Méditation (Thaïs)

"Méditation" (pronounced: [meditasjɔ̃]) is a symphonic intermezzo from the opera Thaïs by French composer Jules Massenet. The piece is written for solo violin and orchestra. The opera premiered at the Opéra Garnier in Paris on March 16, 1894.

Description

The Méditation is a symphonic entr'acte performed between the scenes of Act II in the opera Thaïs. In the first scene of Act II, Athanaël, a Cenobite monk, confronts Thaïs, a beautiful and hedonistic courtesan and devotée of Venus, and attempts to persuade her to leave her life of luxury and pleasure and find salvation through God. It is during a time of reflection following the encounter that the Méditation is played by the orchestra. In the second scene of Act II, following the Méditation, Thaïs tells Athanaël that she will follow him to the desert.

The piece is in D major and is approximately five minutes long (although there are a number of interpretations that stretch the piece to over six minutes). Massenet may also have written the piece with religious intentions; the tempo marking is Andante religioso, signifying his intention that it should be played religiously (which could mean either strictly in the tempo or literally with religiously-founded emotion) and at walking tempo. The piece opens with a short introduction by the harps, with the solo violin quickly entering with the motif. After the violin plays the melody twice, the piece goes into a section marked animato, gradually becoming more and more passionate (Massenet wrote poco a poco appassionato). The climax is reached at a place marked poco piu appassionato (a little more passion) and is then followed by a short cadenza-like passage from the soloist and returns to the main theme. After the theme is played twice, the soloist joins the orchestra while playing harmonics on the upper register as the harps and strings quietly play below the solo line.

Passage Meditation

Passage Meditation is a book by Eknath Easwaran, originally published in 1978 with the title Meditation. The book describes a meditation program, also now commonly referred to as Passage Meditation. Easwaran developed this method of meditation in the 1960s, and first taught it systematically at the University of California, Berkeley.

The program is an eight-point program intended for the "spiritual growth" of the practitioner. The first step in the program involves meditating on a text passage, and since the 1990s the method as a whole has come to be known as "Passage Meditation" (not Easwaran's term). The book has been frequently reprinted and translated into 14 languages. It is reported that more than 200,000 copies were sold in the period of 1978 to 2001.

The first edition of the book had the full title Meditation; commonsense directions for an uncommon life (1978). A second edition in 1991 was subtitled a simple eight-point program for translating spiritual ideals into daily life, and a third, revised edition of the book was published posthumously as Passage Meditation; Bringing the Deep Wisdom of the Heart Into Daily Life (2008).

Meditation (disambiguation)

Meditation refers to any of a family of techniques that involve the self-induction of a mode of consciousness in order to realize some benefit.

Meditation may also refer to:

Forms

Literature

Music

Albums

Zoot (band)

Zoot were a pop/rock band formed in Adelaide, South Australia in 1965 as Down the Line. They changed their name to Zoot in 1967 and by 1968 had relocated to Melbourne. They had a top five hit on the Go-Set national singles chart with a heavy rock cover of The Beatles' ballad "Eleanor Rigby" released in 1970; but they disbanded in May 1971.

Mainstay bass guitarist, Beeb Birtles, was later a founder of Little River Band in 1975 and guitarist singer-songwriter, Rick Springfield, who moved to the United States in 1972, achieved international fame as a solo artist, songwriter and actor.

Zoot reunited for the Rick Springfield and Friends cruise in November 2011.

Early years

Plympton High School mates John D'Arcy on guitars and vocals, and Gerard Bertlekamp (later known as Beeb Birtles) initially on lead guitar and vocals formed Times Unlimited in Adelaide, South Australia with drummer Ted Higgins and a bass guitarist in 1964. Birtles moved to bass guitar and they were joined by Darryl Cotton, lead vocalist from local rivals, The Murmen. The new group of Birtles, Cotton, D'Arcy and Higgins formed in 1965, and were named Down the Line from The Hollies version of Roy Orbison's "Go Go Go (Down the Line)". Soon Gordon Rawson, an ex-school mate of Birtles, briefly joined on rhythm guitar.

Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem

Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem is a Muppet rock house band of The Muppet Show. Following The Muppet Show, they appeared in various Muppet movies and television specials, and have also recorded album tracks. Dr. Teeth and Animal were designed by Jim Henson, while the rest of the original band members were designed by Michael K. Frith. They made their debut in 1975's The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence, and pilot for the The Muppet Show.

The band consists of Dr. Teeth on vocals and keyboards, Animal on drums, Floyd Pepper on bass guitar, Janice on guitar, and Zoot on saxophone. In season five of the show, Lips joined the band on trumpet. Animal, Floyd and Zoot also played in the Muppet Show pit band, performing the opening and closing themes and underscoring most of the Muppet Show performances. Lips and occasionally Janice appeared in the orchestra in later episodes. Though Lips made some appearances with the group after The Muppet Show ended production, the group later reverted to its original line-up. Also, the original pilot episode featured "Jim", a Muppet caricature of Jim Henson on banjo.

Dub

Dub, Dubs, Dubí, or dubbing may refer to:

Places

Many places in Slavic countries, where "dub" means "oak tree":

Music

Dubí

Dubí (Czech pronunciation: [ˈdubiː]; German: Eichwald) is a town in the Ústí nad Labem Region, in the Czech Republic, near Teplice in the Ore Mountains, with 7,792 residents. It is an important transit point to Germany on European route E55, and the border crossing Cínovec is located within the town limits. There is a spa with mineral waters and a china factory there. The railroad line (Most -) Dubí - Moldava v Krušných horách, that passes through the town, was declared a national monument in 1998. After the Velvet Revolution, the town received bad publicity due to rampant prostitution, fueled by the close proximity to Germany, location on a main truck route and low purchasing power in the Czech Republic; municipal authorities have been struggling with this issue with some recent successes.

History

Dubí was first mentioned in the period of 1494–1498 as a village of tin miners (in Czech cín, giving the name to nearby Cínovec). Rapid development started in the 19th century. First, a new road to Saxony was built, followed by a spa (1862) and in (1864) A.Tschinkel purchased a mill Buschmühle where he established porcelain factory that in 1871 changed name to "Eichwalder Porzellan und Ofenfabriken Bloch and Co." Furthermore, a new railroad (1884) made Dubí a popular holiday spa resort, visited by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Jan Neruda, Václav Talich and others. its land is very rich.