Background.

At the end of their 1978–79 tour to support their ninth studio album "Tormato" (1978), the group, Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman, and Alan White, took a break from touring and recording. They reconvened in November 1979 to start work for a new album. After the various problems they faced while recording "Tormato", Yes decided to work in Paris with Roy Thomas Baker to oversee its production and musical direction. Anderson and Wakeman were enthusiastic in putting together new material, writing more songs together than they had before. However, Squire, Howe and White felt their songs were too light and folk-oriented and proceeded to develop more aggressive and direct compositions. The growing internal differences, described by Anderson as a "loss of respect for each other", led to Squire, Howe, White and Baker to not come to sessions on time, which discouraged Anderson and Wakeman, the latter at times refusing to leave his hotel room to rehearse. Both members took to leave the studio and drink Calvados in a bar; in Wakeman's words: "It can make you quite depressed. Jon and I got really quite depressed and started crying on each other's shoulders and Jon said 'This is not the band that I love, this is not the band that I wanted to keep on going', [and I replied] 'I'm with you, Jon'". The sessions were ultimately called off after White cracked a bone in his right ankle while roller skating early in the morning with Richard Branson in a nightclub, rendering him unable to perform for about six weeks. Following a break over Christmas, the band reconvened in London for rehearsals in an attempt to salvage the situation. They failed, causing Anderson and Wakeman to depart in March 1980.  Squire, Howe, and White continued to write and rehearse as a three-piece in Townhouse Studios. At the same time, bassist and singer Trevor Horn and keyboardist Geoff Downes of the new wave band The Buggles were enjoying worldwide success with their 1979 hit single "Video Killed the Radio Star", and had recently secured Brian Lane as their new manager. Since Lane was also responsible for Yes, and with both groups now working from the same office, Lane asked Horn and Downes, both fans of Yes, to contribute a song for the trio. Downes and Horn were invited to Squire's Virginia Water mansion, New Pipers, where Horn presented the song by singing while playing guitar to him. Squire remarked that his voice was similar to Anderson's and invited both musicians to Yes rehearsals, which Downes characterised as "a bit directionless, because they were rehearsing as a three piece [...] you can only go so far as a rhythm section". The duo presented an eight-minute Buggles song that was deemed too long to record themselves named "We Can Fly from Here", which the three Yes members liked and wanted to develop. Meanwhile, the Buggles weren't informed of Anderson's departure, and were confused by his absence; Squire didn't answer them and they only found out about the situation by the point that they were being pushed to record the song. Horn had some doubts in becoming Yes's new singer as he realised the difficulties of replacing Anderson considering the reputation he had built with the fans, but went for it as he knew such an opportunity would not arise again. Feeling Horn and Downes were suitable replacements, Squire convinced Howe and White to let them join. Lane announced the idea to Ahmet Ertegun, then president of Atlantic Records, the band's label, who flew to London to assess the situation and see if the new formation was commercially viable. Ertegun approved, thus giving the green-light for a new album.

Production.

Recording.

"Drama" was recorded in approximately three months at Townhouse Studios with each band member credited for its production and Hugh Padgham, Gary Langan, and Julian Mendelsohn as recording engineers. The sessions began with Eddy Offord, Yes' former engineer and producer from 1970 to 1974, but several issues resulted in his departure as the album was being made; Downes said Offord "left in strange circumstances. It was a fraught and manic time", but he remained credited as producer of the backing tracks. The music was put together in several locations; Howe recorded some of his guitars at RAK Studios and Chalk Farm and other parts of the album were recorded at SARM East Studios. Howe recorded all his parts in 2 weeks, saying "I had total freedom. I went away and recorded 90 percent of the guitars on my own in a London studio and went back and presented it to the band. At first, people said 'Your guitars sound too bright and treble-y.' I said 'No, shut up and use them'". Horn spoke about his efforts to get the album finished: "I got married and two hours later, I was back in the studio. [We decided that] for our honeymoon, we were going to spend two weeks in Miami Beach... it ended up as three days in Bournemouth and Steve came along, we had a good time actually". Horn and Howe went on to do the album's mixdown by themselves.

Songs.

The album opens with the ten-minute "Machine Messiah" which, according to Horn, was written in one day. It features some guitar riffs from Howe that reporter and critic Chris Welch described as "unexpectedly heavy metal". White called the song his "baby", putting together much of its structure and rhythm. Squire found some of its passages difficult to play on his bass and thought it was more suited for keyboards, but was encouraged by White to master his parts. Downes rates the track highly, citing its various sections and mood changes. When he was composing his keyboard parts for the song, Downes included an arpeggiated segment from the Toccata fifth movement of Symphony for Organ No. 5 by Charles-Marie Widor, a piece that he was familiar with from his youth.  "White Car" was recorded in one afternoon. Downes only played a Fairlight CMI synthesiser on the recording, to test its sampling capabilities: "I tried to simulate an orchestra using these samples, but it was very early days of digital sampling. The bandwidth was very narrow, but that's what gave it all that characteristic 'crunch factor'. We then added the vocoder and Trevor's vocal to the mix". Horn's lyrics were about seeing pop figure Gary Numan driving his Stingray, which was given to him by his record company.  "Does It Really Happen?" originated from the 1979 Paris sessions, with White coming up with its drum pattern. A version featuring Anderson singing a different set of lyrics was recorded, but it was shelved until it was developed further when Horn and Downes joined and made additions to the song. Horn and Squire wrote new lyrics.  "Into the Lens" was originally completed by Horn and Downes before they joined the group, but Squire took a liking to it and wished to re-arrange it as a Yes track. The track features Downes using a vocoder, further highlighting the band's new sound. A version recorded by Horn and Downes only was later released on the second Buggles album, "Adventures in Modern Recording" (1981), with the title "I Am a Camera".  "Run Through the Light" features Howe playing a Les Paul guitar, "in the background being very melancholy" with Squire playing a piano and Horn playing bass, something which Horn did not particularly wish to do, but Squire convinced him to perform. "I didn't quite know what to play on it... one day we spent twelve hours playing and working the final bass part". A different version of the song was recorded with Anderson.  "Tempus Fugit" was another song sketched out by the Squire, Howe and White trio in late 1979. Its title is a Latin expression that translates as "time flies". According to Howe, its name was derived from Squire's habit of arriving late to places.  Yes worked on further material during the recording sessions, but remained incomplete. This included "We Can Fly from Here" and "Go Through This", which were performed on the 1980 tour and later released on the live compilation album "The Word is Live" (2005). "We Can Fly from Here" was expanded into a 20-minute suite on Yes's studio album "Fly from Here" (2011). A third track, "Crossfire", was later included on "".

Sleeve design.

The album's sleeve was designed by Roger Dean, his first design for a Yes album since "Relayer" in 1974. When Dean was commissioned to work on the project, he knew of the album's title before working on it and adopted "an intuitive approach" to complete it. His previous work was known for its fantasy and mysticism, but this time he made a conscious effort not to do so with things "that you couldn't see in the world today. Maybe they're being shuffled around a bit, but it's not in any degree fantastic". He expressed a particular interest in illustrating a storm adorned sky, with "the light playing across the landscape, so there were some bits that jumped out and very stark and bright, and other bits that are very dark – black on dark grey". Dean summarised that "there was a lot going on" on the final cover, incorporating various elements and "stirred it up... they came out in a way I guess that training and good luck worked together". In 2013, Dean spoke fondly of his design, ranking it as one of his favourite paintings.

Release.

"Drama" was released on 18 August 1980. It reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 18 in the US, the band's lowest charting studio release since "The Yes Album" (1971), which peaked at No. 40. "Into the Lens" was released as the album's sole single in 1980. The band shot music videos for "Into the Lens" and "Tempus Fugit", both of them mimed live performances with minimal visual effects.  The album has been reissued several times; the first was in 1994 by Atlantic Records. In 2004, Rhino Records issued a remastered edition with several previously unreleased tracks, including some from the band's sessions from Paris in late 1979.

Reception.

"The Guardian" reporter Robert Denselow wrote that the album's lyrics are tougher than Anderson's "distinctive ramblings on the mystic fringe", and named "Machine Messiah" and "Into the Lens" as tracks that made "Drama" a distinctive album. Bill Carlton wrote in "The New York Times" that with "Drama", Yes "didn't take any chances alienating the faithful" fans with a new wave or punk direction and "sound more like Yes than Yes". Carlton wrote the album is "full of their tried-and-true brew of orchestral, dramatic, art-rock extrapolations" and is just as "daring and fanciful" as their previous albums. Carlton picked "Tempus Fugit" as his favourite. In "The Los Angeles Times", John Mendelssohn wrote that "Drama" is "infinitely more accessible" than earlier Yes albums, "still highly demanding listening". In the same publication reviewer Steve Pond compared Dean's "kitschy, dramatic land-and-seascape" artwork on the album's sleeve to the music on it.  Pond considered "Drama" the most traditional Yes album in several years, proving to "anxious fans" about the line-up change that the new group can sound "just like the old model". He described Horn's vocals as at times "uncanny" to Anderson's. A review in "The Philadelphia Inquirer" gave "Drama" three stars out of four. With the new line-up, "the results are quite pleasing" with the band displaying greater vitality and strength than their more recent albums, with "generally superb" material. The review picked "Machine Messiah", "Does It Really Happen?" and "Tempus Fugit" as highlight tracks. George Kanzler in "Tallahassee Democrat" wrote that Yes still retained their "patented group sound" despite Anderson and Wakeman's departure, with high tenor vocals, "rhapsodic" solos, and "brisk" tempo changes. He picked out Howe's guitar work as the band's "invaluable asset" but said the lyrics "are pretentious as always" which focuses mostly on a mixture of light and dark imagery. "Rolling Stone" picked out "Machine Messiah", "Tempus Fugit", and "Into the Lens" as stand out tracks. It noted the addition of Horn and Downes in the band "has not substantially altered the Yes sound, image or presentation. The high vocals, symphonic arrangements, and quasi-mystical lyrics are still there". It pointed out the "fresh new spirit" of the group's playing, though commented that the Buggles' hit single "Video Killed the Radio Star" is more memorable than the album itself.  Joe Konz, in "The Indianapolis Star", wrote Downes is an "adequate" replacement for Wakeman but pointed out that Horn's voice does not work as well in certain sections, such as "Into the Lens". He picked out that track with "Machine Messiah" and "Tempus Fugit" as highlights, the latter containing what Yes "does best" with harmony singing, playing their instruments "rampantly", and making "vigorous rock and roll". On "Machine Messiah", the band "assembles every kind of artillery that it can unload" with its heavy metal opening and duel between guitar and vocoder which Konz compared to "Dueling Banjos" from the film "Deliverance". He concluded with "Drama" being Yes's best in years. In a review written in the "Fort Lauderdale News", Cameron Cohick thought "Drama" "sounds exactly like Yes has always sounded. Frighteningly so". The opening to "Machine Messiah" is compared to Black Sabbath fashion with its "ponderous, droning riff" and keyboard lines from Downes that he compared to Wakeman. He compared the overall mood of "Drama" to "Fragile" and "Close to the Edge" (1972) with "relatively simple" song structures, most with at least one good riff. Though he considered the lyrics are "the usual quasi-cosmic tripe", Cohick picked "Run Through the Light" as the album's best track which he compared to "The Battle of Evermore" by Led Zeppelin.  Music critic Rick Johnson thought the group came up with a consistent album, summarising it as "fairly solid stuff". In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Paul Collins rates the album three stars out of five, writing: "It rocks harder than other Yes albums" and a "harbinger of Yes and Asia albums to come" throughout the 1980s. He points out Squire's "emboldened" and "aggressive" bass playing with White's drums, and Howe's "more metallic" approach. Collins picks out "Machine Messiah" and "Tempus Fugit" as the album's best tracks within an album of promising material.  Former (and later) Yes singer Jon Anderson felt the album was "not my idea of Yes" and did not represent what the band "truly is", but was open to rehearsing songs from the record during his later tenures in the group, though his suggestions were declined.  In 2014, "Prog" readers voted "Drama" the 100th best progressive rock album.

Tour, live performance and aftermath.

Yes toured "Drama" with a concert tour of North America and the UK from August to December 1980. Horn and Downes had never performed live on such a large scale before, and learned the Yes repertoire with Downes playing 14 keyboards on stage. Horn faced issues with nervousness, as he had never done large-scale touring before, and with his voice, which increasingly strained as the tour progressed due to his efforts to match Anderson's high register. While marketing for the tour was mute on the lineup change, much of the North American leg was still a success. The tour included three sold out shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City, where the band were awarded a commemorative award for selling out the venue sixteen consecutive times since 1974. The UK leg, however, was not as well-received with many audience members expressing their anger with the lineup change by booing and shouting at Horn and Downes.  After the tour, Yes disbanded in early 1981. Horn began a career in producing while Howe and Downes formed Asia. All five members of the "Drama" line-up reunited in the recording of Yes's twentieth album, "Fly from Here" (2011). An alternate version of that album, "Fly from Here – Return Trip" (2018), features Horn on lead vocals.  Yes did not revisit songs from "Drama" until Anderson's permanent removal from the band in 2008. For their 2016 European tour, the album was performed in its entirety for the first time, in track order. Horn sang "Tempus Fugit" with the band on stage on their Oxford and London dates.

Track listing.

All songs by Geoff Downes, Trevor Horn, Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White, except where noted.

Personnel.

Credits are adapted from the 1980 and 1994 issues of the album.  Yes  Production

Drama is the tenth studio album by the English progressive rock band Yes, released on 18 August 1980 by Atlantic Records. It was their first album to feature Trevor Horn as lead vocalist, as well as keyboardist Geoff Downes. This followed the departures of Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman after numerous attempts to record a new album in Paris and London had failed. "Drama" was recorded hurriedly, because a tour had already been booked before the change in personnel. The album marked a departure in the band's musical direction with more accessible and aggressive songs, and featuring the use of modern keyboards, overdriven guitar, and a vocoder.

Drama ist ein Album der Musikgruppe Yes, das im Jahre 1980 veröffentlicht wurde. Schon immer hatte es bei Yes einen beinahe kontinuierlichen Besetzungswechsel gegeben; in diesem Fall hatten jedoch mit Jon Anderson (Gesang) und Rick Wakeman (Keyboards) gleich zwei der wichtigsten Bandmitglieder die Gruppe verlassen. Dies hatte allerdings einen geringeren Einfluss auf die Musik und damit auf "Drama", als viele erwartet hätten. Anderson und Wakeman wurden durch die Buggles Geoff Downes und Trevor Horn ersetzt, die nur auf diesem Yes-Album zu hören sind. "Drama" ist damit das erste von drei Studioalben, auf dem Jon Anderson nicht singt. Es ist das zwölfte Album und die zehnte Studioveröffentlichung.


Early life.

Born in New Zealand into a German-American miner family in 1869. His father died when Trautmann was four years of age. When he was 14 he and his mother moved back to Europe where he worked as an apprentice to a brewer in Poland. At this brewery he had to work as many as hours as his brewmaster told him. It was during this time that Trautmann was exposed to the radical labor ideas that would become his life's work. Trautmann worked throughout Eastern Europe before settling in Germany. In Germany he was a vocal supporter of workers going through the same abuse in the brewing industry that he had gone through. In 1890 he was forced to leave Germany under the new anti-Socialist laws, which marked him as a dangerous radical. He decided to move to the United States as he already had family there. He moved to Massachusetts and continued to organize labor. He was very active in the United Brewery Worker Union. He was also very vocal against the American Federation of Labor, who he saw as being too conservative and not looking out for the interest of the worker.

Time in IWW.

Trautmann was one of the founders of the Industrial Workers of the World. He helped write the Industrial Union Manifesto, one of the IWW's founding documents. While in the Industrial Workers of the World Trautmann worked as an organizer, propagandist, and for some time as secretary-treasurer. He was much more known for his essays than for his administrative skills. His works include One Big Union, Why Strikes are Lost & How to Win, and Industrial Unionism: The Hope of the Workers. He was thrust into a leadership role with the resignation of Eugene Debs from the union, and while he was a skilled writer his administrative skills were lacking. He could not keep a record of the members of the union (that is both the individuals and the different local branches of the IWW), and at the 1906 IWW convention, it was discovered that Trautmann had not been keeping a financial record for the entire year.  His start in the IWW was also met with turbulent times. He failed many of his first attempts at organizing strikes. He switched his tactics to target primarily Eastern European immigrants, since he was also one. This lead him to the McKees Rocks strike, a strike in a steel town of Pennsylvania. Trautmann tried to keep the protests peaceful, but soon violence erupted. Five state troopers were killed, and Trautmann was arrested. Thousands of workers threatened to riot if he was not released, and their demands met. Eventually the factory operators met the workers' demands and Trautmann achieved his first labor victory.  Trautmann was also a part of the schisms that happened during the 1910s in the IWW. In 1906 Trautmann, and his allies Vincent St. John, and Daniel DeLeon found themselves at odds with the President of the IWW, Charles Sherman. Sherman had a more conservative view (as far as unions went) and many in the IWW feared that he would allow the union to become more of an AFL type. Some members thought that Sherman would try to work within the confines of the capitalist system rather than trying to change the system as many in the IWW were trying to do. Trautmann and his allies were a proponent of "direct action", the use of strikes and sabotage to achieve the aims of the union. The Trautmann faction was able to rally enough to support to outvote Sherman and his supporters, and were able to take control of the IWW.  With an even greater leadership role in the union Trautmann was soon seen as being out of his depth. He was replaced as an administrator by St. John. This allowed Trautmann to be a field organizer, a job that suited him much better. He was involved in the Lawrence Strike of 1912. Despite its success Tratumann no longer believed that the direct action approach of the IWW was the right idea, and in 1913, after a brief stint in DeLeon's Yellow IWW, he left the union for good.

Post IWW Life.

Trautmann wrote a historical novel entitled "Riot" that was based on his experiences organizing the McKees Rocks strike. He abandoned radical politics and wrote "America's Dilemma" in which he said, "Millions of toilers are today agreed that not capitalism, not the employers of labor as a class, are the enemies of the workers so much as those who, claiming to spring from the ranks of the proletariat, have become the apostles of corruption, the promoters of crime, the fomentors of chaos and destruction." He instead promoted peaceful labor reform, eventually ending up in Los Angeles where he worked on his autobiography and a New Deal highway project until his death in 1940.

William Ernst Trautmann (July 1, 1869 – November 18, 1940) was founding general-secretary of the U.S. Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and one of 69 people who initially laid plans for the organization in 1904.

William E. Trautmann (auch "William Trautmann", oder "William Ernst Trautmann", * 1. Juli 1869 in Grahamstow, Neuseeland; † 18. November 1940 in Los Angeles, Kalifornien), lebte in Neuseeland, Deutschland, Polen, die meiste Zeit seines Lebens allerdings in den USA. Er war ein Brauerei-Arbeiter, Gewerkschafter, Zeitungs-Redakteur, Autor, Redner und führendes Mitglied der Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).


Overview.

In April 2006, out of 35 million registrations, about 2 million were permanent or actually purchased. By February 2007, the CEO of Go Daddy reported that of 55.1 million domain names registered, 51.5 million were canceled and refunded just before the 5 day grace period expired and only 3.6 million domain names were actually kept. ICANN's registry report for February 2007 shows that 55,794,877.com and.net domain names were deleted in that month alone.  Domain tasting is lucrative in a number of ways:

Anti-domain tasting measures.

In January 2008, ICANN proposed several possible solutions, including the elimination of the exemption on transaction costs (US$ 0.20) during the five-day grace period, which would effectively make the practice of domain tasting not viable. The ICANN operating plan and budget for Fiscal Year 2009 included a section intended to deal with the problem of domain tasting. Now the transaction fee of $0.18 is applied to domains deleted in the Add Grace Period where the number of such domains exceeds 10% of the net new registrations or 50 domains, whichever is greater. The "net new registrations" here is defined as the number of new registrations minus the number of domains deleted in the Add Grace Period.  Google said in 2008 that their AdSense program would now look for domain names that are repeatedly registered and dropped. These domains will automatically be dropped from the AdSense program.  Starting in April 2009, many top level domains (TLDs) began transitioning from the $0.18 fee for excess domains deleted to implementing a policy resulting in a fee equal to registering the domain.  In August 2009, ICANN reported that prior to implementing excess domain deletion charges, the peak month for domain tastings was over 15 million domain names. After the $0.20 fee was implemented, tastings dropped to around 2 million domain names per month. As a result of the further increase in charges for excess domain deletions, implemented starting April 2009, the number of domain tastings dropped to below 60 thousand per month. However, these statistics only represent reports from the generic TLDs (gTLD); ICANN does not set policy for the country code TLDs (ccTLD).

Related practices.

Reverse domain tasting.

A number of registrars routinely change a domain's name servers to those of their own, or a parking service, when a domain has gone past its expiration or renewal date. Domains continue to resolve for up to 30 days or more after their registration and redemption grace period have expired. The advantage of this "reverse tasting" is that the registrars or parking services can determine which domains have traffic before they are deleted, and hence maintain a list of domains that they might re-register (or even transfer) after the deletion date, as part of drop catch services.

Domain kiting.

Domain kiting is the process of deleting a domain name during the five-day grace period and immediately re-registering it for another five-day period. This process is repeated any number of times with the end result of having the domain registered without having to pay for it.

Domain name front running.

In January 2008, Network Solutions was accused of this practice when the company began reserving all domain names searched on their website for five days, a practice known as domain name front running.

Domain tasting used for spam.

Domain tasting has been used for the purposes of spam. The limited lifetime of the tasted domain allows the spammer to effectively send spam using a disposable domain name.

Domain tasting is the practice of temporarily registering a domain under the five-day Add Grace Period at the beginning of the registration of an ICANN-regulated second-level domain. During this period, a registration must be fully refunded by the domain name registry if cancelled. This was designed to address accidental registrations, but domain tasters use the Add Grace Period for illegal purposes.

Das Domaintasting ist eine Methode zum Prüfen der Attraktivität von Domains. Dabei machen sich vor allem Domainmakler zunutze, dass die ICANN es erlaubt, eine Domain in den ersten Tagen nach Registrierung wieder abzustoßen, ohne dass eine Registrierungsgebühr anfällt (Domain-Kiting).


The play.

The play was first produced when Molière's company was under the protection of Louis XIV. It was loosely based on the Latin comedy "Aulularia" by Plautus, from which many incidents and scraps of dialogue are borrowed, as well as from contemporary Italian farces.  The miser of the title is called Harpagon, a name adapted from the Latin "harpago", meaning a hook or grappling iron. He is obsessed with the wealth he has amassed and always ready to save expenses. Now a widower, he has a son, Cléante, and a daughter, Élise. Although he is over sixty, he is attempting to arrange a marriage between himself and an attractive young woman, Mariane. She and Cléante are already devoted to each other, however, and the son attempts to procure a loan to help her and her sick mother, who are impoverished. Élise, Harpagon's daughter, is the beloved of Valère, but her father hopes to marry her to a wealthy man of his choosing, Seigneur Anselme. Meanwhile, Valère has taken a job as steward in Harpagon's household so as to be close to Élise. The complications are only resolved at the end by the rather conventional discovery that some of the principal characters are long lost relatives. Satire and farce blend in the fast-moving plot, as when the miser's hoard is stolen. Asked by the police magistrate whom he suspects, Harpagon replies, “Everybody! I wish you to take into custody the whole town and suburbs” (5.1) and indicates the theatre audience while doing so. The play also makes fun of certain theatrical conventions, such as the spoken aside addressed to the audience, hitherto ignored by the characters onstage. The characters of "L'Avare", however, generally demand to know who exactly is being spoken to.

Roles.

Harpagon's servants with minor roles include Brindavoine, La Merluche, and Mistress Claude, a cleaning woman with no lines. In the last act appears a Magistrate who investigates the theft of the cash-box with his Clerk, who has no spoken part.

Sources.

Aside from the example of contemporary misers, Molière drew from a number of ancient and contemporary sources for elements in his "The Miser". The character of Harpagon draws from the Latin play "Aulularia" by Plautus in which the miser Euclio incessantly changes the hiding place of his pot of gold out of fear of having it stolen, and the miser's fourth-act monologue exaggerating the loss of his pot was the basis for Harpagon's. Also from "Aulularia" Molière appropriated the love affair between Élise and Valère, Harpagon's inspection of the hands of La Flèche, and Valère's avowals of love for Élise that Harpagon takes as his confession to theft. "La Belle Plaideuse" (1655) of François le Métel de Boisrobert furnished Molière with the father-as-usurer, and the scene in which a lender lends the borrower 15,000 francs, of which 3,000 is in goods; several of these items appear in the list in "The Miser". Jean Donneau de Visé's "la Mère coquette" (1665) gave Molière a father and son in love with the same young woman.

Theatrical adaptations.

Very soon after the play's first production in 1668, versions began to appear elsewhere in Europe. A German translation, "", appeared in Frankfurt in 1670. In England Thomas Shadwell adapted Molière's work under the title "The Miser" in 1672 and added eight new characters. An even more popular version based on both Plautus and Molière was produced by Henry Fielding in 1732.  In Italian "commedia dell'arte" there was already a tradition of depicting misers as the Pantaleone figure, who was represented as a rich and avaricious Venetian merchant. However, Molière's play was eventually adapted to opera. Giovanni Bertati's libretto based on the play was set by Pasquale Anfossi as "L'avaro" in 1775 and in 1776 it was set again by Gennaro Astarita. Giuseppe Palomba also wrote a libretto based on the work which was set by Giacomo Cordella in 1814. In Russia, too, Vasily Pashkevich based his 18th century comic opera "The Miser" on Molière's play. Another musical adaptation in Arabic was pioneered by the Lebanese Marun al-Naqqash (1817–55) as "al-Bakhil". This was performed in Beirut in 1847.  Jovan Sterija Popović, the founding father of Serbian theatre, based his "Tvrdica" (The Miser, 1837) on Molière's play. In this work, the Harpagon figure is represented as a small town Greek merchant.  One reason for so many versions must be the acknowledged fact that Molière's humour does not translate well and requires more or less free adaptation to succeed. The history of "De Vrek", Taco de Beer's 1863 translation into Dutch provides another notable example. In 1878 he adapted this to Dutch contemporary life and an edition of that version found its way to Indonesia. There it was further adapted into Malay as "Si Bachil" and given a contemporary Indonesian background. In 1941 this production in turn served as basis for Tamar Djaja's novel of the same title, by which time the story had become all but unrecognisable.  The earliest American production of a play titled "The Miser" was of Fielding's version in the years following 1766. A Broadway production of a translation of Molière's play ran for only three nights at the Experimental Theatre in 1936 and there have been several revivals since in one version or another. An audio recording of the 1969 Lincoln Center production was released by Caedmon Records (TRS 338. To date this is the only known English recording of the play and there is no translator listed in the album liner notes.  An Australian musical theatre adaptation with the name "Mistress Money" premiered in Sydney in 1960. It had book and lyrics by Eleanor Witcombe and John McKellar and music by Dot Mendoza.  More recently in Britain, John Coutts' English-Scots version of "The Miser" was performed in 2009 under the title "The Auld Skinflint". In 2012 the play was made into a Bollywood musical titled "Kanjoos The Miser" by Hardeep Singh Kohli and Jatinder Verma and toured the UK.

The Miser (; ) is a five-act comedy in prose by the French playwright Molière. It was first performed on September 9, 1668, in the theatre of the Palais-Royal in Paris.

Der Geizige (Originaltitel: "L’Avare ou l’École du mensonge", früher auch als "Der Geizhals" übersetzt) ist eine Komödie von Molière in fünf Akten und in Prosaform, die am 9. September 1668 im Théâtre du Palais-Royal uraufgeführt wurde. Molière nahm für das Stück wesentliche Anleihen bei der Komödie "Aulularia" des römischen Dichters Plautus.


History.

At CeBIT in March 2006, NME demonstrated a prototype VMD player and announced that it was expecting to launch the format in the third quarter of 2006. At the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association trade show in September 2007, NME exhibited two players set for release in October 2007. Twenty US titles were available at launch time, including some from Icon Productions, Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures, New Line Cinema, DreamWorks SKG, Lionsgate and Weinstein Co.. NME also signed a deal with Bollywood production company "Eros Group" who intended to release 50 Bollywood features on the format.  The two initial players to be released were the ML622S and the ML777S. The ML777S included USB ports for connection to external storage devices and a media card reader.  The manufacturers hoped to sell the format as a lower cost alternative to other optical technologies.  On 13 June 2008 Geoffrey Russell, the Interim Chief Executive Officer of New Medium Enterprises, Inc., notified the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the company would be terminating the registration of the company, and that NMEN would cease filing reports with the SEC. The date of effect of this action was 90 days after 12 June 2008. In August 2008 in the UK, New Medium Electronics Limited, New Medium Entertainment Limited and New Medium Optics Limited notified Companies House of their applications for voluntary striking-off.  In October 2008, the technology behind HD-VMD was revived by companies Royal Digital Media, Anthem Digital and DreamStream to produce a new 100GB optical disc. Anthem Digital's chairman Michael Jay Solomon was the former chairman of New Medium Enterprises. As of December 2010, Royal Digital Media, Anthem Digital and DreamStream web sites were no longer available.

Technical specifications.

Disc format.

The format uses approximately 5 GB per layer, which was similar to standard DVDs. Standard VMDs can use 4 layers, for 20 GB of storage. The rarer 8 and 10 layered discs store 40 GB to 50 GB, respectively. One manufacturer listed up to 20 layers on a disc being possible in the future.  The Blu-ray Disc uses a blue-violet laser, rather than VMD's red laser, which means Blu-ray can store more information per layer. This format has so far only utilized 1 and 2-layered versions. In January 2007, Toshiba announced development on a triple layer HD DVD (TL51) that would have had a capacity of 51 GB. Hitachi announced a 4 and 6 layer version of Blu-ray as well, capable of 100 GB and 200 GB respectively. A standard 4-layer VMD stored 20 GB, which was comparable to a 1-layered HD DVD (15 GB) and 1-layer Blu-ray Disc (25 GB).

Content format.

The HD VMD format is capable of HD resolutions up to 1080p which is comparable with Blu-ray and HD DVD. Video is encoded in MPEG-2 and VC-1 formats at a maximum bitrate of 40 Megabits per second. This falls between the maximum bitrates of HD DVD (36 Mbit/s) and Blu-ray (48 Mbit/s). There is the possibility that VMD discs may be encoded with the H.264 format in the future.  The HD VMD format supports up to 7.1-channel Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, and DTS audio output, though it will not offer Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio surround sound codecs.

Versatile Multilayer Disc (VMD or HD VMD) is a high-capacity red-laser optical disc technology designed by "New Medium Enterprises, Inc.". VMD was intended to compete with the blue-laser Blu-ray Disc format and had an initial capacity of up to 30GB per side.

Die Versatile Multilayer Disc (VMD) war ein digitales optisches Speichermedium. Mit einer theoretisch bis zu 100 Gigabyte großen Kapazität pro Scheibe stand sie in Konkurrenz zur HD DVD und der Blu-ray Disc und wurde daher auch als „HD VMD“ bezeichnet. Sie sollte ursprünglich mit gewöhnlichen DVD-Laufwerken und -Spielern gelesen werden können. Für die ersten VMDs in Serie sollten jedoch eigene Player auf den Markt gebracht werden. Als Typbezeichnung wurde der HD VMD Player ML 777 genannt. Seit Dezember 2010 sind alle Hersteller-Webseiten nicht mehr erreichbar. Es scheint, als wären alle Bemühungen bezüglich der Entwicklung der VMD eingestellt worden.


Plot.

Jean-Paul, a writer and Marianne, his girlfriend of just over two years, are holidaying at a friend's villa. There is a tension in their relationship which excites Marianne: the film begins with a scene in which they are together beside the villa's swimming pool and she urges him to claw her back. He does as she asks, but then throws her into the pool and jumps in after her. In a later scene he takes a branch and uses it to lash her bare buttocks, playfully but with a force that increases as the scene cuts away.  Harry, an old friend and record producer who was Marianne's lover before Jean-Paul, arrives for a visit, surprising the couple by bringing along his 18-year-old daughter Penelope, whose existence they had not previously known about.  The four stay together and Harry draws Marianne back towards him as the days go by. Taunting Jean-Paul for having given up serious writing to work in advertising, Harry drinks a great deal and throws a surprise party while Jean-Paul, a recovering alcoholic, stays sober. Meanwhile, it becomes clear that Penelope neither likes nor respects her father, whom she has barely known while growing up. She and Jean-Paul become close and spend a day alone together by the sea.  That night, while the women are asleep, the two men finally confront each other. Harry falls into the pool and is too drunk to swim. Jean-Paul, who has also been drinking, at first stops him from climbing out of the water, then deliberately pushes Harry under and holds him down until he drowns. He covers up the crime by hiding Harry's wet clothes, making it look like an accident.  After the funeral, a policeman, Inspector Lévêque, visits the house more than once. He confides to Marianne his reasons for doubting the story of an accident. When she tells Jean-Paul, he confesses everything to her, and she goes to see the evidence that would have given him away. But when she does not give it to the police, the inquiry is dropped.  Marianne takes Penelope to the airport and sees her off as she returns to her mother. She and Jean-Paul are then about to leave the villa when she tells him that they will not go together. She calls for a taxi but he places his hand on the telephone, cutting off her call and silencing her. In the end, neither leaves that day, and in the film's final shot they stand side by side looking out the window at the swimming pool, and then embrace.

Production.

The filming began August 19 and finished October 19, 1968. French designer André Courrèges created many custom pieces for the film, such as the swimsuits worn by Schneider and Birkin. It was the first of the nine films Delon and director Jacques Deray made together, and the only one the star didn't produce. It also marked the onscreen reunion of Delon and Romy Schneider, his co-star in "Christine" (1958) and romantic partner in 1958–1963.  It was during the making of this film that the Markovic Affair broke out. The body of Stevan Markovic, Delon's bodyguard, was discovered in a public dump in the village of Élancourt, Yvelines, on October 1, 1968.

Reception.

It was the fourth most popular movie at the French box office in 1969.  The movie was released in the UK as "The Sinners" to limited box office response. It was released in Italy with twenty minutes cut out, but was a popular success.  The "Los Angeles Times" called it a "handsome, stunningly designed film" which was at its best in "the deft way in which it coolly depicts how beautiful, chic people, dedicated to a sophisticate, amoral view of love, can be utterly defenseless against an onslaught of passion – a favorite Gallic theme." "The Guardian" wrote: "Erotic languour turns gradually into fear and then horror in this gripping and superbly controlled psychological thriller" where "something in the very lineaments of the pool itself creates their own awful destiny: it is a primordial swamp of desire, a space in which there is nothing to do but laze around, furtively looking at semi-naked bodies."

Remake.

The 2016 film "A Bigger Splash", directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, and Dakota Johnson, is loosely based on "La Piscine".

Trivia.

Excerpt of the film was used in the Christian Dior Eau Sauvage cologne advertising campaign drawing on the legacy of Alain Delon.  Alain Delon said in an interview that he cannot watch this film again. His ex-lover Romy Schneider and good friend Maurice Ronet both died prematurely and under tragic circumstances. Revisiting the scenes is simply too painful for him.

La Piscine ("The Swimming Pool") is a 1969 Italian-French psychological thriller film directed by Jacques Deray, starring Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, Maurice Ronet and Jane Birkin.

Der Swimmingpool (Originaltitel: "La Piscine)" ist ein Film von Jacques Deray. Er lief am 31. Januar 1969 in den französischen und am 8. März 1970 in den bundesdeutschen Kinos an.


Background.

MOSFET-based digital circuits operate using voltages at circuit nodes to represent logical state. The voltage at these nodes switches between a high voltage and a low voltage during normal operation—when the inputs to a logic gate transition, the transistors making up that gate may toggle the gate's output.  At each node in a circuit is a certain amount of capacitance. Capacitance can be thought of as a measure of how long it takes for a given current to produce a given voltage change. The capacitance arises from various sources, mainly transistors (primarily gate capacitance and diffusion capacitance) and wires (coupling capacitance). Toggling a voltage at a circuit node requires charging or discharging the capacitance at that node; since currents are related to voltage, the time it takes depends on the voltage applied. By applying a higher voltage to the devices in a circuit, the capacitances are charged and discharged more quickly, resulting in faster operation of the circuit and allowing for higher frequency operation.

Methods.

Many modern components allow voltage regulation to be controlled through software (for example, through the BIOS). It is usually possible to control the voltages supplied to the CPU, RAM, PCI, and PCI Express (or AGP) port through a PC's BIOS.  However, some components do not allow software control of supply voltages, and hardware modification is required by overclockers seeking to overvolt the component for extreme overclocks. Video cards and motherboard northbridges are components which frequently require hardware modifications to change supply voltages.  These modifications are known as "voltage mods" in the overclocking community.

Undervolting.

Undervolting is reducing the voltage of a component, usually the processor, reducing temperature and cooling requirements, and possibly allowing a fan to be omitted.

Power.

The "switching power" dissipated by a chip using static CMOS gates is formula_1, where C is the capacitance being switched per clock cycle, V is the supply voltage, and f is the switching frequency, so this part of the power consumption decreases quadratically with voltage. The formula is not exact however, as many modern chips are not implemented using 100% CMOS, but also use special memory circuits, dynamic logic such as domino logic, etc. Moreover, there is also a static leakage current, which has become more and more accentuated as feature sizes have become smaller (below 90 nanometres) and threshold levels lower.  Accordingly, dynamic voltage scaling is widely used as part of strategies to manage switching power consumption in battery powered devices such as cell phones and laptop computers. Low voltage modes are used in conjunction with lowered clock frequencies to minimize power consumption associated with components such as CPUs and DSPs; only when significant computational power is needed will the voltage and frequency be raised.  Some peripherals also support low voltage operational modes. For example, low power MMC and SD cards can run at 1.8 V as well as at 3.3 V, and driver stacks may conserve power by switching to the lower voltage after detecting a card which supports it.  When leakage current is a significant factor in terms of power consumption, chips are often designed so that portions of them can be powered completely off. This is not usually viewed as being dynamic voltage scaling, because it is not transparent to software. When sections of chips can be turned off, as for example on TI OMAP3 processors, drivers and other support software need to support that.

Program execution speed.

The speed at which a digital circuit can switch states - that is, to go from "low" (VSS) to "high" (VDD) or vice versa - is proportional to the voltage differential in that circuit. Reducing the voltage means that circuits switch slower, reducing the maximum frequency at which that circuit can run. This, in turn, reduces the rate at which program instructions that can be issued, which may increase run time for program segments which are sufficiently CPU-bound.  This again highlights why dynamic voltage scaling is generally done in conjunction with dynamic frequency scaling, at least for CPUs. There are complex tradeoffs to consider, which depend on the particular system, the load presented to it, and power management goals. When quick responses are needed, clocks and voltages might be raised together. Otherwise, they may both be kept low to maximize battery life.

Implementations.

The 167-processor AsAP 2 chip enables individual processors to make extremely fast (on the order of 1-2ns) and locally controlled changes to their own supply voltages. Processors connect their local power grid to either a higher (VddHi) or lower (VddLow) supply voltage, or can be cut off entirely from either grid to dramatically cut leakage power.  Another approach uses per-core on-chip switching regulators for dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS).

Operating system API.

Unix system provides a userspace governor, allowing to modify the cpu frequencies (though limited to hardware capabilities).

System stability.

Dynamic frequency scaling is another power conservation technique that works on the same principles as dynamic voltage scaling. Both dynamic voltage scaling and dynamic frequency scaling can be used to prevent computer system overheating, which can result in program or operating system crashes, and possibly hardware damage. Reducing the voltage supplied to the CPU below the manufacturer's recommended minimum setting can result in system instability.

Temperature.

The efficiency of some electrical components, such as voltage regulators, decreases with increasing temperature, so the power used may increase with temperature causing thermal runaway. Increases in voltage or frequency may increase system power demands even faster than the CMOS formula indicates, and vice versa.

Caveats.

The primary caveat of overvolting is increased heat: the power dissipated by a circuit increases with the square of the voltage applied, so even small voltage increases significantly affect power. At higher temperatures, transistor performance is adversely affected, and at some threshold, the performance reduction due to the heat exceeds the potential gains from the higher voltages. Overheating and damage to circuits can occur very quickly when using high voltages.  There are also longer-term concerns: various adverse device-level effects such as hot carrier injection and electromigration occur more rapidly at higher voltages, decreasing the lifespan of overvolted components.

Dynamic voltage scaling is a power management technique in computer architecture, where the voltage used in a component is increased or decreased, depending upon circumstances. Dynamic voltage scaling to increase voltage is known as overvolting; dynamic voltage scaling to decrease voltage is known as undervolting. Undervolting is done in order to conserve power, particularly in laptops and other mobile devices, where energy comes from a battery and thus is limited, or in rare cases, to increase reliability. Overvolting is done in order to increase computer performance.

Mit Undervolting oder Untervolten bezeichnet man das gezielte Absenken der Versorgungsspannung von Computer-Prozessoren unter die vom Hersteller empfohlene Spannung. Dies führt zu einer verminderten Leistungsaufnahme, also weniger Stromverbrauch und weniger Erwärmung. Hauptsächlich wendet man es in Laptops an, um die Akkulaufzeit zu verlängern. Es ist jedoch auch mit stationären Geräten möglich. Durch die geringere Erwärmung können aktive Kühlungen (Lüfter) mit niedrigerer Drehzahl arbeiten oder ganz abgeschaltet werden, ohne dass es zu einer Überhitzung kommt. Dadurch arbeiten die Geräte leiser bzw. lautlos. ("Siehe auch:" Green IT)


History.

The first mention of Kuokkala is in a peace treaty between the Republic of Novgorod and Sweden in 1323. The territory where the village is located was fought over between the Muscovites and Swedes in the 16th and 17th centuries and came under Russian control after the Great Northern War in early 18th Century. The village was inhabited by fishermen of Finnish and Russian ethnicities. The area developed further after 1870 when the railway linking St Petersburg and Helsinki passed through the town. Wealthier residents of St Peterburg built holiday villas in the area and a new railway station was built in 1889. Kuokkala was located in the Grand Duchy of Finland, a self-governing part of the Russian Empire, which had a more liberal environment, attracting artists and intellectuals including the artist Ilya Repin. Lenin spent some time in Kuokkala during 1905 to 1907, staying at the Vasa Villa.  Shortly after the October Revolution in 1917, Finland declared its independence from the Soviet Union and Kuokkala became part of the new independent nation while retaining a significant ethnic Russian population. There was a skirmish between White and Red Finns at Kuokkala during the Finnish Civil War on 28 April 1918. Kuokkala was taken over by the Soviets when the Karelian Isthmus was ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union after the Winter War(1939–1940) and the Continuation War (1941-1944). Kuokkala became a part of the Leningrad Oblast in 1948 and was renamed Repino in memory of the painter Ilya Repin. After the war, the area was developed as a tourist area with several hotels and sanatoriums and was transferred to the jurisdiction of the city of St Petersburg as part of the Kurortny District

Penates.

In 1899, Repin bought an estate here and called it "Penaty" (, meaning Penates, Roman household deities). He designed his own house, and after it had been built several years later, Repin moved to Kuokkala. He would live there until his death in 1930. The house is surrounded by a large park.  The estate is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments". The estate has been a museum since 1940.

Repino () is an area of Saint Petersburg, Russia, and a station of the Saint Petersburg-Vyborg railroad. It was known by its Finnish name Kuokkala until 1948, when it was renamed after its most famous inhabitant, the painter Ilya Repin. It is northwest of St. Petersburg on the Karelian Isthmus and Gulf of Finland. The population was 2,478 at the 2010 Census.

Repino (; bis 1948 "Kuokkala") ist ein Vorort der russischen Stadt Sankt Petersburg etwa 45 km nordwestlich des Stadtzentrums am Ufer des Finnischen Meerbusens mit Einwohnern (Stand ).


Career.

Richard was the son of Roger de Clare, 2nd Earl of Hertford and Maud, daughter of James de St. Hillary. More commonly known as the Earl of Clare, he had the majority of the Giffard estates from his ancestor, Rohese. He was present at the coronations of King Richard I at Westminster, 3 September 1189, and King John on 27 May 1199. He was also present at the homage of King William of Scotland as English Earl of Huntingdon at Lincoln.

Marriage.

He married (c. 1172) Amice Fitzwilliam, 4th Countess of Gloucester (c. 1160–1220), second daughter, and co-heiress, of William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester, and Hawise de Beaumont. Sometime before 1198, Earl Richard and his wife Amice were ordered to separate by the Pope on grounds of consanguinity. They separated for a time because of this order but apparently reconciled their marriage with the Pope later on.

Magna Carta.

He sided with the Barons against King John, even though he had previously sworn peace with the King at Northampton, and his castle of Tonbridge was taken. He played a leading part in the negotiations for Magna Carta, being one of the twenty five sureties. On 9 November 1215, he was one of the commissioners on the part of the Barons to negotiate the peace with the King. In 1215, his lands in counties Cambridge, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex were granted to Robert de Betun. He and his son were among the Barons excommunicated by the Pope in 1215. His own arms were: Or, three chevronels gules.

Family.

Richard and Amice had children:

Richard de Clare, 3rd Earl of Hertford, lord of Clare, Tonbridge, and Cardigan (–1217), was a powerful Norman nobleman with vast lands in England and Wales.

Richard de Clare, 3. Earl of Hertford (auch "Earl de Clare" genannt; * um 1153; † zwischen 30. Oktober und 28. November 1217 in Oxfordshire, England) war ein englischer Magnat.


Performance history.

The opera did not receive its first performance until 1929, after it had been extensively revised (in 1927), at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels. Prokofiev prepared an orchestral suite based on the opera in 1931 (see below).  The Bolshoi Opera performed the opera at the Metropolitan Opera (The Met) in New York City in 1975, but the Met did not mount its own first production until March 2001.  The original version of the opera was finally staged in 2001 at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

Synopsis.

Act 1.

In the Grand Hotel garden, Alexei, tutor to the General's family, meets Polina, the General's ward, who is in debt to the Marquis. Alexei loves Polina, and informs her that he observed her directions to pawn her jewelry and gamble with the funds. However, he lost the money. The General is enamoured of the much younger demimondaine Blanche, and enters with her, the Marquis and Mr Astley, an Englishman. When asked about his losses, Alexei says he lost his own savings. He is chided that someone of his modest income should not gamble, but Alexei dismisses the idea of saving money with a caustic diatribe. Astley is impressed and invites Alexei to tea. The General then receives a telegram from "Babulenka" (literally a diminutive of 'grandmother'; she is, in fact, the General's aunt and Polina's grandmother) in Moscow. The General is hoping that Babulenka will die soon so that he can inherit her money and marry Blanche.  Polina is frustrated that she cannot repay her debts to the Marquis. While Alexei continues to protest that he loves her, she wonders if he has any other interest than greed. The General interrupts their conversation. Polina challenges Alexei to prove his love, and to see if he would truly do anything for her, by making a pass at a German Baroness sitting in the park. Alexei does this, to the anger of the Baron. In the ensuing fuss, the Baron and Baroness leave.

Act 2.

In the hotel lobby, the General reproaches Alexei for his actions. Alexei is unrepentant, upon which the General dismisses him as his family tutor. The General then tries to obtain the help of the Marquis in preventing any appearance of a scandal. Mr. Astley enters, and explains to Alexei the General's concerns. Blanche had earlier asked the Baron for a loan, which upset the Baroness. Because of the high social status of the Baron and Baroness, the General is keen to avoid any sense of impropriety. Astley further explains that the General cannot propose to Blanche until he receives his share of the inheritance from Babulenka. Alexei begins to think that once Polina receives her own share of the inheritance, the Marquis will attempt to win her over.  The Marquis appears on the General's behalf, to try to mollify Alexei's behaviour. Alexei is contemptuous to the Marquis, until the Marquis produces a note from Polina, which calls on Alexei to stop behaving like a schoolboy. Alexei accuses him of making Polina write the letter and leaves in anger. The Marquis tells the General and Blanche that he was successful in subduing Alexei.  The General predicts Babulenka's death that same evening, but immediately afterward, her voice is heard, as she has arrived at the hotel, in good health. She greets Alexei and Polina with some affection, but at once she sees through the General and the others. She says that she has overcome her illness and plans to recuperate, and gamble, at the spa.

Act 3.

At the casino, Babulenka has been losing her money at the roulette tables, and ignoring all pleas to stop. The General is despondent and sees his chances with Blanche diminish. After the Marquis tells just how much Babulenka has lost, the General suggests to summon the police but The Marquis dissuades him. Alexei arrives, and the General and the Marquis ask for his help to halt Babulenka's gambling losses. Prince Nilsky, another potential suitor to Blanche, then arrives and further enumerates Babulenka's losses. The General collapses, distraught, and then runs into the casino. Blanche departs with Nilsky. Alexei wonders of what will happen with Polina's family, after Babulenka's financial losses. Babulenka, exhausted and depleted of funds, wants to go home to Moscow. Babulenka asks Polina to come with her, but declines. The General bewails Babulenka's losses and his own loss of Blanche to Nilsky.

Act 4.

In his hotel room, Alexei finds Polina, who has a letter from the Marquis. The Marquis says he is selling General's properties mortgaged to him, but will forgive fifty thousand for Polina's sake, and Marquis will consider their relationship as over. Polina feels this paying her off as an insult and wish she had fifty thousand to fling at Marquis's face. Alexei is deliriously pleased that Polina has turned to him for assistance.  Rushing to the casino, Alexei has a run of good luck, winning twenty times in a row and breaking the bank. After an entr'acte, the other patrons continue to talk about Alexei's run. Alexei returns to his room, yet he continues to hear the voices of the croupiers and the other gamblers. He then becomes aware of Polina who has been waiting for him. He offers her funds to pay the Marquis back. She refuses and asks whether he really loves her. When Alexei gives her the money, she tosses it back in his face and runs out. The opera ends with Alexei alone in the room, recalling obsessively his success at the tables.

Suite: Four Portraits and a Dénouement from "The Gambler", op. 49.

Prokofiev produced an orchestral suite from the opera in 1931. The four portraits are Alexei, Babulenka, the General and Polina; the dénouement is not, in fact, the last scene of the opera, but represents Alexei's winning streak at roulette. As "The Gambler" is not a number opera, none of the characters has any extended arias; Prokofiev, therefore, gathered the basic materials for the suite by tearing up the score and heaping the pages relating to each character together in piles.

The Gambler (Russian: Игрок — "Igrok" in transliteration) is an opera in four acts by Sergei Prokofiev to a Russian libretto by the composer, based on the 1866 story of the same name by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Der Spieler (russisch: Игрок, "Igrok"; französisch: Le joueur) ist eine Oper in vier Akten und sechs Bildern von Sergei Prokofjew nach dem Roman "Der Spieler" von Dostojewski. Prokofjew komponierte das Werk in den Jahren 1915 bis 1917. Im Revolutionsjahr war jedoch nicht an eine Uraufführung zu denken. Zwölf Jahre später überarbeitete er die Oper. Die Uraufführung fand schließlich am 29. April 1929 im Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brüssel statt.


History.

The beginnings of the ISU-152 came on January 24, 1943, when the first prototype of the SU-152 was unveiled. This was a fully enclosed 152mm gun-howitzer on the KV-1S tank chassis. It was designated Object 236 (Объект 236). Object 236 was completed in Factory No. 100 in Chelyabinsk, and was tested successfully from January 24 to February 7, 1943. On February 14 the vehicle was adopted and put into production under the KV-14 (КВ-14) designation; in April 1943 the designation was changed to SU-152 (СУ-152).  Although the SU-152 was successful in combat, production of the KV-1S tank chassis was ending, which made the modernisation of the vehicle necessary, using the new IS tank chassis. On May 25, 1943, the administration of Factory No. 100 ordered the modernisation of the SU-152, which included increased armour protection and other improvements. Development began in July 1943, under the supervision of Joseph Yakovlevich Kotin (the chief designer of Soviet heavy tanks) and G. N. Moskvin as the main designer.  The new design, designated IS-152 (ИС-152), was tested from September to November, 1943. Testing revealed a large number of deficiencies, which sent it back for further improvement. On November 6, 1943, an order was issued for adoption of the improved variant, under the ISU-152 (ИСУ-152) designation, and in December production began at the Chelyabinsk Kirovsk Plant, replacing the SU-152.

Design.

On April 15, 1942 at the plenum of the artillery committee, where the development of assault guns for support of the infantry was discussed, the necessity of also developing assault guns capable of destroying fortified positions was acknowledged. It was intended these assault guns would be armed with a 152.4 mm gun-howitzer and used for penetration of the enemy defence in the offensive operations planned for 1942–1943. This resulted in the development of the Object 236, and eventually the SU-152, which concept was later continued and further developed with the ISU-152.  The ISU-152 followed the same design as most other Soviet self-propelled guns. The fully armoured hull was divided into two compartments: fighting compartment for the crew, gun and ammunition in the front of the hull, and engine and transmission in the rear. The gun was mounted slightly to the right of centre with a limited traverse of 12 degrees left and right. The crew consisted of four or five men placed in the superstructure. Three of the crew were to the left of the gun: driver to the front, then gunner and last the loader. The vehicle commander and lockman were to the right: commander to the front and the lockman behind. When the crew consisted of four men, the loading was carried out by the lockman.  The suspension consisted of twelve torsion bars for the six road wheels on either side. The drive sprockets were at the back, and the front idlers were identical to the road wheels. Each track was made up of 90 links. There were three internal fuel tanks, two in the crew area and one in the engine compartment. These were usually supplemented with four unconnected external fuel tanks. Twelve and 24-volt electrical power supplies came from a 1 kW generator feeding four accumulator batteries.  For observation from the interior, all roof hatches had periscopes and there were two gun sights: telescopic ST-10 (СТ-10) and panoramic. For crew communication a TPU-4-BisF intercom was fitted, and for inter-vehicle communication there was a single 10R or 10RK radio. These were better than Soviet equipment at the start of the war but still inferior to German equipment.  The crew were given two PPSh submachine guns with 1491 rounds and 20 F-1 grenades for short-range self-defence.  The ISU-152 was armed with the same gun as the SU-152, but it used the hull of the IS-1 tank instead of the KV-1S. Later in the war the ISU-152 was further improved. It used the hull of the IS-2 or IS-2 model 1944 tank, the armour of the mantlet was increased, the gun was replaced by newer variants, a 12.7×108 mm DShK anti-aircraft machine gun was installed by the right forward hatch and later its ammunition capacity increased, the 10R radio set was upgraded to a 10RK and the fuel capacity was increased.  Some ISU-152s were equipped with even larger external fuel tanks, two tanks on the rear hull deck, in addition to the four external fuel tanks — each, maximum — or with two smaller additional external fuel tanks, on the hull rear. This option was probably available for the post-war ISU-152 variants.  Between December 1943 and May 1945, 1,885 ISU-152s were built. Mass production ceased in 1947, with 3,242 vehicles produced in total.  Post-war ISU-152 modernisation included installation of night vision sights, replacing of the V-2IS engine with the V-54K, the 12.7 machine gun was replaced by a newer variant, the ammunition capacity increased to 30 rounds, additional armor, automotive improvements and significant increase of the main fuel capacity.

Variants.

The initial variant was developed in 1943. The factory designation was Object 241 (Объект 241). It was armed with the 152.4 mm ML-20S (МЛ-20С) model 1937 gun-howitzer, with a barrel length of over 4.2 metres (27.9 calibers). This gun had a maximum range of. The armor-piercing round, weighing, had a muzzle velocity of and a maximum penetration of of rolled homogeneous armour (RHA) at 90° at a range of. The rate of fire was 2-3 rounds/min. The ISU-152 carried 21 rounds of two piece (shell and charge) armor-piercing and high explosive ammunition. Later ISU-152 versions had a newer gun with a slightly longer barrel, up to over 4.9 metres (32.3 calibers), with a maximum range of fire of up to.  The ISU-152 had different versions, with changes in the gun (later versions), the number of hatches, or the hull (based on the hull of the IS-1, IS-2 or IS-2 model 1944 tanks). The IS-2 based versions had a thicker gun shield and larger fuel tank. Until May 1944, the main armament was the 152.4 mm ML-20 model 1937 gun-howitzer. The ISU-152 had a rate of fire of 2-3 rounds/min. The early versions had three hatches in the superstructure roof and one emergency hatch at the bottom of the hull behind the driver's seat, which had an armored cover. Later versions had a fourth, round hatch in the superstructure roof on the right, next to the rectangular hatch on the left.

ISU-152-2.

One prototype, developed in 1944. In April 1944, in attempt to increase the firepower of the ISU-152, a high-power variant of the self-propelled gun was developed in Factory No. 100, designated ISU-152BM (ИСУ-152БМ), sometimes referred to as ISU-152BM-1 or ISU-152-1. The factory designation was Object 246 (Объект 246). The "BM" ("БМ") in the designation stands for "High-Powered" ("Большой Мощности"). The main purpose of the ISU-152BM was to fight against heavily armored tank destroyers such as the Elefant and the Jagdtiger. It was armed with the 152.4 mm BL-8 (БЛ-8) long-barreled gun, which unlike the ISU-152's gun was not a gun-howitzer. The gun had a maximum range of, with the high-explosive shell which had a muzzle velocity of. The overall length of the gun was over, with a barrel length of (50 calibers). The armor-piercing round, weighing, had a muzzle velocity of. During test firing at armour plates with different thicknesses, the ISU-152BM successfully penetrated a maximum of of RHA at 90° at ranges of up to. However, during trials in July 1944, the gun showed some deficiencies, such as being difficult for the crew to operate, unreliability of the muzzle brake and the breech block, and unsatisfactory performance of the shells. In addition, the gun, protruding far forward of the hull front, limited the maneuverability of the vehicle. The self-propelled gun carried 21 rounds of two-piece (shell and charge) ammunition, and had a rate of fire of 2 rounds per minute. It used the engine, transmission, running gear, and electric equipment of the ISU-122. In August 1944 the BL-8 gun was replaced with the improved 152.4 mm BL-10 (БЛ-10) long-barreled gun, with a slightly shorter barrel of (48.5 calibers). This vehicle gun was designated ISU-152-2 (ИСУ-152-2). The factory designation was Object 247 (Объект 247). It was also equipped with external fuel tanks. The gun had a modified muzzle brake and a semi-automatic breech block. It had a rate of fire of 3 rounds/min. The BL-10 had a maximum range of, with the high-explosive shell. In December 1944 the ISU-152-2 underwent trials, revealing the barrel strength and the angle of horizontal guidance were unsatisfactory. The gun was sent for further improvement, but it was not completed before the war ended. The vehicle was never adopted. After the war, the final and most improved, third modification of ISU-152-2 was completed. The gun had a maximum range of, using a high-explosive shell with a muzzle velocity of.

Object 704.

This was a prototype tank developed in 1945. It used elements of both the IS-2 and IS-3 tanks. The overall height of the vehicle was reduced to, which was compensated with an increased width of the superstructure. The factory designation was Object 704 (Объект 704). It was armed with the 152.4 mm ML-20SM model 1944 (МЛ-20СМ обр. 1944 г.) gun-howitzer, with a barrel length of over (29.6 calibers) and no muzzle brake. It had a maximum range of. The self-propelled gun carried 20 rounds of two-piece (shell and charge) armour-piercing and high-explosive ammunition. The armour-piercing round, weighing, had a muzzle velocity of. The rate of fire was 1-2 round/min. Object 704 had four hatches at the superstructure roof and one emergency hatch at the bottom of the hull behind the driver's seat, which had an armoured cover. The self-propelled gun carried two external fuel tanks, not connected to the supply system. The secondary armament of the fighting vehicle consisted of two 12.7×108 mm DShK machine guns, one anti-aircraft and one co-axial. The protection was increased by placing thicker armour at more radical angles. In the area of the gun, where the mantlet combined with the hull front behind it and the housing of the recoil mechanism, the armour thickness was. Object 704 (ИСУ-152 обр. 1945 г.) was the best protected of all experimental or production Soviet self-propelled guns of the Second World War. However, the radical incline of the superstructure walls combined with the increased recoil of the gun, due to the lack of a muzzle brake, significantly complicated the work of the crew, and for this reason it was not adopted.

ISU-152K.

A modernised variant of the wartime ISU-152 was developed in 1956. It used a new engine, that of the T-54, with a cooling system and a heater. The capacity of the main internal fuel tank was increased to, which added more to the vehicle′s range on a road. The ammunition capacity was increased to 30 rounds after the removal of an additional internal fuel tank placed in the crew compartment. The gun had a maximum range of. It received a new commander's cupola, and also new sights. The factory designation was Object 241K (Объект 241К). The running gear used many elements of the T-10. The mantlet had additional armor ring protecting the sight. Some of the ISU-152Ks received an additional 15 mm armour plate welded on top of the 60 mm armour plate covering the mantlet above. Also, some of them received an additional armour plate welded on the upper mantlet front. The modernisation was carried out in the Leningrad Kirov Plant.

ISU-152M.

The final variant, a modernised former ISU-152, was developed in 1959. The work was now transferred to the Chelyabinsk Kirovsk Plant. This modernisation was parallel to the IS-2M program and the ISU-152M used many elements of the tank. The factory designation was Object 241M (Объект 241М). The innovations included night vision sights, increased ammunition stowage for the 12.7 mm machine gun, which was replaced by the improved DShKM, and internal automotive improvements. It had the same new commander's cupola and sights as the ISU-152K. It also had the same main internal fuel tank capacity,, adding more to the vehicle′s range on a road compared to the ISU-152, and an increased ammunition capacity to 30 rounds due to the removal of an internal fuel tank. The gun had a maximum range of. The ring protecting the sight was present, and the armour of the upper mantlet front was further increased with a thicker additional armour plate. The ISU-152M had the same V-54K engine with a heater, but lacked the cooling system.

Multirole use.

The ISU-152 self-propelled gun combined three battle roles: heavy assault gun, heavy tank destroyer and heavy self-propelled artillery. The 152.4 mm gun used a number of powerful (shell and charge) ammunition. Some of these ammunition had a 43.56 kg high-explosive shell, or a 48.78 kg armour-piercing shell, or the heaviest of all, the 53-G-545 (53-Г-545) long-range concrete-piercing ammunition with a 56 kg shell. The ISU-152 was used for infantry and tank support in attacking fortified enemy positions in a direct-fire role, for artillery support on the battlefield in an indirect-fire role and for engagement against armored vehicles in a direct-fire role.

Heavy assault gun.

As a heavy assault gun, the ISU-152 was an extremely valuable weapon in urban combat operations such as the assaults on Berlin, Budapest and Königsberg. The vehicle's excellent armour protection finally provided the 152.4 mm platform with good protection from most German anti-tank guns, allowing it to advance into the face of direct anti-tank fire, while the huge, low velocity, high-explosive rounds were excellent at blasting open even the most heavily fortified and reinforced enemy strongpoints. Such actions would be much more dangerous and much less effective for a conventional towed artillery piece, with their high crew exposure and low mobility, or even a tank, with their smaller main guns. When supporting tanks, the usual tactics of the ISU-152 were to be used in the second line of the attack order, behind the attacking tanks, which were usually IS tanks with equal mobility.  The ISU-152, like the earlier SU-152 and contemporary ISU-122, was employed by Independent Heavy Self-propelled Artillery Regiments. Between May 1943 and 1945, 53 of these regiments were formed. Many of them were re-formed tank regiments, and employed similar direct fire tactics as used by tanks when supporting infantry. Each of the heavy regiment had 21 guns, divided into four artillery batteries of five vehicles and the commander's vehicle. For support, these heavy regiments had some supplementary unarmoured vehicles such as trucks, jeeps, or motorcycles. In December 1944, Guards Heavy Self-propelled Artillery Brigades were formed, to provide heavy fire support to the tank armies. They were organized along the model of tank brigades, each with 65 ISU-152 or ISU-122 self-propelled guns.  To minimize the risks of being knocked out by "Panzerfaust"-equipped units during urban operations, the ISU-152 usually acted in one- or two-vehicle detachments alongside infantry squads for protection. The infantry squad would include a specialist sniper (or at least a sharpshooter), some submachine gunners and sometimes a flamethrower. The ISU-152's heavy-calibre DShK machine gun was also useful for targeting Panzerfaust gunners hiding on upper floors of city buildings or behind protective cover and defensive barricades. Effective teamwork between the ISU-152 crew and supporting infantry allowed them to achieve their goals with minimal losses, but if such tactics were not adhered to, the attacking vehicles were easily attacked and destroyed, usually through the weaker armor on the roof or rear compartment.

Heavy tank destroyer.

The ISU-152 could also operate as an effective heavy tank destroyer. Though it was not designed for the role, the vehicle inherited the nickname "Zveroboy" ("beast killer") from its predecessor, the SU-152, for its ability to reliably kill the best protected German fighting vehicles; the Panther tank, the Tiger and Tiger II tanks, and even the rarely fielded Elefant and Jagdtiger tank destroyers. The sheer weight of the 152.4 mm shells resulted in an extremely low rate of fire, only one to three rounds per minute, and were not as accurate at long range as high-velocity tank and anti-tank guns. However, the massive blast effect from the heavy high-explosive warhead was capable of blowing the turret completely off a Tiger tank. A direct hit usually destroyed or damaged the target's tracks and suspension, immobilizing it. While the low-velocity 152mm shell did not generally penetrate heavy armor, it frequently killed or severely wounded the crew through spalling (splintering) inside the hull as well as injuries caused by blast concussion. Surviving crew were often left with an immobilized vehicle which had to be hurriedly abandoned before being destroyed. For anti-tank operations following the July 1943 Battle of Kursk, armour-piercing ammunition was developed, with an eye towards giving the howitzer a more traditional anti-tank capability. However, these rounds were expensive, in short supply, and only moderately more effective than the standard non-penetrating high-explosive round. As a howitzer the ML-20S exchanged velocity and accuracy for throw weight and distance, and was not intended to compete with true anti-tank guns. Sometimes the concrete-piercing ammunition was used for the anti-tank role. A primitive shaped charge ammunition, with a shell, was also developed. It had a maximum penetration of 250 mm of RHA at 90°, but it was not used during the war.  The ISU-152's 90 mm of sloped frontal armor, in contrast to the SU-152's 65 mm, provided excellent frontal protection from the 75mm KwK 40 gun of the ubiquitous Panzer IV and StuG family at all but the closest ranges, while also forcing the original Tiger I, with its vaunted 88mm KwK 36 gun, to close to medium ranges in order to successfully penetrate the vehicle, negating its traditional long-range superiority and exposing more of its vulnerable flanks to the 85mm ZiS-S gun of the Soviet T-34-85.  The ISU-152 was not a true purpose-built tank destroyer. It had a very low rate of fire compared with specialised tank destroyers such as the German Jagdpanther or the Soviet SU-100, which could manage a brief burst of five to eight rounds per minute. However, prior to the introduction of the SU-100 it was the only Soviet armored vehicle capable of tackling the German heavy tanks with any kind of reliability, and its ability to satisfy multiple roles meant it was produced in far greater numbers than the SU-100. Attention to camouflage, quick relocation between firing positions, and massed ambushes of four or five vehicles firing in salvo at a single target's flanks reduced the disadvantage of the low rate of fire.

Heavy self-propelled artillery.

The ISU-152 was also sometimes used as a self-propelled artillery for support on the battlefield and preparatory bombardments, though it had a medium range of fire and a slow speed of reloading. The Soviet army had not developed specialized vehicles for this purpose. Their tank and mechanized units were well equipped with towed artillery, but the towed guns were very vulnerable while moving and they could not support tanks and motorized infantry during rapid advances into enemy positions, especially when they lack the armored fully enclosed design of the fighting vehicles like ISU-152.  Despite the ISU-152's good features it suffered in some other areas. The greatest disadvantage was that the internal stowage was limited to only 20 or 21 rounds of ammunition, with extra rounds often stowed on the rear deck. Replenishing the vehicle's ammunition supply took over 40 minutes and required a very strong loader, due to the large size and weight of the shells (the shells weighed over 40 kg). The ST-10 telescopic sight used for direct fire was graduated up to 900 metres. A second, panoramic, sight was used for direct fire up to 3,500 meter range (7000 no direct fire). However, it was problematic for the gunner to switch between the two visors. To compensate it was simpler to concentrate the fire of several vehicles onto the target, sacrificing accuracy for sheer volume of firepower. The high-explosive shells were large enough to take out even a heavily armoured vehicle, or a fortification with the even heavier long-range concrete-piercing shells. The usual complement of ammunition was 13 high-explosive and 7 armour-piercing or concrete-piercing. "The armor penetration can vary between ammunition batches and different RHA."

Foreign military service.

Finland.

In June 1944, during the Continuation War, a captured ISU-152 was used by the Finnish military. It was abandoned during the counter-attack at Kärstilänjärvi after receiving numerous shots from Soviet T-34-85 medium tanks. This was a direct result of the Finnish crew's lack of experience and training with the ISU-152. Another captured one was repaired in Varkaus, Finland, but never saw combat.

Poland.

In 1944, more than 30 ISU-152s were delivered to the People's Army of Poland. Shortly afterwards, the Polish military created the 25th Polish Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment, which consisted of 10 ISU-152s and 22 ISU-122s. As part of the 1st Polish Tank Corps (which operated both T-34-76 and T-34-85 tanks), the regiment took part in combat action along the River Nysa, located in southwestern Poland in March 1945. In the early months of 1945, the Polish command began to form another ISU-152 regiment, but with too few vehicles, the newly-formed 13th Polish self-propelled artillery regiment received two ISU-152s and two batteries comprising SU-85s. This regiment took part in the Battle of Berlin between April and May of 1945.  Post-WWII, ISU-152s remained in service with the Polish military until the early 1960s.

Czechoslovakia.

As part of the Soviet Union's military assistance to friendly or pro-Soviet countries around the world, a few ISU-152s were transferred to the Czechoslovakian military after World War II, which operated them until the end of 1950s. For several decades it was the heaviest armored vehicle in the Czechoslovak People's Army, which used these to test newly-developed anti-tank obstacles.

Romania.

The Romanian Army received ISU-152s during the 1950s; these were assigned to the artillery units of the 6th, 7th and 57th tank divisions of the Romanian Army. They were known as T-152 in Romanian service.

Yugoslavia.

The Yugoslav Army had only one ISU-152 in its inventory. This sole vehicle was abandoned by units of the Soviet Red Army's 2nd Ukrainian Front in 1944. In 1946, members of the Yugoslav 2nd Tank Brigade's first battalion, led by technical officer Stojimir Ilijevic – Guerrilla, recovered the self-propelled gun after five days of work. As a unique vehicle it was used by the Army's Tank School at Bela Crkva. After it was withdrawn from service, this single Yugoslav ISU-152 ended up as a practice target at the Manjača firing range.

China.

In 1955, the Soviet Army moved out from Dalian in northeastern China, officially ending 10 years of military occupation. All weapons and armaments left behind by the Soviet Union were sold to the Chinese People's Liberation Army, including 67 ISU-152s; 45 were given to the newly-created 1st Mechanized Division of the PLA.

North Korea.

During and after the Korean War, ISU-152s were operated by the Korean People's Army of North Korea.

Egypt.

In the early 1960s the Egyptian military received at least one regiment of ISU-152s. They were used during the Arab-Israeli conflicts between 1967 and 1973. They proved mostly ineffective and several were captured by the Israeli Defence Forces; one is now on display in Yad la-Shiryon as shown here.

Iraq.

A few surviving examples were operational during the Iran–Iraq War and First Gulf War.

Survivors and memorials.

The ISU-152 can be seen, exhibited or simply located, at different museums and memorials around the world. Some were used to create monuments.

The ISU-152 is a Soviet self-propelled gun developed and used during World War II. It was unofficially nicknamed "zveroboy" (; "beast killer") in response to several large German tanks and guns coming into service, including Tigers and Panthers. Since the ISU-152's gun was mounted in a casemate, aiming it was awkward, and had to be done by repositioning the entire vehicle using the tracks. Therefore, it was used as mobile artillery to support more mobile infantry and armor attacks. It continued service into the 1970s and was used in several campaigns and countries.

Das ISU-152 () war ein schweres sowjetisches Kettenfahrzeug mit einem Geschütz des Kalibers 152,4 mm (6 Zoll) als Primärwaffe. Die gepanzerte Selbstfahrlafette mit Zwölfzylinder-Dieselmotor wurde zur Zeit des Zweiten Weltkrieges entwickelt und von 1943 bis 1946 gebaut. Die Rote Armee setzte sie im Deutsch-Sowjetischen Krieg ab Januar 1944 ein. Die "ISU-152" dienten als Panzerartillerie (Haubitze) zur Feuerunterstützung der Panzer und Infanterie sowie als Jagdpanzer gegen die schweren Panzer der Wehrmacht.


Taxonomy.

In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the double-spurred spurfowl in his "Ornithologie" based on a specimen that had been collected in Senegal. He used the French name "La Perdrix du Sénégal" and the Latin "Perdix Senegalensis". Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his "Systema Naturae" for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the double-spurred spurfowl. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name "Tetrao bicalcaratus" and cited Brisson's work. The specific epithet "bicalcaratus" combines the Latin "bi" meaning "two" and "calcaris" meaning "spur". The species is now placed in the genus "Pternistis" that was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler in 1832. A phylogenetic study published in 2019 found that the double-spurred spurfowl is sister to Heuglin's spurfowl.  Three subspecies are now recognised:

Description.

The double-spurred spurfowl is in length. The male is mainly brown, sparingly streaked and spotted darker and cream above, chest and flank feathers are dark brown edged and centrally spotted cream. The face is pale cream finely flecked with dark brown, and the head features a chestnut crown and white supercilium. It has a chestnut neck collar, white cheek patches and brown wings. The male usually has two spurs on each leg, the upper one being blunt. The legs are dull green. The female is similar in appearance, but usually lacks spurs and is slightly smaller and less robustly built. Males weigh around and females around. Young birds are almost indistinguishable from adult females after the post juvenile moult at several weeks old, males take several months to develop any spurs. Breeding is unlikely until the birds are in their second year.

Distribution and habitat.

This bird is found in open habitats with trees. It nests in a lined ground scrape laying 5 to 7 eggs. The double-spurred spurfowl takes a wide variety of plant and insect food. This is a very unobtrusive species, best seen in spring when the male sings a mechanical "krak-krak-krak" from a mound. It has a pheasant's explosive flight, but prefers to creep away unseen.

The double-spurred spurfowl ("Pternistis bicalcaratus") is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. Like most spurfowls, it is restricted to Africa. It is a resident breeder in tropical west Africa, but there is a small and declining isolated population in Morocco.

Der Doppelspornfrankolin ("Francolinus bicalcaratus") ist ein Vogel aus der Familie der Fasanenartigen. Wie die meisten Frankoline ist er nur in Afrika verbreitet. Er ist im tropischen Westafrika beheimatet, aber es gibt auch eine kleine isolierte Population in Marokko. Sie sind am nächsten verwandt mit den Ahantafrankolinen ("Francolinus ahantensis").


Life.

Im Thurn was born in Camberwell, London, the son of a Swiss immigrant banker, and educated at Marlborough College, University of Oxford, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Sydney. His first book, dedicated to his headmaster, was a study of "The Birds of Marlborough" (1870).  After his education, im Thurn travelled to British Guiana—called Guyana since its independence from Great Britain—to become (at the age of 25) Curator of the British Guiana Museum from 1877 until 1882. He later became a Stipendiary Magistrate in Pomeroon.  In December 1884 he led the first successful expedition to the summit of Mount Roraima, in Venezuela's Gran Sabana region, along with Harry Perkins, an Assistant Crown Surveyor who was also living in British Guiana. He was a keen photographer and author of several works related to his expedition to Roraima, which were published in scientific journals, including: "The Botany of Roraima Expedition of 1884: being notes on the plants observed; with a list of the species collected, and determinations of those that are new" (Linnean Society, 1887), and "Among the Indians of Guiana: being sketches, chiefly anthropologic from the interior of British Guiana, etc.", which includes detailed observations of the Pemon Indians of Venezuela. Im Thurn went on to become a government agent in British Guiana from 1891 to 1899, and was employed on the Venezuelan boundary commission 1897–99, for which he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1900 New Year Honours list on 1 January 1900 (the order was gazetted on 16 January 1900), and was invested by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle on 1 March 1900.  He then spent a couple of years back in the United Kingdom, holding several positions from 1899 to 1901, including 1st Class Clerk and later Principal Clerk in the Colonial Office. In July 1901 he moved to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where he was appointed Colonial Secretary and Lieutenant-Governor. He ended his colonial career as Governor of Fiji from 1904 to 1910, during which time he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1905.  He was a well-respected figure in the scientific circles of his time. Whilst in Ceylon he served as President of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society from 1902 to 1904. He was later elected President of the Royal Anthropological Institute 1919–1920 and made an Honorary Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.  In 1895 he married Hannah C. Lorimer, daughter of Professor James Lorimer, of the University of Edinburgh. In 1921 they moved to live at Cockenzie House in East Lothian, where he died in 1932.

Sir Everard Ferdinand im Thurn (9 May 1852 – 9 October 1932) was an author, explorer, botanist, photographer and British colonial administrator. He was Governor of Fiji 1904–1910.

Sir Everard Ferdinand Im Thurn KCMG, KBE, CB (* 9. Mai 1852 auf Gut Kingswood House, Sydenham (heute zu London); † 9. Oktober 1932 auf seinem Landsitz Cockenzie House, Cockenzie, East Lothian in Schottland) war ein britischer Forscher, Botaniker und Entdecker.