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SAA is organises a talk by Professor Jean Boutier

SAA is organises a talk by Professor Jean Boutier

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SAA is organises a talk by Professor Jean Boutier
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SCHOOL OF ARTS AND AESTHETICS, JNU

organising a  Talk by
 
Professor Jean Boutier
University of Marseilles
 
on
 
 "The Politics of Music at the Medici Court, 1580-1650"
 
Friday, 9th February, 2018, 4.30 pm, SAA Auditorium
           
Chair: Professor Jayati Ghosh, CESP
 

During the sixteenth century, music became a very important element of court life, in particular in Italy. The Florentine court with the new grandukes Medici, gave music  new political  dimensions. This aimed both at impressing its aristocracy and the people of Florence, with celebrations of important dynastic events such as marriages and even more at dazzling and impressing foreign princes during their travels through Italy.

During these years, beyond the usual dancing entertainments, the Medici court saw the birth and development of a new genre destined to become a major success : the opera.

After presenting a large panorama showing the presence of musicians at the court and the functiong of the Medici musical patronage, this talk will examine two major musical events with a strong political significance : the representations of the operas Euridice (1600) for the wedding of Maria de’ Medici with Henri IVth, king of France, and of  La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’Isola d’Alcina (1625) for the prince Ladislaw Sigismond Wasa, future king of Poland’s vist to Florence.

 

Prof. Jean Boutier is Directeur d’Etudes at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences sociales (Marseille) and former director of the Norbert Elias Centre in Social Sciences (2002-2011). Specialist of comparative social history of early modern Europe, he has lectured in many universities in Europe, the United States and India. He has been Fulbright Scholar (Cornell, 2001), Marc Bloch Professor (Berlin, 2008), Fellow of the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Advanced Studies (New Delhi, 2009), and visiting professor at the University of Michigan (2015). His published works (20 books and more than one hundred articles in French, Italian, German, English and Spanish) span a wide range of subjects dealing with the main social, political and cultural dynamics of early modern European society. He is currently working on a comparative study of the European nobilities through the Grand Tour (16th-18th c.).

 

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.