Lukas Foss (August 15, 1922 – February 1, 2009) was a German-born American composer, conductor, pianist, and professor.

Music career

He was born as Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922. His father was the scholar Martin Fuchs. After the rise of Nazism in Germany, he and his family moved to Paris in 1933, where he studied piano with Lazare Lévy, composition with Noël Gallon, orchestration with Felix Wolfes, and flute with Louis Moyse. In 1937, he moved with his parents and brother to the United States, where the family name was changed from Fuchs to Foss. The name change was done because of advice from the Quakers, who took the family in when they arrived. He studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, with Isabelle Vengerova (piano), Rosario Scalero (composition) and Fritz Reiner (conducting).

He also studied with Sergei Koussevitzky during the summers from 1939 to 1943 at the Berkshire Music Center (now known as the Tanglewood Music Center) and, as a special student, composition with Paul Hindemith at Yale University from 1939 to 1940. He became an American citizen in 1942.

Foss was appointed professor of music at UCLA in 1953, replacing Arnold Schoenberg. While there he founded the Improvisation Chamber Ensemble, which made its Boston debut in 1962 for the Peabody Mason Concert series. He founded the Center for Creative and Performing Arts in 1963 while at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

From 1963 to 1970 he was Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1971-1988 he was Music Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic (formerly Brooklyn Philharmonia). From 1981 to 1986, he was conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

Lukas Foss died at his home in Manhattan on February 1, 2009, aged 86, from a heart attack.

Son: Christopher Brendel Foss, corporate consultant on social and environmental engagement/sustainability communications

Daughter: Eliza Foss Topol, actress

References

External links

[ Allmusic: Lukas Foss]

Humanities Web: Lukas Foss Index

CDeMusic: Lukas Foss

New Albion Artists: Lukas Foss

Lukas Foss Lecture A Twentieth-Century Composer's Confessions about the Creative Process

Art of the States: Lukas Foss

Interviews

Lukas Foss interview by Gabrielle Zuckerman, from American Mavericks site

Lukas Foss interview by Terry Gross, from Fresh Air program, originally broadcast October 7, 1987

Interview with Lukas Foss by Bruce Duffie, February 2, 1987

Category:20th-century classical composers Category:21st-century classical composers Category:Jewish classical musicians Category:Jewish American composers and songwriters Category:American musicians of German descent Category:American composers Category:American conductors (music) Category:German composers Category:German conductors (music) Category:Contemporary classical music performers Category:American people of German-Jewish descent Category:Guggenheim Fellows Category:Curtis Institute of Music alumni Category:University at Buffalo alumni Category:German immigrants to Israel Category:German immigrants to the United States Category:People from Berlin Category:Rome Prize winners Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:1922 births Category:2009 deaths

Coordinates	46°5′8″N15°40′40″N
Name	Martha Walter
Birth date	March 19, 1875
Birth place	Philadelphia
Death date	January 1976
Death place	Massachusetts
Occupation	American Impressionist Painter
Reference	http://siris-archives.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?profile=all#focus}}

Martha Walter (March 19, 1875 – January 1976) was an American impressionist painter.

Walter was a Philadelphia native. She studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, where she was taught by William Merritt Chase. She won the school's Toppan Prize and Cresson Traveling Scholarship. In 1909 also she won the school's Mary Smith Prize for the best painting by a resident female artist. On her scholarship she traveled to Spain Italy, the Netherlands and France. In France she received tuition from Rene Menard and Lucien Simon at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière.

She went on to teach art at Chase's New York School of Art.

References

W Douglass Paschall. 2002. Impressionist Jewels: The Paintings of Martha Walter. Woodmere Art Museum.

Books

James M. Alterman. 2005.New Hope for American Art, ISBN 0-9772665-0-8

Martha Walter Artwork Examples on AskART.

Category:1875 births Category:1976 deaths Category:American centenarians Category:American painters Category:People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:Women painters

Coordinates	46°5′8″N15°40′40″N
Name	Saint Daniel
Birth date	7th Century B.C.E
Death date	6th Century B.C.E
Feast day	June 26
Venerated in	Roman Catholic ChurchEastern Catholic ChurchesEastern Orthodox ChurchLutheranismIslamArmenian Apostolic Church
Caption	Daniel's Answer to the King by Briton Rivière
Death place	Babylon (?)
Titles	Prophet
Attributes	Often depicted in the den of the lions
Major shrine	Tomb of Daniel, Susa, Iran

Daniel (, meaning "Justice [from] God") or sometimes referred to as "God is my judge" is the protagonist of the Book of Daniel. According to the biblical book, at a young age Daniel was carried off to Babylon where he became famous for interpreting dreams and rose to become one of the most important figures in the court.

Daniel's life

The following is a summary of the biblical Book of Daniel

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim (BC 606), Daniel and his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were among the young Jewish nobility carried off to Babylon. The four were chosen for their intellect and beauty to be trained as advisors to the Babylonian court,() Daniel was given the name Belteshazzar, i.e., prince of Bel, or Bel protect the king!(not to be confused with the neo-Babylonian king, Belshazzar). Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were given the Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, respectively. At the close of his three years of discipline and training in the royal schools, Daniel was brought into public life. He soon became known for his skill in the interpretation of dreams (; ). Daniel made known and interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream; as well as a later dream preceding the king's descent into animal behaviour, and many years afterwards as an old man, after the alarm and consternation of the night of Belshazzar's impious feast (in which Belshazzar and his concubines drank wine out of the royal Jewish ceremonial goblets of the Temple), Daniel was called in at the suggestion of the queen-mother to interpret the mysterious handwriting on the wall. For successfully reading the cryptic handwriting by an angel of God, Daniel was rewarded by the Babylonians with a purple robe and elevation to the rank of "third ruler" of the kingdom. It is believed that the place of "second ruler" was held by Belshazzar as associated with his father, Nabonidus, on the throne (), though nowhere in the book of Daniel is Nabonidus mentioned by name and according to the book of Daniel Nebuchadnezzar was the father of Belshazzar. Nabonidus left Babylon in his son Belshazzar's care when he fled because of his refusal to accept the role of Marduk as the prime deity. The Hebrew word translated in the book of Daniel as "son" can mean any descendant. Belshazzar was actually the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel interpreted the handwriting, and "in that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain".

After the Persian conquest of Babylon, Daniel held the office of the first of the "three presidents" of the empire under the reign of Darius the Mede, and was thus practically at the head of state affairs, with the ability to influence the prospects of the captive Jews (), whom he had at last the happiness of seeing restored to their own land; although he did not return with them, but remained still in Babylon.

Daniel's fidelity to God exposed him to persecution by jealous rivals within the king's administration. The fact that he had just interpreted the emperors' dream had resulted in his promotion and that of his companions. Being favored by the King, Darius the Mede, he was untouchable. His companions were vulnerable to the accusation that had them thrown into the furnace for refusing to worship the Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar as a god; but they were miraculously saved, and Daniel would years later be cast into a den of lions (for continuing to practice his faith in YHWH), but was miraculously delivered; after which Darius issued a decree enjoining reverence for "the God of Daniel" (). He "prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Great," whom he probably greatly influenced in the matter of the decree which put an end to the Jewish Captivity (BC 536). Daniel's ministry as a prophet began late in life. Whereas his early exploits were a matter of common knowledge within his community, these same events, with his pious reputation, serve as the basis for his prophetic ministry. The recognition for his prophetic message is that of other prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel whose backgrounds are the basis for their revelations.

The time and circumstances of Daniel's death have not been recorded. However, tradition maintains that Daniel was still alive in the third year of Cyrus according to the Tanakh (). He would have been almost 100 years old at that point, having been brought to Babylon when he was in his teens, more than 80 years previously. Many posit that he possibly died at Susa in Iran. Tradition holds that his tomb is located in Susa at a site known as Shush-e Daniyal. Other locations have been claimed as the site of his burial, including Daniel's Tomb in Kirkuk, Iraq, as well as Babylon, Egypt, Tarsus and, notably, Samarkand, which claims a tomb of Daniel (see "The Ruins of Afrasiab" in the Samarkand article), with some traditions suggesting that his remains were removed, perhaps by Tamerlane, from Susa to Samarkand (see, for instance, Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, section 153).

Apocalypse

From Chapter 7 to the end of the book of Daniel, an apocalyptic vision is being described, supposedly from the perspective of Daniel. In the Book of Daniel, the name is spelled with a middle letter suggesting the i of that name — but this letter is not included in Ezekiel, suggesting that the reference there may be to another person, possibly the "Danel" ("Judgement of God") known from Caananite Ugaritic literature (such as the Epic of Aqhat and Anat), whose reputation for wisdom and righteousness had made him legendary. (Vowel-points were not added to the consonantal Hebrew text before well into the Common Era, and the scribes may then have slipped in a vowel-point for "i" as a middle syllable.)

Habakkuk

In the Deuterocanonical portion of Daniel known as Bel and the Dragon, the prophet Habakkuk is miraculously transported by an angel to take a meal to Daniel while he is in the lions' den. In response, Daniel prays, "Thou hast remembered me, O God; neither hast thou forsaken them that seek Thee and love Thee".

Tomb

, Iran.]] There are six different locations claiming to be the site of the tomb of the biblical figure Daniel: Babylon, Kirkuk and Muqdadiyah in Iraq, Susa and Malamir in Iran, and Samarkand in Uzbekistan.

Liturgical commemorations

On the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar, the feast days celebrating St. Daniel the Prophet together with the Three Young Men, falls on December 17 (during the Nativity Fast), on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers (the Sunday which falls between 11 and 17 December), and on the Sunday before Nativity. Daniel's prophesy regarding the stone which smashed the idol () is often used in Orthodox hymns as a metaphor for the Incarnation: the "stone cut out" being symbolic of the Logos (Christ), and the fact that it was cut "without hands" being symbolic of the virgin birth. Thus the hymns will refer to the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) as the "uncut mountain"

In the West, the Roman Catholic Church commemorates Daniel on July 21.

He is commemorated as a prophet in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod together with the Three Young Men (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego), on December 17.

He is commemorated as a prophet in the Coptic Church on the 23rd day of the Coptic month of Baramhat.

Rabbinic literature

Daniel in Islam

Muslims traditionally consider Daniel (Arabic: دانيال, Danyal) as an Islamic prophet, alongside the other major prophets of the Old Testament. Although Daniel is not mentioned in the Qur'an, there are accounts of Daniel's life which feature in later Muslim literature. There are debates, however, that go on about Daniel's time of preaching and some Muslims believe that he was not a prophet but a saintly man. Daniel is listed as a prophet in all major versions of Stories of the Prophets. When the Muslims conquered Alexandria in 641 C.E, a mosque was immediately built dedicated to Daniel.

In Muslim literature

Muslim exegesis, including Tabari's History of the Prophets and Kings narrates that Daniel was carried off to Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar's attack on Jerusalem. It goes onto state that there he was thrown into the den of the lions, but was later rescued. In one such account, Daniel is aided by Jeremiah, who comes to Babylon to help Daniel in the lions den. In the apocryphal Bel and the Dragon, however, there is a very similar tale which states that the Hebrew prophet Habbakuk was miraculously transported to the den of the lions, to give a meal to Daniel.

All sources, classical and modern, describe Daniel as a saintly and spiritual man. Abdullah Yusuf Ali, in his Qur'anic commentary says:

See also

Islamic view of Daniel

Tanakh

Prophecy

Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon

Book of Daniel (book of the Bible)

List of names referring to El

Persian Jews

Apocalypse of Daniel

References

External links

Book of Daniel (Biblical Passage)

Daniel by Rob Bradshaw Detailed dictionary-style article.

Daniel in the TaNaKh Detailed authorized Jewish translation of the original

Who is Ezekiel's Daniel? : The Ugaritic Danel

Daniel 11 in Context Overview of the allusions to the Syrian Wars in Daniel 11

Category:Hebrew Bible people Category:Jewish writers Category:People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar Category:Prophets in Christianity Category:Prophets of Islam Category:Year of death missing Category:Book of Daniel Category:Muslim saints