Visual front-end wars : Viola-Jones face detector vs Fourier Lucas-Kanade

The performance of visual speech recognition (VSR) systems are significantly influenced by the accuracy of the visual front-end. The current state-of-the-art VSR systems use off-the-shelf face detectors such as Viola- Jones (VJ) which has limited reliability for changes in illumination and head poses. For a VSR system to perform well under these conditions, an accurate visual front end is required. This is an important problem to be solved in many practical implementations of audio visual speech recognition systems, for example in automotive environments for an efficient human-vehicle computer interface. In this paper, we re-examine the current state-of-the-art VSR by comparing off-the-shelf face detectors with the recently developed Fourier Lucas-Kanade (FLK) image alignment technique. A variety of image alignment and visual speech recognition experiments are performed on a clean dataset as well as with a challenging automotive audio-visual speech dataset. Our results indicate that the FLK image alignment technique can significantly outperform off-the shelf face detectors, but requires frequent fine-tuning.

Cuarteto litúrgico “Eucarístico” : para 2 violines, viola y violoncello [música]

Partitura incorporada como material complementario de la revista.

O périplo da formação de Berardo Viola e de Franz Biberkopf: um estudo do Bildungsroman em Fontamara, de Ignazio Silone, e em Berlin Alexanderplatz, de Alfred Döblin

Esta pesquisa analisa Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929), de Alfred Döblin, e Fontamara (1933), de Ignazio Silone, baseada nas novas concepções sobre o Bildungsroman, ou romance de formação, estabelecidas pelos olhares atualizadores de teóricos do século XX. O Bildungsroman, modalidade narrativa surgida no século XVIII, cuja obra paradigma é Os anos de aprendizado de Wilhelm Meister, de Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, ressalta o desenvolvimento humano, seu processo de amadurecimento e conscientização ao longo de sua trajetória existencial. Os corpora desta dissertação são romances escritos no período conflituoso do entreguerras, cujo enredo destaca a luta interior e exterior das personagens em sobreviver àquele período e a consequente tomada de consciência adquirida neste percurso. O périplo metafórico vivenciado pelos protagonistas, de Fontamara, Berardo Viola, e de Berlin Alexanderplatz, Franz Biberkopf, tem como consequência uma nova consciência política, para o primeiro protagonista, e uma nova consciência social, para o segundo. O caminho formativo dos protagonistas constitui-se de maneira diversa. O objetivo deste estudo é, portanto, analisar como se realiza o processo de formação de Berardo Viola e Franz Biberkopf, apontando identidades e diferenças entre os dois processos, e, por fim, apontando como tais romances podem atualizar o conceito de Bildungsroman na história literária

Entre tempos antigamente e de hoje em dia: memórias da patrimonialização da viola de cocho

Neste trabalho, procuramos conhecer as memórias da patrimonialização da viola de cocho nas cidades de Cuiabá -Mato Grosso, e Corumbá -Mato Grosso do Sul. Para a realização desse estudo usamos como referência teórica os estudos de memória social sobretudo as discussões desenvolvidos por Bartlett (1932), Halbwachs (1990), Bosi (1994), Portelli (1997) e Sá (2005). Tomando como referência essa abordagem teórica e buscando um entendimento psicossocial das memórias da preservação e patrimonialização do modo de fazer a viola de cocho, buscamos desenvolver a pesquisa por meio de análise documental, observações de campo e entrevistas in loco com mestres pessoas idosas representantes desse saber-, jovens aprendizes e pessoas envolvidas com a patrimonialização desse modo de saber fazer. Revelar as memórias dos entrevistados foi revelar as histórias pessoais e também as memórias coletivas em uma interface com a história narrada do modo de saber fazer a viola de cocho e o conjunto de práticas sociais à ela associadas. Cada entrevistado, ao recordar o momento vivido com esse saber, fez uma reinterpretação pessoal e coletiva e inscreveu suas lembranças na história desse saber ao mesmo tempo em que também traduziu o contexto e a história desse saber em suas memórias de vida. Através das narrativas de mestres, aprendizes e pessoas ligadas a patrimonialização desse saber foi possível conhecer os sentidos e significados atribuídos em diferentes contextos, bem como, as experiências vivenciadas e traduzidas pelos grupos em suas práticas coletivas. Ao tecermos comparações entre as narrativas de mestres e aprendizes foi possível relacionar algumas modificações que as tradições e todo o conjunto de conhecimentos associados ao modo de saber fazer a viola de cocho sofreu e relacionar alguns efeitos sociais dessas mudanças nas formas de ser, de se organizar e de viver destes grupos.

Filmy dla muzyki. Egar Varèse i Bill Viola

Anno Mungen focuses on “films made for music” and on the rare phenomenon of ‘music depicted by picture’ (S. Kracauer). The narration about historical metamorphoses of varied forms of coexistence between music and picture is accompanied by a reflection on the laws of audiovisual perception. The main examples are discussed, these concentrating on the artistic ideas of Walt Disney’s animated film Fantasia and – first of all – on Edgard Varèse’s bold ideal of spatial music, attained post mortem in Bill Viola’s Déserts (1994). After a detailed analysis of Viola’s film the author admits that the movie pictures deduced from music are able to render the latter its own substantial visual power.

REQUIRED VIOLA REPERTOIRE FOR THE PRIMROSE COMPETITION AND THE TERTIS COMPETITION

William Primrose (1903-1982) and Lionel Tertis (1876-1975) made the viola a grand instrument for public performances of solo and chamber music throughout their long and active lives characterized by a common passion for the viola. I, too, have been deeply inspired by their passion for the viola. I chose, therefore, for my doctoral performance project to feature works for viola from the required repertoire of the William Primrose and Lionel Tertis competitions of 2001 and 2003, respectively. For purposes of the performances, I divided selections from the combined repertoire for the William Primrose and Lionel Tertis competitions into three recitals. The first recital included Sonata, Opus 120, No.2 in E-flat Major (1894) by Johannes Brahms; Sonata, Opus 147 (1975) by Dmitri Shostakovich; and Sonata (1919) by Rebecca Clarke. These pieces represent standard components of the general repertoire for both the Primrose and Tertis competitions. The second recital was comprised of two works dedicated by their composers to Primrose: Lachrymae, Opus 48 (1950) by Benjamin Britten; and Concerto (1945) by Bela Bartok. The third recital included three pieces dedicated by their composers to Tertis: Sonata (1922) by Arnold Bax; Sonata in C Minor (1905) by York Bowen; and Sonata (1952) by Arthur Bliss. The goal of my preparation for these recitals was to emphasize a variety of techniques and, also, the unique timbre of the viola. For example, the works I selected emphasized high-position technique, which was not much used before the nineteenth century, and featured the lowest string (the C-string), which provides a beautifully somber and austere sonority characteristic of the viola. For these reasons, the selected works provided not only attractive and interesting pieces to study and perform but were also of educational merit.

EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY VIOLA MUSIC FROM ENGLAND AND GERMANY: FROM POST-ROMANTICISM TO MODERNISM

In the early twentieth century, the viola began to gain status as a solo instrument with the appearance in England of the virtuosic violist Lionel Tertis. Because of a lack of music for viola at that time, such English composers as York Bowen, Arnold Bax, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Arthur Bliss and William Walton began to write viola music for Tertis. Meanwhile, in Germany, the well-known composer and virtuosic violinist and violist Paul Hindemith wrote and premiered several viola sonatas and concertos. Viola music became even more developed later with William Primrose, the legendary Scottish violist, and all the works written in the early twentieth century have remained significant in the viola literature. Although this new viola music appeared in both countries during same period, it developed along different lines in each country. Because they were under the influence of earlier periods and traditions, the English composers who associated with Tertis wrote their music in a Romantic style, with expanded harmony, various colors of sound and timbre, and lyrical melodies. Hindemith, as a composer himself, employed a more Modernist style, using atonality and angular melodies, which represented German trends at that time. I have given three recitals, of which the first two were divided between selected English music and German music. Although I originally intended to focus solely on music by Hindemith and music written for Terts, I decided that in order to give a more complete view of the national trends of those two countries, I included Rebecca Clarke's Sonata, Lachrymae by Benjamin Britten (dedicated to William Primrose), and Max Reger's Suite for Viola. Rebecca Clarke was herself a fine violist, and her sonata's Romantic style is also representative of the English trends of viola music. Lachrymae was written with a different concept and shows more modernity than had ever before occurred in England, though it still differs from the modernity of other countries. Max Reger's Suite is in a truly Romantic style, yet it is old fashioned in ways that differ not only from Wagner or Strauss, but also from English music of the period. In my last recital I wished to pay homage to Tertis, with a program consisting entirely of music written for him. For the finale, Arthur Bliss's Viola Sonata was especially chosen because it provides interesting similarities and contrasts with earlier English music in the Romantic style.

LIONEL TERTIS AND THE FLOWERING OF EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY ENGLISH VIOLA REPERTOIRE

This performance project focused on English viola literature written in the first half of the twentieth century. During this time, numerous English composers were influenced by Lionel Tertis' unprecedented approach to the viola as a virtuosic and solo instrument. In addition to being an inspiration to composers of whom he was not in direct contact, Tertis' innovative vision for the viola led to numerous collaborations with prominent English composers of his generation. Ralph Vaughan Williams, Arnold Bax, York Bowen, Frank Bridge, Benjamin Britten, and Rebecca Clarke -his own protégé - composed some of the most important works for viola thus directly shaping the impression of the instrument as we know it today. Tertis' artistry as a performing violist was unmatched at the beginning of the twentieth century. He had a unique approach to the instrument which focused on concept of sound, tone color, concentrated listening, continuous vibrato, discreet portamento, and expressive interpretation. His convincing musical and technical ideas led him to write a treatise about how to achieve a beautiful tone. His passion for teaching and concern for the viola's posterity greatly enhanced the development of the viola. Tertis transcribed, edited, and premiered many works during his career. The music that Lionel Tertis influenced can be seen as a microcosm for a musical resurgence in England during the first half of the twentieth-century. The catalyst for this was artistic influences in the form of nationalism, folk music, romanticism, modernism, and impressionism, among others. Before this, England was widely referred to as ''the land without music" but in a very real sense, .Lionel Tertis was one of the pioneers who, through his artistry of the viola, led the way to the renaissance of music in England in the twentieth century.

THE DISTINCTIVE VOICE OF PAUL HINDEMITH THROUGH THE VIOLA

Paul Hindemith has made numerous contributions to the viola, both as a composer and performer. As a composer, he has written 7 sonatas for the viola, as well as a number of chamber and orchestral works which feature the viola as a solo instrument. As a violist, Hindemith was one of the only virtuoso soloists of his lifetime, and premiered virtually all of his solo compositions. Many of his pieces remain an integral part of the viola repertoire; Der Schwanendreher is one of the three major Twentieth-Century concertos for the viola. While some of his pieces are well-known, there are many others which are not performed with much frequency, due in part to the sheer output of this prolific composer. In this dissertation project, I performed Hindemith's compositions for the viola as a solo instrument. Consideration was given to exclusively performing his 4 solo sonatas and 3 sonatas for viola and piano. His only viola duet, his only non-sonata written for viola and piano, and 2 of his viola concertos (Der Schwanendreher and Trauermusik) were included in this dissertation project to provide contrast and supplement the three recital programs. Through this dissertation project I have been able to gain a deeper understanding of the complex language of Hindemith and interpret his music in an approach that is accessible to both the performer and the audience. All performances took place in the Gildenhom Recital Hall and Ulrich Recital Hall at the University of Maryland. All collaborations with piano were performed with Eliza Ching. The Duett for Viola and Violoncello was performed with Daniel Shomper, and the assisting musicians performing in the Trauermusik were Joel Ciaccio, Daniel Sender, Daniel Shomper, Cassandra Stephenson and Dana Weiderhold.