Willden Fort was a wooden-palisade fort constructed on Cove Creek in Utah in 1860 by Charles William Willden and his son Ellott. It was occupied from 1860 to 1865, abandoned, then occupied briefly in 1867 during the construction of Cove Fort.

Siting and construction
In 1852, Mormon leader Brigham Young sent Charles Willden to Cedar City to work in the ironworks The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was attempting to establish, since Willden had worked in the steel industry in Sheffield, England, prior to immigrating to the United States of America. While traveling between Salt Lake City, and Cedar City, the Willdens camped at Cove Creek and observed it to be a nice place to settle.

When the ironworks failed in 1859, Willden decided to settle Cove Creek. He and his son Ellott built Willden Fort near what would later be the site of the still-present Cove Fort.  They first constructed an adobe house, then enclosed it with a 150-foot square cedar-post stockade. The posts were 8 to 10 ft high, placed close together to form a solid wall.

Occupation
Willden Fort was first occupied during the spring of 1860, and the Willden family lived there continuously until 1865 when a combination of Indian attacks due to Utah's Black Hawk War and a very harsh winter that killed most of the family's livestock convinced the Willdens to return to Beaver, Utah.

While the Willdens occupied the fort, they received a continuous stream of visitors, because Willden Fort was located along the Mormon Road, a major travel corridor between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, and was at a convenient stopping place. Some of the prominent visitors who stayed at the fort were Brigham Young, Lorenzo Snow, John Taylor and Ezra T. Benson. After the abandonment of Willden Fort, Brigham Young directed Ira Hinckley to construct a new fort on the same location. The Willden family returned to Willden Fort to assist with the construction of Cove Fort.  Willden Fort also briefly housed the telegraph office during the construction of Cove Fort, making it the site of the first telegraph in Millard County, Utah.

Archaeological excavation
In 1996, the Archaeology Department at Brigham Young University organized and conducted an excavation at the location where Willden Fort is thought to have been located. Willden family descendants were interviewed to determine the most likely location and teams of students and professors from the university carefully excavated the site. No remnants of the fort or house were found.

Recognition
On September 21, 1996, the LDS Church organized a ceremony and provided a plaque to commemorate the history of the site and honor the Willden family for their contributions to the history of the region and to Cove Fort. The ceremony was attended by 850 descendants of Charles and his wife Eleanor.

References

Utah Territory
Willden
History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah
Defunct organizational subdivisions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Infrastructure completed in 1860
1867 disestablishments
1860 establishments in Utah Territory
Archaeological sites in Utah

Willden Fort


Patrick Leahy (1806–1875) was the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly.

Life
Leahy, named for father Patrick Leahy, civil engineer and county surveyor of Cork, was born near Thurles, County Tipperary, on 31 May 1806, and was educated at Maynooth.

On his ordination he became Roman Catholic curate of a small parish in the diocese of Cashel. He was soon appointed professor of theology and dcripture in St. Patrick's College at Thurles, and shortly afterwards president of that institution. On 22 August 1850 he was one of the secretaries of the synod or national council of Thurles, and was afterwards appointed parish priest of Thurles and vicar-general of the diocese of Cashel.

When the catholic university was opened in Dublin in 1854, he was selected for the office of vice-rector under Dr. J. H. (afterwards Cardinal) Newman, the rector, and filled a professor's chair. He was elected archbishop of Cashel 27 April 1857 and consecrated on 29 June. In 1866 and 1867 he was deputed, with the Bishop of Clonfert, to conduct the negotiations with Lord Mayo, the chief secretary for Ireland, with respect to the proposed endowment of the Roman Catholic university.

He was a strong advocate of the cause of temperance, and enforced the Sunday closing of the public-houses in his diocese. Owing to his energy the fine cathedral at Thurles was built at a cost of 45,000 pounds.

He died at the episcopal residence near Thurles 26 January 1875, and was buried in Thurles Cathedral on 3 February.

A statue to Leahy was erected in the grounds of Thurles cathedral in 1911. In June 2019 in an act of vandalism, the head of the statue was removed.

References

Attribution

1806 births
1875 deaths
19th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Ireland
Roman Catholic archbishops of Cashel
People from Thurles
Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth
Christian clergy from County Tipperary

Patrick Leahy (bishop)


The Pit and the Pendulum is a 1961 horror film directed by Roger Corman, starring Vincent Price, Barbara Steele, John Kerr, and Luana Anders. The screenplay by Richard Matheson was loosely inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's 1842 short story of the same name. Set in sixteenth-century Spain, the story is about a young Englishman who visits a forbidding castle to investigate his sister's mysterious death. After a series of horrific revelations, apparently ghostly appearances and violent deaths, the young man becomes strapped to the titular torture device by his lunatic brother-in-law during the film's climactic sequence.

The film was the second title in the popular series of Poe adaptations released by American International Pictures, the first having been Corman's House of Usher released the previous year. Like House, the film features widescreen cinematography by Floyd Crosby, sets designed by art director Daniel Haller, and a film score composed by Les Baxter. A critical and box-office hit, Pits success convinced AIP and Corman to continue adapting Poe stories for another six films, five of them starring Price. The series ended in 1964 with the release of The Tomb of Ligeia.

Film critic Tim Lucas and writer Ernesto Gastaldi have both noted the film's strong influence on numerous subsequent Italian thrillers, from Mario Bava's The Whip and the Body (1963) to Dario Argento's Deep Red (1975). Stephen King has described one of Pits major shock sequences as being among the most important moments in post-1960 horror film.

Plot
In 1547 Spain, Englishman Francis Barnard visits the castle of his brother-in-law, Nicholas Medina, to investigate the mysterious disappearance of his sister, Elizabeth. Nicholas and his younger sister, Catherine, offer a vague explanation that Elizabeth died from a rare blood disorder three months earlier; Nicholas is evasive when Francis asks for specific details. Francis vows not to leave until he discovers the truth behind his sister's death.

Francis again asks about his sister's death during dinner with the family physician, Dr. Leon. Dr. Leon tells him that his sister died of massive heart failure, literally "dying of fright". Francis demands to see where Elizabeth died. Nicholas takes him to the castle's torture chamber. Nicholas reveals that Elizabeth became obsessed with the chamber's torture devices under the influence of the castle's "heavy atmosphere". After becoming progressively unbalanced, she locked herself into an iron maiden, and died after whispering the name "Sebastian" one day. Francis refuses to believe Nicholas's story.

Francis tells Catherine that Nicholas appears to feel "definite guilt" regarding Elizabeth's death. In response, Catherine talks about Nicholas's traumatic childhood. Their father was Sebastian Medina, a notorious agent of the Spanish Inquisition. When Nicholas was a small child, he explored the forbidden torture chamber when his father entered the room with his mother, Isabella, and Sebastian's brother, Bartolome. Hiding in a corner, Nicholas watched in horror as his father repeatedly hit Bartolome with a red-hot poker, screaming "Adulterer!" at him. After murdering Bartolome, Sebastian began torturing his wife slowly to death in front of Nicholas.

Dr. Leon later informs Catherine and Francis that Isabella was not tortured to death; instead, she was entombed behind a brick wall while still alive. He explains, "The very thought of premature interment is enough to send your brother into convulsions of horror." Nicholas fears that Elizabeth may have been interred prematurely. The doctor tells Nicholas that "if Elizabeth Medina walks the corridors of this castle, it is her spirit, not her living self."

Nicholas believes that his late wife's vengeful ghost is haunting the castle. Elizabeth's room is the source of a loud commotion, now ransacked and her portrait slashed. Her beloved harpsichord plays in the middle of the night. One of Elizabeth's rings shows up on the keyboard. Francis accuses Nicholas of planting the evidence of Elizabeth's "haunting" as an elaborate hoax. Nicholas insists that Francis open his wife's tomb. They discover Elizabeth's putrefied corpse frozen in a position that suggests she died screaming after failing to claw her way out of her sarcophagus. Nicholas faints.

That night, Nicholas– now on the verge of insanity– hears Elizabeth calling him. He follows her ghostly voice down to her tomb. Elizabeth rises from her coffin and pursues Nicholas into the torture chamber, where he falls down a flight of stairs. As Elizabeth gloats over her husband's unconscious body, her lover and accomplice, Dr. Leon, appears. They had plotted to drive Nicholas mad so that she could inherit his fortune and the castle.

Leon confirms that Nicholas "is gone", his mind destroyed by terror. Elizabeth taunts her insensate husband, but then Nicholas suddenly begins laughing hysterically while Elizabeth and Dr. Leon recoil in horror. Believing himself to be Sebastian, he replays the events of his mother and uncle's murders, mistaking Elizabeth for Isabella and Dr. Leon for Bartolome. Nicholas slams Dr. Leon against a pillar and seizes Elizabeth, repeating his father's promise to Isabella to torture her. After dealing with Elizabeth, Nicholas attacks a fleeing Dr. Leon, who falls to his death in the pit while trying to escape.

Francis, having heard Elizabeth's screams, enters the dungeon. Nicholas also confuses Francis for Bartolome and knocks him unconscious. He straps him to a stone slab located directly beneath a huge razor-sharp pendulum. The pendulum is attached to a clockwork apparatus that causes it to descend fractions of an inch after each swing, closer to Francis' torso. Catherine arrives just in time with Maximillian, one of the Medina family's servants. After a brief struggle with Maximillian, Nicholas falls to his death. Francis is removed from the torture device, bleeding but still alive.

The three survivors–Francis, Catherine, and Maximillian–leave the torture chamber, and Catherine vows that no one shall ever enter it again. Unbeknownst to them, a still-living Elizabeth, gagged and trapped in the iron maiden, watches helplessly as the door is closed and locked forever.

Cast
 Vincent Price as Nicholas / Sebastian Medina
 John Kerr as Francis Barnard
 Barbara Steele as Elizabeth
 Luana Anders as Catherine Medina
 Antony Carbone as Doctor Leon
 Patrick Westwood as Maximillian
 Lynette Bernay as Maria
 Larry Turner as Nicholas as child
 Mary Menzies as Isabella
 Charles Victor as Bartolome

Production

Development
20th Century Fox had announced plans to film the story in the late '50s, along with versions of "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", but the films were never made.

When Roger Corman's House of Usher was released in June 1960, its box office success took AIP's James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff by surprise. Corman admitted, "We anticipated that the movie would do well... but not half as well as it did." According to Richard Matheson, "When the first film was a hit, they still didn't consider doing a Poe series. They just wanted another movie with a Poe title fixed to it."

Corman felt Poe's two strongest stories after "Usher" were "The Masque of the Red Death", and '"Pit and the Pendulum". He considered making the former but was worried about similarities between the story and The Seventh Seal (1957), so he decided on adapting the latter. However Samuel Z. Arkoff said it was his and James H. Nicholson's decision to make Pit as the second Poe film "because it was a lot more graphic and in the second place, The Masque of the Red Death would have needed a dancing troupe that would have been quite expensive. In all those early Poe pictures we had relatively few actors, so when we did finally make Masque of the Red Death we went to the UK where it would be less expensive to do it."

Screenplay
Matheson's script freely devised an elaborate narrative that barely resembled Poe, with only the finale having any similarity at all to the original short story on which the film was based. Corman noted, "The method we adopted on The Pit and the Pendulum was to use the Poe short story as the climax for a third act to the motion picture... because a two-page short story is not about to give you a ninety-minute motion picture. We then constructed the first two acts in what we hoped was a manner faithful to Poe, as his climax would run only a short time on the screen."

Matheson's screenplay included a flashback to a time immediately preceding Elizabeth's illness, featuring Nicholas and Elizabeth horseback-riding and eating a picnic lunch. Corman deleted the sequence prior to filming because he felt it violated one of his major theories regarding the Poe series:
I had a lot of theories I was working with when I did the Poe films... One of my theories was that these stories were created out of the unconscious mind of Poe, and the unconscious mind never really sees reality, so until The Tomb of Ligeia, we never showed the real world. In Pit, John Kerr arrived in a carriage against an ocean background, which I felt was more representative of the unconscious. That horseback interlude was thrown out because I didn't want to have a scene with people out in broad daylight.
The screenplay was modified from its original draft form during the film's shooting. Price himself suggested numerous dialogue changes for his character. In the script, when Francis Barnard is first introduced to Nicholas, the young man asks about loud, strange noises he had heard a few moments earlier. Don Medina responds: "Uh... an apparatus, Mr. Barnard. (turning) What brings you to us?" Price penciled in the suggestions "that must be kept in constant repair" and "that cannot be stopped". Later in the screenplay, when Nicholas recalls his father's chamber of torture, Price devised alternate explanations for Sebastian Medina's violence. During Nicholas' death scene, after falling to the bottom of the pit the character originally had dialogue at the point of dying, asking in a voice of horror, "Elizabeth. What have I done to you? (beat) What have I done to you?" The camera was to then cut directly to Elizabeth's face trapped in the iron maiden. Corman decided to jettison the lines, believing that the film should remain purely visual at that point and dialogue would ruin the power of the scene.

Filming
The Pit and the Pendulum was announced in August 1960, and filming began 4 January 1961.

According to Lucy Chase Williams' book, The Complete Films of Vincent Price, the shooting schedule was fifteen days, and the film's budget was almost $1 million. Corman himself has said that the film's actual production cost was approximately $300,000.

Corman has noted that making the film was a pleasurable experience: "I enjoyed The Pit and the Pendulum because I actually got the chance to experiment a bit with the movement of the camera. There was a lot of moving camera work and interesting cutting in the climax of the film."

Filming went smoothly, and Corman attributed the ease of the production's shoot to the short but comprehensive pre-production planning he did with the major technicians:
We achieved what we did on a low budget because we carefully planned the whole production in advance of starting the cameras. Thus, when we moved into the studio for fifteen days of scheduled shooting, we didn't have to start making decisions. Because of our pre-production conferences with director of photography Floyd Crosby and art director Daniel Haller, everyone knew exactly what to do, barring any last minute inspirations on the set.

To create the flashbacks revealing Nicholas' traumatic experiences, Corman and Crosby attempted to shoot them in a manner that would convey to the audience the character's horror in dredging up nightmares trapped in his subconscious. Corman insisted on these images having a dream-like quality, "twisted and distorted because they were being experienced by someone on the rim of madness." Corman decided to film the flashbacks in monochrome, since he had read that some psychiatrists believe most people dream in "black-and white" imagery. Crosby used wide-angle lenses, violent camera movement, and tilted camera angles to represent the character's feeling of hysteria. The sequences were then printed on blue-tinted stock which was subsequently toned red during development, effectively producing a two-tone image. The highlights were blue, with the shadows rendered as red...producing a deep, bloody quality. The image was then run through an optical printer where the edges were vignetted and a twisted linear distortion was introduced.

Prior to the start of filming, Corman had set aside one day of rehearsals with his cast. "Previously, I had painstakingly rehearsed the actors so there was complete understanding as to what each was to accomplish in each scene. This is most important; there is nothing worse than to be on the set and ready to roll, only to find that director and actor have different views as to how the scene is to be done. Thanks to pre-production planning and rehearsals, there was no time wasted on the set in haggling and making decisions."

Art direction
The film's brief exterior prologue showing Kerr's arrival to the castle was filmed on the Palos Verdes coast. The rest of the production was shot in four interior sound stages at the California Studios in Hollywood. To provide great freedom for the planned camera movements, a castle set with many levels and ample space was designed by Daniel Haller.

Because of the film's low budget, none of the sets could be constructed "from scratch." After Haller made sketches and floor plans for the sets, he searched the backlots and property lofts of the major studios in search of available set units that could be inexpensively rented and then put together to form the sets he had conceived. At Universal Studios, he located numerous discarded pieces from old productions, including massive archways, fireplaces, windows and doorways, and several torture machine props. At other studios, he found gigantic stairways and stone wall units. Haller selected and rented numerous pieces from these various depositories and had them delivered to California Studios, where the sets for the film were constructed, following his floor plans as closely as possible. To further set the atmosphere, about 20 gallons of cobwebbing was sprayed throughout the castle's sets.

The film's pressbook noted that the pendulum was eighteen-feet long and weighed over a ton and was constructed with a realistic rubber cutting blade. The pendulum was rigged from the top of the sound stage thirty-five feet in the air. In an interview, Haller provided details regarding the creation of the pendulum:
I found that such a pendulum actually was used during the Spanish and German inquisitions. At first we tried to use a rubberized blade, and that's why it got stuck on Kerr's chest. We then switched to a sharp metalized blade covered with steel paint. The problem was to get it in exactly the right position so it would slash John's shirt without actually cutting him. To guard against this, we put a steel band around his waist where the pendulum crosses. He was a good sport about it...but noticed him perspiring a good bit and no wonder. That pendulum was carving out a 50 foot arc just above his body.
To visually enhance the size of this set, the camera was equipped with a 40 mm Panavision wide-angle lens and mounted at the opposite end of the stage, giving Crosby the ability to frame the scenes in his camera with extra space at the bottom and at either side. These areas were filled in later by printing-in process extensions of the set, doubling its size onscreen.

Response

Box office
The Pit and the Pendulum was a bigger financial hit than House of Usher, accruing over US$2,000,000 in distributors' domestic (U.S. and Canada) rentals versus the first film's US$1,450,000. This made it the most successful film to date in AIP's history.

The movie would remain the most financially successful of all the AIP Poe films. "It's also the one I liked the best because it was the scariest", said Arkoff. "We had a wonderful piece of artwork for the poster... as well as some great sets by Danny Haller."

Critical
According to writer Ed Naha, the film also received a better critical response than Usher. The majority of the film's reviews were positive.

Howard Thompson of The New York Times wrote, "Atmospherically at least—there is a striking fusion of rich colors, plush décor and eerie music—this is probably Hollywood's most effective Poe-style horror flavoring to date…Richard Matheson's ironic plot is compact and as logical as the choice of the small cast…Roger Corman has evoked a genuinely chilling mood of horror." Variety noted, "The last portion of the film builds with genuine excitement to a reverse-twist ending that might have pleased Poe himself...a physically stylish, imaginatively photographed horror film…" The Los Angeles Examiner said it was "…one of the best "scare" movies to come along in a long time…skillfully directed by Corman…with Vincent Price turning in the acting job of his career…." Brendan Gill of The New Yorker felt it was "a thoroughly creepy sequence of horrors..." Time called the film "a literary hair-raiser that is cleverly, if self-consciously, Edgar Allan poetic." The Hollywood Reporter described it as "...a class suspense/horror film of the calibre of the excellent ones done by Hammer...It is carefully made and has full production values...Vincent Price gives a characteristically rococo performance..."

The Monthly Film Bulletin was negative, writing that the production values "cannot prevent a strong impression of déjà vu", and that Kerr, Anders and Carbone were all "glumly wooden" in their performances. Charles Stinson of the Los Angeles Times was notably unimpressed by the film: "The uncredited  scenario violates Poe's gothic style with passages of flat, modernized dialogue…But the pecadilloes of the script pale beside the acting…Price mugs, rolls his eyes continuously, and delivers his lines in such an unctuous tone that he comes near to burlesquing the role. His mad scenes are just ludicrous. The audience almost died laughing."
Price was so infuriated by Stinson's negative review that he wrote a letter to the critic, saying, "I find I must break a 25-year determination never to answer a critic. Since your review of The Pit and the Pendulum was obviously not meant to be instructive, and therefore constructive, but only to hurt and humiliate, I'm sure you would enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that it did. My only consolation…is that it is the second-greatest box-office attraction in the country."
Price apparently never sent the letter, placing it instead into his "Letting Off Steam File".

The film's critical reputation has continued to grow over the years, and it is now generally held to be one of the best entries in Corman's Poe series. Time Out has opined, "Corman at his intoxicating best, drawing a seductive mesh of sexual motifs from Poe's story through a fine Richard Matheson script." In The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, Timothy Sullivan wrote:
"The Pit and the Pendulum is even better than its predecessor…The plot is heady stuff, and Roger Corman drives it forward—with wonderful matte shots of the castle perched on the seaside cliff, odd camera angles, the thickest cobwebs in horror-movie history, a spider in the face, and an iron maiden—all before our hero is strapped under the pendulum...in a sequence that still stands one's hair on end."
Phil Hardy's The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror observed:
"If Price's performance is noticeably more extravagant than in the earlier film, this is offset (or matched) by the markedly greater fluidity of camera movement. House of Usher seemed unsure of how to cope with the rush of action as Madeline returned from the grave; The Pit and the Pendulum has no such hesitations. From the great sequence in which Steele lures Price down into the crypt to the finale…its action is terrific."
Tim Lucas, in reviewing the film's DVD release in 2001, wrote, "Benefitting from the box-office success of House of Usher, Pit is a more elaborate production and features some of the definitive moments of the AIP Corman/Poe series." Glenn Erickson, reviewing the DVD on his DVD Savant website, noted, "Roger Corman's second Edgar Allan Poe adaptation is a big improvement on his first, House of Usher… Remembered as a first-rate chiller by every kid who saw it, Pit and the Pendulum upped the ante for frantic action and potential grue…"

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, The Pit and the Pendulum received an approval rating of 88% based on 24 retrospective reviews with the critical consensus reading "A chilling visual treat, Pit and the Pendulum unites genre masters Roger Corman and Vincent Price with delightfully dark results".

The film was selected for screening as part of the Cannes Classics section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

Influence
The critical and popular success of The Pit and the Pendulum persuaded AIP's Arkoff and Nicholson to produce more Edgar Allan Poe-based horror films on a regular basis. The films that followed, all directed by Corman, were Premature Burial (1962), Tales of Terror (1962), The Raven (1963), The Haunted Palace (1963, actually based on the novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by H. P. Lovecraft), The Masque of the Red Death (1964), and The Tomb of Ligeia (1964).

Tim Lucas has argued that the film had a large impact on many Italian horror films that followed. Lucas noted, "It takes Corman's Freudian theories even further with a nightmarish flashback sequence that plants the seeds of Nicholas's breakdown, and would prove particularly influential on the future course of Italian horror — an influence that can be seen even in productions of the 1970s (Deep Red) and 1980s (A Blade in the Dark)."
Writer K. Lindbergs has noted an "obvious influence" on Antonio Margheriti's Castle of Blood (1964) and its remake, Web of the Spider (1970).

Screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi acknowledged that Ugo Guerra and Elio Scardamaglia, the producers of Mario Bava's The Whip and the Body (1963), had "shown me an Italian print of The Pit and the Pendulum before I started writing it: 'Give us something like this', they said." When asked if another of his films, The Long Hair of Death (1964), was inspired by Corman's film, Gastaldi replied, "Yes, of course! The Pit and the Pendulum had a big influence on Italian horror films. Everybody borrowed from it."

Stephen King felt that one of the film's most powerful shocks—the discovery of Elizabeth's hideously decayed corpse—had a major impact on the genre and served as one of the most significant horror sequences of the decade. In fact, shortly after seeing the film in eighth grade, a young King took inspiration from Monarch Books's film tie-ins and wrote an eight-page novelization of The Pit and the Pendulum, "blissfully unaware that [he] was in violation of every plagiarism and copyright statute in the history of the world", and managed to sell over thirty copies for 25¢ each at his school before one of his teachers forced him to return the profits. King later wrote, "Following the Hammer films, this becomes, I think, the most important moment in the post-1960 horror film, signaling a return to an all-out effort to terrify the audience... and a willingness to use any means at hand to do it."

Padded television version
In 1968, when the film was sold to ABC-TV for television airings, the network noted that the film was too short to fill the desired two-hour time slot. They requested that AIP extend the film's runtime. Approximately five minutes of additional footage was subsequently shot by Corman's production assistant Tamara Asseyev.

Of the original cast members, only Luana Anders was available at the time, and the new sequence featured her character, Catherine Medina, confined to a lunatic asylum. After much screaming and hair pulling, Catherine reveals the details of her horrific story to her fellow inmates, at which point the film itself follows as a flashback.

See also
 List of American films of 1961
 Gothic film – Notable films
 Phantom of Morrisville, a 1966 Czech comedy film.

References

External links

—

1960s American films
1960s English-language films
1961 films
1961 horror films
American historical horror films
American International Pictures films
Films based on short fiction
Films based on The Pit and the Pendulum
Films directed by Roger Corman
Films produced by Roger Corman
Films scored by Les Baxter
Films set in castles
Films set in country houses
Films set in Spain
Films set in the 16th century
Films with screenplays by Richard Matheson
Fratricide in fiction
Gothic horror films
Torture in films
Uxoricide in fiction

The Pit and the Pendulum (1961 film)


The term American folk music encompasses numerous music genres, variously known as traditional music, traditional folk music, contemporary folk music, vernacular music, or roots music. Many traditional songs have been sung within the same family or folk group for generations, and sometimes trace back to such origins as the British Isles, Mainland Europe, or Africa. Musician Mike Seeger once famously commented that the definition of American folk music is "...all the music that fits between the cracks."

American folk music is a broad category of music including bluegrass, gospel, old time music, jug bands, Appalachian folk, blues, Cajun and Native American music.  The music is considered American either because it is native to the United States or because it developed there, out of foreign origins, to such a degree that it struck musicologists as something distinctly new. It is considered "roots music" because it served as the basis of music later developed in the United States, including rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and jazz.

Early American folk music
Most songs of the Colonial and Revolutionary periods originated in England, Scotland and Ireland and were brought over by early settlers. According to ethnomusicologist Bruno Nettl, American folk music is notable because it "At its roots is an English folk song tradition that has been modified to suit the specific requirements of America." Therefore, many American folk songs, such as those documented by the American Folklorist Francis James Child in his catalogue of ballads known as the Child Ballads, can be traced back to their pre-colonial origins in the British Isles. For example, "Barbara Allen" remains a popular traditional ballad originating in England and Scotland, which immigrants introduced to the United States. The murder ballad "Pretty Polly", indexed by another scholar of American folk music, George Malcolm Laws, is an American version of an earlier British song, "The Gosport Tragedy". The oldest surviving folk song of local Anglo-American origin is the ballad "Springfield Mountain" dating back to 1761 in Connecticut.

The typical instruments played in early American folk music were the fiddle, the guitar, the mandolin, the mouth organ, the fife, and the dulcimer, although guitars went through a significant change as the previously popular English guitar was replaced around the 1830s by the Spanish guitar.

In addition to ballads, American colonials also imported numerous English country dance tunes, mainly jigs, reels, and hornpipes, which were played during community dances or contra dances. Some dance tunes as well as dances themselves were also adapted from Irish and Scottish sources. The musical collections Howe's 1000 Jigs and Reels, Ryan's Mammoth Collection, and 1000 Fiddle Tunes contain many of the dance tunes Americans and their colonial predecessors danced to for nearly two centuries. Popular dances that rose to prominence in America in the nineteenth century, which could be set to traditional dance tunes, were quadrilles, mazurkas, barn dances, redowas, marches, and polkas. "Soldier's Joy" is an example of a typical British fiddle tune.

In New England, one of the areas with the earliest history of colonization as well as the highest percentage of settlement by ethnic English people, numerous English ballads survived within American folk music into the twentieth century.  These include older popular ballads such as "Lord Randall" , "The Golden Vanity" , The Elfin Knight , The Gypsy Davy, "Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight", "Barbara Allen", Lord Bateman, The House Carpenter, The Farmer's Curst Wife, Lord Lovel, and Henry Martin. Later broadside ballads imported into New England from the British Isles include "The Yorkshire Bite", "The Bold Soldier", "Butcher Boy", "Katie Morey", "The Half Hitch", and "The Boston Burglar". Locally composed, traditional New England folk songs include "Springfield Mountain", "The Jam on Gerry's Rock", "Young Charlotte", "Peter Amberly", "Jack Haggarty, and "The Jealous Lover". The folk music of the rest of Northeastern United States, including Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey, was similar to that of New England, aside from a marked influence from the high numbers of non-British immigrants, such as the Germans, Dutch, and Swiss.

In the Southeastern United States, popular local folk songs included "Sourwood Mountain", "Charming Betsy", "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss", "Buffalo Gals", "Arkansas Traveler", "Turkey in the Straw", "Old Joe Clark", "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad", "Shady Grove", "Katy Cline", "Ida Red", and "Cindy". The southern murder ballad "Poor Ellen Smith", which recorded a murder so inflammatory its public performance had to be outlawed, was most likely written in Winston, North Carolina by one of the murderer's cellmates. Unlike the Northeast and New England, the Southeast had significant influence from African-American music and as a result instruments such as the banjo were widely adopted. However, English traditional music was still present in the Southeast with older Child ballads such as "Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor", "The Maid Freed from the Gallows", "Fair Margaret and Sweet William", "The Wife of Usher's Well", "The Two Sisters", and "Matty Groves" surviving alongside some English ballads also played in the Northeast like "Barbara Allen". Popular broadside ballads in the Southeast were "Pretty Polly", "Pretty Little Miss in the Garden", "Knoxville Girl", "Jack Monroe", "The Sailor Boy", "Awake, Awake You Drowsy Sleeper", "Rich Irish Lady", "The Nightingale", "The Girl I Left Behind", and "The Miller's Will". Notable songs written in Appalachia include "Little Mohea", "John Hardy", and "Omie Wise".  Unlike in the Northeast, Southeastern ballads of English origins tend to be appreciably altered with their lyrics shortened and smoothed out, reducing the number of stresses per stanza.

Folk songs in the Midwest largely reflected the tastes of New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. However, there were some ballads uniquely popular to the Midwest such as the broadside ballad "Mary of the Wild Moor" and the locally produced ballads namely "The Little Brown Bulls", "Fuller and Warren", "Charles Guiteau", "Canady-I-O", and "Paul Jones." Many folk songs were also produced that were unique specifically to the Great Lakes region, evoking the area's nautical culture. These include "It's me for the Inland Lakes", "Loss of the Persian", and "The Buffalo Whore". Farther west in states like Iowa, Kansas, the Dakotas, and Nebraska regional songs included "The Little Old Sod Shanty on the Claim", "The Lane County Bachelor", "Comin' Back to Kansas", "The Dreary Black Hills", and "Dakota Land". The famous "Ballad of Jesse James", which celebrated the titular bankrobber's life, first appeared in Springfield, Missouri.

Few Child or broadside ballads have been found in the Northwestern United States as the documented folk songs in the area are usually work songs connected to relatively recent folk experiences within the mining, lumber, and other industries of the nineteenth and twentieth century.

Similar to the Northwest, older traditional ballads were far less common in the Southwest, with only "Barbara Allen" and "Lord Randal" being regional favorites. Popular local songs and ballads were, among others, "Texas Rangers", "The Yellow Rose of Texas", "Joe Bowers", "Sweet Betsy from Pike", "Ho for California!", and "Buffalo Skinners".

Some songs entered the folk tradition through the flourishing American popular music industry.  One such popular song that became a folk tune was "Old Dan Tucker" written by Dan Emmett.

Spirituals

Spirituals have their origins in white American ministers appropriating European folk melodies and setting them to religious lyrics, creating uniquely American folk hymns. African Americans adopted this religious folk music, adding their own style and themes such as slavery and emancipation.  "Sacred music, both a Capella and instrumentally accompanied, is at the heart of the tradition. Early spirituals framed Christian beliefs within native practices and were heavily influenced by the music and rhythms of Africa."  Spirituals are prominent, and often use a call and response pattern. "Gospel developed after the Civil War (1861-65). It relied on biblical text for much of its direction, and the use of metaphors and imagery was common. Gospel is a "joyful noise," sometimes accompanied by instrumentation and almost always punctuated by hand clapping, toe tapping, and body movement."

African-American folk music
See also: Blues

When African slaves were brought to the Americas husbands were separated from wives and parents from their children.  Also the many tribes that the slaves were from were broken up and the ensuing slave communities that were set up were constituted by every possible mixture.   What the slaves had in common was the desire to dance, sing and play what musical instruments could be assembled.  Eileen Southern in The Music of Black Americans:  A History lists about a dozen and a half African-American "folksong types".  These are "boat songs, corn songs, cowboy songs, dance songs, freedom songs, harvest songs, parodies of spirituals, pattyroller songs, prison songs, railroad songs, satirical songs, shout songs, spirituals, stevedore songs, story songs, war songs, woodcutter songs, and work songs."

Because slaves were forbidden to perform African ceremonies or use African languages, "the slaves filled this cultural vacuum by acquiring the rudiments of Anglo-American folk song, British country dancing and European harmony, and adapting them to West African patterns."
Alan Lomax in The Folk Songs of North America states,  "The slaves, brought to the United States from many parts of Africa, continued to dance and make music as their ancestors had done…. In the United States tribes were mixed and African languages and ceremonies were forbidden, and the slaves filled the cultural vacuum by acquiring the rudiments of Anglo-American folk song, British country dancing, and European harmony, and adapting them to West African patterns.  Lomax, after maintaining that "whatever they sang was intensely functional," catalogs these songs as "spirituals, reels, work songs, ballads and blues."

Work songs

Sea shanties

Sea shanties functioned to lighten the burden of routine tasks and provide a rhythm that helped workers perform as a team. One of the oldest sea shanties sung in America may have been "Haul in the Bowline" which could date back as far as the rule of Henry VIII in the sixteenth century. Other popular shanties include "Blow the Man Down", "Blow, Boys, Blow", "Reuben Ranzo", "Shenandoah" and "The Greenland Whale" as well as African-American shanties such as "Mobile Bay" and "I'm Goin' up the River".

Cowboy songs
Cowboys songs are typically ballads that cowboys sang in the West and Southwest. The familiar "Streets of Laredo" (or "Cowboys Lament") derives from an Irish folk song of the late 18th century called "The Unfortunate Rake", which in turn appears to have descended from the even earlier "The Bard of Armagh". While "Streets of Laredo" uses the same melody as "The Unfortunate Rake", "St. James Infirmary Blues" adapts the story to a different tune. This illustrates how folk songs can change in the retelling and appear in a variety of versions. Similarly the popular cowboy song "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie, about a dying cowboy begging not to be buried alone in the wilderness, is based on an earlier poem, "The Ocean Burial". Similarly, the popular song "Buffalo Skinners" is based on the earlier lumberjack tune "Canaday-I-O".

Other songs originated wholly on the frontier such as the famous "Home on the Range" written in Kansas in 1873 by Brewster Higley and Dan Kelly. "The Old Chisholm Trail" too was a distinctly American ballad tied to the experiences of cowboys on the long treks on the Chisholm Trail.

Following the Civil War, cowboys became popular as characters in novels and in Wild West shows. The first movie western was The Great Train Robbery, filmed in 1903. At the height of this romanticizing of the American cowboy, John Lomax published his preeminent work, Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads. This work was acclaimed in both academic and popular readership and helped to expand the scope of what constituted folk music, as previous scholarship focused on songs with European ballad ancestry, such as with the Child Ballads. While Cowboy Songs may have opened the door to legitimizing a wider range of vernacular music in the field of American folk music scholarship, in later years it has been criticized for not being a strictly scientific historical endeavor. Lomax himself admitted, "I have violated the ethics of ballad-gatherers, in a few instances, by selecting and putting together what seems to be the best lines from different versions, all telling the same story...Frankly the volume is meant to be popular."

Railroad songs
One of the most popular railroad folk songs in American history was The Ballad of Casey Jones, a song about a train conductor who sacrificed himself to prevent a collision. The "Ballad of John Henry" is about an African-American folk hero said to have worked as a "steel-driving man".

Coal Mining
The earliest known coal mine was in Richmond Virginia in 1750. Coal became the primary source of fuel in the United States by the 1880s, beating out wood, with usage peaking in 1910. Coal camps were made up of a largely Irish and Welsh demographic, which is evident in the structure of coal mining songs. Coal mining was fraught with danger that was unmitigated by morally indifferent mining companies. Explosions and cave-ins were a constant fear, as were black lung disease and pneumoconiosis. Songs such as "Don't Go Down in the Mine," "The Dying Mine Brakeman," and "A Miner's Prayer" gave voice to these fears. Efforts to unionize began in the 1930s, creating tunes such as "We Shall Not Be Moved," which was a rewriting of the gospel hymn "I Shall Not Be Moved." The use of familiar hymns made the songs easy for organizers to sing along with, and also imbued the cause with an air of righteousness.

"Sixteen Tons" was written in 1946 by Merle Travis about the plight of coal miners and life in company towns. Travis also penned "Dark as a Dungeon," which was most notably performed by Johnny Cash.

Textile Workers
While American colonists had long spun and wove homemade textiles, a burgeoning industry began to appear at the end of the eighteenth century in New England and later in the southern states. Working conditions in textile mills were bleak, with extremely long hours and meager pay for the men, women, and children employed within. Strikes began in the 1830s and 1840s, led by the young women who made up three-quarters of the work force, and earned about half of their male coworkers. The song "A Factory Girl" tells of a young woman, dissatisfied with her occupation, leaving the mill to become a wife. Dave McCarn wrote songs in protest of the textile mill such as "Cotton Mill Colic," which lamented the insufficient and inequitable pay scale and poverty that ensued.

Logging
The logging industry began in New England to satisfy the needs of ship building. Later, the advent of the transcontinental railroad made it possible to harvest the forests of the Pacific Northwest, with the industry reaching a peak from 1870 to 1900. The hardships for loggers included a struggle with natural forces, unpredictable outdoor working conditions, and the danger of precarious stacks of logs stories high that could topple. "The Jam on Gerry's Rocks" was one such song that described this terrifying phenomenon. "The Lumberjack's Alphabet" was a high spirited song and favorite of these workers.

Linemen Songs
"The Lineman's Hymn" is told from the perspective of a dying lineman who fell from a pole, and warns the listener to be careful lest he suffer the same fate.

Roots music
Many roots musicians do not consider themselves folk musicians. The main difference between the American folk music revival and American "roots music" is that roots music seems to cover a broader range, including blues and country.

Roots music developed its most expressive and varied forms in the first three decades of the 20th century.  The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl were extremely important in disseminating these musical styles to the rest of the country, as Delta blues masters, itinerant honky tonk singers, Cajun musicians spread to cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York.  The growth of the recording industry in the same period was also important; higher potential profits from music placed pressure on artists, songwriters, and label executives to replicate previous hit songs.  This meant that musical fads, such as Hawaiian slack-key guitar, never died out completely, since a broad range of rhythms, instruments, and vocal stylings were incorporated into disparate popular genres.

By the 1950s, forms of roots music had led to pop-oriented forms.  Folk musicians like the Kingston Trio, blues-derived rock and roll and rockabilly, pop-gospel, doo wop and R&B (later secularized further as soul music) and the Nashville sound in country music all modernized and expanded the musical palette of the country.

The roots approach to music emphasizes the diversity of American musical traditions, the genealogy of creative lineages and communities, and the innovative contributions of musicians working in these traditions today.  In recent years roots music has been the focus of popular media programs such as Garrison Keillor's public radio program, A Prairie Home Companion and the feature film by the same name.

Regional forms
American traditional music is also called roots music.  Roots music is a broad category of music including bluegrass, country music, gospel, old time music, jug bands, Appalachian folk, blues, Cajun and Native American music.  The music is considered American either because it is native to the United States or because it developed there, out of foreign origins, to such a degree that it struck musicologists as something distinctly new. It is considered "roots music" because it served as the basis of music later developed in the United States, including rock and roll, contemporary folk music, rhythm and blues, and jazz.

Appalachian music

Appalachian music is the traditional music of the region of Appalachia in the Eastern United States. It derives from various European and African influences—including English ballads, Irish and Scottish traditional music (especially fiddle music), hymns, and African-American blues.  First recorded in the 1920s, Appalachian musicians were a key influence on the early development of Old-time music, country music, and bluegrass, and were an important part of the American folk music revival.

Instruments typically used to perform Appalachian music include the banjo, American fiddle, fretted dulcimer, and guitar.

Early recorded Appalachian musicians include Fiddlin' John Carson, Henry Whitter, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, the Carter Family, Clarence Ashley, Frank Proffitt, and Dock Boggs, all of whom were initially recorded in the 1920s and 1930s. Several Appalachian musicians obtained renown during the folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s, including Jean Ritchie, Roscoe Holcomb, Ola Belle Reed, Lily May Ledford, and Doc Watson.

The Carter Family was a traditional American folk music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound impact on bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock musicians. They were the first vocal group to become country music stars; a beginning of the divergence of country music from traditional folk music. Their recordings of such songs as "Wabash Cannonball" (1932), "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" (1935), "Wildwood Flower" (1928), and "Keep on the Sunny Side" (1928) made them country standards.

Country and bluegrass artists such as Loretta Lynn, Roy Acuff, Dolly Parton, Earl Scruggs, Chet Atkins, and Don Reno were heavily influenced by traditional Appalachian music.  Artists such as Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, and Bruce Springsteen have performed Appalachian songs or rewritten versions of Appalachian songs.

Cajun music
Cajun music, an emblematic music of Louisiana, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole-based, Cajun-influenced zydeco form, both of Acadiana origin. These French Louisiana sounds have influenced American popular music for many decades, especially country music, and have influenced pop culture through mass media, such as television commercials.

Oklahoma and southern US plains

Before recorded history American Indians in this area used songs and instrumentation; music and dance remain the core of ceremonial and social activities.  "Stomp dance" remains at its core, a "call and response" form; instrumentation is provided by rattles or shackles worn on the legs of women.  "Other southeastern nations have their own complexes of sacred and social songs, including those for animal dances and friendship dances, and songs that accompany stickball games.

Central to the music of the southern Plains Indians is the drum, which has been called the heartbeat of Plains Indian music. Most of that genre traces back to the hunting and warfare that was a strong part of plains culture.  During the reservation period, they frequently used music to relieve boredom and despair. Neighbors gathered, exchanged and created songs and dances. This is a part of the roots of the modern intertribal powwow. Another common instrument is the courting flute.

Shape-note or sacred harp singing developed in the early nineteenth century as a way for itinerant singing instructors to teach church songs in rural communities. They taught using song books that represented musical notation of tones by geometric shapes that associated a shape with a pitch. Sacred harp singing became popular in many Oklahoma rural communities, regardless of ethnicity.

Later, the blues tradition developed, with roots in and parallels to sacred music.   By the early 20th century, jazz developed, born from a "blend of ragtime, gospel, and blues" "Anglo-Scots-Irish music traditions gained a place in Oklahoma after the Land Run of 1889. Because of its size and portability, the fiddle was the core of early Oklahoma Anglo music, but other instruments such as the guitar, mandolin, banjo, and steel guitar were added later. Various Oklahoma music traditions trace their roots to the British Isles, including cowboy ballads, western swing, and contemporary country and western." "Mexican immigrants began to reach Oklahoma in the 1870s, bringing beautiful canciones and corridos love songs, waltzes, and ballads along with them. Like American Indian communities, each rite of passage in Hispanic communities is accompanied by traditional music.

The acoustic guitar, string bass, and violin provide the basic instrumentation for Mexican music, with maracas, flute, horns, or sometimes accordion filling out the sound."  Other Europeans (such as Bohemians and Germans) settled in the late nineteenth century. Their social activities centered on community halls, "where local musicians played polkas and waltzes on the accordion, piano, and brass instruments."

Later Asians contributed to the musical mix.  "Ancient music and dance traditions from the temples and courts of China, India, and Indonesia are preserved in Asian communities throughout the state, and popular song genres are continually layered on to these classical music forms"

The American Southwest and South Texas
Tejano and New Mexico music, heard throughout the American Southwest and South Texas, is rooted in the musics of the Native American and Hispanic/Latino communities of the regions. Tejano music is also heavily influenced by Regional Mexican and Country music, while New Mexico music is much more influenced by Hispano folk and Western music. Both styles have influenced one another over the years, and incorporated American popular music styles.

Other forms
Folk composer and musician Robert Schmertz composed and wrote pieces related to historical events in Western Pennsylvania.

20th century folk revival music

Starting in the mid-20th century a phenomenon termed the folk music revival began, forming a new contemporary type of folk music. It was somewhat centered on but not limited to the United States. While sometimes termed the American Folk Music Revival, it was somewhat international and does not fit some narrower definitions of American folk music even when the artists were American.  Prominent artists from this movement include Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, The Weavers, Burl Ives, and others.  A more commercially oriented version of folk music emerged in the 1960s, including performers such as The Kingston Trio, The Limeliters, The Brothers Four, Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, The Highwaymen, Judy Collins, The New Christy Minstrels, and Gordon Lightfoot, as well as counterculture and folk rock performers including Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Arlo Guthrie, and Buffy Sainte-Marie.

Books
Series: Greenwood Guides to American Roots Music, edited by Norm Cohen. Titles include, Folk Music, Country, Blues, Jazz, and Ethnic and Border Music.
Fiona Ritchie and Doug Orr, Wayfaring Strangers: The Musical Voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia (University of North Carolina Press, 2014). Includes a foreword by Dolly Parton and 20 track CD.
Benjamin Filene, Romancing the Folk: Public Memory and American Roots Music (Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 2000)
Rachel Clare Donaldson, "I Hear American Singing": Folk Music and National Identity (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2014)
Kip Lornell, Exploring American Folk Music: Ethnic, Grassroots, and Regional Traditions in the United States (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2012)
Robert Santelli, American Roots Music--Based on the PBS Television Series (Abrams, 2001), foreword by Bonnie Raitt
In 2004, NPR published the book titled The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to American Folk Music, Linda Ronstadt wrote the foreword.
The Never-Ending Revival: Rounder Records and the Folk Alliance by Michael F. Scully (University of Illinois Press, 2008)
Nettl, Bruno. An Introduction to Folk Music in the United States. Rev. ed. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 1962.
In 2007, James P. Leary published Polkabilly: How the Goose Island Ramblers Redefined American Folk Music, which proposes a redefinition of traditional American folk music and identifies a new genre of music from the Upper Midwest known as Polkabilly, which blends ethnic music, old-time country music, and polka. The book was awarded the American Folklore Society's Chicago Folklore Prize for the best book in the field of folklore scholarship.

Film, TV, and Radio

Hootenanny, a weekly musical variety show broadcast on the ABC network in the U.S. in 1963–1964, primarily featured folk musicians.

The soundtrack of the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou? is exclusively roots music, performed by Alison Krauss, The Fairfield Four, Emmylou Harris, Norman Blake and others.

In 2001, PBS broadcast a 4-part documentary series, American Roots Music, that explored the historical roots of American roots music through footage and performances by the creators of the movement.

The 2003 film A Mighty Wind is a tribute to (and parody of) the folk-pop musicians of the early 1960s.

A six-hour public television series, The Music of America: History Through Musical Traditions, appeared in 2010.

PBS series Country Music by Ken Burns, 8 episodes. "Explore the remarkable stories of the people and places behind a true American art form." Gives insight into the folk heritage of what would become country music.

BBC radio program Black Roots, Grammy Award-winning musician Rhiannon Giddens explores the history of African American roots music through the stories of forgotten black pioneers.

See also
American folk music revival
Anthology of American Folk Music
List of North American folk music traditions
Protest songs in the United States

References

External links
The Historyscoper
The Folk File: A Folkie's Dictionary by Bill Markwick (1945-2017) - musical definitions and short biographies for American and U.K. Folk musicians and groups. Retrieved September 21, 2017.

Folk
Folk music by country

American folk music


Utzon's House in Hellebæk is a one-storey private home in Hellebæk, not far from Helsingør, in Denmark's northern Zealand. Built by the world-famous architect Jørn Utzon for his family and himself in 1952, its innovative design was welcomed by the world of architecture.

History

Apart from a watertower in Svaneke on Bornholm, this was Utzon's first completed work although he had already won many competitions. During the Second World War, Utzon went to Stockholm to study the work of Gunnar Asplund. In the winter of 1943–44, there was an exhibition of modern American architecture where Utzon was particularly taken by Frank Lloyd Wright's houses which led him to study Wright's work in more detail. Wright's concern with nature and the characteristics of each building site as well as the need for attention to internal and external space convinced him that each project required its own special approach.

After his family moved to Helsingør in 1937, Utzon — who was then 18 — became ever more attached to the area. The house remained his base for the rest of his life. "It's my laboratory," he once commented. It was in his Hellebæk study that he began working on the design of the Sydney Opera House in 1959.

When Utzon started building the house on the edge of Hellebæk Forest just outside the small town of Hellebæk, it was rumoured that an innovative approach to one-family homes was in the making. Architects of considerable repute visited the site to monitor progress. Utzon himself directed the building work without any technical plans. As the building developed, he would often change its shape, rather like building a sand castle. He had learnt this approach in Finland in 1946 when he had spent a few months with Alvar Aalto who had used exactly the same method for his Villa Mairea. Aalto maintained it was the most economical solution for his client.

Architecture

A long, narrow, one story building with a flat-roof, it rises slightly above the gently sloping site on a brick platform. The southern facade consists solely of windows, allowing lots of light into the open-plan living room with a freestanding fireplace. The bedrooms have no windows apart from skylights.

After experimenting with a few models, Utzon tells us he first built a full-size wooden version of the house in order to gain an impression of how a house with 130 square metres of living space would look in practice. Careful consideration was given to the surroundings: sun, view and shelter from the wind. The result was that he decided to have a completely closed wall along the northern side and an open glass wall for the southern facade. The builders agreed to work under Utzon's direction without plans. The north wall was first completed so as to establish the basic geometry. The kitchen and bathroom were then added and the remaining rooms were arranged with movable pinewood partitions and doors in order to facilitate any subsequent alterations. The materials used inside and outside are the same: yellow-white bricks, Oregon pine and aluminium. Yellow tiling is used both at the top of the walls — with hard-baked tiles — and in the kitchen, grill niche and shower as well as for the fireplace. The absence of windows in the children's rooms along the north wall has been mentioned as a possible disadvantage but they were lit by skylights.

Utzon's summed up his ideas about the house when he commented: "What is important for me is that the architectonic approach or system behind a house should not limit the house's function and thereby hamper life inside."

Later developments

Not long before he died, Jørn Utzon had entrusted his son Jan with modernization work on the house and alterations to cater to his old age. The work was still in progress at the time of his death. In accordance with his own wishes, Utzon was buried in Hellebæk churchyard where his father and brother also rest.

Influence

Utzon's design was widely imitated in the 1950s, first for one-family homes and later on a larger scale, when the Louisiana Museum in Humlebæk was built by Vilhelm Wohlert and Jørgen Bo in 1958. Halidor Gunnløgsson and Erik Christian Sørensen were among those who emulated Utzon's approach, developing a new Danish trend.

See also
Utzon's houses on Mallorca: Can Lis and Can Feliz
Architecture of Denmark

References

Literature
 Martin Keiding and Kim Dirckinck-Holmfeld (ed.), Utzon's own houses, Utzon Library, Copenhagen, Danish Architectural Press, 2004, 106 pages.
 Christoffer Harlang and Finn Monies, Eget hus: om danske arkitekters egne hus i 1950'erne, Copenhagen, Arkitektens Forlag, 2003, 118 pages.

Houses in Helsingør Municipality
Houses completed in 1952
Jørn Utzon buildings in Denmark
Buildings and structures in Helsingør Municipality
Houses in the Capital Region of Denmark

Utzon's House in Hellebæk


Rostrevor (in Irish: Ros Treabhair, i.e. Trevor's Wood, also Caislean Ruairi, i.e. Rory's Castle) is a village in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on Carlingford Lough and the hill of Slieve Martin, at the base of the Mourne Mountains and on the Kilbroney River. It had a population of 2,444 in the 2001 Census. The town is known for its folk music festival, Fiddler's Green Festival . It is in the Newry and Mourne District Council area. The name 'Rostrevor' first appeared circa 1618 and was named after Rose Ussher (the daughter of Henry Ussher, the Anglican Archbishop of Armagh) by her husband Edward Trevor (who came from Brynkynallt in Wales).

References

Villages in Northern Ireland
County Down
1610s establishments in Europe
Establishments in Northern Ireland

Rostrevor


The Church of Saint George () is one of eleven rock-hewn monolithic churches in Lalibela, a town in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Originally named Roha (Warwar), the historical and religious site was named Lalibela after the King Gebre Mesqel Lalibela of the Zagwe dynasty, who commissioned its construction. He is regarded as a saint by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

History

The Church of Saint George was carved downwards from a type of volcanic tuff. This is the sole architectural material that was used in the structure. It has been dated to the late 12th or early 13th century AD, and thought to have been constructed during the reign of King Gebre Mesqel Lalibela, of the late Zagwe dynasty. It is among the best known and last built of the eleven churches in the Lalibela area, and has been referred to as the "Eighth Wonder of the World". Lalibela, King of Ethiopia, sought to recreate Jerusalem, and structured the churches' landscape and religious sites in such a way as to achieve such a feat. "The churches at Lalibela are clustered in two major groups, one representing the earthly Jerusalem, and the other representing the heavenly Jerusalem. Located directly between them is a trench representing the River Jordan".  The dimensions of the trench are 25 meters by 25 meters by 30 meters, and there is a small baptismal pool outside the church, which stands in an artificial trench.

According to Ethiopian cultural history, Bete Giyorgis was built after King Gebre Mesqel Lalibela of the Zagwe dynasty had a vision in which he was instructed to construct the church; Saint George and God have both been referred to as the one who gave him the instructions.

Lalibela is a pilgrimage site for members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church; the church itself is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Rock-Hewn Churches, Lalibela".

On first approach the site appears wholly inaccessible, with sheer drops on every side and no access bridge. It is accessed via a very narrow man-made canyon, spiralling downwards, which changes to a tunnel close to the church, to further conceal its presence.

Pilgrims who died after reaching the site are placed in a simple open tomb on the outer walls.

The hollowed interior contains a simple shrine to St. George and, behind a curtain (forbidden to view apart from priests) lies a replica of the Ark of the Covenant.

Bete Giyorgis was spatially documented in 2005.

See also
 List of colossal sculpture in situ
 List of churches under the patronage of Saint George
 Saint George: Devotions, traditions and prayers

References

External links

 Fine Art Photos from the Church
 Gallery of photos of the church's interior and exterior
 Info on the church of Lalibela
 A 3D representation of the church of Lalibela

Oriental Orthodox congregations established in the 13th century
Rock-Hewn Churches, Lalibela

Church of Saint George, Lalibela


John Robert Horner (born June 15, 1946) is an American paleontologist most famous for describing Maiasaura, providing the first clear evidence that some dinosaurs cared for their young. In addition to his paleontological discoveries, Horner served as the technical advisor for the first five Jurassic Park films, had a cameo appearance in Jurassic World, and served as a partial inspiration for one of the lead characters of the franchise, Dr. Alan Grant. Horner studied at the University of Montana, although he did not complete his degree due to undiagnosed dyslexia, and was awarded a Doctorate in Science honoris causa. He retired from Montana State University on July 1, 2016, although he claims to have been pushed out of the Museum of the Rockies after having married an undergraduate student and now teaches as a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University.

Biography

Horner was born and raised near Shelby, Montana. He was eight years old when he found his first dinosaur bone. He attended the University of Montana for seven years, majoring in geology and zoology. He also spent two years in the U.S. Marine Corps, serving in Vietnam during the Vietnam War in a reconnaissance unit. Horner did not complete his bachelor's degree due to severe dyslexia. However, he did complete a senior thesis on the fauna of the Bear Gulch Limestone, one of the most famous Mississippian lagerstätten (exceptionally preserved fossil sites) in the world, located in Montana. The University of Montana awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Science in 1986. Also in 1986 he was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship. In 1993, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

In Montana during the mid-1970s, Horner and his research partner Bob Makela discovered a colonial nesting site of a new dinosaur genus which they named Maiasaura, or "Good Mother Lizard". The dinosaur bones, originating from a juvenile, were first discovered by Marion Brandvold. Horner then studied the bones, and at first, there was a refusal to return the bones to Brandvold. It contained the first dinosaur eggs in the Western hemisphere, the first dinosaur embryos, and settled questions of whether some dinosaurs were sociable, built nests and cared for their young. The discovery established Horner's career. He has named several other species of dinosaur (including Orodromeus makelai, in memory of his late friend Bob Makela) and has had three named after himself: Achelousaurus horneri, Anasazisaurus horneri, and Daspletosaurus horneri.

Within the paleontological community, Horner is best known for his work on dinosaur growth research. He has published numerous articles in collaboration with Berkeley paleontologist Kevin Padian, and French dinosaur histologist Armand de Ricqlès, on the growth of dinosaurs using growth series. This usually involves leg bones in graduated sizes from different individuals ranging in age from embryos to adults. Horner also revitalized the contested theory that Tyrannosaurus rex was an obligate scavenger, rather than a predatory killer. While this theory has been widely discussed by the popular press, it has never been a major research focus for Horner. He claimed that he never published the scavenger hypothesis in the peer-reviewed scientific literature, stating that it was mainly a tool for him to teach a popular audience, particularly children, of the dangers of making assumptions in science (such as assuming T. rex was a hunter) without using evidence.  In 2000, teams led by Horner discovered five specimens of T. rex and three more the following summer, including one larger than the specimen nicknamed "Sue". The new fossil was 10% larger than other specimens and estimated to weigh 10–13 tons in life. The Museum of the Rockies, as the result of continuing fieldwork, now exhibits the largest Tyrannosaurus rex collection in the world. Currently, Horner is working on the developmental biology of dinosaurs.

Horner has published over 100 professional papers, eight books including Dinosaurs Under the Big Sky; a children's book, Maia: A Dinosaur Grows Up; a non-fiction book on dinosaurs from Montana, Dinosaur Lives; and numerous articles. He was also a part of a 2005 discovery of soft tissue in a T. rex fossil. Horner was the Curator of Paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies, the Regent's Professor of Paleontology, adjunct curator at the National Museum of Natural History, and taught at the Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. Over the years he has advised people who have gone on to be leading experts in paleontology, such as Mary Higby Schweitzer, Greg Erickson, Kristi Curry-Rogers, and David J. Varricchio. Horner was awarded an honorary doctorate by Pennsylvania State University in 2006 in recognition of his work.

In 2003, Horner discovered a fossilized tyrannosaur leg bone from which paleontologist Mary Higby Schweitzer was able to retrieve proteins in 2007.

In 2009, the National Geographic released a documentary entitled "Dinosaurs Decoded", which reviews Horner's research into juvenile dinosaurs. He suggests that juvenile dinosaurs looked sufficiently different from adults, and that they have sometimes been mistaken for separate species. The program examines specific changes that occurred as dinosaurs aged and speculates on why the changes were necessary. Horner's research on the topic has gone as far as eliminating several "sub-species" of Triceratops, Pachycephalosaurus, and Tyrannosaurus. Horner also believes that if his research were to continue as much as a third of known dinosaurs would be classified under an existing species.

In Las Vegas on January 15, 2012, 65-year-old Horner married Vanessa Weaver, a 19-year-old Montana State University undergraduate paleontology student and volunteer in his lab. The couple had divorced by August 2016, but remained friends.

On November 2, 2013, Horner was awarded the Romer–Simpson Prize, the highest honor a paleontologist can receive from the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.

On his retirement from Montana State University on July 1, 2016, the MacMillan Foundation honored Horner for his work with a $3 million endowment for the John R. Horner Curator of Paleontology Chair for the Museum of the Rockies/ Montana State University - funding the work of his Paleontology successors in perpetuity.

In popular culture, Horner is the subject of the children's book, Jack Horner, Dinosaur Hunter! written by Sophia Gholz,  illustrated by Dave Shephard, and  published by Sleeping Bear Press. The book, which has been translated into French, chronicles the life of Horner, from a child in Montana to an adult on the set of Jurassic Park, and discusses Horner's scientific contributions as well as navigating life with a reading disability.

Build a Dinosaur Project

Horner's 2009 book, How to Build a Dinosaur: Extinction Doesn't Have to Be Forever, describes his plan to recreate a dinosaur by genetically "nudging" the DNA of a chicken. Horner's idea for the project came from an early script for the film Jurassic World.
He had been planning the book as early as June 2005; it was originally planned to be released simultaneously with Jurassic World as a scientific companion volume.

In 2011, Horner pursued the project to develop the animal, which he describes as a "chickenosaurus", with a team of geneticists. By November 2014, Horner and his team had conducted some of the earliest research into the embryonic development of tails. Such research may ultimately lead to new treatments for people with spinal disorders. Research into the mesenchyme tissue of chicken embryos, which direct the growth of teeth, may also aid in the treatment of human sarcomas. George Lucas had funded most of the project's costs up to that point, while an additional $5 million was needed. Horner expected to have a living dinosaur within 10 years.

In 2015, an independent group of scientists reported that they had found a way to turn the beaks of chicken embryos back into dinosaur-like snouts, by reverse genetic engineering, and University of Chile geneticists have produced embryos with dinosaur-like leg and foot anatomy including the fibula full-length and reaching the ankle.

References

External links

 http://www.hornersciencegroup.com
 http://www.jackhornersworldofdinosaurs.com
 Museum of the Rockies

 "Where are the baby dinosaurs?" (TEDxVancouver 2011) (also )
 "Building a dinosaur from a chicken" (TED2011) (also )

1946 births
Living people
United States Marine Corps personnel of the Vietnam War
American paleontologists
MacArthur Fellows
People from Bozeman, Montana
People from Shelby, Montana
University of Montana alumni
Scientists with dyslexia
American scientists with disabilities
United States Marines
21st-century American scientists

Jack Horner (paleontologist)


George Frideric Handel (; ;  – ) wis a German-born Baroque componer famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems an organ concertos. Handel received important trainin in Halle-upon-Saale an wirked as a componer in Hamburg an Italy afore settlin in Lunnon in 1712; he becam a naituralised Breetish subject in 1727. He wis strangly influenced baith bi the great componers o the Italian Baroque an bi the middle-German polyphonic choral tradeetion.

Within fifteen years, Handel haed stairtit three commercial opera companies tae supply the Inglis nobility wi Italian opera. Muisicologist Winton Dean writes that his operas shaw that "Handel wis nae anerly a great composer; he wis a dramatic genius o the first order." As Alexander's Feast (1736) wis well received, Handel made a transeetion tae Inglis choral warks. Efter his success wi Messiah (1742) he niver componed an Italian opera again. Awmaist blind, an haein leeved in Ingland for nearly fifty years, he dee'd in 1759, a respectit an rich man. His funeral wis gien full state honours, an he wis buiried in Wastmeenster Aibey in Lunnon.

Born the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach an Domenico Scarlatti, Handel is regairdit as ane o the greatest componers o the Baroque era, wi warks sic as Messiah, Water Muisic, an Music for the Royal Fireworks remeenin steidfestly popular. Ane o his fower coronation anthems, Zadok the Priest (1727), componed for the coronation o George II, haes been performed at ivery subsequent Breetish coronation, tradeetionally in the sovereign's anyntin. Anither o his Inglis oratorios, Solomon (1748), haes an aw remeened popular, wi the Sinfonia that appens act 3 (kent mair commonly as "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba") featurin at the 2012 Lunnon Olympics appenin ceremony. Handel componed mair nor fowerty operas in ower thirty years, an syne the late 1960s, wi the revival o baroque muusic an historically informed muusical performance, interest in Handel's operas haes growed.

References

1685 births
1759 daiths
18t-century componers
18t-century German fowk
Anglican saunts
Baroque componers
Buirials at Wastmeenster Aibey
Clessical componers o kirk muisic
Componers for pipe organ
Inglis clessical organists
Inglis componers
Inglis fowk o German strynd
German clessical componers
German clessical organists
German emigrants tae the Kinrick o Great Breetain
Members o the Ryal Society o Muisickers
Naituralized subjects o Great Breetain
Opera componers
Oratorio componers
Organ improvisers
Fowk celebratit in the Lutheran leeturgical calendar
Fowk frae Halle (Saale)
Fowk frae the Duchy o Magdeburg

George Frideric Handel


In homological algebra, the horseshoe lemma, also called the simultaneous resolution theorem, is a statement relating resolutions of two objects  and  to resolutions of
extensions of  by .  It says that if an object  is an extension of  by , then a resolution of  can be built up inductively with the nth item in the resolution equal to the coproduct of the nth items in the resolutions of  and .  The name of the lemma comes from the shape of the diagram illustrating the lemma's hypothesis.

Formal statement
Let  be an abelian category with enough projectives.  If

is a diagram in  such that the column is exact and the
rows are projective resolutions of  and  respectively, then
it can be completed to a commutative diagram

where all columns are exact, the middle row is a projective resolution
of , and  for all n. If  is an
abelian category with enough injectives, the dual statement also holds.

The lemma can be proved inductively.  At each stage of the induction, the properties of projective objects are used to define maps in a projective resolution of .  Then the snake lemma is invoked to show that the simultaneous resolution constructed so far has exact rows.

See also
Nine lemma

References

Homological algebra
Lemmas in category theory

Horseshoe lemma


The Cold River is a  river in western New Hampshire in the United States. It is a tributary of the Connecticut River, which flows to Long Island Sound.

The Cold River begins at the outlet of Crescent Lake in the northeastern corner of the town of Acworth. The river flows east into the town of Lempster, then turns south and reenters Acworth. When Dodge Brook joins the river, it turns west and makes its way to the Connecticut River, passing the villages of South Acworth, Alstead, and Drewsville. The river reaches the Connecticut just south of the communities of Bellows Falls, Vermont, and North Walpole, New Hampshire.

In October 2005, flooding on the Cold River and its tributaries caused severe damage in the towns of Alstead, Acworth, and Walpole.

Tributaries
(from upstream to downstream)
Dodge Brook (from east, near East Acworth)
Honey Brook (from southeast, between East Acworth and South Acworth)
Bowers Brook (from north, in South Acworth village)
Great Brook (from south, below South Acworth)
Warren Brook (in Alstead)
Great Brook (from north, in Langdon)

See also

List of rivers of New Hampshire

References

Rivers of New Hampshire
Tributaries of the Connecticut River
Rivers of Sullivan County, New Hampshire
Rivers of Cheshire County, New Hampshire

Cold River (Connecticut River tributary)


Louis Gustave Vapereau (4 April 1819 – 18 April 1906) was a French writer and lexicographer famous primarily for his dictionaries, the Dictionnaire universel des contemporains and the Dictionnaire universel des littérateurs.

Biography
Born in Orléans, Louis Gustave Vapereau studied philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure from 1838 to 1843, writing his thesis on Pascal's Pensées under the supervision of Victor Cousin.  He taught philosophy at Tours until the establishment of the Second French Empire in 1852, when his republican principles cost him his position.

Vapereau returned to Paris to study law, and in 1854 joined the French bar.  He did not engage in any legal practice and returned to writing shortly afterwards.  In 1858, he published the Dictionnaire universel des contemporains and from 1859 to 1869 he edited the L'Année littéraire et dramatique.

After the collapse of the Empire, Vapereau was appointed prefect of Cantal on 14 September 1870 by Jules Trochu's Government of National Defense.  He then became prefect of Tarn-et-Garonne from 26 March 1871 until 15 February 1873, when, under pressure from the Catholic church, he was released from the prefecture.  He also assembled the Dictionnaire universel des littérateurs, publishing it in 1876.  From January 1877 to 1888 he was named inspector-general of public elementary schools.

Vapereau was the author of some excellent editions of the classics, and of works on political and social questions, but he is famous for his two dictionaries.  He also contributed to a number of journals, including Revue de l'instruction publique, Revue française, Le Petit Journal and L'Illustration. At the time of his death at Morsang-sur-Orge (Essonne) in 1906, he had been a regular contributor to L'Illustration for twenty-six years, with some of his notes written for the journal being collected and published in 1896 as L'Homme et la vie.

References

Attribution

External links
Entry at Les archives Émile Zola – in French

French lexicographers
1819 births
1906 deaths
Writers from Orléans
Prefects of France
Prefects of Cantal
Prefects of Tarn-et-Garonne
French male writers
19th-century French writers
19th-century lexicographers

Louis Gustave Vapereau


A Germicidal lamp is a lamp that produces  a special type of ultraviolet light. This light can ionise oxygen and produce ozone. Ozone can kill many types of germs. There are different designs of such lamps; some are very similar to compact fluorescent lamps.

Lamps

Germicidal lamp


Münir Nurettin Selçuk (1900 or 1901 – April 27, 1981) was a Turkish classical musician and tenor singer.

Biography

He was born in the Sarıyer district of Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire in 1900 or 1901. His uncle was Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, Abdurrahman Nurettin Pasha. As a youth, Selçuk studied in Hungary before returning to Turkey and becoming a musician. In 1927, he travelled to Paris for a musical education, then began working for the Istanbul Conservatory in 1953. He was the director of the Conservatory for a total of sixteen years.

Selçuk spent some time singing in stage musicals. One of Selçuk's most important legacies was the establishment of the position of lead singer in Turkish music. He died on April 27, 1981, and was buried at Aşiyan Asri Cemetery.

He had two sons, both of whom followed his footsteps into music, pianist composer Timur Selçuk, and jazz drummer composer Selim Selçuk.

Works
He appeared in the films "Üçüncü Selim'in Gözdesi" (1950), "Hasret" (1944), "Kahveci Güzeli" (1941), and "Allah'ın Cenneti" (1939), as well as composing for three films.

References
 Biyografi.net - Biography of Münir Nurettin Selçuk

External links

1900s births
1981 deaths
People from Sarıyer
Turkish classical composers
Turkish classical singers
20th-century Turkish male singers
Turkish male film actors
Musicians from Istanbul
Burials at Aşiyan Asri Cemetery
Composers of Ottoman classical music
Composers of Turkish makam music
Musicians of Ottoman classical music
Musicians of Turkish makam music
20th-century Turkish male actors
20th-century classical musicians
20th-century composers
Male classical composers
Turkish tambur players

Münir Nurettin Selçuk


Romania's landscape is almost evenly divided among mountains (31 percent), hills (33 percent), and plains (36 percent). These varied relief forms spread rather symmetrically from the Carpathian Mountains, which reach elevations of more than 2,400 metres, to the Danube Delta, which is just a few metres above sea level.

Romanian Carpathians

The arc of the Carpathians extends over 1,000 km through the center of the country, covering an area of 70,000 square km. These mountains are of low to medium altitude and are no wider than 100 km. They are deeply fragmented by longitudinal and transverse valleys and crossed by several major rivers. These features and the fact that there are many summit passes—some at altitudes up to 2,256 metres—have made the Carpathians less of a barrier to movement than have other European ranges. Another distinguishing feature is the many eroded platforms that provide tableland at relatively high altitudes. There are permanent settlements here at above 1,200 metres.

Romania's Carpathians are differentiated into three ranges: the Eastern Carpathians, the Southern Carpathians or Transylvanian Alps, and the Western Carpathians. Each of these ranges has important distinguishing features. The Eastern Carpathians are composed of three parallel ridges that run from northwest to southeast. The westernmost ridge is an extinct volcanic range with many preserved cones and craters. The range has many large depressions, in the largest of which the city of Braşov is situated. Important mining and industrial centers as well as agricultural areas are found within these depressions. The Eastern Carpathians are covered with forests—some 32 percent of the country's woodlands are there. They also contain important ore deposits, including gold and silver, and their mineral water springs feed numerous health resorts.

The Southern Carpathians offer the highest peaks at Moldoveanu Peak (2,544 metres) and Negoiu (2,535 meters) and more than 150 glacial lakes. They have large grassland areas and some woodlands but few large depressions and subsoil resources. The region was crisscrossed by an ancient network of trans-Carpathian roads, and vestiges of the old Roman Way are still visible. Numerous passes and the valleys of the Olt, Jiu, and Danube rivers provide routes for roads and railways through the mountains.

The Western Carpathians are the lowest of the three ranges and are fragmented by many deep structural depressions. They have historically functioned as "gates," which allow easy passage but can be readily defended. The most famous of these is the Iron Gate on the Danube. The Western Carpathians are the most densely settled, and it is in the northernmost area of this range, the Apuseni Mountains, that permanent settlements can be found at the highest altitudes.

Hills, plateaus and plains

Enclosed within the great arc of the Carpathians lie the undulating plains and low hills of the Transylvanian Plateau--the largest tableland in the country and the center of Romania. This important agricultural region also contains large deposits of methane gas and salt. To the south and east of the Carpathians, the Sub-Carpathians form a fringe of rolling terrain ranging from 396 to 1,006 metres in elevation. This terrain is matched in the west by the slightly lower Western Hills. The symmetry of Romania's relief continues with the Getic Tableland to the south of the Sub-Carpathians, the Moldavian Tableland in the east between the Sub-Carpathians and the Prut River, and the Dobrujan Tableland in the southeast between the Danube and the Black Sea. The Sub-Carpathians and the tableland areas provide good conditions for human settlement and are important areas for fruit growing, viticulture, and other agricultural activity. They also contain large deposits of brown coal and natural gas.

Beyond the Carpathian foothills and tablelands, the plains spread south and west. In the southern parts of the country, the lower Danube Plain is divided by the Olt River; east of the river lies the Romanian Plain, and to the west is the Oltenian or Western Plain. The land here is rich with chernozemic soils and forms Romania's most important farming region. Irrigation is widely used, and marshlands in the Danube's floodplain have been diked and drained to provide additional tillable land.

Romania's lowest land is found on the northern edge of the Dobruja region in the Danube Delta. The delta is a triangular swampy area of marshes, floating reed islands, and sandbanks, where the Danube ends its trek of almost 3,000 km and divides into three frayed branches before emptying into the Black Sea. The Danube Delta provides a large part of the country's fish production, and its reeds are used to manufacture cellulose. The region also serves as a nature preserve for rare species of plant and animal life including migratory birds.

After entering the country in the southwest at Bazias, the Danube travels some 1,000 km through or along Romanian territory, forming the southern frontier with Serbia and Bulgaria. Virtually all of the country's rivers are tributaries of the Danube, either directly or indirectly, and by the time the Danube's course ends in the Black Sea, they account for nearly 40 percent of the total discharge. The most important of these rivers are the Mureș, the Olt, the Prut, the Siret, the Ialomița, the Someș, and the Argeș. Romania's rivers primarily flow east, west, and south from the central crown of the Carpathians. They are fed by rainfall and melting snow, which causes considerable fluctuation in discharge and occasionally catastrophic flooding. In the east, river waters are collected by the Siret and the Prut. In the south, the rivers flow directly into the Danube, and in the west, waters are collected by the Tisza on Hungarian territory.

The Danube is by far Romania's most important river, not only for transportation, but also for the production of hydroelectric power. One of Europe's largest hydroelectric stations is located at the Iron Gates, where the Danube surges through the Carpathian gorges. The Danube is an important water route for domestic shipping, as well as international trade. It is navigable for river vessels along its entire Romanian course and for seagoing ships as far as the port of Brăila. An obvious problem with the use of the Danube for inland transportation is its remoteness from most of the major industrial centres. Moreover, marshy banks and perennial flooding impede navigation in some areas.

Geography of Romania

Topography of Romania


The 62nd Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army, formed four times and active during World War II and the postwar period. The division was formed in 1936 and fought in the Winter War and Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. It was destroyed during the Battle of Kiev in summer 1941. The division was reformed in November 1941. It fought in the defense against the German offensive Case Blue during the summer of 1942. After suffering heavy losses, it was withdrawn from combat but was sent back to fight in the Battle of Stalingrad in November. The division suffered heavy losses and was disbanded on 2 November. The division was reformed a third time from a rifle brigade in April 1943. It fought in Operation Suvorov, Operation Bagration, the East Prussian Offensive and the Prague Offensive. It was disbanded in the summer of 1945. The 62nd was reformed a fourth time by renaming the 360th Rifle Division, but became the 108th Motor Rifle Division in 1957.

History

First formation
The division's first formation was originally formed as the 2nd Muslim Rifle Division during the Russian Civil War on 26 October 1919 in Samara from the 1st and 2nd Tatar Rifle Brigades, part of the Turkestan Front. On 24 November it was renamed the 2nd Turkestan Rifle Division, receiving the designation Red Communards on 25 January 1920. Meanwhile, on 22 November 1919, the Turkestan Front reorganized the troops of the Turkestan Socialist Federative Republic, with the troops of the Fergana Front  being consolidated into the 1st Separate Fergana Rifle Division. On 22 December this unit was reorganized as the 2nd Turkestan Rifle Division. All Soviet units in Fergana Oblast were subordinated to the latter, which in effect became an army-level command, on 25 April. In June 1920, the 2nd Turkestan Rifle Division of Red Communards was transferred to Fergana and merged with the 2nd Turkestan Rifle Division. From then until February 1921 the division fought against the Basmachi movement in Fergana, in the areas of Osh, Nookat, Matchа, Namangan, Uch-Kurgan, Kurgan-Tyube, Gorbua, and the Alay Valley.

On 16 August, as a result of the Basmachi movement, the Turkestan Front formed the Military Soviet of Fergana Oblast from the Military Soviet of the 2nd Turkestan Division. The Military Soviet of the oblast received all military and civilian powers in the region. On 3 October, all of the Soviet troops in Fergana Oblast were combined to form the Fergana Army Group, headed by a Military Soviet formed from the Military Soviet of Fergana Oblast. The army group included the 2nd Turkestan Rifle Division and the 3rd Turkestan Cavalry Division (redesignated as a rifle division in November 1920); its headquarters was formed from that of the 2nd Turkestan Rifle Division.

After the transfer of the troops and headquarters of the 2nd Turkestan Rifle Division to Semirechye Oblast, the headquarters of the newly arrived 3rd Turkestan Rifle Division was given control of the Fergana Army Group. Between May and June the 2nd Turkestan fought in the elimination of the remnants of the troops of Andrey Bakich in the Bakhty and Chuguchak area of Semirechye. On 4 May 1921, the troops in Turkestan were reorganized yet again, and the headquarters of the 3rd Division was redesignated as the headquarters of the 2nd Turkestan Rifle Division, functioning as the headquarters of the Fergana Army Group. The headquarters of the former 2nd Turkestan became the staff of troops in Semirechye Oblast. On 18 September, the headquarters of the Fergana Group was redesignated the staff of troops in Fergana Oblast, the command of the troops was assigned to the commander of the 2nd Division, and he was subordinated to the local Soviet authorities.

In early April 1923, the positions of the commanders of individual oblasts in Turkestan were eliminated, and on 23 April the headquarters of the 2nd Division was reformed; its commander was tasked with the control of the troops in Fergana Oblast. To command the troops in the Fergana Oblast, the Military Soviet of the oblast was reestablished, led by the 2nd Division commander. After the defeat of the main Basmachi forces, the Military Soviet was abolished on 1 April 1924 and command of all troops given to the 2nd Division commander. In June 1926 the division became part of the Central Asian Military District, which replaced the Turkestan Front.

On 21 May 1936, when the Red Army standardized its unit designations, the 2nd Turkestan was renumbered as the 62nd Rifle Division. In June 1940, the division fought in the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia. The corps was with 15th Rifle Corps of 5th Army on 22 June 1941. It was destroyed in the Battle of Kiev. The division was officially disbanded on 19 September.

Second formation
The division was reformed in November 1941. It joined the 'operational army' on 2 November 1941, serving on the front until 29 July 1942. It then fought on the front again from 7 October 1942 to 2 November 1942. It was then disbanded.

Third formation
The division was recreated on 15 April 1943 from the 44th Separate Rifle Brigade. In March 1944, it inherited the Order of the Red Banner of Labour from the division's first formation. The division fought in the Battle of Stalingrad and at Kursk. It was with the 31st Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front in May 1945. It was disbanded in the summer of 1945 by the order forming the Central Group of Forces, dated 29 May 1945. On 10 June 1945 Feskov et al. 2013 lists the division as being with 36th Rifle Corps (along with 88th and 331st Rifle Divisions) in the 31st Army.

Fourth formation
In April 1955, the 62nd Rifle Division was formed a fourth time by renaming the 360th Rifle Division at Termez with the 17th Rifle Corps. This formation inherited the honorific "Nevel" and the Order of the Red Banner from the 360th Rifle Division. On 25 June 1957, it became the 108th Motor Rifle Division.

References

Citations

Bibliography

Poirer and Connor, Red Army Order of Battle in the Great Patriotic War, 1985.

062
Military units and formations established in 1936
Military units and formations disestablished in 1957
Military units and formations of the Soviet Union in the Winter War

62nd Rifle Division


Piet Mondrian (7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944) was a Dutch modern artist of the De stijl group. His early paintings show abstract landscapes in post-impressionist and cubist style.

As his career went on, he started to paint in a more abstract style.

Mondrian painted about 250 of these geometric abstracts, from 1917 to 1944. Mondrian called his style "neoplasticism".

Escaping in 1940 from a Europe at war, Mondrian spent the last four years of his life in New York City. His paintings of that time express exuberance at city life. In his final painting, Broadway Boogie Woogie (painted around 1942 or 1943), the checkerboard lines, previously black, are now painted blue, gray, red and yellow. The yellow was apparently inspired by New York's Yellow cabs.

Further reading
Bax, Marty 2002. Complete Mondrian. Lund Humphries, London.
Bois, Yve-Alain et al. 1995. Piet Mondrian: 1872-1944. Bulfinch Press.
 Busignani, Alberto 1968. Mondrian: the life and work of the artist, illustrated by 80 colour plates. London: Thames and Hudson.
Locher, Hans 1994. Piet Modrian: colour, structure and symbolism. Verlag Gachnang & Springer, Bern, Switzerland.
Milner, John 1992. Mondrian. London: Phaidon.
Seuphor, Michel & Harry N. Abrams 1955. Piet Mondrian, life and work.

1872 births
1944 deaths
Dutch painters
People from Amersfoort

Piet Mondrian