Early life.

Bender was born in Butte, Montana, to parents John Oscar Bender and Katherine Irvine Bender. Bender had a difficult time in school when she was young and had to repeat the first grade three times. She often reversed her letters when reading and writing which led people to believe she had some form of mental retardation. Her father helped her overcome her dyslexia and she often credited him for making her a strong individual Her family moved often and she attended high school in Los Angeles where she graduated as valedictorian of her high school class.

Education.

Bender earned a B.A. in 1922 and M.A. in 1923 from the University of Chicago. She completed her M.D. at State University of Iowa Medical School in 1926, and this is where she wrote her first scientific publication, "Hematological studies on experimental tuberculosis of the guinea pig". After graduation, she spent some time studying overseas, completed an internship at the University of Chicago and conducted research at Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Bender completed internships and residencies at Billings Hospital of the University of Chicago, the Boston Psychopathic Hospital, the University of Amsterdam, and the Johns Hopkins University Hospital, held a Rockefeller Traveling Fellowship that took her to Holland. When she returned to the United States she worked at the Boston Psychopathic Hospital.

Personal life.

Bender met Paul Schilder M.D., Ph.D. (1886–1940) at Johns Hopkins Hospital while writing a publication with him. Schilder was a psychoanalyst from Vienna at the same time as famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. While working together, Bender and Schilder fell in love. Schilder was already married and eleven years older than Bender. In 1930 Bender moved to New York with Schilder. They were married in 1936 after Schilder was divorced. Bender and Schilder had three children together before Schilder was hit by a car and killed. After his death, Bender continued to translate and publish his work. Bender did not remarry until the age of 70 to Henry B. Parkes, Ph.D. Parkes was a history professor at New York University. He died in 1973, five years after their marriage.

Career.

Bender began working at Bellevue Hospital in 1930 after she relocated there with Schilder. In 1934 she was awarded the position of senior psychiatrist at the Children's Psychiatric Division in 1934. She was in this position for 21 years. Bender was not trained as a psychologist even though her work is used in psychology today. She was a psychiatrist and neuropathologist. Most of her work was in diagnosing mental disorders in children. She occasionally worked with certain therapies and used these in her diagnoses. Most of her work involved abandoned children or children whose parents felt that there was something wrong with their child. During the Golden Age of comic books in the post-war period of the 1940s and 1950s, she worked as an advisor of National Comics (now DC Comics) earning $150 per month. In 1954, she testified on National Comics behalf to defend the industry as a medical expert of children.

Bender and race.

Unlike many other psychiatrists and psychologists at the time, Bender spent little time considering race as a factor for differences in mental abilities. It was a common belief that African American people were at a lower level of evolution than their Caucasian counterparts. Some of Bender's writings seem to contradict each other; some state that there were significant racial differences, and others state that there is little to no difference in race among children. It is believed, however, that the publications she released regarding the races being evolutionarily different were actually her late husband's work and that she left them unaltered as a form of respect. There is some evidence that even though she rarely wrote about race and racial differences, she may not have ruled out racial primitivity.  At this time, Bender was considered an expert in the psychology of African American children because the majority of the children at Bellevue were African American. Although she documented race when conducting her research, she often divided the differences in race into two categories; Functional (significant differences that influence behavior) and Non-functional (differences have no significant impact on behavior). In short, she believed that there were differences in the races, and some made a difference while others did not. Bender used the word "primitive" to describe French Guinean natives and used the term "civilized" to refer to African Americans. Describing African Americans as "civilized" was not the norm at the time. Bender explained that "primitive" did not mean intellectually different, and that to her it described those who were not exposed to the same education and culture as those she considered "civilized". Even though Bender was not considered a Gestaltist, she had many standpoints that related to this belief. She believed that all people are made up of a sum of their parts, and that race was only one factor in what made a person who they are.

Experiments and therapies.

While conducting her research, Bender implemented several experimental procedures and used many therapeutic methods. Some of these experiments and therapies, as well as her diagnoses, may be considered inaccurate and unethical by today's standards. However, the zeitgeist of the times was much different than that of today, and many of the procedures used by Bender were being used by others around the same time.  During the 1930s and the 1950s, when Bender was working at Bellevue Hospital, there was little knowledge in the realm of mental disorders. Many childhood psychiatric disorders were attributed to bad behavior or unsatisfactory upbringing. Bender was one of the first to propose that there was something neurologically impaired with these children. Bender diagnosed many children with "childhood Schizophrenia", and sought to treat these patients. It is important to note that with more knowledge, clinicians today would most likely diagnose these children with developmental or behavioral disorders.  In an attempt to treat those patients diagnosed with childhood schizophrenia, Bender employed electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) after finding that the practice was successful in other applications. ECT was used in an experiment in Paris on children and adolescents in 1940 and showed positive results. In 1947 Bender conducted ECT on 98 children diagnosed with childhood schizophrenia under the age of twelve years. Although only a few of the patients were considered to be in remission of schizophrenia, Bender considered the treatment overall beneficial to all but two or three of the other patients.  Bender considered art as an effective way to diagnose childhood disorders. She employed this technique to better understand the psyche of the child. A child's art work was a medium in which a child could express their anxieties and aggression, and allowed the clinician to gain insight into the child's mind. This belief was supported by several case studies, one of which was a study on a six year old African American female who was abandoned by her parents, and later sent to Bellevue Hospital in 1943. The child expressed many feelings and past experiences in her artwork. Later it was revealed through her art that she had been sexually abused before she was abandoned. After extensive art, talk, and dream interpretation session the child was placed into a foster home and was considered to make an impressive recovery.  In another study, The Body Image of Schizophrenic Children Following Electroshock Therapy, Bender incorporated ECT and a child's self-image. This study used fifteen schizophrenic children over the age of six. The children were asked to draw portraits of themselves before ECT, immediately after ECT, and fifteen minutes after ECT. The children were exposed to ECT every day, for a mean total of twenty treatments. After each treatment the patients completed the visual motor gestalt performance test. Patient were followed up after the treatments had ended. It was observed that the children became more anxious after the treatments had ended, and this was reflected in their drawing; which became more primitive after each ECT treatment. Verbal body image distortions also occurred well after the ECT treatment for that day.  In an attempt to alleviate schizophrenic symptoms in children, Bender also used lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD 25). Many psychiatrists at this time were experimenting with LSD as a way to treat schizophrenia, as there were no psychotropic medications invented at this time. An example of another controversial treatment for schizophrenia during this time was called Insulin-Shock and Metrazol treatments. Patient were given large amounts of Insulin in order to induce insulin shock, then given Metrazol to induce epileptic convulsions. The use of ECT in psychiatric treatment became less and less after the invention of psychotropic medications.

The Bender-Gestalt Test.

This test began as being called the Visual Motor Gestalt Test and was published in 1938. The basis of this test is that the world as a whole, and what we perceive are made up of many smaller parts that are not immediately recognized when experiencing the whole. The test was developed by Bender to evaluate the maturation of children four-eleven years old and measured how the children responded to the stimuli as a whole. The principles measures in the test are; "(1) Vortical movement, biologically determined in the optic field, gives rise to the most primitive visually perceived forms, such as circles and loops. (2) Movement, always present, is directional—"clockwise or counterclockwise—"or on a horizontal plane—"dextrad or sinistrad. (3) By controlling or inhibiting this action-pattern, globes, circles, and arcs are constructed. (4) This organizes the visual field into foreground and background. (5) Boundaries between objects are delineated. (6) Verticalization arises concurrent with body-image maturation as the postural model shifts in the infant from the prone to the upright position. (7) Crossed lines, diagonal or slanting relations, and angle formations are a later level of maturation, usually occurring at about 6 to 8 years of age". Bender believed that the lower aged or more primitive abilities were signs of childhood schizophrenia, brain damage, or learning disabilities.

Other contributions to psychology.

Bender was a forerunner in proposing that childhood disorders were not always due to poor up-bringing. She helped develop the idea that children may have a mental diagnosis contributing to their symptoms. She also believed that there was no one answer to why a child is the way they are; multiple factors much be taken into consideration. Although she did not consider herself a Gestaltist, she made several contributions to the field.  Bender also conducted extensive research on autism. She believed that autism is a type of schizophrenia, and was often one of the first signs. The lack of ability to communicate one's experience of being autistic (due to age) would cause them to be quiet and withdraw, and this was one of the signs of early schizophrenia. Bender was one of the first to extensively observe and document the behaviors of autism, some of which we attribute to those with autism even today. Steve Silberman, the author of "Neurotribes", is sharply critical of Bender's therapeutic approach to children with autism. In the 1950s and 1960s, he told an interviewer from "The Sun" magazine, "autistic kids were often subjected to seclusion, restraint, and physical punishment by clinicians who did not understand their condition. The head of children’s psychiatry at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, Lauretta Bender, administered electroconvulsive therapy to autistic patients and also insulin-shock therapy — administering overdoses of insulin to put them into a short-term coma. She gave them antipsychotic drugs like Thorazine. She also tried giving autistic kids LSD every day for nine months or more, but decided they were becoming “more anxious.”  Lauretta Bender also opposed Freudian views of childhood disorders. According to Freud and others, childhood anxiety stemmed from early hostility and aggression. Bender observed that childhood anxiety, aggression, and hostility was often caused by frustration or developmental issues, either physically or environmentally.  During the time before psychotropic medications and limited understanding of mental disorders, Bender sought to understand childhood disorders. Her attempts were intended for the betterment of the child and the family at a time when the mentally ill were often sent to asylums. Although much of Bender's experimental work cannot be considered entirely beneficial to psychology, there are many other ways in which she succeeded in changing the view of childhood mental disorders and how we understand them.

Lauretta Bender (August 9, 1897 – January 4, 1987) was an American child neuropsychiatrist known for developing the Bender-Gestalt Test, a psychological test designed to evaluate visual-motor maturation in children. First published by Bender in 1938, the test became widely used for assessing children's neurological function and screening for developmental disorders.

Lauretta Bender, née le à Butte dans le Montana et décédée le à Annapolis, est une neuropsychiatre américaine spécialisée dans les enfants. Elle est connue comme créatrice du test Bender-Gestalt.


Quatuors à cordes op. 20 de Joseph Haydn

The quartets.

The set of quartets includes the following (in order of Haydn's own catalog [""]):  No. 5 in F minor No. 6 in A Major No. 2 in C major No. 3 in G minor No. 4 in D major No. 1 in E major

Composition.

Haydn was 40 years old when he composed the opus 20 quartets and was already well-established as one of the leading composers of Europe. He was Kapellmeister to the Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, a great lover of music. Haydn presided over the busy musical life of the court, producing operas, oratorios, and symphonic and chamber concerts, and writing a steady stream of new music for the prince's amusement.  Nikolaus had eight years prior to this date built the Eszterháza palace southeast of Vienna (in Hungary), where the court resided for most of the year. While the palace itself was one of the most splendid in Austria, and was dubbed the "Hungarian Versailles", it was built over a large swamp; it was humid throughout the year, with a "vexatious, penetrating north wind" from which Haydn and the other musicians in the court suffered. Moreover, it was far from Vienna, and the musicians (Haydn, as Kapellmeister, excepted) had to leave their wives and families behind for many months. Consequently, there was much discontent among the musicians, and Haydn, like the others, suffered from bouts of depression and illness.  This atmosphere found its expression in the opus 20 quartets. "The designation "affettuoso" found twice in the directions for the tempo of slow movements can be applied to the whole opus," writes Geiringer. Haydn chooses minor keys for two of the quartets, unusual in a time where the minor was rarely used for this ensemble. In particular, the fifth quartet is in the unusual key of F minor, "a key that predisposes even Haydn to sombre thoughts," writes Cobbett. But the sodden air of Eszterháza was not the only influence on the emotional character of the quartets. It was a time of ferment: new ideas that were to spur the Romantic movement in another 30 years were taking root. Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau expounded a philosophy of human freedom and a return to nature. Poets Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller espoused the new "Sturm und Drang" movement, that "exalted nature, feeling, and human individualism and sought to overthrow the Enlightenment cult of Rationalism". For Haydn, this meant the rejection of the galante style, the courtly, simplified, somewhat slender musical style prevalent at the time. Analysts trace specific musical choices in the opus 20 quartets to these new ideas. For example, the minuet movement of the D major quartet (number 4) is replaced by a frenetic gypsy air titled "alla zingarese", full of offbeat rhythms. "Rousseau's 'back to nature' movement resulted in a general reawakening of interest in national folk music. Haydn showed himself in complete sympathy with this tendency," writes Geiringer. Three of the six quartets have fugues as finales. Counterpoint, the densely complex style of the Baroque, had fallen out of favor with the galante composers. "To emphasize his rejection of rococo lightness, Haydn reverted to Baroque features," writes Geiringer.  The opus 20 quartets were the third set of quartets Haydn wrote at Eszterháza. His dedication to the string quartet form is something of a mystery; there is no record of a string quartet concert performed at the palace during this period. The set became known as the "Sun" quartets, because of the picture of a rising sun that graced the cover of an early edition The first known publication of the quartets was in 1774 by Louis-Balthazar de La Chevardière in Paris and later (undated, probably in the 1780s or 1790s) by Artaria in Vienna. The most commonly used Urtext edition is by Eulenburg, published in the 1880s.

Opus 20 and the development of the string quartet.

When Haydn published his opus 33 quartets, ten years after the opus 20, he wrote that they were composed in "an entirely new and particular manner". But, if the opus 33 was the culmination of a process, opus 20 was the proving ground. In this set of quartets, Haydn defined the nature of the string quartet – the special interplay of instruments that Goethe called "four rational people conversing". Many of the compositional techniques used by composers of string quartets to the present day were tried out and perfected in these works.  "This cannot be overstated," writes Ron Drummond; "the six string quartets of Opus 20 are as important in the history of music, and had as radically a transforming effect on the very field of musical possibility itself, as Beethoven's Third Symphony would 33 years later". And Sir Donald Tovey writes of the quartets, "Every page of the six quartets of op. 20 is of historic and aesthetic importance... there is perhaps no single or sextuple opus in the history of instrumental music which has achieved so much".  Here are some of the innovations of the quartets:

Equality of voices.

Prior to opus 20, the first violin, or, sometimes, the two violins, dominated the quartet. The melody was carried by the leader, with the lower voices (viola and cello) accompanying. In opus 20, Haydn gives each instrument, and particularly the cello, its own voice. An outstanding example of this is the second quartet in C major. The quartet opens with a cello solo, accompanied by the viola and second violin. This was virtually unheard of in Haydn's time. Another example is in the slow movement of the fourth quartet, in D major. This movement is a set of variations, written in D minor; the first variation is a duet between viola and second violin, and the third variation is a solo for cello.

Structural innovations.

With the opus 20 quartets, Haydn moved forward the development of the sonata form. A movement written in sonata form has an exposition, where the themes and motifs of the movement are presented; a development section, where these themes are transformed; and a recapitulation, where the themes are restated. Traditionally, the restatement closely matched the original exposition. But Haydn, in opus 20, uses the restatement to further develop the material of the movement. For example, in the F minor quartet, Haydn embellishes the original theme, and rearranges the original material, adding to the musical tension as the movement moves to the coda. In the G minor quartet, the recapitulation is hardly a recapitulation at all; while all the original materials are included, they are rearranged and transformed.  There are other structural innovations in opus 20. Haydn develops the idea of "false reprise". In the fourth quartet, in D major, for example, Haydn sneaks into the recapitulation of the first movement, treating it dramatically as though it is a continuation of the development. Haydn also experiments with cyclical structure: the reuse of thematic and rhythmic materials in different movements, to give an overall unity to the piece.

Depth of expression.

Haydn experiments with expressive techniques in the quartets. An example of this is the G minor quartet, where Haydn defies the standard practice of ending each movement with a cadence played "forte". Instead, Haydn ends each movement "piano" or "pianissimo". Another example is the F minor quartet; this quartet, writes Tovey, "is the most nearly tragic work Haydn ever wrote; its first movement being of astonishing depth of thought".

Length and symmetry of phrases.

Haydn experiments with asymmetrical phrases and syncopations. The common practice of the time was to write melodies that divided neatly into four- and eight-measure chunks. But the opening phrase of the third quartet, in G minor, is seven measures long, and the minuet of the same quartet has a melody that is divided into two phrases of five measures each.  Indeed, in opus 20, most of the minuet movements are minuets in name only. The minuet was a court dance, through-choreographed, built of four groups of four measures in time. The minuets of opus 20, with the exception of numbers 1 and 6, would be impossible to dance to, as they do not have this formal structure. The minuet of the second quartet in C major is built of tied suspensions in the first violin, viola and cello, so that the listener loses all sense of downbeat. The fourth quartet has the off-beat "alla zingarese" movement. The minuet of the fifth quartet has a first section of 18 measures, divided asymmetrically. So far did Haydn stray from the formal minuet dance structure, that in his next set of quartets, opus 33, he did not call them minuets at all, but rather scherzos.

Use of counterpoint.

The fugal finales of three of the six quartets are Haydn's statement of rejection of the galante. Not only has Haydn rejected the freedom of the rococo style, he has emphasized that rejection by adhering to strict formality and writing comments into the score explaining the fugal structure. "Al rovescio" he writes at one point in the last movement of quartet number two, where the fugal melody is played in inversion. "In canone" he writes in the finale of number 5. The finale of number six is a "Fuga a 3 Soggetti" (a fugue with three fugal subjects).  The fugal finales are not mere formalism, however; Haydn clothes them in a dramatic structure suitable for the "Sturm und Drang". All three movements start out "sotto voce"; as the fugue develops formally, the tension mounts, but Haydn does not increase the volume, until a sudden, startling burst of "forte". "Haydn has, in the quartets of opus 20, a hint of the emotional and dramatic impulse which became so volcanic in Beethoven's fugues," writes Donald Tovey.  Haydn's fugal finales are not the only use of counterpoint in these quartets. Haydn revives Baroque compositional techniques in other movements as well. The opening of the second quartet is essentially contrapuntal, with the viola and the second violins playing countersubjects to the cello's principal melodic line. Haydn also uses more obscure techniques; in the adagio movement of the fifth quartet, for example, he writes at one point "per figuram retardationis", meaning that the melodic line in the first violin lags behind the harmonic changes in the accompaniment. "Enormous importance lies in these fugues", writes Tovey. "Besides achieving in themselves the violent reconquest of the ancient kingdom of polyphony for the string quartet, they effectively establish fugue texture from henceforth as a normal resource of sonata style".

Structure of the quartets.

No. 1 in E major.

While the first movement is in straightforward sonata-allegro form, Haydn nonetheless breaks with the standard quartet model of the period. The second theme of the exposition is presented by the cello, rather than the violin, playing in a high register above the viola accompaniment. Haydn also disguises the return to the recapitulation after the development section of the movement: after only three bars of development, Haydn returns to the theme in the tonic, suggesting the beginning of the recapitulation; but instead, deviates into a series of transpositions, finally sneaking back to the main theme when least expected. Haydn uses this trick of a pretended recapitulation in other opus 20 quartets. The second movement is a minuet, one of two from the set that follow all the rules of the traditional dance (the other is the minuet of number 6). The third movement is marked "Affettuoso e sostenuto", written in A major as an aria, with the first violin carrying the melody throughout. The finale, marked "presto", is built on a six-measure phrase, with extensive use of syncopations in the first violin. In the middle of the movement there is an extended passage where the first violin plays syncopations and the other instruments are playing on the second beat of the bar; no one plays on the downbeat, and toward the end of the passage the listener loses track of the meter, until the main theme returns.

No. 2 in C major.

In this quartet, Haydn develops the equal interplay between the instruments, the quartet conversation. The first movement opens with a cello solo, playing above the accompanying instruments. In the course of the movement every instrument gets to play the solo – even the viola, who, "besides having a vote in the parliament of four... for once [is heard by Haydn] as he hears the cantabile of the 'cello," writes Tovey. The movement is markedly chromatic; the development ranges from C major, to A major, dipping into D major, A minor, F major, and even A major. The second movement opens with a bold "unisono", then the cello states the theme. It is an emotionally charged movement, with dramatic shifts from "pianissimo" to "forte", mixed with "cantabile" passages with a sextuplet accompaniment in the viola. The minuet, like others in the set, defies choreography. In the opening section, all the instruments are tied across the barline, so the sense of downbeat dissipates. The effect recalls the sound of a musette de cour, or other type of bagpipe. This movement, too, is very chromatic, with the melody of the second section built on a descending chromatic scale in the first violin. The finale is a fugue with four subjects. Haydn marks the opening "sempre sotto voce". The fugue ripples along in an undertone, through various learned fugal maneuvers – a stretto, "al rovescio". The texture gradually thins so that only two voices are playing at once, when suddenly the fugue bursts into "forte" and cascades of sixteenth notes lead to the close of the quartet. In the autograph edition, Haydn wrote over this passage, "Laus. Omnip. Deo. Sic fugit amicus amicum" (Praise the Lord. Thus one friend flees another friend).

No. 3 in G minor.

"This quartet is among the more enigmatic pieces in the repertory," writes William Drabkin. "Indeed, the work is in so many respects unusual that it seems in places to defy interpretation". The enigma begins with the opening theme of the first movement: built of two phrases of seven measures each, it defies the "galante" practice of carefully balanced four- and eight-measure phrases. It is almost as if Haydn was wagging his tongue at his contemporaries, violating accepted shibboleths of composition. "Haydn's compositional freedom seems often defiantly at odds with what textbooks have to say," writes Drabkin. For example, Haydn inserts brief "unisono" passages in the major key, as a kind of exclamation mark; but, where such passages would normally be played "forte", he has marked them "piano" for a surprisingly different effect. Haydn continues the odd phrase structure in the minuet, which is built of five-measure units. Aside from its undanceable meter, the minuet is a sombre work, emphatically minor in character. The trio section of the minuet offers a brief respite with a first strain in E major; but the second strain returns to the minor, modulating down through several minor keys. The trio ends with a plagal cadence to G major, for a Baroque-like Picardy third conclusion; but then the minuet recapitulates in G minor. The move from G major back to G minor is so jolting that Drabkin speculates that the trio might possibly have been borrowed from another piece.  The third movement, marked "Poco Adagio", is a long "cantabile" aria in G major, dominated by the first violin and the cello. After the first violin states the theme, the cello takes over with a long rippling line of sixteenth notes. The movement includes a haunting viola solo, unusual in Haydn's quartets, and in quartet writing from that period in general. The finale is marked "Allegro molto". Here, too, Haydn continues to defy accepted practice. Here Haydn makes dramatic use of silence; the opening four-bar theme breaks off suddenly for a half-measure pause. Such pauses recur throughout the movement, giving the movement "a mildly disruptive effect", according to Drabkin. In this movement, Haydn also makes a number of surprising harmonic progressions. He ends the piece in G major, surprisingly, with a descent from "piano" to "pianissimo".

No. 4 in D major.

If the third quartet of the set is the most obscure and difficult to understand, the fourth is the most popular. "... The D major quartet, opus 20 number 4, has met with more public recognition than the other five," writes Tovey.  The quartet opens with a quiet, almost hymn-like statement of the theme. Suddenly there is a burst of arpeggio in the first violin, lapsing immediately back to the quiet of the first motive. The juxtaposition of calm and vigor continues through the exposition, to the statement of the second theme, and a short codetta leading to the development. In the development section, Haydn repeatedly offers false reprises: After a section of development, he presents a dominant arpeggio leading back to the first theme. But this is not the reprise, the development goes on. Haydn does this again, and yet again, then sneaks back into the real reprise in a way that the listener does not notice. The movement ends, like several others of the opus 20, in "pianissimo". The second movement, a set of variations in D minor, is one of Haydn's most profound, a rejection of the shallowness of the "galante". "The poignant second movement "Adagio" moves the string quartet even farther from the concept of courtly entertainment," writes Miller. "In this wonderful movement, we have something of three centuries: the seventeenth century Baroque, the eighteenth century Classical, and the nineteenth century Romantic. Haydn's genius encompasses it all". The movement is distinguished by the concertante writing for each of the instruments: the second violin and viola in the first variation, the cello in the second variation, and the first violin in the third variation.  In the third movement, the "Allegretto alla zingarese", the upper and lower voices play complex, interlocking cross-rhythms, confusing all sense of downbeat. Although the meter is in, the pulse is in two, with the strong beats of the upper voices alternating with the strong beats of the lower voices. The trio section of the movement is a cello solo, marching in perfectly regular time, "the perfect foil to the Menuet alla zingarese".  The fourth movement continues the gypsy style of the third movement. Chromatic melodies, octave leaps, use of the gypsy scale (a minor scale with raised fourth and raised seventh), and flashy virtuoso embellishments in the first violin make this movement "sheer fun for the listener and likewise for the players," writes Miller. The movement ends in pianissimo, "an ending that simply evaporates".

No. 5 in F minor.

This is the most emotionally intense of the opus 20 quartets. In the opening phrase, the violin sets the tone with a haunting melody. "Haydn, we might imagine, set out to test the limits of what the minor mode could express in this newly serious instrumental combination," writes Roger Parker. The music rolls out almost without interruption; instead of ending each phrase with a cadence before beginning a new phrase, Haydn runs the phrases together, the end of one being the beginning of the next. Throughout the first movement – and, indeed, for almost the entire quartet – the first violin leads with the concertante part. Even so, the texture is not galante, for the other parts play important and independent roles throughout. Haydn in the recapitulation continues developing the melody with new embellishments, and the coda wanders through strange modulations – D major, G minor – before returning to the plaintive F minor conclusion.  The minuet continues the sombre mood in F minor. The character of the minuet is as far from that of a courtly dance as can be imagined. Again, the structure of the minuet is irregular and undanceable. The trio section, in F major, offers a brief respite from the relentless minor, but even this section is subdued in tone. The slow movement is a Siciliana, in F major. The theme cycles throughout the movement, constantly transforming itself, while the first violin plays a concertante descant, floating over the theme, sometimes capturing it, then leaving it again.  The finale is a fugue with two subjects. The main subject is a standard fugal motif, used frequently in the Baroque (it appears, among other places, in Handel's "Messiah"). While constructing a fugue in the strict, learned style, Haydn imbues the movement with an intense dramatic structure; like other fugues in the set, the entire first two thirds of the fugue is "sotto voce". Out of this quiet the first violin suddenly erupts to a "forte", only to fall back into another "piano" section. The texture thins and the tension descends, until a second burst of "fortissimo", with first violin and cello playing the fugal subject in canon, leading to the dramatic finale.

No. 6 in A major.

This, the last quartet as published, but the second of the series as Haydn conceived them, is the most conservative of the set. The quartet has the bright, optimistic character often associated with Haydn's music. The key is A major, a key that highlights the highest and brightest tones of the lead violin. Haydn has marked the first movement "Allegro di molto e Scherzando". Yet, here, too, Haydn is trying out new ideas. Traditionally, the exposition proceeds from a first theme in the tonic key to a second theme in the dominant. In the first movement, Haydn indeed proceeds to the dominant key of E major, but then shifts to E minor for the second theme. But he stays in that key only half a measure, modulating to C major, then to D major, and on, shifting keys relentlessly until he comes back to the dominant E major.  The second movement, marked "Adagio", is a variation on sonata form, modeled after a form developed by Haydn's contemporary, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. The violins dominate, with the first violin playing the melody over rippling sixteenth notes in the second, or the second carrying the melody, with the first playing embellishments. The minuet is in strict danceable form. The theme of the minuet is a variation of the first theme of the first movement – one of the most explicit examples of cyclic form in Haydn's work.  The last movement is a fugue with three subjects. Like the other fugal finales in the set, this proceeds "sempre sotto voce" until nearly the end, when it breaks into "forte". Unlike the other fugues, however, this has none of the "Sturm und Drang" drama about it, but is predominantly major and upbeat in character.

Impact of the quartets.

The opus 20 quartets changed forever the way composers would write string quartets. "When we consider the poor condition" of string quartet writing prior to Haydn, writes C. Ferdinand Pohl, "... it is impossible to overrate his creative powers". Many great composers acknowledged their debt to Haydn and to these quartets. "It was from Haydn that I first learned the true way to write string quartets," wrote Mozart. Mozart's "Haydn" Quartets are his explicit acknowledgement of that debt. The immediate inspiration for the quartets is believed to be the opus 33 quartets, written by Haydn 10 years after opus 20; but the earlier quartets were the model in many cases. For example, the fugal finale of the first of Mozart's set (K. 387 in G major) takes after the finale fugues of opus 20. The "Sturm und Drang" character of the second quartet (K. 421 in D minor) recalls the F minor quartet, of Haydn's; not only does the first violin line recall the sombreness of Haydn's quartet, the accompaniment figure of the opening is a close copy of Haydn's.  Beethoven also recognized the importance of Haydn's work. Before embarking on his own first set of string quartets, opus 18, Beethoven studied the scores of the Haydn opus 20 quartets, copying them out and scoring the first for string orchestra. Throughout his life, Beethoven had a love-hate relationship with Haydn: Haydn was one of Beethoven's teachers, and Haydn's criticisms of his early compositions rankled the young composer to the day of the elder composer's death. Yet, in spite of the antagonism, Beethoven spoke of Haydn with reverence. "Do not rob Handel, Haydn and Mozart of their laurel wreaths," he wrote in a letter in 1812, three years after Haydn's death. "They are entitled to theirs, I am not yet entitled to mine".  Brahms was also a devotee of the opus 20 quartets. Brahms owned the autograph manuscript of the quartets, studied them carefully and annotated them. He bequeathed the manuscript to the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna, where it is preserved today.

The six string quartets opus 20 by Joseph Haydn are among the works that earned Haydn the sobriquet "the father of the string quartet". The quartets are considered a milestone in the history of composition; in them, Haydn develops compositional techniques that were to define the medium for the next 200 years.

Les six quatuors à cordes, 20, Hob. III:31-36, de Joseph Haydn ont contribué à conférer au compositeur le surnom de « père du quatuor à cordes ». Composés en 1772, ils sont considérés comme un tournant dans l’histoire de la composition. Influencé par les nouvelles idées philosophiques et politiques du émergeant à cette époque en Europe, Haydn y développe des techniques compositionnelles qui définiront par la suite les grandes lignes de l'écriture des quatuors. Certains musicologues voient dans l’écriture de ces quatuors une influence directe de ce nouveau courant de pensée.


Meteorological history.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Monica originated from an area of low pressure that formed early on 16 April 2006 off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The low quickly became organised, with deep convection developing over the low-pressure centre. Later that day, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) issued a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert as the system became increasingly organised. Early the next day, the Bureau of Meteorology in Brisbane, Australia declared that the low had developed into a Category 1 cyclone on the Australian tropical cyclone scale, with winds reaching 65 km/h (40 mph ). Upon being classified as a cyclone, the storm was given the name Monica. At the same time, the JTWC designated Monica as Tropical Cyclone 23P. Monica tracked generally westward, towards Far North Queensland, in response to a low to mid-level ridge to the south.  Low wind shear and good divergence in the path of the storm allowed for continued intensification as continued westward. Late on 17 April, Monica intensified into a Category 2 Cyclone, with winds reaching 95 km/h (60 mph ). By 1200 UTC on 18 April, the Bureau of Meteorology upgraded Monica to a severe tropical cyclone, a Category 3 on the Australian scale. This followed an increase in the storm's outflow and a fluctuating central dense overcast. Several hours later, the JTWC upgraded Monica to the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale. During the afternoon of 19 April, the storm made landfall roughly south-southeast of the Lockhart River with winds of 130 km/h (80 mph ). At the same time, the JTWC assessed Monica to have intensified into a Category 2 equivalent storm with winds of 155 km/h (100 mph ).  Shortly after making landfall, convection associated with the storm deteriorated and the outflow became fragmented. A shortwave trough to the south caused the ridge steering Monica to weaken, leading to the cyclone moving slower. After moving over land, the storm began to weaken, with the Bureau of Meteorology downgrading the storm to weaken to Category 1 cyclone and the JTWC downgraded the cyclone to a tropical storm. The following day, Monica moved offshore, entering the Gulf of Carpentaria. Once back over water, favourable atmospheric conditions allowed the storm to quickly intensify. Within 24-hours of moving over water, Monica re-attained severe tropical cyclone status. Following a shift in steering currents, the storm slowed significantly and turned north-westward. Steady intensification continued through 22 April as the storm remained in a region of low wind shear and favourable diffluence. Early on 22 April the Bureau of Meteorology upgraded Monica to a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone, the third of the season. By this time, a wide eye had developed within the central dense overcast of the cyclone. Later that day, the JTWC assessed Monica to have intensified into a Category 5-equivalent storm. Cyclone Monica attained its peak intensity on 23 April near Cape Wessel with a barometric pressure 916 hPa (mbar; 27.05 inHg). Maximum winds were estimated at 250 km/h (155 mph ) by the Bureau of Meteorology while the JTWC assessed it to have attained winds of 285 km/h (180 mph ). Using the Dvorak technique, the peak intensity of the cyclone was estimated at T-number of 7.5 according to the Satellite Analysis Branch (), yet the Advanced Dvorak Technique of the CIMSS automatically estimated at T8.0, the highest ranking on the Dvorak Scale. However, since the JTWC, SAB and CIMSS are not the official warning centres for Australian cyclones, these intensities remain unofficial.  On 24 April, the mid-level ridge south of Monica weakened, causing the storm to turn towards the southwest. Following this, the storm made landfall in the Northern Territory, roughly west of Maningrida, as a Category 5 cyclone with winds of 250 km/h (155 mph ). Soon after making landfall, the storm weakened extremely quickly. Most of the convective activity associated with the storm dissipated within nine hours of moving onshore. This resulted in the storm's maximum winds decreasing by 155 km/h (100 mph) in a 12-hour span. After this rapid weakening, the storm turned sharply west moving over the town of Jabiru as a Category 2 cyclone. Within six hours of passing this town, the Bureau of Meteorology downgraded Monica to a tropical low, as the storm was no longer producing gale-force winds. The JTWC issued their final advisory on the storm at 1800 UTC that day. The remnants of Monica persisted for several more days, tracking near Darwin on 25 April before turning south-east and accelerating over the Northern Territory. The remnants eventually dissipated on 28 April over central Australia.

Uncertainty in peak strength.

The Bureau of Meteorology uses 10-minute sustained winds, while the Joint Typhoon Warning Center uses one-minute sustained winds. The Bureau of Meteorology's peak intensity for Monica was 250 km/h (155 mph) 10-minute sustained, or 285 km/h (180 mph) one-minute sustained. The JTWC's peak intensity for Monica was 285 km/h (180 mph) one-minute sustained, or 250 km/h (155 mph) 10-minute sustained.  While the storm was active the Bureau of Meteorology's Darwin Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre estimated that Monica, had peaked with a minimum pressure of. However, during their post analysis of Monica, the Darwin Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre estimated using the Love-Murphy pressure-wind relationship, that the system had a minimum pressure of. However, since then the BoM has started to use the Knaff, Zehr and Courtney pressure-wind relationship, which has estimated that Monica had a minimum pressure of. Other pressure estimates include the Joint Typhoon Warning Center's post analysis estimated pressure of and the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Advanced Dvorak Technique which estimated a minimum pressure of. The Advanced Dvorak Technique pressure estimate would suggest that the system was the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded worldwide as the pressure is below that of the current world record holder, Typhoon Tip of 1979. In 2010, Stephen Durden of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory studied Cyclone Monica's minimum pressure and suggested that the system likely peaked between and strongly refuted claims that Monica was the strongest tropical cyclone on record.

Preparations and impact.

Queensland.

Upon being declared as Tropical Cyclone Monica on 17 April, the Bureau of Meteorology issued a gale warning for areas along the eastern coast of Far North Queensland. Several hours later, a cyclone warning was issued for north-eastern areas as the storm intensified. An estimated 1,000 people were planned to be evacuated in Far North Queensland before officials shut down major highways in the area. Ferry services in the Great Barrier Reef and flights in and out of the region were cancelled. However, no evacuations took place according to the Emergency Management in Australia. An aborigine community of 700, located around the mouth of the Lockhart River, were in the direct path of the storm. The chief executive officer of the community stated that they were ready for the storm, having suffered no losses from Cyclone Ingrid which impacted the same area in 2005.  Little damage was recorded in Queensland, despite Cyclone Monica being a Category 3 cyclone, as the storm impacted a sparsely populated region of the Cape York peninsula. A storm surge of was recorded in Mossman and waves were recorded up to in Weipa. Heavy rainfall was also associated with the storm, exceeding near where Monica made landfall. Wind gusts up to were recorded as the storm traversed the peninsula. Officials reported about 15 percent of the structures along the Lockhart River sustained minor damage. Minor coastal flooding was also reported due to Monica. Three Torres Strait Islanders were rescued after 22 days drifting at sea in the wake of the cyclone passing through the Torres Strait, north of mainland Queensland.

Northern Territory.

Officials closed schools throughout the region in advance of the storm on 24 April and advised people to evacuate. A 10 pm curfew was also put in place to keep people off the streets during the night. Local tours in the territory were postponed or cancelled due to the storm. Several flights in and out of Darwin were also cancelled, as was the Darwin Anzac Day march. Alcan, the world's second-largest aluminium producer, warned customers of potential interruptions to supplies on contracts from its Gove refinery. Rio Tinto's Ranger Uranium Mine ceased operations on 24 April, "as a precautionary measure".  At one point, Monica was forecast to pass directly over Goulburn Island. In response, officials evacuated the island's 337 residents to shelters set up in Pine Creek. Numerous schools in the threatened region, especially in Darwin, were closed ahead of Monica's arrival. Several shelters were opened in Darwin early on 24 April in anticipation of an influx of evacuees. Stores throughout the area reported increased sales for storm supplies, with some reducing prices on specific items. The same day, the Darwin Returned and Services League of Australia cancelled all ANZAC Day services and marches in Darwin that were to be held the next day, to ensure the safety of prospective participants. The Wessel Islands, located off the coast of the region, suffered significant damage from the storm. Mangrove trees were uprooted throughout the islands and sand dunes were destroyed. An outstation located on one of the islands was destroyed by the cyclone. The highest 24-hour rainfall from the storm was recorded near Darwin at. A storm total for the same area was recorded at, surpassing the rainfall record for the entire month of April set in 1953. Although the storm made landfall at peak intensity in Australia's Northern Territory, the impacted areas were sparsely populated. Around the region where Monica made landfall, evidence of a 5–6 m (16.4–19.6 ft) storm surge was present in Junction Bay.  Wind gusts up to felled power lines in Maningrida; 12 homes sustained damage from fallen trees in Jabiru; and extensive damage was reported in Oenpelli. Roughly 1,000 people also lost phone service in the region. Several highways were blocked by fallen trees throughout the area. A resort in Jabiru sustained significant damage and was closed for two weeks following the storm. Insured damages to the national parks amounted to A$1.6 million (US$766,000). According to the Northern Territory Insurance Office, structural damage from Cyclone Monica amounted to A$5 million (US$4.4 million).  The remnants of Monica produced significant rainfall over parts of the Northern Territory several days after the system weakened below cyclone status. Flash flooding was reported throughout the Adelaide River basin as up to of rain fell in a 24-hour span. On 26 April, the remnants of Monica spawned a small tornado near Channel Point; several mangrove trees were snapped and branches were thrown to nearby beaches.

Environmental impacts.

The full-force of Monica's estimated wind gusts were felt in the unpopulated tropical savanna regions of northern Australia. A large-scale windthrow event affected approximately 10,400 km (4,000 mi) of forest, resulting in the damage or destruction of 140 million trees. Damage extended north and south of Monica's centre and progressed inland. The affected areas primarily consist of "Eucalyptus" (namely "E. miniata" and "E. tetrodonta") and "Corymbia" (namely "C. dichromophloia", "C. latifolia", and "C. foelscheana") tree species. Common grasses in the savanna area include "Triodia bitextura" and "Sorghum". Areas near the cyclone's landfall point—Junction Bay—also comprise wetlands and "Melaleuca" swamp forests. The heaviest damage occurred just east of the landfall point, with more than 85 percent of vegetation severely damaged; it spanned 139 km (53.7 mi). In this area, trees were completely defoliated, snapped, and/or uprooted. Within of Junction Bay, 77 percent of all trees were uprooted or snapped at the trunk, while 84 percent suffered total defoliation. In the "Melaleuca" swamps, 60 percent of trees were snapped or uprooted once wind gusts exceeded. Approximately 12.7 million tonnes of vegetative debris was created by the storm.  The Goomadeer River catchment, which flows into Junction Bay, was entirely denuded. The prolific loss of trees led to hydrologic changes in the region, with flood events likely becoming more severe as groundwater flow increased. Farther southwest, the Magela Creek catchment in Kakadu National Park suffered a direct hit from the weakening cyclone. Gusts up to impacted the Ngarradj sub-catchment, destroying 42 percent of the tree canopy cover. Long-term losses in the sub-catchment reached 23 percent. Less rainfall than would normally be expected with such a storm lessened tree loss in the area, with soils largely not becoming saturated enough to allow trees to topple over. The large amount of debris left behind contained approximately 51–60 million tonnes of greenhouse gases—primarily carbon dioxide—or roughly 10 percent of Australia's annual anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. With Monica occurring just before the onset of the dry season, widespread brushfires were anticipated in the affected regions owing to the large amount of kindling. However, analysis of satellite imagery revealed only slightly above-average fire activity in the months following the cyclone.

Recovery.

Within weeks of the storm, the Alligator Rivers Region Advisory Committee began planting seedlings in deforested areas. By August 2006, a review of the growth of the new plants found that 81% to 88% of the seeds had survived and begun growing. To fully restore the South Alligator valley, environmentalists requested A$7.4 million (US$6.6 million) in funds. In a study at Magela Creek a year after the storm, it was determined that between 8% and 19% of the tree canopy lost due to the storm had begun to recover. Additional studies at the Gulungul Creek and the Alligator Rivers region revealed that suspended sediment values in flowing water had temporarily increased in the wake of Monica. The above-average values persisted for roughly a year before the streams returned to pre-cyclone sediment levels. In a study of the Arnhem forests which were devastated by the cyclone, environmentalists reported that it would take over 100 years for the forest to recover. The storm's winds snapped numerous trees, estimated to have been over 200 years old and more than 60 cm (23.6 in) in diameter. It is estimated that it would take several hundred years before trees of similar sizes would flourish in the region.

Aftermath.

The Queensland Government State Disaster Management Group dispatched relief helicopters to remote communities for evacuation of people in flood zones and transport of relief workers. Relief efforts were already underway in relation to Cyclone Larry which caused significant damage in Queensland. The Government of Australia assisted affected business by providing disaster loans up to A$25,000 for severely impacted areas and A$10,000 for less affected areas. Farmers were also provided with up to $200,000 in loans over a period of nine years. Following the impacts in the Northern Territory, two cleanup teams were dispatched from Darwin to assist in cleanup efforts in the hardest hit regions. Despite the minimal damage caused by Monica, the name was retired from the circulating lists of tropical cyclone names for the Australian Region.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Monica was the most intense tropical cyclone, in terms of maximum sustained winds, on record to impact Australia, tied with Cyclone Marcus in 2018. The 17th and final storm of the 2005–06 Australian region cyclone season, Monica originated from an area of low pressure off the coast of Papua New Guinea on 16 April 2006. The storm quickly developed into a Category 1 cyclone the next day, at which time it was given the name Monica. Travelling towards the west, the storm intensified into a severe tropical cyclone before making landfall in Far North Queensland, near Lockhart River, on 19 April 2006. After moving over land, convection associated with the storm quickly became disorganised.

Le cyclone Monica est un cyclone tropical qui toucha l'Australie pendant la saison des cyclones 2005–2006 de l'hémisphère sud. Il a été classé de force 5. La pression atmosphérique aurait été de 869 hPa, ce qui serait la plus basse pression atmosphérique après celle du typhon Tip en 1979 qui a été mesurée à 870 hPa. Mais ces mesures sont controversées.


Geography.

Katalla is located within the Chugach National Forest near Controller Bay and the Bering River.

History.

Katalla was at the center of the now-abandoned Katalla oil field. This was the first discovery of commercial quantities of oil in Alaska (1902). The town reportedly had a population of 5,000 in 1907-1908.  This was the result of the announcement that the Copper River and Northwestern Railway (CR&NW) was going to use the town's location as its access to the Pacific Ocean and the Bering River coal fields. Violent storms in the fall of 1907 destroyed the jetty being built and it was decided to move the railroad's terminus to nearby Cordova.  The famous "ship of gold" "SS Portland", ran aground and sank at Katalla in November 1910, during one of these autumn storms. The town's population continued to depend on the small oil field for income until December 25, 1933 when fire damaged its refinery and operations ceased. The town's post office closed in 1943 and the town site was abandoned.  The oil and gas extraction rights for the Katalla area were granted to the Chugach Alaska Corporation by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Before that, however, at least some of the rights to the field were owned by the California-Mexican-Alaska Holding Company, which dissolved and sold its assets to the Alaska Coal, Oil & By-Products Company in 1929.  A Korean coal mining consortium resurrected potential interest in Katalla after they did coal exploration in the Bering River coal fields in the early 1980s. Interest waned as the coal reserves did not appear economically viable, and a haul route to Katalla would by necessity have to cross areas subject to slope instability and periodic glacial dam outbursts from Bering Lake.

Demographics.

Katalla first appeared on the 1910 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village. It continued to report until 1940, after which it was abandoned.

Katalla (pronounced "KA-tell-ah") is a ghost town in the Valdez-Cordova Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska, southeast of Cordova. The name of this town was sometimes spelled Catalla. It is now abandoned.

Katalla est une localité d'Alaska aux États-Unis dans la Région de recensement de Valdez-Cordova, actuellement abandonnée. Elle est située à au sud-est de Cordova, dans la Forêt nationale de Chugach, près de la baie Controller et de la rivière Bering.


History.

DB Class 121 development.

DB Class 120 was the first locomotive class of West German federal railway Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) with three-phase asynchronous AC induction motors, and also the first implementation of the concept of the universal locomotive, which is suited for freight, passenger and express service alike. DB received the five prototypes from 1979, and all Germany-based locomotive manufacturers were involved in the delivery of the 60 series locomotives from 1987. In 1991, DB requested bids for an initial 500 universal locomotives with an improved design and a continuous power increased from, the planned DB Class 121. Former East German state railways Deutsche Reichsbahn also considered purchasing 200 units.  The competitors for the DB Class 121 order developed components and from December 1991, tested them in the prototypes of the DB Class 120, which were reclassified as the experimental Class 752. AEG Westinghouse, a supplier of electrical components for rail vehicles that was part of Daimler-Benz at the time, began developing a new final drive concept, a water-cooled converter based on GTO thyristors, an auxiliary converter, and a microprocessor-based traction control system. In 1992, AEG took over former East German locomotive manufacturer LEW Hennigsdorf and made it a subsidiary under its "AEG Bahnsysteme" (AEG Rail Systems) business area as "AEG Schienenfahrzeuge GmbH" (AEG Rail Vehicles Ltd). LEW was already developing lightweight vehicle body construction, better aerodynamics, and high-speed running gear. AEG bundled and continued these development efforts with the aim to produce a complete locomotive. The newly developed GTO thyristor based converter was built into DBAG 752 002 in late 1992 and started testing in January next year, the prototype of the new AEG final drive was built into series locomotive DB 120 118 and also began testing in 1993.

Project 12x.

In the meantime, in October 1992, DB cancelled the Class 121 tender due to the high price of the offers, which made government approval for the investment unlikely, and the changed organisational and operational situation. The upcoming merger of Deutsche Bundesbahn and Deutsche Reichsbahn into Deutsche Bahn in 1994 coincided with a railway reform, dividing the rolling stock of Deutsche Bahn between its regional passenger, long-distance passenger and freight business areas, making the universal locomotive plans obsolete. The freight branch of DB was concerned in particular that express trains would be given priority in the use of shared universal locomotives. From late 1993, the business areas of Deutsche Bahn and their predecessors called new bids for electric locomotives tailored for their specific needs.  Locomotive manufacturers responded to the changed situation by focusing on the modularity of their designs, allowing the derivation of different types of locomotives by removing or rearranging the components of a universal locomotive. After the cancellation of the DB Class 121 tender, AEG continued its development effort under the informal project name "12x", and decided to produce a prototype on its own. The decision was also motivated by further elements of the 1994 railway reform, which led to rail operators issuing tenders for complete vehicles rather than let manufacturers compete at the level of components, and the creation of an independent authority for vehicle approval. AEG spent 40 million Deutsche Mark (DM) on the 12x development programme, the construction of the locomotive itself cost another 8 million DM. AEG painted the experimental universal locomotive in the red and white company colours, named it 12X (with capital X), and held its rollout ceremony on 30 June 1994. Although owned by AEG, the 12X was designated 128 001 by DB.

Commissioning, reconstruction, test and lease operation.

In September and October 1995, the 12X was tested on DB's rolling rig in Munich at simulated speeds of up to. Following hauled trials and trials at standstill, the locomotive made its first run with own power at on 10 April 1995. By that time, AEG received an order for a lower-speed commercial derivative, the DBAG Class 145. For a test of components to be used in the Class 145 under service conditions, the 12X first completed trials for a preliminary commissioning for, and hauled its first regular InterCity train on 22 August 1995, on lease Deutsche Bahn.  In January 1996, ABB and Daimler-Benz merged their railway business areas into a joint venture, ADtranz. On 31 January 1996, Adtranz presented 128 001 in a new, modified livery at the Nuremberg Toy Fair, with an advertisement for UNICEF and the logos of Adtranz and model train manufacturer Märklin, which sponsored the advertisement for a year. The locomotive continued its commissioning trials at speeds of up to in February, later achieving, and received its approval for in the summer of 1996.  Adtranz used the 12X as test bed for even more advanced power electronics. In late 1997, the locomotive received new IGBT based converters, which were the first application of this technology in locomotives around the world. In early 1998, the traction control electronics was also replaced. The locomotive also received its final livery, with rainbow-coloured wave patterns on the sidewalls. After extensive trials and trial operation in BLS service on the Lötschberg Line in Switzerland, the locomotive returned to Hennigsdorf. In the following years, the locomotive alternated between test runs to test onboard systems, test locomotive service in the commissioning of new Adtranz models, and regular freight service on lease to DB's freight branch and BASF.  In May 2001, Bombardier Transportation acquired Adtranz. Bombardier continued to use the 12X as test locomotive, stationed at its facility in Oerlikon (Zürich), Switzerland. In July 2010, the locomotive returned to the Hennigsdorf plant.

Technical details.

The 12X design maintained the basic configuration of the Class 120: two bogies with two axles each, each axle powered by three-phase asynchronous motors, forced-air cooling of motors with cooling exhausts on the inclined roof edges, airtight machine room with closed walls and a central alley.

Electrical part.

The main transformer is installed underfloor between the two bogies. It has six secondary windings for the traction circuits, one to supply the on-board auxiliary units and charge the batteries, and one more for the electric train supply. The auxiliary windings connect to two 120 kVA auxiliary converters.  The two traction converters, one per bogie, are directly above the transformer, on both sides of the central alley, to keep power cables as short as possible and for a symmetric weight distribution. The original converters were built from modules that include two water-cooled GTO thyristors each, which can be regulated, and thus allow the construction of control circuits with much fewer components than those built with normal thyristors. Three of the modules in each converter functioned as four-quadrant converters between one winding of the transformer each and a direct current (DC) intermediate circuit, two more modules functioned as inverters, providing three-phase variable voltage variable frequency supply to the two motors of a bogie, making individual axle control possible. A version of the module for use as DC chopper under DC catenary supply was also foreseen. For traction and power control, the locomotive was equipped with the GEATRAC II system, which consists of 32-bit microprocessors, allowing for hardware-independent software and updates. Following the upgrade of the locomotive by Adtranz, the GTO thyristor based converters were replaced by IGBT based converters which were suited for multi-voltage operation, and the control technology changed to Adtranz's then current MITRAC system.

Mechanical part.

The 12X was equipped with newly developed GEALAIF final drives, where GEA refers to AEG, and LAIF stands for "Lokomotiv-Antrieb mit integriertem Fahrmotor" (locomotive final drive with integrated traction motor). The motor axle is connected to the pinion axle of the final drive by a diaphragm coupling that is rotationally and radially rigid but bends softly. The main innovation of the GEAALAIF concept is that the pinion axle is supported by bearings on both sides rather than just on the engine side. This solution reduces bending moments on both the pinion axle and the connected motor axle, thus allowing for the size and mass reduction of both. The integration of final drive and motor also included the reversion of the flow of the forced-air cooling, with the cold air passing down on the final drive side of the engine to cool the pinion, too. The final drive drives the wheelset by way of a Cardan shaft, forming a hollow shaft drive.  The bogie wheelbase is, shorter than in similar locomotives, with the aim to reduce forces and wear in curves. Prior to tests, Deutsche Bahn's engineers were sceptical about the design, in light of problems with another short bogie, an ABB Flexifloat prototype with a wheelbase of that was built into 752 004. However, rolling rig tests and line tests showed stable running. The primary suspension uses metal coil springs, the secondary suspension uses Flexicoil suspension. Traction forces are transmitted between bogie and vehicle body by way of inclined drawbars.  The locomotive body is a lightweight construction, which was intended to make the 12X the lightest locomotive in its power class at. The actual mass of the finished locomotive was in working order. The structure-bearing parts of the locomotive body are the underframe and the machine room sidewalls, and are made of steel. The roofs, drivers' cabins and the shroud below the underframe covering the transformer are made of plastics and composites, which were glued to the steel frame. The inclined roof edge transitions into the inclined ends of the side walls, which protrude beyond the fronts, forming windflaps designed to increase stability during tunnel crossings, train meetings and station passages.

Other general characteristics.

Environmental sustainability was one of the principles of the 12X development. The cooling medium of the Voith-supplied cooling system of the power electronics uses tap water with glycol as anti-freeze, rather than oil or oil substitutes. For the external painting of the locomotive, water-soluble paints were used instead of two-component paints with a high proportion of organic solvents. Deviating from previous systems, for the air conditioning, a cooling medium without chlorine was chosen.  The components of the 12X were developed as modules that can be removed, replaced or reconfigured in series versions. AEG envisioned four basic vehicle configurations on the basis of the components of the 12X: a high-performance locomotive for express service in the original 12X configuration, a powerhead with driver's cab only at one end for high-speed electric multiple units (EMUs), a light locomotive for regional traffic, and a heavy-haul twin locomotive with driver's cab at one end of both halves. AEG also considered the use of 12X components in an EMU with the power electronics placed underfloor, and the enhancement of the converters for multiple voltage systems. The modularity was also intended to allow for the replacement of components with more modern components as technology advances over the lifespan of the vehicle.

Derived types.

In November 1994, Deutsche Bahn chose AEG to supply DB's freight business area DB Cargo (today DB Schenker Rail) with eighty locomotives for medium-weight freight trains, the "DBAG Class 145". The original Class 145 design was a cheaper derivative of the 12X, leaving away components for higher speeds, including hollow-shaft drives, which were replaced by simpler nose suspended drives. After the merger of "AEG Bahnsysteme" and ABB Transportation into Adtranz, the final design of the locomotive was adapted for more commonalities with the DBAG Class 101, an express locomotive originally ordered from ABB at the same time. In particular, the less advanced ester-cooled inverters with GTO thyristors and the also ester-cooled main transformer of the DBAG Class 145 was derived from those of the DBAG Class 101, and the bogie design was modified to fit into ABB's Flexicoil family, with wheelbase increased to.  Later on, the Class 145 was a main basis for Adtranz's planned modular electric locomotive platform, announced in March 1998. Locomotive types derived from the DBAG Class 145 included a dual-voltage version for international traffic, the DBAG Class 185, ordered in July 1998. After Bombardier Transportation bought Adtranz in 2001, it fully implemented the modular locomotive platform idea on the basis of the DBAG Class 185, and named it TRAXX in 2003.

128 001, as registered at Deutsche Bahn, or 12X, as named by its manufacturer AEG Schienenfahrzeuge and its successive owners ADtranz and Bombardier Transportation, is an experimental high-performance electric locomotive built in 1994, which was operated as testbed and test locomotive until 2010. The design of the locomotive featured several technological innovations, including power electronics using new types of semiconductors and water cooling, a new final drive concept, a new bogie concept, and protruding windflaps for improved aerodynamics that gave the locomotive a unique look.

La 12X (DBAG série 128) était un prototype de locomotive électrique à 4 essieux construite par AEG. Ce prototype a débouché sur une production de série, les séries 145 (fret) et 146 (trains régionaux), et a finalement mené à la gamme de locomotives TRAXX de Bombardier Transport.


Cathédrale Sainte-Marie et Saint-Julien de Cuenca

History.

On September 21, 1177, Alfonso VIII of Castile, "The Noble", defeated the Moors after a nine-month siege and conquered the city of Cuenca. The city was made a diocese in 1183, and work began to build the cathedral on the foundations of the main Muslim mosque.  Like several other cathedrals built in Castile in the same period, Cuenca Cathedral is said to have been inspired by Eleanor Plantagenet of England, wife of King Alfonso VIII and daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Eleanor's Norman influence left its mark on the building, one of the earliest Gothic cathedrals of Castile along with the cathedral in Avila.  French stonemasons began work between 1182 and 1189, with work continuing in the 13th century. The cathedral was consecrated in 1196 by Saint Julian of Cuenca, second bishop of Cuenca, when only the "chevet" had been built. The high altar was consecrated in 1208 by Bishop Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada.  On April 13, 1902, the Giraldo tower (seen to the left of the facade in early photographs) collapsed after a direct lightning strike which also destroyed much of the facade. Several children were killed. Initial restoration of the facade was done in the neo-Gothic style. There are plans to restore the destroyed sections.

Characteristics.

Romanesque features of the cathedral date from its origins in the late Romanesque period. Characteristic of the Romanesque style, there were initially five staggered apses, a single transept and three naves in the main body of the building. 13th century developments include the clerestory, with moulded windows, statues of angels and an oculus. The Anglo-Norman architectural influence can be seen, among other places, in the cathedral's sexpartite rib vaulting. The temple is of great dimensions, has a length of 120 meters and 36 meters of height, in its internal central area, occupying an area of 10,000 square meters. In the 15th century, the eastern end was rebuilt to create a double ambulatory. In the 17th century, the cathedral chapter retained architect Ventura Rodríguez to build the altar of Saint Julian, also known as "el Transparente" for the stained glass illuminating and decorating the background of the altarpiece. It rivalled altarpieces with similar features by Narciso Tomé in Toledo Cathedral. A new altar was built in the eighteenth century, with altarpiece statues by Italian sculptor Pasquale Bocciardo. The collapse of Giraldo tower in 1902 caused widespread damage to the cathedral. The reconstruction of the facade by architect Vicente Lampérez, completed in 1910, partially repaired the damage. Most recently, the 16th century cloister has been fully restored.

Iconography.

The iconography of Cuenca Cathedral is largely fantastical, with mythological and human figures interspersed amongst plant leaves, stems, fruits and meandering streams. Cuenca Cathedral is distinguished from many other cathedrals by sculptures representing animals unknown to the West, such as the armadillo, puffer fish or turtle, in its Gothic arches dating from the late 15th century, a period in the history of its construction that coincided with the European colonization of the Americas after 1492.  From readings of the Book of Revelation and the "Centuries" in "Les Propheties" by Nostradamus, the scholar and architect Rodrigo de Luz concluded that the Holy Grail was saved and preserved in this cathedral. As a consequence, Cuenca Cathedral and all those who take refuge within it would be spared in the final revelation. He identifies the cathedral with the description of the New Jerusalem of the Book of Revelation, on the strength of its 12 gates in shape of bows, each with 12 angels. Each stone angel has a sombre expression and holds a book with the exception of one, who is smiling and holding a goblet. This is interpreted as a hidden reference to the legend of the Holy Grail.  It has been claimed that there are other hidden messages in the iconography of the cathedral and of the City of Cuenca, including a coat of arms featuring a cup with an octagram or eight-pointed star, symbol of the Knights Templar.

Cuenca Cathedral is a Gothic cathedral in the city of Cuenca, located in the Province of Cuenca in the Castile-La Mancha region of south-eastern central Spain. The building is one of the earliest Spanish examples of Gothic architecture, built at a time when the Romanesque style predominated in the Iberian Peninsula. In particular, the cathedral is characteristic of the Norman and Anglo-Norman architecture of the 12th century, of which Soissons Cathedral, Laon Cathedral and Notre-Dame de Paris are representative examples.

La cathédrale de Cuenca est la principale église de la ville et le siège du diocèse de Cuenca (Archidiocèse de Tolède).


History.

In the late 19th century, Swedish society was characterised by National Romantic visions of an idyllic rural community. As more and more people migrated to cities, concern grew that traditions, ways of life and crafts would be lost. The result was the emergence of a movement to safeguard knowledge and artefacts. It was against this backdrop that the Association for the Cultural History of Southern Sweden ("Kulturhistoriska föreningen för södra Sverige"), was established in 1882. The museum "Kulturhistoriska museet", founded among others by local historian (1859–1939) opened on 21 October 1882 in Kungshuset. Karlin was a contemporary of Arthur Hazelius who had opened the open-air museum Skansen just a year before. Skansen had become the model for other open-air museums in Northern Europe. The association initially ran museum-like activities in several different premises around Lund. Kulturen's open-air museum opened on 7 September 1892 in its current location in the heart of Lund, near the historic Lund Cathedral. It's the main building, which dates from the early 19th century, came to be known as the Nobleman's House. Both a farmhouse and a church were also relocated to the museum's grounds. Together with the Burgher's House, these buildings represented the four estates: the nobility, the clergy, the burghers and the peasants.  When the City of Lund began to lay a new sewer system in 1890, the workers unexpectedly uncovered a treasure trove of artifacts dating from the Middle Ages. Kulturen bought the artifacts and, about the same time, undertook organised archaeological excavations of their own. In 1909, it was decided that all finds and remnants in the city of Lund would be curated at Kulturen. The museum's first-ever artifact was acquired on Midsummer's Day, 24 June 1882. It is a silver goblet, used as a shot glass, made in Växjö in 1782 by the goldsmith Axel Johan Limnell. Today, the museum's collection consists of around 250,000 artifacts of cultural and historical value, 500,000 photographs and 1 million archaeological finds.  The open-air museum gradually expanded in the decades around 1900. Some of these additions reflected the way of life in the countryside, while others were examples of urban environments. Many of the buildings have been relocated from different parts of southern Sweden, others still stand on their original sites and continue to serve as typical features of Lund's broader cityscape.  As an arts and crafts college located within a museum, Kulturen's former School of Handicrafts was something quite unique. The college operated from 1896 until the early 1930s offered training in forging, textile handicraft, ceramics and furniture design. Here students learned to fashion new objects based on time-honoured materials.  In 1924, through the purchase of the Östarp estate 25 km east of Lund, Kulturen could display a farmhouse with an enclosed courtyard typical of Scania.  An entire city block was added to the open-air museum in 1926 and in 1929. Vita huset, which was built in 1854, was officially opened as the museum's new main building.  There is always hustle and bustle at Kulturen in Lund with a wide-ranging programme of activities for all ages. Kulturen in Lund also celebrates several festivals and traditions that attract many visitors, such as Easter, the National Day, Midsummer's Eve, Culture Night and Night of Ghosts. The Christmas season at Kulturen starts the first weekend of Advent with a large Christmas fair ("Julstöket").

Kulturen () is an open air museum in Lund in Lund, Sweden. Occupying two blocks in central Lund, Kulturen is Sweden's and the world's second oldest open-air museum after Skansen in Stockholm. It contains historic buildings, dating from the Middle Ages to the 1930s, set in gardens or cobblestone streets. The complete name of the museum is "Kulturhistoriska föreningen för södra Sverige".

Kulturen est un musée de plein-air dont le site principal est situé dans le centre ville de Lund, au sud de la Suède. L'association qui permit la création de ce musée fut fondée en 1882, et le musée ouvrit de façon permanente en 1892, ce qui en fait le second plus vieux musée de plein-air de Suède après Skansen à Stockholm, et l'un des plus vieux au monde. Le musée retrace l'évolution de l'habitat, des outils et des habits en Suède.


Plot.

"The Heroes of Olympus" is centered around a prophecy, introduced in "The Last Olympian", that predicted seven demigods would unite to protect the world from an awakening new enemy, Gaia. Demigods from both the Greek camp, Camp Half-Blood, and a newfound Roman camp, Camp Jupiter, unite to save the world from being destroyed by the terryifying Earth Goddess, Gaia. The prophecy reads:  <poem>"Seven half-bloods shall answer the call," (Hazel Levesque, Percy Jackson, Jason Grace, Annabeth Chase, Frank Zhang, Leo Valdez, Piper McLean) "To storm or fire, the world must fall." (Leo's fire powers defeated a Roman leader who fought with Gaia, Octavian) "An oath to keep with a final breath," (Leo's oath to come back to a magical island where his love waited) "And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death." (The awakened giants and Tartarus guard the doors of death)</poem> Seven demigodsAnnabeth Chase, Leo Valdez, Percy Jackson and Piper McLean from Camp Half-Blood, with Jason Grace, Frank Zhang, and Hazel Levesque from Camp Jupiterjoin forces. A storm or a fire will destroy the world (Which means either Leo or Jason will have a terrible fate in store). The last line details how 2 demigods, a giant, and a titan will free the Doors of Death.  Some other important characters are Nico di Angelo, Son of Hades, Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano, Praetor of Camp Jupiter and daughter of Bellona, and Gleeson Hedge, a satyr. In the books, they are the main people trying to bring peace between the Greeks and the Romans while the main 7 characters are fighting the main battle. Without their unity, it would be impossible to defeat Gaia and save the world.

Books.

"The Lost Hero".

The novel begins by introducing Jason Grace (son of Jupiter), Piper McLean (daughter of Aphrodite) and Leo Valdez (son of Hephaestus), three newly discovered demigods who travel to Camp Half-Blood in response to a prophecy, they set off on a quest to prevent the rebirth of the giant king Porphyrion and rescue Piper's father, who has been kidnapped by another giant, Enceladus. Jason, who has amnesia, also begins to remember pieces of his past throughout the book - most importantly, that he comes from a Roman camp for demigods. Camp Half-Blood resolves to seek out this other camp both to gain allies in the fight against Gaia, the giants' mother and commander, and to locate the missing demigod Percy Jackson the son of Poseidon.

"The Son of Neptune".

The novel opens with Percy Jackson (struck with amnesia) discovering Camp Jupiter and meeting several Roman demigods. After a prophecy from Mars, he, Frank Zhang, and Hazel Levesque travel to Alaska to stop the rise of the giant Alcyoneus and free the god Thanatos, whom the giant has captured. After successfully completing their mission, the group returns to Camp Jupiter to defend it from yet another giant, Polybotes, and his army. After repelling this invasion, the demigods from Camp Jupiter go to meet the delegation from Camp Half-Blood arriving in the flying ship known as the "Argo II".

"The Mark of Athena".

After the "Argo II" unintentionally fires on Camp Jupiter, the seven demigods of the "Prophecy of Seven" - Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Hazel Levesque, Frank Zhang, Jason Grace, Piper McLean, and Leo Valdez - rush to escape the angered Roman campers. They travel to Rome following the "Mark of Athena", a magical talisman designed to lead children of Athena (like Annabeth) to the missing Athena Parthenos. During their journey, they hear that Nico di Angelo has been captured by the Aloadae, and go to rescue him. Although they successfully free the son of Hades and locate the statue, Annabeth and Percy are pulled into Tartarus and the rest of the group resolves to find some way to save them.

"The House of Hades".

In Tartarus, Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase travel towards the "Doors of Death" (the only exit to the mortal world) with help from Bob the Titan, hoping to escape and simultaneously stop more monsters from getting through. In the mortal world, the remaining demigods search for the mortal side of the Doors to help open them. They also meet with Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, a Roman demigod; she, Nico di Angelo, and Coach Hedge leave with the Athena Parthenos for Camp Half-Blood. Once reunited, the original seven sail for Greece, where they expect Gaia's main force will gather.

"The Blood of Olympus".

While Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Nico di Angelo, and Gleeson Hedge travel towards Camp Half-Blood (where the Romans are preparing to attack the Greeks), the seven of the quest travel to Athens. With help from the gods, the demigods defeat the giants in Athens. They then return to the fight on Long Island and Leo Valdez sacrifices himself to defeat Gaea and restore peace. In the final pages, Leo is resurrected by his bronze dragon Festus and goes to find his crush Calypso. Unaware that he is alive, Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter mourn his loss, determining to become allies and prevent such a deadly war from happening again.

Supplementary works.

"The Demigod Diaries".

Released August 14, 2012, "The Demigod Diaries" is a collection of short stories. Similar to "The Demigod Files", it contains some new stories with character interviews, illustrations, puzzles, and a quiz. The four stories include:

Inspirations and origins.

After realizing how many Greek and Roman myths he had left untouched as well the immense success of the original series, Riordan began writing a second series, using inspiration for his storyline from experiences that he and his children had while playing video and role-playing games such as "World of Warcraft" and "Scion". After creating the storyline, Riordan created three new main characters—Jason, Piper, and Leo—but continued to use the previous main characters such as Annabeth and Grover as secondary characters.  Unlike the "Percy Jackson & the Olympians" series which uses first-person narration solely from Percy's point of view, the second series is told in third-person, with the point of view alternating between various main characters. In "The Lost Hero", those characters are Jason, Piper, and Leo. Although initially uncertain how fans would react, Riordan later found that they enjoyed the new format, as it allowed them to learn more about each character.  Riordan says that "it was my way of letting them revisit that world in a fresh twist, but also to catch up with Percy and Annabeth and the rest of the gang from the first series". He also decided to include the Roman gods after many readers requested that Riordan write a new series on Roman gods, who are the Roman equivalent of the Greek gods, with some minor changes in personality. He pondered on how the Roman aspect of the gods would be after moving from Greece to Rome to America. After a while, "playing with that idea gave me the idea for the new series".

Publishing history.

"The Lost Hero", the first book in the "Heroes of Olympus" series, was released on October 12, 2010 as a hardcover, audiobook, and ebook. The initial publishing run consisted of 2.5 million copies. The book's official publication was preceded by several "sneak-peek" releases by Disney-Hyperion. A graphic novel version, adapted and illustrated by Orpheus Collar, was released October 7, 2014.

Follow-up series.

A sequel pentalogy series titled "The Trials of Apollo" was released, with the first installment, "The Hidden Oracle" released on May 3, 2016. The second installment, "The Dark Prophecy", was released on May 2, 2017. The third installment, "The Burning Maze" was released on May 1, 2018. The fourth installment, "The Tyrant's Tomb" was released on September 24, 2019.

Achievements.

Reception.

The Lost Hero was a number one bestseller on the lists of "The New York Times", "USA Today", "The Wall Street Journal", and "Publishers Weekly". Many critics praised the novel as a good follow-up to Riordan's previous series. A review by "The Epoch Times" commented, "If anyone was afraid that Riordan couldn’t top his Percy Jackson series—they can quit worrying. This new series, even though in the same genre as the Percy Jackson group, has fresh ideas, more mystery and magic and keeps the reader engrossed from start to finish." Despite this praise, some reviews were more mixed. Vicky Smith of "Kirkus Reviews" wrote, "[there are] far too many pages of stretched-out action, telling not showing and awkward dialogue...Unless Riordan tightens things up considerably by number five, [readers] may find themselves hoping that it does not end with a third Great Prophecy".  "The Lost Hero" won the Barnes & Noble Best Book of 2010 award and was a Massachusetts Children's Book Award Honor book for 2014, among other honors. Rick Riordan was named "Author of the Year" for the novel at the 2011 Children's Choice Awards. The book was also recommended by the ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults list of 2012.

The Heroes of Olympus is a pentalogy of fantasy-adventure novels written by American author Rick Riordan. The novels detail a conflict between Greek demigods, Roman demigods, and Gaea (Roman name Terra) also known as Mother Earth. In the fourth book of the series, there is also a semi-large fight against Tartarus, which, in Greek mythology, was the darkest and deepest point of the underworld. The series is a sequel to "Percy Jackson & the Olympians", which detailed the life of modern-day Greek demigods. The sequel to this series, and the 3rd series in the trilogy is The Trials Of Apollo. Riordan introduces Roman mythology in his sequel series as well as several new characters. The first book of the series, "The Lost Hero", was published on October 12, 2010. The final entry in the series, "The Blood of Olympus", was published on October 7, 2014.

Héros de l'Olympe (titre original : "The Heroes of Olympus") est une série de cinq romans de fantasy écrits par Rick Riordan traitant de la mythologie grecque et romaine. Elle fait suite aux aventures de Percy Jackson et de ses amis demi-dieux. Les romans ont été publiés entre 2010 et 2014 aux États-Unis, entre 2011 et 2015 en France.


Etymology.

The name "Fante" has only one etymology in reference to the Bono people. The Fante split from the Bono, receiving the name "ofa-tew", "the half that separated". As well as being phonetically consistent, any connection this etymology propose with the Bono is contemporary. The Fante-Bono dichotomy only developed in the latter part of the 13th century. The true etymology is unknown.

Phonology.

Vowels.

Of these vowels, five may be nasalized: /ĩ/, /ɪ̃/, /ã/, /ũ/, and /ʊ̃/.  Fante exhibits vowel harmony, where all vowels in a word belong to one of the two sets /i e o u a/ or /ɪ ɛ ɔ ʊ a/.

Tones.

Fante, like all other varieties of Akan, has two contrastive tones, high tone (H) and low tone (L).

Orthography.

Fante has a relatively phonemic orthography. It uses the following letters to indicate the following phonemes:

Consonants.

Fante makes heavy use of digraphs, including "ky" (/tɕ/), "gy" (/dʑ/), "hy" (/ɕ/), "tw" (/tɕw/), "dw" (/dʑw/), "hw" (/ɕw/), and "kw" (/kw/). However, labialization is symbolized in other labialized consonants either with ⟨u⟩, e.g. "pue" (/pwei), "bue" (/bwei/), "tue" (/twei/), "hue" (/hwei/), "huan" (/hwan/), "guan" (/gwan/), "nua" (/nwia/), and "sua" (/swia/); or with ⟨o⟩, e.g. "soer" (/swer/), "soe" (/swei/), and "noa" (/nwia/). Furthermore, the digraphs "ny" and "nw" may represent /ɲ/ and /ɲw/, respectively, as in "nya" (/ɲa/) ("get"), and "nwin" (/ɲwin/) ("leak"), parallelling the use of other digraphs in Fante; or they may represent two individual phonemes, /nj/ and /nw/ respectively, as in "nwaba" (/nwaba/) "snail".  Fante also uses the digraphs "ts" and "dz," which represent /ts/ and /dz/ in Fante subdialects that distinguish the plosives /t/ and /d/ and the affricates /ts/ and /dz/, but are allophonic with "t" and "d" in those subdialects which do not distinguish them. Fante is the only dialect of Akan to distinguish /ts/ and /dz/ from /t/ and /d/, and is therefore the only dialect whose alphabet contains the letter ⟨z⟩.

Vowels.

Although ⟨e⟩ and ⟨o⟩ can represent multiple phonemes each, Fante orthography uses two strategies to distinguish them. First, Fante vowel harmony means /e/ and /ɪ/ are not likely to appear together in a word, nor are /o/ and /ʊ/. Second, if disambiguation is necessary, vowel digraphs may be used: ⟨ie⟩ to mean /e/ and ⟨uo⟩ to mean /o/. Thus /moko/ "pepper" is spelled "muoko", while /mʊkʊ/ "I sit" is spelled "muko".  Nasalization is marked with the diacritic ⟨ ̃⟩, but is only used when distinguishing "one of two or more words of the same spelling but different meanings which contain a nasal vowel", and is omitted when there is no danger of ambiguity. The diacritic may also be included on the wrong vowel, as in the word "kẽka", where it is the second syllable that actually receives the nasalization.

Fante (), also known as Fanti, Fantse, or Mfantse, is one of the principal members of the Akan dialect continuum, along with Bono, Asante and Akuapem, the latter three collectively known as Twi, with which it is mutually intelligible. It is spoken in the central and southern regions of Ghana, as well as in settlements in other regions in western Ghana.

Le fanti ou fante est une langue kwa parlée au Ghana. C'est l'une des trois variantes de la langue akan (avec l'akuapem et l'asante).