La traducció del Càntic dels Càntics de Carles Riba

Carles Riba’s activity as a translator of Greek classics (Xenophon, Plutarch, Homer, Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus) and works of important authors who wrote in Latin (Virgil), English (Edgar A. Poe) and German (Rilke, Hölderlin) is well known and has been widely studied. In contrast, the great humanist’s translations of books of the Bible -Song of Songs and the Book of Ruth- from Hebrew to Catalan have never been the subject of a monographic study. This piece of work is an edition and a detailed analysis of his version of the Song of Solomon. The notes in the text point out the translator’s contributions and uncertainties in a work published at a pivotal time in the Catalan language’s history

El retorn a la vida. Treballs de restauració i estudi a dues peces del Museu Egipci de Barcelona

Es tracta de tres rotlles de papir, dos d’ells d’apariéncia iguals i el tercer ben diferent amb grandària i estat de conservació.Els dos primers de tamany i patologies semblants, enrotllats amb l’escriptura per la part interior,per la qual cosa en un principi no es podia identificar, semblaven ser el mateix rotlle partit pel elmig, el tercer, si be aparentava ser igual que els altres, venia plegat per un costat i més deteriorat, al desplegar-los resultaren ser tots tres la continuïtat del mateix text.

L’obra de Guillaume de Machaut en el Manuscrit Mòdena, Biblioteca Estense, a.M.5.24

Entre finals del segle XIV i principis del XV es data la redacció del Manuscrit Mòdena, Biblioteca Estense, .M.5.24, un dels principals manuscrits del moment que han arribat als nostres dies, essent un element culminant pel que fa a penetració de l’art polifònic francès a la Itàlia d’inicis del ‘400. En ell es copien quatre peces de Guillaume de Machaut i l’únic poema de l’autor francès musicat per un altre compositor. En els treballs sobre el manuscrit molt sovint s’obvien aquestes quatre peces, i l’estudi sobre Machaut es fa quasi exclusivament des de les fonts franceses. Aquest treball pretén respondre, sobretot, a dues preguntes: Què ens poden explicar aquestes peces sobre el procés d’afrancesament de la música italiana? Què ens poden explicar sobre la difusió de l’obra de Machaut pel vell continent?

Encuadernaciones Mudéjares de la Biblioteca de Alfonso el Magnánimo: Ms. 574 y 576 Biblioteca de la Universitat de Barcelona

This work expect to prove relations between the bookbinding of two manuscripts conserved in the Library of the University of Barcelona and the bookbinding to realise in the workshop of bookbinding of the Library of Alfonso el Magnanimous in this court Neapolitan, across over the study of this elements and architecture, and give the denomination of bookbinding mudejar neapolitan, because they are to make in this workshop or in this defect in Italy in the middle of the XV century.

Theorica Pantegni . Transcription of the Helsinki manuscript (Codex EÖ.II.14)

The Theorica Pantegni is a medieval medical textbook written in Latin. The author was Constantine the African (Constantinus Africanus), a monk of Tunisian origin. He compiled the work in the latter half of the eleventh century at the Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino in Italy. - Manuscript Eö.II.14, containing the Theorica Pantegni published here, belongs today to the National Library of Finland. It can be dated to the third quarter of the twelfth century, which makes it one of the earliest surviving exemplars of the Theorica Pantegni: over seventy manuscripts of the work survive, of which about fifteen can be dated to the twelfth century. Manuscript Eö.II.14 is written in black ink on 210 parchment leaves (recto and verso), amounting to 420 pages, in pre-Gothic script. - The present text is a transcription of Ms Eö.II.14. The goal is to provide the reader with an accessible text that is faithful to the original.

Theorica Pantegni . Facsimile of the Helsinki manuscript (Codex EÖ.II.14)

The Theorica Pantegni is a medieval medical textbook written in Latin. The author was Constantine the African (Constantinus Africanus), a monk of Tunisian origin. He compiled the work in the latter half of the eleventh century at the Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino in Italy. - Manuscript Eö.II.14, containing the Theorica Pantegni published here, belongs today to the National Library of Finland. It can be dated to the third quarter of the twelfth century, which makes it one of the earliest surviving exemplars of the Theorica Pantegni: over seventy manuscripts of the work survive, of which about fifteen can be dated to the twelfth century. Manuscript Eö.II.14 is written in black ink on 210 parchment leaves (recto and verso), amounting to 420 pages, in pre-Gothic script.

Theorica Pantegni . Facsimile and Transcription of the Helsinki manuscript (Codex EÖ.II.14)

The Theorica Pantegni is a medieval medical textbook written in Latin. The author was Constantine the African (Constantinus Africanus), a monk of Tunisian origin. He compiled the work in the latter half of the eleventh century at the Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino in Italy. - Manuscript Eö.II.14, containing the Theorica Pantegni published here, belongs today to the National Library of Finland. It can be dated to the third quarter of the twelfth century, which makes it one of the earliest surviving exemplars of the Theorica Pantegni: over seventy manuscripts of the work survive, of which about fifteen can be dated to the twelfth century. Manuscript Eö.II.14 is written in black ink on 210 parchment leaves (recto and verso), amounting to 420 pages, in pre-Gothic script. - The present text is a transcription of Ms Eö.II.14. The goal is to provide the reader with an accessible text that is faithful to the original.

St. Petersburg Court Chant and the Tradition of Eastern Slavic Church Singing

The present study examines the repertory of liturgical chant known as St. Petersburg Court Chant which emerged within the Imperial Court of St. Petersburg, Russia, and appeared in print in a number of revisions during the course of the 19th century, eventually to spread throughout the Russian Empire and even abroad. The study seeks answers to questions on the essence and composition of Court Chant, its history and liturgical background, and most importantly, its musical relationship to other repertories of Eastern Slavic chant. The research questions emerge from previous literary accounts of Court Chant (summarized in the Introduction), which have tended to be inaccurate and generally not based on critical research. The study is divided into eight main chapters. Chapter 1 provides a survey of the history of Eastern Slavic chant and the Imperial Court Chapel of St. Petersburg until 1917, with special emphasis on the history of singing traditional chant in polyphony, the status of the Court Chapel as a government authority, and its endeavours in publishing church music. Chapter 2 deals with the liturgical background of Eastern chant, the chant genres, and main repertories of Eastern Slavic chant. Chapter 3 concentrates on chant sources: it introduces the musical notations utilised, after which a typology of chant books is presented. The discussion continues with a survey of the sources of Court Chant and their content, the specimens selected for closer analysis, the comparative materials from other repertories, and ends with a commentary on some chant sources that have been excluded. The comparative sources include a specimen from around the beginning of the 12th century, a few manuscripts from the 17th century, and printed and manuscript chant books from the early 18th to early 20th century, covering the geographical area that delimits to the western Ukraine, Astrakhan, Nizhny Novgorod, and the Solovetsky Monastery. Chapter 4 presents the approach and methods used in the subsequent analytical comparisons. After a survey of the pitch organization of Eastern Slavic chant, the customary harmonization strategy of traditional chant polyphony is examined, according to which a method for meaningful analysis of the harmony is proposed. The method is based on the observation that the harmonic framework of chant polyphony derives from the standard pitch collection of monodic chant known as the Church Gamut, specific pitches of which form eight harmonic regions that behave like the usual tonalities of major and harmonic minor. Because of the considerable quantity of comparative chant forms, computer-assisted statistical methods are applied to the analysis of chant melodies. The primary chant forms and their respective comparative forms have been pre-processed into reduced chant prototypes and divided into redactions. The analyses are carried out by measuring the formal dissimilarities of the primary chant forms of the Court Chant repertory against each comparative form, and also by measuring the reciprocal dissimilarities of all chant versions in a redaction, the results of which are subjected to agglomerative hierarchical clustering in order to find out how the chant forms relate to each other. The dissimilarities are determined by applying a metric dissimilarity function that is based on the Levenshtein Distance. Chapter 5 provides the melodic and harmonic analyses of generic chants (chants used for multiple texts of different lengths), i.e., chants for stichera samoglasny and troparia, Chapter 6 of pseudo-generic chants (chants that are used for multiple texts but with certain restrictions), i.e., chants for heirmoi, prokeimena, and three other hymns, and Chapter 7 of non-generic chants, covering nine chants that in the Court repertory are not shared by multiple texts. The results are summarized and evaluated in Chapter 8. Accordingly, it can be established that, contrary to previous conceptions, melodically, Court Chant is in effect a full part of the wider Eastern Slavic chant tradition. Even if it is somewhat detached from the chant versions of the Synodal square-note chant books and the local tradition of Moscow, it is particularly close to chant forms of East Ukraine and some vernacular repertories from Russia. Respectively, the harmonization strategies of Court Chant do not show significant individuality in comparison with those of the available polyphonic comparative sources, the main difference being the part-writing, which generally conforms to western common practice standard, whereas the deviations from this tend to be more significant in other analysed repertories of polyphonic chant. Thus, insofar as the subsequent prevalence of Court Chant is not based on its forceful dissemination by authorities (as suggested in previous literature but for which little tangible evidence could be found in Chapter 1), in the present author’s interpretation, Court Chant attained its dominance principally because musically it was considered sufficiently traditional, and as a chant body supported by the government, was conveniently available in print in serviceable harmonizations.

Pulsed corona discharge as an advanced oxidation process for degradation of organic

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been studied and developed to suffice the effective removal of refractory and toxic compounds in polluted water. The quality and cost of wastewater treatment need improvements, and electric discharge technology has a potential to make a significant difference compared to other established AOPs based on energy efficiency. The generation of active oxidant species such as ozone and hydroxyl radicals by high voltage discharge is a relatively new technology for water treatment. Gas-phase pulsed corona discharge (PCD), where a treated aqueous solution is dispersed between corona-producing electrodes free of the dielectric barriers, was developed as an alternative approach to the problem. The short living radicals and ozone formed in the gas phase and at the gas-liquid interface react with dissolved impurities. PCD equipment has a relatively simple configuration, and with the reactor in an enclosed compartment, it is insensitive towards gas humidity and does not need the gas transport. In this thesis, PCD was used to study and evaluate the energy efficiency for degrading various organic compounds, as well as the chemistry of the oxidation products formed. The experiments investigate the aqueous oxidation of phenol, humic substances, pharmaceutical compounds (paracetamol, ibuprofen, indomethacin, salicylic acids, -estradiol), as well as lignin degradation and transformation to aldehydes. The study aims to establish the influence of initial concentration of the target pollutant, the pulsed discharge parameters, gas phase composition and the pH on the oxidation kinetics and the efficiency. Analytical methods to measure the concentrations of the target compounds and their by-products include HPLC, spectrophotometry, TOC and capillary electrophoresis. The results of the research included in this summary are presented in the attached publications and manuscripts accepted for publication. Pulsed corona discharge proved to be highly effective in oxidizing each of the target compounds, surpassing the closest competitor, conventional ozonation. The increase in oxidation efficiencies for some compounds in oxygen media and at lower pulse repetition frequencies shows a significant role of ozone. The role of the ·OH radicals was established in the surface reactions. The main oxidation products, formation of nitrates, and the lignin transformation were quantified. A compound specific approach is suggested for optimization of the PCD parameters that have the most significant impact on the oxidation energy efficiency because of the different characteristics and responses of the target compound to the oxidants, as well as different admixtures that are present in the wastewater. Further studies in the method’s safety (nitration and nitrosation of organic compounds, nitrite and nitrate formation enhancement) are needed for promoting the method.

Distributed Repositories of Medieval Calendars and Crowd-Sourcing of Transcription

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

HiberActive: Pro-Active Archiving of Web References from Scholarly Articles

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Fragmenta Membranea Project 2009 – 2012

Reports and Studies 1 / 2014

“Till gruvhålet som suger och skrämmer” : en studie i Nils Bolanders predikan under åren 1940–1950

The aim of this thesis is to examine the preaching of Nils Bolander during the years 1940–1950. Nils Bolander (1902–1959) was a Swedish minister, later bishop, in the Church of Sweden. Bolander experienced his breakthrough as a preacher and a poet during the years 1940–1950, when he was a pastor of the Engelbrekt congregation in Stockholm. One characteristic of Bolander’s poetry as well as of his sermons is a rich and poetical language. At the same time he also had a clear agenda with his sermons with regard to their contents. The primary research question of this thesis is: What was Bolander’s purpose with his sermons? In this context, two secondary research questions were asked: 1) In what way does the poetical language support and assist the purpose of the sermons? 2) How is Bolander, as an individual and a preacher, engaged in the language and the contents of the sermons? The research material of this study consists of 152 hand-­written sermon manuscripts from church services held by Nils Bolander in Stockholm during the period in question. The method of the study is qualitative research with an abductive approach. Content analysis has formed the primary tool. With regard to the main research question, the purpose of Bolander’s sermons, my study indicated that the purpose was to rouse the listeners from their routine-­like faith and push them towards commitment and active service for God. In Bolander’s theology I found strong influences from Pietism but also some traits usually associated with the theological profile of the Oxford Group. Despite these influences, Nils Bolander’s theology is mainly founded on the Lutheran interpretation of faith. With regard to the secondary research questions concerning the poetical language as well as the role of the preacher my study concludes that the language, the individual and the contents were all connected in Bolander’s preaching and formed a whole that spoke to the audience in various ways.

Arkistoluettelo 760: Jean Sibelius

Luettelo Jean Sibeliuksen käsikirjoituksista, jotka ovat tulleet Kansalliskirjastoon varsinaisen arkistoluettelon (Arkistoluettelo 216: The Jean Sibelius musical manuscripts at Helsinki University Library / Kari Kilpeläinen) tekemisen jälkeen

Recueil de pièces sur l'Ordre militaire de Saint-Louis, etc.

Contient : « Journal des choses qui se sont faittes et passées dans l'Ordre militaire de St-Louis... » (1693-1705) ; « Expéditions de l'Ordre de St-Louis en faveur des officiers de la marine et des galères, en exécution de l'édit de création, du mois d'avril 1693, » et autres pièces relatives au même ordre, jusqu'en 1710 ; « Mémoire des registres manuscripts concernant la guerre et autres matières, qui ont esté faits pendant l'année 1716 » ; « Mémoire général des registres manuscripts contenant les minuttes des ordres et despesches du Roy concernant la guerre, règlement de limittes, fortiffications, etc., qui sont au dépost à l'Hostel royal des Invalides, depuis l'année 1663 jusqu'en 1701 » ; Extraits du « registre des minuttes des despesches escrites par ordre du Roy sur les sièges de Philisbourg, Manheim et Francandal par Mgr. le Dauphin, en 1688 ; » et autres registres jusqu'en 1697 ; Relation des révolutions de la cour de Siam, [par Pinsonneau]. (1693)