Martin Vučić (, ) is a Macedonian pop musician.

Biography
He finished elementary school in Skopje and expressed his interests in music at an early age. He started playing drums at the age of 3 and at the age of 7, he participated at numerous music festivals for children. He represented Macedonia at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv, finishing 17th with the song "Make My Day". He won second place at Ohrid Fest with the song "Rano mi e da se vrzam". The song was ranked as the 'Most Popular Song of the Year 2002' in the Republic of Macedonia. At the 2002 Budva festival in Serbia and Montenegro, he won the prize awarded by journalists and critics. He was voted as the 'Discovery of the Year 2002' in the country, winning an album contract with BKSound. He was also voted 'Discovery of the Year 2002' in the Republic of Macedonia. He won the Interpretation Award at Mak fest for the song "Harem". He was 'Singer of the Year 2004' in Macedonia and also won 'Duet of the Year'. He has been invited to appear on one of Turkey's most popular TV shows. In Turkey he is known as 'Macedonian Tarkan'. Vučić has been selected as an exclusive star for City Records.

To date, Martin has released two albums, Rano Mi E Da Se Vrzam (It's Too Early To Get Tied Down) and Muza (Muse). The title song "Muza" was composed by Macedonian artist Toše Proeski and the album also included a duet with Croatian star Danijela Martinović. Vučić recently promoted a Serbian version of "Muza", titled "Put Do Istine" ("Road To The Truth"). During the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest, Vučić was chosen to read out the Macedonian televotes to Greece and sang a song in Greek — "Maria Me Ta Kitrina" to Maria Menounos. Much later that year, he was a runner up at the Sunčane Skale Festival with the song "Tise Kucaj Srce Moje", a duet with Goran Karan.

In the media, he is famous for being a very good friend of Toše Proeski who composed the song title of the album Muza.

On 2 August 2008, Martin released an instrumental album containing tradition dance (ora) instrumentals composed by his grandfather, Pece Atanasovski.

He is a master of Music Art and is a docent at the Music Academy for percussion.

He works at Macedonian Philharmony and is a member of Big bend- Macedonian Radio Television.

In 2018, he became the general manager for the national ensemble of Macedonian folk dances and songs, Tanec.

Discography

Albums
Rano e da se vrzam/Rano mi je da se vezem
Muza
Makedonski zvuci/Macedonian Sounds

Singles
2005: "Make My Day"
2006: "Tise kucaj srce moje"
2007: "Biber i čokolada"

References

Living people
Musicians from Skopje
21st-century Macedonian male singers
Eurovision Song Contest entrants for North Macedonia
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2005
Macedonian pop singers
Macedonian people of Serbian descent
Year of birth missing (living people)
Beovizija contestants

Martin Vučić


The Sri Kamakshi Amman Temple is an ancient Hindu Temple dedicated to the goddess Kamakshi, one of the highest aspects of Adi Parashakti, the mighty goddess in Shaktism. The temple is located in the historic city of Kanchipuram, near Chennai, India. The temple houses one of the 108 Divya Desams of Vishnu and is called Tirukalavanur. The temple is dedicated mainly to Kamakshi and then to Vishnu in his form of Varaha. The temple is glorified by the 6th-9th century Vaishnavite Alvars (Tamil saint poets) in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham. Its construction is credited to the Pallava kings, whose capital was in the same city. This temple, along with the goddesses of Madurai and either Varanasi or Thiruvanaikovil, are the important centers of Shaktism in the state of Tamil Nadu. The present temple is also known as Kamakoti Peetha or Kamakota Nayaki Kovil, where Tripura Sundari had settled after killing a demon. This ancient temple was mentioned in Perunaraatrupadai, an ancient Tamil literature that praises the renowned Sangam era. King Thondaiman Ilandiraiyan of the Pallava dynasty, who ruled Kanchipuram, constructed the temple. Kamakshi is worshipped in the shrine in 5 forms, one of them was a golden idol, which was transported to Thanjavur due to the Muslim invasions of Kanchipuram. There are no other goddess temples in the city of Kanchipuram, apart from this one, which is unusual in a city that has hundreds of traditional temples. There are various legends that account for this fact.

According to a local legend, Adi Shankaracharya established the Sri Yantra in this shrine. The temple is also the center for the Kanchipuram Kamakoti Peetham monastery, with renowned pontiffs such as Chandrashekarendra Saraswati, also known as Maha Periyava, Jayendra Saraswathi and the current pontiff, Vijayendra Saraswati.

Origin
In the Sangam text Perumpanatruppadai, the temple has been mentioned as Kamavelkottam along with Kumarakottam, which was then ruled by the Sangam-era King Thondaiman Ilandiraiyan. In some Hindu scriptures, Kamakshi Amman is considered in line with Meenakshi at Madurai, and Vishalakshi at Varanasi or in some accounts, Akilandeswari at Thiruvanaikovil. Kamakshi is the only Shakti shrine centered across all Shiva temples in Kanchipuram which do not have separate shrines for Goddess Shakti. Kamakshi is praised as 'Sri Mata' (respected mother) as the first name in the Lalitha Sahasranama. Tantric texts such as Tripura Rahasya, Bahvrucha Upanishad, as well as Puranas such Brahmanda Purana and Markandeya Purana discuss how Tripura Sundari resides in Kanchipuram.

According to mythology, The gods were tormented by a demon, Bhandasura and the gods performed penance to appease the goddess Adi Parashakti in the form of parrots, perching on champaka trees at the temple, since parrots always perch on the right hand of the goddesses Meenakshi and Kamakshi. Pleased with their penance, the goddess is said to have appeared through the Bila gate and killed Bhandasura. The idol of Kamakshi has been described as representing her three forms: Sthula (symbolizing Dhyana and Yoga), Sukshma (symbolizing Mantra and Yantra), and Karana or Vasanatmaka. It is also said that Shiva, the inseparable husband of Shakti worshipped the goddess in the four yugas assuming the forms of the sages Krodha Bhattaraka in the Satya Yuga, Parashurama in the Treta Yuga, Dhaumya in the Dwapara Yuga, and Adi Shankara in the Kali Yuga. The Bila gate leading to the Bilakasha tree can be seen today in front of the Tapa Kamakshi shrine inside the sanctum. It is also said that Shiva assumed the form of Durvasa on her emergence from the tree and first worshipped her by chanting the Sri Vidya Tantra and consecrating a huge structure of the Sri Yantra in a yoni shaped trough, in-front of the Kamakshi idol. Durvasa is thus the traditional teacher of Sri Vidya and Adi Shankara is credited for consecrating the current Sri Yantra sculpture. The deities who composed the Lalita Sahasranama can be seen around the Sri Yantra in the same positions as depicted in Manidvipa, the mythological abode of Kamakshi. A shrine dedicated to Hayagriva, an avatar of Vishnu and the sage Agastya can be seen in the third enclosure of the temple, at the location where Agastya learned the Lalita Sahasranama from Hayagriva.

Architecture
The temple occupies an area of . The sanctum houses the image of Kamakshi in a seated posture and is flanked by the trinity of Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma. There are smaller shrines of Bangaru (Golden) Kamakshi, Adi Shankara. and Saraswati around the sanctum. The picture provides a glimpse view of the Temple Pond (pushkarini) and Elephant Shed. Every day the temple rituals start with the Gau (sacred cow) Pooja and Gaja (elephant) Pooja. There is a separate shed with elephants, which performs pooja to the deity by trumpeting every day early morning at 5 AM. In front of the sanctum, there is a Gayatri Mandapam to the right of the shrine we can see the deities Arupa Lakshmi and Swarupa Lakshmi. The temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu. The idol in the Adi Kamakshi temple which is close to the current Kamakshi temple, is called by various names like Kirtimati, Devagarbha in extant Tantric works like Tantrachudamani. She has four hands containing in each of them respectively, goad, noose, Abhayamudra, and a bowl, similar to the depictions of the goddesses Mariamman and Karumari. This description corresponds to those extant old tantric works.

Festivals
Four worship services are offered each day. The annual festival falls in Spring, in the Tamil month of Masi, which runs from mid-February to mid-March. During this Mahotsavam, the most important day to be celebrated is Maasi Pooram, which is the Avirbhava dhina of Lalitha Maha Tripura Sundari in Kanchi. Other than that, the chariot festival (Ther) and float festival, (Theppam) are held. Other festivals include Navaratri, Aadi and Aippasi Pooram, Sankara Jayanthi and Vasanta Utsavam in the Tamil month of Vaikasi. All Fridays are considered sacred, though the Fridays in the Tamil months of Adi (mid-July to mid-August) and Thai (mid-January to mid-February) are celebrated.

Shrines

Goddess Kamakshi is worshipped in the shrine in five forms:

 Shri Kamakshi Para Bhattarika – Kamakshi is the main deity of the temple. The idol is seated in the center of the inner sanctum of the shrine from the Gayatri Mandapa. According to the test Kamakshi Rahasya, this hall was built by the celestials with the four walls representing the four Vedas and the twenty-four pillars representing the twenty-four syllables of the Gayatri Mantra. The idol, which forms the inner core of the Gayatri Hall, is enshrined at the center of the hall as Kamakshi. She is seated on a throne made from the five Brahmas and sports in her four hands a noose, goad, a sugarcane bow, and flower arrow. The idol is depicted seated in the Padmasana (Lotus pose) and faces south-east.

 Tapa Kamakshi – This form of Kamakshi can be seen to the right of the main idol and close to the Bila gate. Legend says that Parvati was separated from Shiva, and appeared first as Annapurneshwari in either Varanasi or Horanadu and then following the advice of sage Katyayana, moved to Kanchipuram to worship Shiva as Ekambareswara under the mango tree near the Vegavati river and married him.
 Anjana Kamakshi – Also known as Arupa Lakshmi (formless Lakshmi), her shrine is situated to the left of the main idol, facing the north and in front of the Saubhagya Ganapati shrine. According to legend, Lakshmi, due to a curse, is said to have performed penance on her husband Vishnu's insistence to regain her lost beauty in this place and, due to the incident, a Lakshmi shrine was built and offerings of kumkuma are offered to her here before being accepted by the devotees. While she represents Lakshmi in her form as Lakshmi Bija, she represents Kamakshi in the form of Kamakalakshara which is inherent in the Lakshmi shrine.
 Swarna (Golden) Kamakshi – The shrine of this deity, also known as Bangaru Kamakshi in Telugu, is situated in the second enclosure. It is said that this form was created by Kamakshi herself, from her third eye to serve as the consort of Shiva as Ekambareswara. After marrying Shiva, she was known as Goddess Elavarkuzhali. The original idol that appeared is seen today in Thanjavur. The golden idol was transported to Thanjavur by Kamakshi Dasa, in the wake of Muslim invasions. The current idol is made of panchaloha, an alloy of 5 metals.
 Utsava Kamakshi – The shrine of Utsava Kamakshi, the idol which is brought out during processions, is located in the second enclosure. The idol is accompanied on either side by idols of Saraswati and Lakshmi. While the gods and goddesses are generally accompanied by their consorts in most cases, on account of Kamakshi being powerful than Shiva, there is no shrine for Shiva here. Tripura Sundari, who appeared from the fire for the destruction of Bhandasura, was presented to the world by Brahma with the name Kamakshi. Thus, Kamakshi is the special epithet of the goddess. As she brings joy to the mind of Shiva alias Kameshwara, she is referred to as Kameshwari.

Significance

In front of the main shrine, is the shrine of Durvasa, considered to be an avatar of Shiva. There are thirty-two chief assistants of the goddess eg. Surya, Chandra, Kubera, etc. Among these, Kamadeva, Lopamudra and Durvasa are the chief assistants. Durvasa represents the sattva power of the goddess, used to protect and correct her devotees, and thus her limitless power and grace. It is Durvasa who is believed to have established the shrine by consecrating a Sri Yantra in front of the idol. He composed the Lalita Stavaratna, also called the Arya Dwishati, describing Manidvipa, the abode of Kamakshi. He also composed the Tripura Mahimna Stotra, a complete shastra in itself, and also the Para Shambho Mahima Stotra. Due to a curse by Saraswati, he was born as a deaf and mute man and was graced by Kamakshi with Anugraha Diksha, relieving a part of his curse.

Shakti Peetha

The ancient story of Daksha yajna and Sati's self-immolation is the main theme in the origin of Shakti Peethas.

Shakti Peethas are the divine temples of Adi Parashakti. The cause of the presence of the goddess is due to the falling of body parts of the corpse of Sati, Shiva's first wife. The navel part of Sati's body is believed to have fallen here in Kanchipuram, giving the name Nabhi Peetham. There are 51 Shakti Peethas linked to the 51 alphabets in Sanskrit, out of which 18 are the most visited.

Tirukkalvanur Divya Desam
In the temple, the Tirukkalvanur Divya Desam, the temple dedicated to Vishnu in his form of Varaha is present. The original temple was a little further from the Kamakshi temple and due to the ruined state of the old shrine, the deity is now placed inside the Kamakshi temple, in the belief that Vishnu is the brother of Kamakshi.

References

External links

 Temple Information Website
 Templenet entry for temple
 Photos of Kamakshi temple of Kanchipuram, 1280x960

Hindu temples in Kanchipuram
Parvati temples
Divya Desams
Shakti Peethas

Kamakshi Amman Temple


Henry Du Pré Labouchère (9 November 1831 – 15 January 1912) was an English politician, writer, publisher and theatre owner in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. He is now most remembered for the Labouchère Amendment, which for the first time criminalised all male homosexual activity in the United Kingdom.

Labouchère, who came from a wealthy Huguenot banking family, was a junior member of the British diplomatic service before briefly serving in Parliament in 1865–68. He lived with the actress Henrietta Hodson from 1868, and they married in 1887. He made a name for himself as a journalist and theatre producer, first buying a stake in The Daily News and in 1876 founding the magazine Truth, which he bankrolled through an extensive series of libel suits. In 1880, he returned to Parliament as the Liberal member for Northampton, and became a key figure in the radical Home Rule wing of the party. He was a controversial figure, and opposition from Queen Victoria as well as from senior Liberals ensured that he was never given a ministerial position. He became increasingly unpopular because of his opposition to the Second Boer War, and resigned from politics in 1906, when he left Britain and retired to Italy.

Early life

Labouchère was born in London to a family of Huguenot extraction, the eldest of three sons and six daughters of John Peter Labouchère (d. 1863) and Mary Louisa née Du Pré (1799–1863). John, who settled at Broome Hall, was a partner in the banking house of Thomas Hope, and then in Deacon's; his uncle, also called Henry Labouchère (d. 1869), entered politics and served in Parliament from 1826 to 1859, when he was made a peer as Baron Taunton. Despite disapproving of Labouchère, his uncle helped the young man's early career and left him a sizeable inheritance when he died leaving no male heir. His grandfather Pierre (Peter) César Labouchère was also a partner in Hope's, and married a daughter of Sir Francis Baring. His mother Mary was from an English nabob family, the daughter of James Du Pré MP, a nephew of Lord Caledon, and his wife Madeline Maxwell, a niece of the Duchess of Gordon.

Labouchère was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where, he later said, he "diligently attended the racecourse at Newmarket", losing £6,000 in gambling in two years. He was accused of cheating in an examination, and his degree was withheld. Leaving Cambridge, he was sent to South America to look after family business interests there; however, he ended up working in a circus troupe in Mexico and lived for several months in an Ojibwe camp near Minneapolis.

Early diplomatic and political career
While he was in the US, Labouchère (without his prior knowledge) was found a place in the British diplomatic service by his family.  Between 1854 and 1864, he served as a minor diplomat in Washington, Munich, Stockholm, Frankfurt, Saint Petersburg, Dresden, and Constantinople.  He was, however, not known for his diplomatic demeanour, and acted impudently on occasion. He went too far when he wrote to the Foreign Secretary to refuse a posting offered to him, "I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's despatch, informing me of my promotion as Second Secretary to Her Majesty's Legation at Buenos Ayres. I beg to state that, if residing at Baden-Baden I can fulfil those duties, I shall be pleased to accept the appointment." He was politely told that there was no further use for his services.

The year after his dismissal, Labouchère was elected at the 1865 general election as a member of parliament (MP) for Windsor, as a Liberal. However, that election was overturned on petition, and in April 1867 he was elected at a by-election as an MP for Middlesex. At the 1868 election he lost the seat by 110 votes. He did not return to the House of Commons for 12 years.

Theatre producer, journalist and writer
In 1867, Labouchère and his partners engaged the architect C. J. Phipps and the artists Albert Moore and Telbin to remodel the large St. Martins Hall to create Queen's Theatre, Long Acre. A new company of players was formed, including Charles Wyndham, Henry Irving, J. L. Toole, Ellen Terry, and Henrietta Hodson.  By 1868, Hodson and Labouchère were living together out of wedlock, as they could not marry until her first husband died in 1887. Labouchère bought out his partners and used the theatre to promote Hodson's talents; the theatre made a loss, Hodson retired, and the theatre closed in 1879. The couple finally married in 1887. They had one child together, Mary Dorothea (Dora) Labouchère (1884–1944).

During the break in his Parliamentary career, Labouchère gained renown as a journalist, editor, and publisher, sending witty dispatches from Paris during the Siege of Paris in 1870–1871, noting the eating of zoo elephants, donkeys, cats and rats when food supplies ran low. This series of articles helped restore the circulation of the Daily News, in which he had bought a stake in 1868. His unflinching style gained a large audience for first his reporting, and later his personal weekly journal, Truth (started in 1876), which was often sued for libel. With his inherited wealth, he could afford to defend such suits. Labouchère's claims to being impartial were ridiculed by his critics, including W. S. Gilbert (who had been an object of Labouchère's theatrical criticism) in Gilbert's comic opera His Excellency (see illustration at right).  In 1877, Gilbert had engaged in a public feud with Labouchère's lover, Henrietta Hodson.

Labouchère was a vehement opponent of feminism; he campaigned in Truth against the suffrage movement, ridiculing and belittling women who sought the right to vote. He was also a virulent anti-semite, opposed to Jewish participation in British life, using Truth to campaign against "Hebrew barons" and their supposedly excessive influence, "Jewish exclusivity" and "Jewish cowardice". One of the victims of his attacks was Edward Levy-Lawson, proprietor of The Daily Telegraph. In 1879 there was a much-reported court case following a fracas on the doorstep of the Beefsteak Club between Labouchère and Levy-Lawson. The committee of the club expelled Labouchère, who successfully sought a court ruling that they had no right to do so.

Return to Parliament

Labouchère returned to Parliament in the 1880 election, when he and Charles Bradlaugh, both Liberals, won the two seats for Northampton. (Bradlaugh's then-controversial atheism led Labouchère, a closet agnostic, to refer sardonically to himself as "the Christian member for Northampton".)

In 1884, Labouchère unsuccessfully proposed legislation to extend the existing laws against cruelty to animals. In 1885, Labouchère, whose libertarian stances did not preclude a fierce homophobia, drafted the Labouchère Amendment as a last-minute addition to a Parliamentary Bill that had nothing to do with homosexuality. His amendment outlawed "gross indecency"; sodomy was already a crime, but Labouchère's Amendment now criminalised any sexual activity between men. Ten years later the Labouchère Amendment allowed for the prosecution of Oscar Wilde, who was given the maximum sentence of two years' imprisonment with hard labour. Labouchère expressed regret that Wilde's sentence was so short, and would have preferred the seven-year term he had originally proposed in the Amendment.

During the 1880s, the Liberal Party faced a split between a Radical wing (led by Joseph Chamberlain) and a Whig wing (led by the Marquess of Hartington), with its party leader, William Ewart Gladstone straddling the middle. Labouchère was a firm and vocal Radical, who tried to create a governing coalition between the Radicals and the Irish Nationalists that would exclude or marginalise the Whigs. This plan was wrecked in 1886, when, after Gladstone came out for Home Rule, a large contingent of both Radicals and Whigs chose to leave the Liberal Party to form the Liberal Unionist Party allied with the Conservatives.

Between 1886 and 1892, a Conservative government was in power, and Labouchère worked tirelessly to remove them from office. When the government was turned out in 1892, and Gladstone was called to form an administration, Labouchère expected to be rewarded with a cabinet post. Queen Victoria refused to allow Gladstone to offer either Labouchère or Charles Dilke an office, however, as she had a strong personal dislike of them – "she would never allow such horrid men to enter the Govt". Her dislike stemmed from his editorship of Truth, which she felt had insulted the Royal Family. According to the historian Vernon Bogdanor, this was the last time a British monarch vetoed a prime minister's appointment of a cabinet minister. However, Gladstone may have been happy to drop Labouchère given his lack of political support. Likewise, the new foreign secretary, Lord Rosebery, a personal enemy of Labouchère, declined to offer him the ambassadorship to Washington for which Labouchère had asked.

Through the 1890s, Labouchère was a critic of both Liberal and Conservative Imperial policies; he demanded an enquiry into Rhodesian policy in 1893–94, and in 1895 sat on the commission enquiring into the Jameson Raid. However, his position became gradually alienated from his party and from public opinion, as he strongly opposed the South African War and argued for peace. His reputation was also tarnished by a series of financial scandals: in 1897, he was accused in the press of share-rigging, using Truth to disparage companies, advising shareholders to dispose of their shares and, when the share prices fell as a result, buying them himself at a low price. He failed to reply to the accusations, and his reputation suffered. A later pamphlet by Henry Hess of The Critic, in 1905, revealed further financial misdealings.

Retirement
When the Liberal party took power in December 1905, Labouchère was not offered any political office by Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the new prime minister. He was disappointed in this – he had been a strong supporter of Campbell-Bannerman – and retired from Parliament the following month, choosing not to stand at the 1906 general election. His only political reward from the new government was a privy councillorship.

He retired to Florence, where he died seven years later, leaving a fortune of half a million pounds sterling to his daughter Dora, who was by then married to Carlo, Marchese di Rudini.

Sources

Further reading

 "Henry Du Pre Labouchere". The Twickenham Museum.

Works (examples)
 Diary of the besieged resident in Paris, Hurst and Blackett, London 1871
 The Brown Man's Burden, a parody by Labouchère of Rudyard Kipling's "The White Man's Burden"; Truth and Literary Digest (Feb. 1899)

Notes and references
Notes

References

External links

1831 births
1912 deaths
English agnostics
Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
English writers
People educated at Eton College
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
UK MPs 1865–1868
UK MPs 1880–1885
UK MPs 1885–1886
UK MPs 1886–1892
UK MPs 1892–1895
UK MPs 1895–1900
UK MPs 1900–1906
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
LGBT law in the United Kingdom
British emigrants to Italy

Henry Labouchère


Henry III, Count of Gorizia (c. 1263-1323) was a member of the Meinhardiner dynasty.

Biography
He was the son of Count Albert I of Gorizia and his wife, Euphemia of Silesia-Głogów.  In 1295-1299 he accompanied the father in his invasion of Istria against the patriarchate of Aquileia, conquering Plomin, Labin,  Buzet and Tolmin, although the arrival of a large patriarchal army of the  forced them to return.

He succeeded his father as Count of Gorizia in 1304, inheriting the fiefs in Friuli, Istria, Carniola and Carinthia, while his brother Albert II received only  the Puster Valley.

During the feudal wars that marked the initial reign of Ottobuono di Razzi as patriarch of Aquileia, Henry was initially allied with Rizzardo IV da Camino. The two conquered several castles and strongholds, including that of Spilimbergo. However, in 1310 Henry changed side, receiving the position of general captain of the patriarchate and pushing back the Treviso troops from Friuli. He was also named podestà of Trieste in 1311.

Marriage and issue
He first married in 1297 to Beatrix da Camino, daughter of Gerard.  With her, he had one son,   Meinhard V.

In 1322, Henry III married his second wife, Beatrix of Lower Bavaria, the daughter of Stephen I, Duke of Bavaria (1271-1310).  With her, he had another son,  John Henry IV (1322-1338)

Ancestry

References

1263 births
1323 deaths
Counts of Gorizia
13th-century people from the Holy Roman Empire
14th-century people from the Holy Roman Empire

Henry III, Count of Gorizia


Durga is one of the major deities in Hinduism worshipped as the supreme goddess and is known by different terms such as Shakti or Adi Parashakti. In Bengal, she is said to be the mother of Ganesha and Kartikeya as well of Saraswati and Lakshmi. She is considered a divine mother, a guardian, and a warrior who protects divine law and righteousness, and these are her main role.

See also
 Hudur Durga

Hindu gods and goddesses

Durga


The Sacred Heart Church is a Catholic kirk locatit in Wigtoun on Sooth Main Street. It is a kirk o the Roman Catholic Diocese o Gallowa.

A Gothic early Inglis style, brick kirk bi Edinburgh airchitect John Garden Brown biggit in 1879.

Cruciform wi a bellcote on the sooth gable, it consists o a nave, apse, north an  sooth transepts,  sacristy an seats aboot 300. The altar wis made bi M. Poussielgue-Rusand,  o Paris. The tot cost o the building wis aboot £1,500.

The fower lancet windaes oan the facade support a niche containing a statue o the Lord Jesus Christ.

The kirk is yin o anly twa biggins, baith kirks,  kennt tae hae been biggit bi the architect, whae deid age 27.

The kirk is forby uist as a venue throu the Wigtown Book Festival.

It is listed Category C(S)

Offeecial Wabsteid

http://www.rckirkcudbright.org.uk/wigtown/4589659879

References

Roman Catholic kirks in Scotland

The Sacred Heart Church


Hough End Hall is a historic house now in Chorlton-cum-Hardy (originally in Withington), Manchester, North West England. It was built in 1596 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I by Sir Nicholas Mosley (c. 1527 – 1612), when he became Lord of the Manor of Manchester and of the dependent Manor of Withington (Chorlton-cum-Hardy was at the time a township within the Manor of Withington). The Mosleys were an influential Mancunian family from the 16th century onwards, and prominent in the affairs of the Manchester district for two and a half centuries.

Description
The house stands on Nell Lane, just north-east of Barlow Moor Road. Behind it runs the route of the Metrolink to East Didsbury and Manchester Airport, and Chorlton Brook runs past it on the north side (Mauldeth Road West passes it on the southern side). It is a brick, three-storey brick building with gabled wings, which are ornamented with balls. The central portion of the house is surmounted with a parapet in the form of three smaller gables with similar finials. The chimneys are square shafts set diagonally on square bases.

History and restoration
Over the years the house has been considerably altered, with new windows and structural alterations. The original oak nail-studded back door is now inside the house, and a five-light window on the return of the staircase bay is built up and can only be seen from inside. The house has previously been used as a toolhouse, a blacksmith's shop and a farmhouse. The interior had been stripped of its original oak fittings by the 20th century; a handsome staircase at the east end of the house was removed by Lord Egerton to Tatton Hall. Restoration in the later 20th century proved controversial.

In 1917 some of the lands of the Hough End estate lying to the north-east of the hall, and north of the Midland Railway line, were taken over by the War Department for use as Alexandra Park Aerodrome until closure in 1924; it is now used as a public recreational space.

Present day
Today, Hough End Hall is surrounded by large concrete office blocks, partially hiding it from public view. It has Grade II* listed building status. As mentioned above, part of the former grounds (along Mauldeth Road West) had been the site of the Alexandra Park Aerodrome, until 1924. They are now used for the Greater Manchester Police police horse and dog training centre, the Hough End Centre, Broughton Park RUFC's ground, and Hough End Playing Fields, including the site of the new swimming pool for Chorlton-cum-Hardy and Withington.

There was a fundraising campaign by The Friends of Hough End Hall to turn the building into a community centre. In late 2015, a local group purchased the building and said it would be called Hough End Hall Academy, adding that it will be used for educational purposes.

See also

Grade II* listed buildings in Greater Manchester
Listed buildings in Manchester-M21

References

R. A. Scholefield "Manchester's Early Airfields", a chapter in Moving Manchester: aspects of the history of transport in the city and region since 1700; edited by Derek Brumhead and Terry Wyke. Lancashire & Cheshire Antiquarian Society, Manchester, 2004, (as the one hundredth volume of the Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society: ISSN 0950-4699)

Grade II* listed buildings in Manchester
Houses in Manchester
Withington
Houses completed in 1595
Elizabethan architecture

Hough End Hall


The Bogenhauser Künstlerkapelle was a German recorder consort. It was founded 1890 in Munich and existed until World War II.

Members were the sculpturers Georg Petzold and professor Heinrich Düll, the architect Sedlmaier, the Drs. Rentsch and Aichinger as well as the musician Josef Wagner. The consort played on original recorders, supplemented by a guitar and kettledrums. The Kapelle performed in the Residenztheater and the Deutsches Museum in Munich. Their music was broadcast by radio. The consort was probably the first German recorder consort of modern time.

Literature
 Hermann Moeck: Zur Nachgeschichte und Renaissance der Blockflöte
 Windkanal 2006 Nr. 3: Peter Harlan im Spiegel der Geschichte
 Monika Lustig: Die Holzblasinstrumente der Bogenhauser Künstler-Kapelle. (Michaelsteiner Konferenzberichte.)
 Fritz Buek: Die Gitarre und ihre Meister

Video of the first concert with the repertory of the Bogenhauser Künstlerkapelle in the original cast. ensemble arcimboldo, 2011

Video of the recording of the Bogenhauser Künstlerkapelle repertory in the original cast. ensemble arcimboldo, 2017

German musical groups

Bogenhauser Künstlerkapelle


Caccamo Cathedral (Italian - duomo di San Giorgio Martire, matrice di Caccamo or Cattedrale di Caccamo) is the main church in the Italian city of Caccamo in Sicily. The largest church in the city, it belongs to the Archdiocese of Palermo and the 'arcipretura' of Caccamo. The present building on Piazza Duomo dates to 1616. Its dedication to the warrior saint George the Martyr originated with the Normans and was in memory of their victory over the Saracens near Cerami in 1090.

History
According to popular tradition the city's first duomo was the church of Sant'Anna e Santa Venera, now destroyed, on the margins of the ancient 'Terravecchia' quarter just outside Caccamo Castle. Around 1094 the first mother church was built, which seems to have been a small chapel for the Norman royal court - it is recorded on a stone inscription now inside the present building.

The first church dedicated to Saint George was on the same site, funded by the Chiaramonte family. Between 1477 and 1480 it was extended and enriched with several artworks, expressions of the Sicilian Renaissance, thanks to the generosity of the Enríquez-Prades-Cabrera family. According to Agostino Inveges, the most authoritative historical source, the church remained small even after this expansion.

In 1606 the jurors, the Enríquez and Amato families and canon Paolo Muscia decided to build a new larger mother church to meet the city's now-expanded population. A design from commissioned from the Termitan architect Vincenzo La Barbera. In 1614 the church was rebuilt in the Sicilian Baroque style, funded by donations from the city's merchants. All the artworks from the previous building were placed in the new one, which now also houses subsequent commissions and artworks from other abandoned or destroyed churches.

Exterior

Interior

South aisle

North aisle

Transepts

South

North

Apse and chancel

Sacristy

Gallery

References

Bibliography

Roman Catholic churches completed in 1616
Churches in the metropolitan city of Palermo
17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy
1616 establishments in Italy
Caccamo

Caccamo Cathedral


Drisheen () is a type of blood pudding made in Ireland. It is distinguished from other forms of Irish black pudding by having a gelatinous consistency.  It is made from a mixture of cow's, pig's or sheep's blood, milk, salt and fat, which is boiled and sieved and finally cooked using the main intestine of an animal (typically a pig or sheep) as the sausage skin. The sausage may be flavoured with herbs, such as tansy, or served with tansy sauce. The recipe for drisheen varies widely from place to place and it also differs depending on the time of year. Drisheen is a cooked product but it usually requires further preparation before eating. How this is done varies widely from place to place.

In the Irish cities of Cork and Limerick, the dish is often paired with tripe, where it is known as "packet and tripe". In Limerick the combination of tripe and drisheen is considered a meal particular to and strongly associated with Limerick.

In culture
Drisheen is mentioned in James Joyce's Ulysses, Finnegans Wake and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. It is also described in  celebrated travel writer H. V. Morton's 1930 book, In Search of Ireland.

See also

 Offal
 Blood sausage
 List of Irish dishes
 List of sausages

References

External links

 A modern recipe
 Cork Slang
 Recipe for Packet and Tripe

Irish cuisine
Savory puddings
Blood sausages
Irish meat dishes

Drisheen


Martin Glyn Murray (born 1 February 1966 in Helsingør, Denmark) is a Danish-born British actor who has played Mark Thompson in Families and he has also been in The Bill, Sharpe, Aristocrats, Enigma, Enemy at the Gates, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Made in Estonia, and Heartbeat. He also enjoyed some chart success as the lead guitarist in The Mock Turtles, most notably with the single "Can You Dig It?".

External links

British male soap opera actors
1966 births
Living people
People from Helsingør

Martin Glyn Murray


Vaslav (or Vatslav) Nijinsky (; ; , ; 12 March 1889/18908 April 1950) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish ancestry. He is regarded as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century. He was celebrated for his virtuosity and for the depth and intensity of his characterizations. He could dance en pointe, a rare skill among male dancers at the time, and was admired for his seemingly gravity-defying leaps.

Nijinsky was introduced to dance by his parents, who were senior dancers with the travelling Setov opera company, and his early childhood was spent touring with the company. His elder brother Stanislav and younger sister Bronislava "Bronia" Nijinska also became dancers; Bronia also became a choreographer, working closely with him for much of his career.

At age nine, Nijinsky was accepted at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, the pre-eminent ballet school in the world. In 1907, he graduated and became a member of the Imperial Ballet, starting in the rank of coryphée instead of in the corps de ballet, and already taking starring roles.

In 1909, he joined the Ballets Russes, a new ballet company started by Sergei Diaghilev. The impresario took the Russian ballets to Paris, where high-quality productions such as those of the Imperial Ballet were not known. Nijinsky became the company's star male dancer, causing an enormous stir amongst audiences whenever he performed. In ordinary life, he appeared unremarkable and was withdrawn in conversation. Diaghilev and Nijinsky became lovers; the Ballets Russes gave Nijinsky the chance to expand his art and experiment with dance and choreography; he created new directions for male dancers while becoming internationally famous.

In 1912, Nijinsky began choreographing original ballets, including L'après-midi d'un faune (1912) to music by Claude Debussy, Le Sacre du Printemps (1913) to music by Igor Stravinsky, Jeux (1913), and Till Eulenspiegel (1916).  Faune, considered one of the first modern ballets, caused controversy because of its sexually suggestive final scene. At the premiere of Le Sacre du Printemps, fights broke out in the audience between those who loved and hated this startling new style of ballet and music. Nijinsky originally conceived Jeux as a flirtatious interaction among three males, although Diaghilev insisted it be danced by one male and two females.

In 1913, Nijinsky married Hungarian Romola de Pulszky while on tour with the company in South America. The marriage caused a break with Diaghilev, who soon dismissed Nijinsky from the company. The couple had two daughters together, Kyra and Tamara Nijinska.

With no alternative employer available, Nijinsky tried to form his own company, but this was not a success. He was interned in Budapest, Hungary, during World War I, under house arrest until 1916. After intervention by Diaghilev and several international leaders, he was allowed to go to New York for an American tour with the Ballets Russes. Nijinsky became increasingly mentally unstable with the stresses of having to manage tours himself and deprived of opportunities to dance. After a tour of South America in 1917, and due to travel difficulties imposed by the war, the family settled in St. Moritz, Switzerland. His mental condition deteriorated; he was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1919 and committed to a mental asylum. For the next 30 years, he was in and out of institutions, never dancing in public again.

Biography

Vaslav Nijinsky was born in 1889 or 1890 in Kiev, Russian Empire (now Ukraine), as Wacław Niżyński, to ethnic Polish parents, touring dancers Tomasz Niżyński (b. 7 March 1862) and Eleonora Bereda (b. 28 December 1856). Nijinsky was christened in Warsaw. He identified himself as Polish although he grew up in the interior of Russia with his parents and he had difficulty speaking Polish.

Eleanora, along with her two brothers and two sisters, was orphaned while still a child. She started to earn a living as an extra in Warsaw's Grand Theatre Ballet (Polish: Teatr Wielki), becoming a full member of the company at age thirteen. In 1868 her talent was spotted and she moved to Kiev as a solo dancer. Tomasz Niżyński also attended the Wielki Theatre school, becoming a soloist there. At age 18 he accepted a soloist contract with the Odessa Theatre. The two met, married in May 1884 and settled into a career with the traveling Setov opera company. Tomasz was premier danseur, and Eleanora a soloist. Eleanora continued to tour and dance while having three children, sons Stanislav (b. 29 December 1886 in Tiflis) and Vaslav; and daughter Bronislava ('Bronia', b. 8 January 1891 in Minsk). She had depression, which may have been a genetic vulnerability shared in a different form by her son Vaslav. Both boys received training from their father and appeared in an amateur Hopak production in Odessa in 1894.

After Josef Setov died about 1894, the company disbanded. Thomas attempted to run his own company, but was not successful. He and his family became itinerant dancers, the children appearing in the Christmas show at Nizhny Novgorod. In 1897 Thomas and Eleanora separated after Thomas had fallen in love with another dancer, Rumiantseva, while touring in Finland. Eleanora moved to 20 Mokhovaya Street in St Petersburg with her children. She persuaded a friend from the Wielki Theatre, Victor Stanislas Gillert, who was at the time teaching at the Imperial Ballet School, to help get Vaslav into the school. He arranged for the noted teacher Enrico Cecchetti to sponsor the application. Bronia entered the school two years after Vaslav. Their elder brother Stanislav had had a fall from a window when young and seemed to have suffered some brain damage. Vaslav and Bronia, just two years apart, became very close as they grew. As he got older, Stanislav became increasingly mentally unstable and would have fierce tantrums. He was admitted to an asylum for the insane in 1902.

Imperial Ballet School

In 1900, Nijinsky joined the Imperial Ballet School, where he initially studied dance under Sergei Legat and his brother Nikolai. He studied mime under Pavel Gerdt; all three men were principal dancers at the Imperial Russian Ballet. At the end of the one year probationary period, his teachers agreed upon Nijinsky's exceptional dancing ability and he was confirmed as a boarder at the school. He appeared in supporting parts in classical ballets such as Faust, as a mouse in The Nutcracker, a page in Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, and won the Didelot scholarship. During his first year, his academic studies had covered work he had already done, so his relatively poor results had not been so much noted. He did well in subjects which interested him, but not otherwise.

In 1902 he was warned that only the excellence of his dancing had prevented his expulsion from the school for poor results. This laxity was compounded through his school years by Nijinsky's frequently being chosen as an extra in various productions, forcing him to be away from classrooms for rehearsals and to spend nights at performances. He was teased for being Polish, and nicknamed "Japonczek" for his faintly Japanese looks at a time Russia was at war with Japan. Some classmates were envious and resented his outstanding dancing ability. In 1901 one of the class deliberately caused him to fall, leading to his concussion and being in a coma for four days.

 became his teacher in 1902, and awarded him the highest grade he had ever given to a student. He was given student parts in command performances in front of the Tsar of Paquita, The Nutcracker and The Little Humpbacked Horse. In music he studied piano, flute, balalaika and accordion, receiving good marks. He had a good ability to hear and play music on the piano, though his sight reading was relatively poor. Against this, his behaviour was sometimes boisterous and wild, resulting in his expulsion from the school in 1903 for an incident involving students shooting at the hats of passers-by with catapults while being driven to the Mariinsky Theatre in carriages. He was readmitted to the school as a non-resident after a sound beating and restored to his previous position after a month's probation.

In 1904, at the age of 14, Nijinsky was selected by the great choreographer Marius Petipa to dance a principal role in what proved to be the choreographer's last ballet, La Romance d'un Bouton de rose et d'un Papillon. The work was never performed due to the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War.

On Sunday, 9 January 1905, Nijinsky was caught in the Bloody Sunday massacre in St. Petersburg, where a group of petitioners led by Father Gapon attempted to present their petition to the Czar. Soldiers fired upon the crowd, leading to an estimated 1000 casualties. Nijinsky was caught in the crowd on Nevsky Prospect and propelled toward the Winter Palace. Imperial cavalry troops charged the crowd, leaving him with a head wound. The following day, he returned to the scene with a friend whose sister was missing. She was never found.

Nijinsky became calmer and more serious as he grew older, but continued to make few friends, which continued through his life. His reserve and apparent dullness made him unappealing to others except when he danced.

The 1905 annual student show included a pas de deux from The Persian Market, danced by Nijinsky and Sofia Fedorova. Oboukhov amended the dance to show off Nijinsky's abilities, drawing gasps and then spontaneous applause in the middle of the performance with his first jump.

In 1906, he danced in the Mariinsky production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, in a ballet sequence choreographed by Michel Fokine. He was congratulated by the director of the Imperial Ballet and offered a place in the company although he was a year from graduation. Nijinsky chose to continue his studies. He tried his hand at choreography, with a children's opera, Cinderella, with music by another student, Boris Asafyev. At Christmas, he played the King of the Mice in The Nutcracker. At his graduation performance in April 1907, he partnered Elizaveta Gerdt, in a pas de deux choreographed by Fokine. He was congratulated by prima ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska of the Imperial Ballet, who invited him to partner her. His future career with the Imperial Ballet was guaranteed to begin at the mid-rank level of coryphée, rather than in the corps de ballet. He graduated second in his class, with top marks in dancing, art and music.

Early career
Nijinsky spent his summer after graduation rehearsing and then performing at Krasnoe Selo in a makeshift theatre with an audience mainly of army officers. These performances frequently included members of the Imperial family and other nobility, whose support and interest were essential to a career. Each dancer who performed before the Tsar received a gold watch inscribed with the Imperial Eagle. Buoyed by Nijinsky's salary, his new earnings from giving dance classes, and his sister Bronia's employment with the ballet company, the family moved to a larger flat on Torgovaya Ulitsa. The new season at the Mariinsky theatre began in September 1907, with Nijinsky employed as coryphée on a salary of 780 roubles per year.

He appeared with Sedova, Lydia Kyasht and Karsavina. Kchessinska partnered him in La Fille Mal Gardée, where he succeeded in an atypical role for him involving humour and flirtation. Designer Alexandre Benois proposed a ballet based upon Le Pavillon d'Armide, choreographed by Fokine to music by Nikolai Tcherepnin. Nijinsky had a minor role, but it allowed him to show off his technical abilities with leaps and pirouettes. The partnership of Fokine, Benois and Nijinsky was repeated throughout his career. Shortly after, he upstaged his own performance, appearing in the Bluebird pas de deux from the Sleeping Beauty, partnering Lydia Kyasht. The Mariinsky audience was deeply familiar with the piece, but exploded with enthusiasm for his performance and his appearing to fly, an effect he continued to have on audiences with the piece during his career.

In subsequent years, Nijinsky was given several soloist roles at the Mariinsky. In 1910, Mathilde Kschessinska selected Nijinsky to dance in a revival of Petipa's Le Talisman. Nijinsky created a sensation in the role of the Wind God Vayou.

Ballets Russes

A turning point for Nijinsky was his meeting the Russian Sergei Diaghilev, a celebrated and highly innovative producer of ballet and opera, as well as art exhibitions. He concentrated on promoting Russian visual and musical art abroad, particularly in Paris. The 1908 season of colorful Russian ballets and operas, works mostly new to the West, was a great success, leading him to plan a new tour for 1909 with a new name for his company, the now famous Ballets Russes. He worked closely with choreographer Michel Fokine and artist Léon Bakst, and later with other contemporary artists and composers. Nijinsky and Diaghilev became lovers for a time, and Diaghilev was deeply involved in directing and managing Nijinsky's career.

1909 opening season
During the winter of 1908/9, Diaghilev started planning for the 1909 Paris tour of opera and ballet. He collected a team including designers Alexandre Benois and Léon Bakst, painters Nicholas Roerich and Konstantin Korovin, composers Alexander Glazunov and Nikolai Tcherepnin, regisseurs  and Alexander Sanine and other ballet enthusiasts. As a friend and as a leading dancer, Nijinsky was part of the group. His sister wrote that he felt intimidated by the illustrious and aristocratic company. Fokine was asked to start rehearsals for the existing Le Pavillon d'Armide and for Les Sylphides, an expanded version of his Chopiniana. Fokine favoured expanding the existing Une Nuit d'Egypte for a ballet.

Diaghilev accepted the idea of an Egyptian theme, but he required a comprehensive rewrite based on new music, by which Fokine created a new ballet Cléopâtre. To round out the program, they needed another ballet. Without sufficient time to compose a new work, they decided on a suite of popular dances, to be called Le Festin. Anna Pavlova, Karsavina and Nijinsky were chosen as principal dancers. Fokine insisted that Ida Rubenstein would appear as Cleopatra, and Nijinsky insisted that his sister should have a part. Fokine noted Nijinsky's great ability at learning a dance and precisely what a choreographer wanted. Diaghilev departed for Paris in early 1909 to make arrangements, which were immediately complicated on the day of his return, 22 February 1909, by the death of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovitch, who had sponsored an application by Diaghilev for an imperial subsidy of 100,000 roubles for the tour.

Rehearsals started on 2 April at the Hermitage Theatre, which the company had been granted special permission to use, along with loans of scenery. No sooner had rehearsals started that the permission was withdrawn, disappearing as had the imperial subsidy. Diaghilev managed to raise some money in Russia, but he had to rely significantly on Gabriel Astruc, who had been arranging theatres and publicity on behalf of the company in France, to also provide finance. Plans to include Opera had to be dropped because of the lack of finances, and logistical difficulties in obtaining necessary scenery at short notice and for free.

Diaghilev and Nijinsky travelled to Paris ahead of the rest of the company. Initially Nijinsky stayed at the Hôtel Daunou. He moved to the Hôtel de Hollande together with Diaghilev and his secretary, Alexis Mavrine, before the arrival of the others. Members of the company had noticed Diaghilev keeping a particularly proprietorial eye on Nijinsky during rehearsals in Russia. They took the travel arrangements and accommodation as confirmation of a relationship. Prince Lvov had visited Nijinsky's mother in St Petersburg, telling her tearfully that he would no longer be taking a special interest in her son, but he advanced a significant sum to Diaghilev towards the tour's expenses. Mavrine was known to have been Diaghilev's lover, but left the tour together with Olga Pedorova shortly after it had begun.

The season of colorful Russian ballets and operas, works mostly new to the West, was a great success. The Paris seasons of the Ballets Russes were an artistic and social sensation; setting trends in art, dance, music and fashion for the next decade. Nijinsky's unique talent showed in Fokine's pieces such as Le Pavillon d'Armide (music by Nikolai Tcherepnin); Cleopatra (music by Anton Arensky and other Russian composers) and a divertissement La Fête. His expressive execution of a pas de deux from The Sleeping Beauty (Tchaikovsky) was a tremendous success.

Later seasons

In 1910, he performed in Giselle, and Fokine's ballets Carnaval and Scheherazade (based on the orchestral suite by Rimsky-Korsakov). His portrayal of "Petrushka," the puppet with a soul, was a remarkable display of his expressive ability to portray characters. His partnership with Tamara Karsavina, also of the Mariinsky Theatre, was legendary, and they have been called the "most exemplary artists of the time".

In January 1911 he danced in Giselle at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg for the Imperial Ballet, with the Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna in attendance. His costume, which had been designed by Benois and used in Paris before, caused a scandal, as he danced in tights without the then-common trousers. He refused to apologize and was dismissed from the Imperial Ballet. It is possible that he was not altogether unhappy about this development, as he was now free to concentrate on the Ballets Russes.

Ballets choreographed by Nijinsky

Nijinsky took the creative reins and choreographed ballets which pushed boundaries and stirred controversy. His ballets were L'après-midi d'un faune (The Afternoon of a Faun, based on Claude Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune) (1912); Jeux (1913); and Till Eulenspiegel (1916). These introduced his audiences to the new direction of modern dance. As the title character in L'après-midi d'un faune, in the final tableau, he mimed masturbation with the scarf of a nymph, causing a scandal; he was defended by such artists as Auguste Rodin, Odilon Redon and Marcel Proust. Nijinsky's new trends in dance caused a riotous reaction at the Théâtre de Champs-Élysées when they premiered in Paris.

In The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du Printemps), with music by Igor Stravinsky (1913), Nijinsky created choreography that exceeded the limits of traditional ballet and propriety. The radically angular movements expressed the heart of Stravinsky's radically modern score. Violence broke out in the audience as The Rite of Spring premiered. The theme of the ballet, based on pagan myths, was a young maiden who sacrificed herself by dancing until she died. The theme, the difficult and challenging music of Stravinsky, and Nijinsky's choreography, led to a violent uproar; Diaghilev was pleased with the notoriety.

Marriage
Nijinsky's work in choreographing ballets had proved controversial. They were time-consuming to rehearse and badly received by critics. Diaghilev asked him to begin preparing a new ballet, La Légende de Joseph, based on the Bible. Aside from Nijinsky's difficulties, Diaghilev came under pressure from financial backers and theatre owners who wanted productions more in the style of previous successful work. Although Diaghilev had become unhappy with Fokine's work, thinking he had lost his originality, he returned to him for two new ballets, including Joseph. Relations between Diaghilev and Nijinsky had deteriorated under the stress of Nijinsky's becoming principal choreographer and his pivotal role in the company's financial success. Diaghilev could not face Nijinsky to tell him personally that he would no longer be choreographing the ballet Joseph, but instead asked his sister Bronia Nijinska to deliver the bad news.

The company was to embark on a tour of South America in August 1913. Nijinska, who had always worked closely with her brother and supported him, could not accompany the tour because she had married in July 1912 and become pregnant. In October 1912 their father had died while on tour with his dance company, causing another stress for the siblings. Diaghilev did not accompany the South American tour, claiming he had been told that he would die on the ocean. Others have suggested the reason had more to do with wanting to spend time away from Nijinsky and enjoy a holiday in Venice, "where perhaps adventures with pretty dark-eyed boys awaited him". Nijinsky set sail on a 21-day sea voyage in a state of turmoil and without the people who had been his closest advisers in recent years.

The tour party included Romola de Pulszky, whose father Count Charles Pulszky was a Hungarian politician, and mother Emilia Márkus was a noted actress. In March 1912 the recently engaged Romola was taken to see the Ballets Russes in Budapest by her prospective mother-in-law and was greatly impressed. Nijinsky had not been performing, but she returned the following day and saw him: "An electric shock passed through the entire audience. Intoxicated, entranced, gasping for breath, we followed this superhuman being... the power, the featherweight lightness, the steel-like strength, the suppleness of his movements.." Romola broke off her engagement and began following the Ballets Russes across Europe, attending every performance she could. Nijinsky was difficult to approach, being always accompanied by a 'minder'. However, Romola befriended Adolf Bolm, who had previously visited her mother, thereby gaining access to the company and backstage. She and Nijinsky shared no common language; she spoke French but he knew only a little, so many of their early conversations involved an interpreter. When first introduced to her, he gained the impression she was a Hungarian prima ballerina and was friendly. Discovering his mistake, he ignored her thereafter.

Romola did not give up. She persuaded Diaghilev that her amorous interests lay with Bolm, that she was rich and interested in supporting ballet. He allowed her to take ballet lessons with Enrico Cecchetti, who accompanied the troupe coaching the dancers. Nijinsky objected to her taking class with the professionals. Cecchetti warned her against becoming involved with Nijinsky (describing him as "like a sun that pours forth light but never warms"), but Diaghilev's endorsement meant that Nijinsky paid her some attention. Romola took every opportunity to be near Nijinsky, booking train compartments or cabins close to his. She was likely warned that he was homosexual by Marie Rambert, whom Romola befriended and who was also in love with Nijinsky. As a devout Catholic, she prayed for his conversion to heterosexuality. She referred to him as Le Petit, and wanted to have his child.

On board ship, Romola had a cabin in first class, which allowed her to keep a watch on Nijinsky's door, while most of the company were exiled to second class. She befriended his masseur and was rewarded with a rundown on his musculature. Determined to take every opportunity, she succeeded in spending more and more time in his company. The unexpected friendliness was noticed by Baron de Gunsbourg, an investor in the Ballets Russes, who had been tasked with keeping an eye on the company. Instead of reporting to Diaghilev on what was occurring, Gunsbourg agreed to act on Nijinsky's behalf in presenting a proposal of marriage to Romola. Romola thought a cruel joke was being played on her, and ran off to her cabin crying. However, Nijinsky asked her again, in broken French and mime, and she accepted. Although Gunsbourg had a financial interest in Ballets Russes, he was also interested in forming his own company, and a split between Diaghilev and his star dancer might have presented him with an opportunity.

When the ship stopped at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the couple went straight to buy wedding rings. Adolph Bolm warned Romola against proceeding, saying "It will ruin your life". Gunsbourg hurried to arrange the marriage, getting permission by telegram from Romola's mother. A quick wedding could take place once the ship arrived at Buenos Aires, Argentina; the couple were married on 10 September 1913 and the event was announced to the world's press. Back in Europe, Diaghilev "gave himself to a wild orgy of dissipation...Sobbing shamelessly in Russian despair, he bellowed accusations and recriminations; he cursed Nijinsky's ingratitude, Romola's treachery, and his own stupidity".

As the company was due to start performing immediately, the couple had no honeymoon. A few days after the marriage, Nijinsky tried to teach Romola some ballet, but she was not interested. "I asked her to learn dancing because for me dancing was the highest thing in the world", "I realized that I had made a mistake, but the mistake was irreparable. I had put myself in the hands of someone who did not love me." Romola and Nijinsky did not share accommodations until after the season was safely underway, when she was eventually invited to join him in separate bedrooms in his hotel suite. She "almost cried with thankfulness" that he showed no interest in making love on their wedding night.

Dismissal from Ballets Russes
On returning to Paris, Nijinsky anticipated returning to work on new ballets, but Diaghilev did not meet him.  Eventually he sent a telegram to Nijinsky informing him that he was no longer employed by the Ballets Russes. Nijinsky had missed a performance in Rio when Romola was ill, and only in the case of a dancer's own illness, certified by a doctor, was the dancer allowed to miss a performance. Diaghilev also usually dismissed dancers who married. This was perhaps beside the point, since Nijinsky had never had a contract, nor wages, all his expenses having been paid by Diaghilev. His mother also received an allowance of 500 francs per month (other senior dancers had received 200,000 francs for a six-month season). Fokine was re-employed by Diaghilev as choreographer and premier danseur, accepting on the condition that none of Nijinsky's ballets would be performed. Leonide Massine joined the company as the new attractive young lead for Joseph.

The Ballets Russes had lost its most famous and crowd-pulling dancer, but Nijinsky's position was even more difficult. He appears not to have appreciated that his marriage would result in a break with Diaghilev's company, although many others immediately expected this would be the result. The Ballets Russes and the Imperial Russian ballet were the pre-eminent ballet companies in the world and uniquely had permanent companies of dancers staging full-scale new productions. Nijinsky now was "an experimental artist. He needed roles that would extend his gifts, and above all, he needed to choreograph. For these things he did need the Ballets Russes, which at that time was the only forward-thinking ballet company in the world."

Not only had Nijinsky previously left the Imperial ballet on doubtful terms, but he had not been granted exemption from compulsory military service in Russia, something that was normally given to its dancers. He could find only two offers, one a position with the Paris Opera, which would not start for more than a year; the other to take a ballet company to London for eight weeks to perform as part of a mixed bill at the Palace Theatre. Anna Pavlova sent him a caustic telegram, reminding him that he had disapproved some years before when she had appeared there in vaudeville. On another occasion, he had told a reporter, "One thing I am determined not to do, and that is to go on the music-hall stage".

Bronia was still in St Petersburg following the birth of her child, and Nijinsky asked her to be part of his new company. She was glad to do so, being concerned at how well he could cope without his customary supporters. When she arrived, there was friction between her and Romola: Bronia was critical that the new central figure in her brother's life showed so little organisational ability; Romola resented the closeness between brother and sister both in their shared language and in ability to work together in dance. The final company had only three experienced dancers: Nijinsky and Bronia plus her husband. Scenery was late, Fokine refused to allow the use of his ballets, there was inadequate time to rehearse, and Nijinsky became "more and more nervous and distraught". Diaghilev came to the opening night in March 1914.

The audience divided between those who had never seen ballet, who objected to the delays necessary for scene changes, and those who had seen Nijinsky before, who generally felt something was lacking ("He no longer danced like a god"). On another night, when the orchestra played music during the scene change so as to calm the audience, Nijinsky, having expressly banned this, flew into a rage and was discovered half dressed and screaming in his dressing room. He had to be calmed down enough to perform. He jumped on a stagehand who had flirted with Romola ("I had never seen Vaslav like that"). A new program was to be performed for the third week, but a packed house had to be told that Nijinsky was ill with a high temperature and could not perform. He missed three days, and the management had had enough. The show was cancelled, and Nijinsky was left with a considerable financial loss. Newspapers reported a nervous breakdown. His physical vulnerability had been aggravated by the great stress.

Later life

Romola was pregnant, so the couple returned to Budapest, Austro-Hungary, to his mother-in-law Emilia Markus' house. Their daughter Kyra was born on 19 June 1914. With the start of the Great War (World War I), Nijinsky was classified as an enemy Russian citizen. He was confined to house arrest in Budapest and could not leave the country. The war made problems for the Ballets Russes too; the company had difficulty recruiting dancers and Fokine returned to Russia.

Diaghilev started negotiations in October 1914 for Nijinsky to work again for the company, but could not obtain release of the dancer until 1916. The complex negotiations included a prisoner exchange with the United States, and agreement that Nijinsky would dance and choreograph for the Ballets Russes' tour. King Alfonso XIII of Spain, Queen Alexandra of Denmark, Dowager Russian Empress Marie Feodorovna, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, Pope Benedict XV and President Wilson at the urging of Otto Kahn all interceded on his behalf.

Nijinsky arrived in New York on 4 April 1916. The tour had already started in January with a number of problems: Faun was considered too sexually explicit and had to be amended; Scheherazade, including an orgy between blacks and whites, did not appeal to Americans; and ballet aficionados were calling for Nijinsky. Romola took over negotiations, demanding that Diaghilev pay Nijinsky for the years he had been unpaid by the Ballets Russes before he would dance in New York. This was settled after another week's delay by a down payment of $13,000 against the $90,000 claimed, plus a fee of $1000 for each performance in America.

Negotiations with Otto Kahn of the New York Metropolitan Opera led to an additional tour of the US being agreed to for the autumn. Kahn did not get on with Diaghilev and insisted Nijinsky should manage the tour. Massine and Diaghilev returned to Europe, leaving Nijinsky to dance and manage a company of more than 100 for a salary of $60,000. Nijinsky was also to prepare two new ballets. Rehearsals for Till Eulenspiegel did not go well; Nijinsky's poor communication skills meant that he could not explain to dancers what he wanted. He would explode into rages. Pierre Monteux, the conductor, refused to take part in performances because he did not want to be associated with failure. Nijinsky twisted his ankle, postponing the season's opening for a week and his own appearance by two weeks. Rehearsals for Eulenspiegel had not been completed, and it had to be improvised during its first performance. It was still well received, and Nijinsky's performance in Faun  was considered better than Massine's. As the tour progressed, Nijinsky's performances received steady acclaim, although his management was haphazard and contributed to the tour's loss of $250,000.

His last professional public performance was during a South American tour, with pianist Arthur Rubinstein in a benefit in Montevideo for the Red Cross on 30 September 1917, at age twenty-eight. Rubinstein wept when he saw Nijinsky's confusion that night. It was around this time that signs of his schizophrenia had become apparent to members of the company, including Bourman. Nijinsky and his wife moved to St. Moritz, Switzerland, where he tried to recover from the stresses of the tour. Also in 1917, Bronia and Vaslav lost their older brother Stanislav, who died in a hospital in Petrograd. Accounts vary as to the cause of death. He had been institutionalized for many years.

On Sunday, 19 January 1919, Vaslav Nijinsky made one last public appearance: a solo improvised performance at the Suvretta House in St Moritz. The crowd consisted of skiers, hotel guests, wealthy visitors from abroad, war refugees, and assorted social climbers. Bertha Asseo,  a family friend, played the piano. Vaslav stood still for a good while before he finally started moving. His dance reflected a wide range of feelings, from sadness and anger to joyfulness. His strong feelings towards the devastation of the war, and people who did nothing to stop it, were also reflected in his dance.

Nijinsky's diary, which he wrote from January to early March 1919, expressed his great fear of hospitalization and confinement. He filled it with drawings of eyes, as he felt himself under scrutiny, by his wife, a young doctor Frenkel, and others. Finally, Romola arranged a consultation in Zurich with the psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler in 1919, asking her mother and stepfather for help in getting Nijinsky there. His fears were realized; he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and committed to Burghölzli. After a few days, he was transferred to the Bellevue Sanatorium, "a luxurious and humane establishment directed at that time by Ludwig Binswanger." In 1920, Nijinsky's second daughter Tamara was born. She never saw him dance in public.

For the next 30 years, Nijinsky was in and out of psychiatric hospitals and asylums. During 1945, after the end of the war, after Romola had moved with him to Vienna, he encountered a group of Russian soldiers in an encampment, playing traditional folk tunes on a balalaika and other instruments. Inspired by the music and hearing a language from his youth, he started dancing, astounding the men with his skills. Drinking and laughing with them helped him start to speak again. He had maintained long periods of almost absolute silence during his years of illness. His wife Romola had protected them by staying for a time at the border of Hungary and Austria, trying to keep out of major areas of fighting.

From 1947, Nijinsky lived in Virginia Water, Surrey, England, with his wife. He died from kidney failure at a clinic in London on 8 April 1950 and was buried in London. In 1953, his body was moved to Montmartre Cemetery in Paris and reinterred beside the graves of Gaétan Vestris, Théophile Gautier, and Emma Livry.

Legacy
Nijinsky's daughter Kyra married the Ukrainian conductor Igor Markevitch, and they had a son named Vaslav. The marriage ended in divorce.

His second daughter Tamara Nijinsky grew up with her maternal grandmother, never getting to see her father dance. Later she served as executive director of the Vaslav & Romola Nijinsky Foundation, founded by her mother, to preserve art and writing associated with her parents, and her father's dances.

Nijinsky's Diary was written during the six weeks in 1919 he spent in Switzerland before being committed to the asylum to Zurich. It reflected the decline of his household into chaos. He elevated feeling and action in his writing. It combined elements of autobiography with appeals for compassion toward the less fortunate.
Discovering the three notebooks of the diary years later, plus another with letters to a variety of people, his wife published a bowdlerized version of the diary in 1936, translated into English by Jennifer Mattingly. She deleted about 40 per cent of the diary, especially references to bodily functions, sex, and homosexuality, recasting Nijinsky as an "involuntary homosexual". She also removed some of his more unflattering references to her and others close to their household. She moved sections around, obscuring the "march of events" obvious in the original version and toning down some of the odder portions, including trying to distinguish between sections in which he writes as God and others as himself. (In the original all such sections are written the same.)

In 1995, the first unexpurgated edition of The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky was published, edited by New Yorker dance critic Joan Acocella and translated by Kyril FitzLyon. Acocella notes that the diary displays three elements common to schizophrenia: "delusions, disorganized language, and disorganized behavior." It also demonstrates that Nijinsky's thought was showing a "breakdown in selective attention;" his associations would connect in ever-widening circles. A New York Times review said, "How ironic that in erasing the real ugliness of his insanity, the old version silenced not only Nijinsky's true voice but the magnificently gifted body from which it came. And how fortunate we are to have them both restored."

Nijinsky is immortalized in numerous still photographs, many of them by E. O. Hoppé, who photographed the Ballets Russes seasons in London extensively between 1909 and 1921. No film exists of Nijinsky dancing; Diaghilev never allowed the Ballets Russes to be filmed because he felt that the quality of film at the time could never capture the artistry of his dancers. He believed that the reputation of the company would suffer if people saw their performance only in the short, jerky films of the period.

Cultural depictions

In ballet

Nijinsky, Clown of God, choreography by Maurice Béjart, to music by Pierre Henry and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. First performed by the Ballet of the Twentieth Century, Brussels, 1971.
Vaslav (1979) Hamburg Ballet, choreographer John Neumeier
Nijinsky – Divine Dancer (1990) by Joseph Hölderle (composer) and Juha Vanhakartano (choreographer). The libretto (Juha Vanhakartano) is based on Nijinsky's diary. The two act ballet (1st "Life" / 2nd "Death") was commissioned in 1989 on the occasion of Nijinsky's 100th birthday (1889 or 1890) by the Finnish National Opera and it was premiered on 18 January 1990 at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki.
Nijinski, choreography by Marco Goecke, to music by Frédéric Chopin. First performed by Gauthier Dance at the Theaterhaus in Stuttgart, Germany. In performance at the Staatsoper Hannover in the 2019/2020 season.

In plays
In 1974–75, Terence Rattigan was commissioned to write a play about Nijinsky and Diaghilev for the BBC's Play of the Month series. Romola Nijinsky objected to her late husband's being depicted as a homosexual by a writer she believed was homosexual. Rattigan withdrew the work, prohibiting its production in his lifetime. He died in 1977. The play was staged posthumously at Chichester Festival Theatre in 2013.
A Cavalier for Milady: A Play in Two Scenes [c. 1976] is a one-act play by Tennessee Williams that includes a fantastical, non-literal appearance by Nijinsky. In the play, an adult woman named Nance (who is dressed a Victorian era child) has been left by her mother with a hostile "babysitter," who is distressed by the attention that Nance is paying to a Greek statue of a "naked man". After the babysitter leaves, an apparition of Nijinsky appears, comforting Nance.
David Pownall's Death of a Faun (1998) used the death of impresario Sergei Diaghilev as a catalyst to rouse Nijinsky out of a Swiss sanatorium "to pay tribute". Nicholas Johnson, a Royal Ballet dancer, portrayed the schizophrenic Nijinsky.
Leonard Crofoot wrote Nijinsky Speaks (1998) as a monologue spanning the dancer's career; he played the role of Nijinsky and did his own dancing.
William Luce's Nijinsky (2000), a two-act play for six performers, had its world premiere (in Japanese) at Parco Theater in Tokyo with John Tillinger directing. .
 ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 5 (2011), actor/playwright Jade Esteban Estrada portrayed Nijinsky in this solo musical
 Nijinsky – The Miraculous God of Dance (2011), Sagiri Seina performed the title role in the Takarazuka Revue production in Japan.
 Étonne-Moi (2014), actor Jean Koning portrayed Nijinsky in the critically acclaimed solo play in the Netherlands.
 Letter To a Man (2016), directed by Robert Wilson with Mikhail Baryshnikov and played by Mikhail Baryshnikov is a staging of Nijinsky's diaries that chronicle the onset of his schizophrenia in 1919, his isolation, tormented sexuality and spirituality, and preoccupation with erstwhile lover and Ballets Russes founder Sergei Diaghilev.

In film
 Nijinsky (a.k.a. The Dancer) (planned film, 1970), the screenplay was written by American playwright Edward Albee. The film was to be directed by Tony Richardson and star Rudolf Nureyev as Nijinsky, Claude Jade as Romola and Paul Scofield as Diaghilev, but producer Harry Saltzman canceled the project during pre-production. According to Richardson, Saltzman had overextended himself and did not have the funds to make the film.
 Nijinsky (1980), directed by Herbert Ross, starring professional dancers George de la Peña as Nijinsky and Leslie Browne as Romola, with actors Alan Bates as Diaghilev and Jeremy Irons as Fokine. Romola Nijinsky had a writing credit for the film.
 Anna Pavlova (1983), directed by Emil Loteanu; portrayed by Mikhaill Krapivin.
 The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky (2001), written, shot, edited and directed by Paul Cox. The screenplay was based on Nijinsky's diaries, narrated by Derek Jacobi, with related imagery, including several Leigh Warren Dancers portraying Nijinsky.
 Riot at the Rite (2005), a TV drama, directed by Andy Wilson. Explores the first performance of The Rite of Spring in Paris. Nijinsky is portrayed by Adam Garcia.
 Nijinsky & Neumeier Soulmates in Dance (2009), documentary on influence of Nijinsky's work on the contemporary American choreographer John Neumeier. Produced by Lothar Mattner for WDR/ARTE.
 Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (2009), a French film directed by Jan Kounen about an affair between Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky. Nijinsky is portrayed in scenes depicting the creation of The Rite of Spring. Nijinsky is played by Polish actor Marek Kossakowski.

In photography
 Kirstein, Lincoln. Nijinsky Dancing. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1975.

In poetry
 The War of Vaslav Nijinsky (1981) by poet Frank Bidart
 "September 1, 1939" (1939) by poet W. H. Auden
 Mention in Leonard Cohen's poem Two Went to Sleep
 Nijinsky by Swedish poet Lars Forssell
 Mention in Soumitra Mohan's long Hindi poem, Luqman Ali (1968)
 Mentioned in the epic poem The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You by Frank Stanford: "look at my legs I am the Nijinsky of dreams..."
 Nijinsky by Greek poet Giorgos Seferis
At the Autopsy of Vaslav Nijinsky by poet Bridget Lowe (2013)
 Mention in İsmet Özel's poem Dibace
 Mention in Leopoldo María Panero's poem, Mancha azul sobre el papel (1979)

In novels
 Vaslav (2010) by Dutch novelist Arthur Japin
 The Chosen Maiden (2017) by Canadian author Eva Stachniak

In fine arts

On 11 June 2011, Poland's first sculpture of the Polish/Russian dancers Vaslav Nijinsky and his sister Bronislava Nijinska was unveiled in the Teatr Wielki's foyer. It portrays them in their roles as the Faun and the Nymph from the ballet L'après-midi d'un faune. Commissioned by the Polish National Ballet, the sculpture was made in bronze by the well-known Ukrainian sculptor Giennadij Jerszow. Nijinsky was also portrayed by Auguste Rodin. It was cast posthumously in 1912.

In music
 In 2011, composer Jade Esteban Estrada wrote the song "Beautiful" for the musical, ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 5.
 A verse of the song "Dancing" from the album Mask (1981) by Bauhaus refers to Nijinsky "...Dancing on hallowed ground/Dancing Nijinsky style/Dancing with the lost and found...". He is also mentioned in the song "Muscle in Plastic" on the same album.
 A verse of the song "Prospettiva Nevskj" from the album Patriots (1980) by Franco Battiato quotes Nijinsky, his peculiar dancing style, and hints to his relation with Diaghilev: "poi guardavamo con le facce assenti la grazia innaturale di Nijinsky. E poi di lui si innamorò perdutamente il suo impresario e dei balletti russi " (then we were watching with emotionless faces the innatural grace of Nijinsky. And then his manager fell desperately in love with him and the Russian Ballet)
 A verse of the song "Do the Strand" from the album For Your Pleasure (1973) by Roxy Music refers to Nijinsky: "If you feel blue/ Look through Who's Who/ See La Goulue/ And Nijinsky/ Do the Strandsky."
 On his 2010 album Varieté, English singer Marc Almond features a song called "My Nijinsky Heart" that is about wanting to bring out the dancer within.

In competitive skating
 In 2003, the Russian champion figure skater Evgeni Plushenko created a routine called "Tribute to Vaslav Nijinsky", which he performed in competitions around the world. He earned a perfect 6.0 score for artistic impression in the 2003–2004 Russian National Championship in St. Petersburg.

See also
 List of dancers
 List of Russian ballet dancers

References

Sources

 Bergamini, John (1969) The Tragic Dynasty: A History of the Romanovs, pg. 430. Konecky and Konecky.

 Kolb, Alexandra (2009) "Nijinsky's Images of Homosexuality: Three Case Studies". Journal of European Studies 39/2, pp. 147–171
Kopelson, Kevin (1997) The Queer Afterlife of Vaslav Nijinsky. Stanford University Press.
 Moore, Lucy (2013), Nijinsky: a Life, Profile.

 (ghostwritten by Lincoln Kirstein)

Krasovskaya, Vera (1979) Nijinsky. Schirmer Books.

External links

 Vaslav Nijinsky, Chapter One, The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky/ Unexpurgated Edition, Edited by Joan Acocella, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998, online February 1999
 Joan Acocella, "The Faun", The New Yorker, 29 June 2009
 Vaslav Nijinsky: Creating A New Artistic Era Vaslav, New York Public Library.
 Bridget Lowe, ″At the Autopsy of Vaslav Nijinsky″, New Republic, 20 April 2010

1950 deaths
Deaths from kidney failure
Male ballet dancers from the Russian Empire
Polish male ballet dancers
Ballets Russes dancers
Ballets Russes choreographers
Ballet choreographers
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France
Polish expatriates in France
Russian Roman Catholics
Polish Roman Catholics
Russian male ballet dancers
20th-century Russian diarists
People from the Russian Empire of Polish descent
Russian LGBT dancers
LGBT choreographers
Polish LGBT entertainers
LGBT Roman Catholics
People with schizophrenia
Dancers from Kyiv
Burials at Montmartre Cemetery
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom
Artists' models from the Russian Empire
Polish artists' models
Polish male models
Vaganova graduates
20th-century Russian ballet dancers
20th-century Russian LGBT people
20th-century Russian male writers
Diarists from the Russian Empire
Male writers from the Russian Empire
Writers from Kyiv
20th-century Polish ballet dancers
19th-century births

Vaslav Nijinsky


This is a partial list of valleys of South Tyrol, a mountainous province in northern Italy, bordering Austria and Switzerland. Most valleys have two names, a German and an Italian one. Those in the Ladin-speaking areas have three names.

Valleys of South Tyrol


Jelena Šubić (Serbian Cyrillic: Јелена Шубић; Jelena Nemanjić Šubić (Јелена Немањић Шубић)) was the daughter of Stefan Uroš III Dečanski of Serbia and the half-sister of Stefan Dušan. She was married to the Croatian magnate Mladen III Šubić, Prince of Bribir from noble Šubić family. They ruled from Klis Fortress in Dalmatia. After Mladen III Šubić's death, she ruled as his widow over Skradin and Klis.

After the death of Prince Mladen III (1348), the Dalmatian cities of Klis and Skradin were ruled by Jelena, in the name of their son Mladen IV. She had many opponents, beginning from 1351. Firstly, from the wife of Paul III, Catherine Dandolo from Venice, then Jelena Šubić, the mother of Ban Tvrtko I of Bosnia. The mother of Tvrtko was openly supported by King Louis I of Hungary, although Louis I in reality wanted these cities for himself. In 1355, the Republic of Venice sent an offer to buy the cities from her, but as she refused, and was unable to defend the cities from the many pretenders, she asked her brother Emperor Stefan Dušan for aid. Dušan sent Palman to Klis and Đuraš Ilijić to Skradin. The cities were subsequently given up, after the inhabitants showed unreadiness and some non-decisive fighting, with Đuraš ceding Skradin to Venice after the death of Dušan (December 20, 1355). Dušan had sought a flotilla from Venice for his planned campaign on Constantinople, and had ordered Đuraš to cede Skradin if it was unable to be defended. Klis was subsequently ceded to the Hungarians by Palman without conflict. Palman took Jelena with him, but Mladen IV stayed as a political hostage.

See also

Šubić
Nemanjić family tree

References

Sources

Šubić
14th-century Serbian royalty
Medieval Serbian princesses
Serbs of Croatia
Medieval Serbian people of Greek descent
14th-century Serbian women
14th-century Croatian people
14th-century Croatian women
Daughters of kings

Jelena Nemanjić Šubić


The Assineau River is a short river forming in central Alberta. The Assineau flows into Lesser Slave Lake, which flows out through the Lesser Slave River, a major tributary of the Athabasca River. The name for the river was in use by 1904. It is suggested that Assineau is a version of the Cree word for nobody.

The river forms in Grizzly Ridge Wildland Provincial Park and heads north towards Lesser Slave Lake. The river is bridged by Alberta Highway 2 and flows past the hamlet of Assineau, Alberta.

See also
List of Alberta rivers

References

Rivers of Alberta

Assineau River


Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen is a 1965 science fiction novel by American writer H. Beam Piper; it is part of his Paratime series of stories, and was expanded by John F. Carr to form the Kalvan series (with some installments co-written by Carr and other writers). It recounts the adventures of a Pennsylvania state trooper who is accidentally transported to a more backward parallel universe. It was published posthumously, making it Piper's final science fiction novel.

The book is an expanded version of the novelettes "Gunpowder God", which had been published in the November 1964 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, and "Down Styphon!", which had been published in the November 1965 issue of Analog.  "Gunpowder God" itself is a Paratime-series rewrite of the unpublished story "When in the Course", which takes place in the Terro-Human Future History milieu.

Plot summary

Humans on an advanced time-line have discovered "lateral" time dimensions that allow them to travel to "worlds of alternate probability". They use it to exploit natural resources from these alternate realities. The Paratime Police are tasked to keep the invention of lateral "time travel" secret and to combat abuses. Occasionally, objects or people get caught in the paratime "conveyors" and are inadvertently transported to alternate timelines.  This happens to Corporal Calvin Morrison of the Pennsylvania State Police.

Morrison ends up in a significantly different version of Pennsylvania.  Initially confused by the old-growth forest and lack of settlements, Morrison meets some friendly peasants who speak an unknown language.  When they are attacked by a raiding party armed with flintlock pistols, Morrison is able to fight them off with his police-issue .38 revolver. Reinforcements arrive, but in the confusion, he is wounded by the beautiful young woman leading them.  While recuperating, he learns the local language.

This alternate version of North America is split up into a number of kingdoms, each composed of small principalities, with a level of technology roughly equivalent to that of the late European Renaissance. Morrison finds himself the guest of Prince Ptosphes of Hostigos — whose daughter Rylla was the one who shot him by mistake.  He learns that the principality is being threatened by two of their neighbors, Nostor and Sask, with a third, Beshta, hungrily looking on.  Ptosphes' overlord, Great King Kaiphranos of Hos-Harphax, refuses to intervene because the priests of the god Styphon want Hostigos to be destroyed. The religious sect uses its monopoly on black gunpowder, known as "fireseed", to control the various princes and kings.  Hostigos has a sulfur spring; since sulfur is a key ingredient of fireseed, Styphon's House intends to seize that spring once Hostigos is destroyed.

Morrison (or Lord Kalvan, as the people begin to call him) uses his basic knowledge of chemistry to begin producing gunpowder in quantity.  He also introduces the rapier and improved cannons with trunnions and rifling.  With his understanding of military strategy and tactics, he reorganizes the outnumbered Hostigos army and repulses Nostor, capturing an important border town in the process.  Then, to undermine Styphon's priesthood, he sees to it that the knowledge of gunpowder manufacturing is spread far and wide.

Meanwhile, Verkan Vall, a top agent of the Paratime Police, tracks Kalvan down and infiltrates his army.  The standard procedure is to "remove" the displaced person to protect the Paratime secret by any means judged necessary.  Vall takes a liking to the resourceful Kalvan and realizes that his brother policeman has fabricated a background for himself, one that motivates him to conceal the Paratime secret.  To help persuade his superiors to leave Morrison alone, Vall also recruits historians on the Home timeline.  They can use Kalvan to do an experiment testing the Great man theory — can a single, extraordinary individual change the course of history?

After the defeat of Nostor, Sask and Beshta become allies, forcing Kalvan to attack before their armies can unite.  After a day of confused fighting against the larger Saskan forces, he emerges victorious. Sarrask of Sask is captured and agrees to become a vassal of a new Great King after he learns that he can share in the looting of Styphon's lavish temples.  At first, Kalvan proposes that his future father-in-law assume the new throne, but Ptosphes refuses, stating that the other princes would never stand for being ruled by someone they view as only an equal.  Kalvan, as an outsider, is the only one they would accept.  Plus, his cover story — that he was sent by the gods from a far-away land — plays into local legends.  Thus, Lord Kalvan becomes Great King Kalvan of Hos-Hostigos, with Rylla as his queen.

When Gormoth of Nostor hears of Kalvan's successes, he turns against Styphon's House himself. This leads to a bloody civil war in Nostor, followed by Gormoth's assassination.  His replacement, facing open and implacable opposition from Styphon's House, soon acknowledges Kalvan's sovereignty.  Balthar of Beshta at first declines to become subject to Kalvan, until he discovers there are no gunpowder mills in his realm. Other neighboring princes soon side with Kalvan, as this gets rid of the usurious taxes and loans levied by Styphon's House. King Kaiphranos is infuriated by the defections, as is the Archpriest of Styphon.

The novel ends at this point.  A sequel, Great Kings' War, was written by Roland Green and John F. Carr. Carr further continues the storyline with the novels Kalvan Kingmaker, Siege of Tarr-Hostigos, The Fireseed Wars and the forthcoming The Gunpowder God (which shares the same title as the original novelette).

Characters
 Great King Kalvan
 Queen Rylla
 Prince Ptosphes of Hostigos
 Prince Sarrask of Sask
 Prince Balthames of Sashta
 Prince Balthar of Beshta
 Prince Gormoth of Nostor
 Highpriest Xentos
 Alkides
 Great King Kaiphranos

See also

Hos-Hostigos
Minor Characters in the Kalvan series
When in the Course

External links

Review of Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, by Jo Walton

1965 American novels
1965 science fiction novels
Military science fiction novels
Kalvan series
American alternate history novels
Ace Books books

Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen


A vibrating shuttle is a bobbin driver design used in home lockstitch sewing machines during the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.  It supplanted earlier transverse shuttle designs, but was itself supplanted by rotating shuttle designs.

Overview

 In order to create a lockstitch a sewing machine intertwines two threads: an upper thread (descending with the needle into the workpiece from above) and a lower thread (ascending into the workpiece from the bobbin below).  To intertwine them, the machine must pass its shuttle (containing the bobbin and the lower thread) through a loop temporarily created from the upper thread.

Early sewing machines of the 19th century oscillate their shuttles back and forth on linear horizontal tracks—an arrangement called a "transverse shuttle".  A vibrating shuttle machine, by contrast, 'vibrates' its shuttle in a circular arc.  This movement represents less total mechanical motion, which means less friction, less wear, higher maximum speed, and higher reliability than in a transverse shuttle system.

Early vibrating shuttle designs inherited the boat-shaped shuttle used in transverse shuttle machines, where the bobbin is inserted from the open side of the "boat".  In the 1880s, bullet shuttles became dominant. The bullet shuttle is long and slender, shaped like a bullet, with a pointed tip that is sometimes called the hook.  The bobbin inserts from the rear, and the tip is pointed for the purpose of intercepting the small loop temporarily created (by a brief upward needle motion) in the upper thread—see pictures below of its operation.  The bobbin too is long and slender to fit inside the shuttle; in this regard it is very different than the fat rotary bobbins of later sewing machines.

History

Although popularized by Singer's 27/127 model series sewing machine, the vibrating shuttle was not invented at Singer.

Wilson

It was actually invented by Allen B. Wilson in 1850, just one year before he would invent the rotary hook design that would eventually prevail over all other lockstitch bobbin driver designs.  Wilson's original patent is US patent 7776, granted 12 November 1850, with reissues RE345 on 22 January 1856 and RE414 on 9 December 1856.  The second page of his patent, showing the shuttle in its arc, is shown at left.

He was soon beset with patent litigation from the owners of the John Bradshaw patent:

"He was approached by the owners of the Bradshaw 1848 patent, who claimed control of the double-pointed shuttle. Although this claim was without justification, as can be seen by examining the Bradshaw patent specifications, Wilson did not have sufficient funds to fight the claim. In order to avoid a suit, he relinquished to A. P. Kline and Edward Lee, a one-half interest in his U.S. patent 7,776 […]"

His machine "had a considerable sale, but was not satisfactory to its inventor, who set himself to work to produce something more practical"—a new rotary hook design.

Stephen French
In 1868, Stephen French, working at the Gold Medal Sewing Machine Company in Orange, Massachusetts, patented an improved method of driving the vibrating arm.  He used this mechanism in his designs of both the "Home Shuttle" sewing machine (from Johnson, Clark & Co., a related enterprise) and the Gold Medal "Home" sewing machine.    (The next model designed by Gold Medal, in 1878, was called the "New Home", and it proved so popular that the company was reincorporated as the New Home Sewing Machine Company in 1882.)

Porter and Baker

 In 1876,the White Sewing Machine Company developed a machine around the vibrating shuttle which became the company's flagship product—so much so that it was originally named the "White Sewing Machine", only later taking the name "White Vibrating Shuttle" when a rotary hook model was added to the product line.

Whitehill

The vibrating shuttle's next development came in 1885, at the hands of Scottish immigrant Robert Whitehill.  He designed a new machine around it which Singer bought and popularized.

The initial design of the Porter/Baker shuttle would change little throughout the 86 years that it would remain in production at White and then at Singer.  This can be seen in the following shuttle-threading diagrams taken from the White and Singer instruction manuals:

Operation

The following photo gallery shows the vibrating shuttle cycling through a single stitch.  In the pictures, the silver sliding covers have been opened to show the operation of the shuttle; normally they would be closed to prevent interference between the workpiece and the shuttle.

Obsolescence

The vibrating shuttle was a significant innovation towards the goal of a simple, fast, and reliable lockstitch sewing machine, and the design remained popular for decades.  Indeed, even twenty-five years later, on 10 October 1910, Singer was awarded US patent 1005177 for a new shuttle-ejector mechanism for it.  (The improvement is one of those incorporated into the 'modernized' models 127 and 128 that replaced the 27 and 28.)

Later sewing machines abandoned such designs in favor of the faster rotary and/or hook-based designs.

Rotary and hook-based designs are superior because they do not cause their sewing machine to shake and 'walk' the way that vibrating and transverse shuttles do.  Vibrating shuttle machines nevertheless remained in production until the 1960s.

References

American inventions
Sewing
Sewing machines

Vibrating shuttle