanic tradition, notably of Wagner; however within little more than a decade he was to revolutionise Western music by abandoning the use of a tonal centre – a complete break away from traditional harmony.<ref>http://www.schoenberg.at/1_as/bio/biographie_e.htm (See under the year "1908")</ref>

This “free atonal” technique - developed in various genres: chamber pieces, songs, stage works - culminating in his most famous work, “Pierrot Lunaire”, for “song-speech” and 5 instruments (Op.21) - won him adherents as well as much criticism. With his two most prominent students, [[Anton Webern]] and [[Alban Berg]], he formed what is known as the “Second Viennese School” (a misnomer, really, as there never was a “First Viennese School”.) By 1923, Schönberg began codifying a new system of organizing atonal music, which he termed the "twelve-note" method of composition, later to be called "serialism." <ref>http://www.schoenberg.at/1_as/bio/biographie_e.htm (See under the year "1923")</ref> Webern and Berg immediately began composing with these new rules as well. Notable works of this period in Schönberg's development include the Variations for Orchestra (Op. 31) and the Piano Concerto (Op. 42). As radical as his music was, and despite its inaccessibility to the traditional “ear”, he was known to be technically proficient in the Brahmsian tradition and was in demand as a teacher. By 1924 he had gained sufficient official acceptance to be appointed professor at the Prussian Academy of Arts (where, as a Jew, he was forced to leave in 1933.)

He also wrote a number of books on composition, and was a highly respected painter in the Expressionist school.<ref>Norbert Wolf, Uta Grosnick, ''Expressionism,'' 2004</ref>

Schönberg moved to the United States in 1934 where his music turned somewhat back towards tonalism, although structurally more complex. He began teaching at UCLA and his compositional output declined. He died in Los Angeles in 1951.

==Quotes==
"I am at least as conservative as Edison and Ford have been. But I am, unfortunately, not quite as progressive as they were in their own fields."<ref>"My Attitude Towards Politics" (1950), Reprinted in _Style and Idea_, University of California Press</ref>

[[Category: Composers]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schoenberg, Arnold}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

English Suites, BWV 806-811

2010-01-27T17:40:35Z

Bossk538: initial revision

The '''English Suites''' are a set of six suites for the [[Harpsichord]], written by [[German]] composer J. S. Bach. The nickname "English Suites" was not given by Bach himself. Each of the suites begins with a prelude and the suit of dance movements follows the customary Baroque template of allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue, with one or more galanteries such as menuets or gavottes between the sarabande and gigue. The suites are arranged according to a descending tonal scheme: A major, A minor, G minor, F major, E minor, D minor. Notable recordings have been made by Gustav Leonhardt, Christophe Rousset, and others.