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Music 343: Western Music of the 19th Century Course Overview | Calendar | Listening Repertoire | Course Readings Course Overview Course descriptionThis course provides an intensive survey of Western art music from the early works of Ludwig Van Beethoven, composed in the mid-1790s, to the symphonic works of the generation of modernist composers born around 1860 (Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Jean Sibelius, Giacomo Puccini). The principal aim of the course is to expose students to a large quantity of multi-national Western music in a variety of genres and styles, thus leading students to a deeper understanding of the history of musical style in the nineteenth century. In addition to the musical pieces themselves, and no less importantly, the course stresses the context surrounding the musical text. Lectures address the political, cultural, and intellectual history that directed the path of musical style in this period. All music, like any expressive cultural form, is a representation of its world - of the history of ideas, of political and cultural systems, of the biographical details of the individuals who make it. Students are therefore expected to become familiar not only with specific works and the stylistic footprints of many composers, but also with the significant cultural-historical events and trends that informed composition during this period - the pan-European revolutions of 1848, the aesthetic ideology of autonomous music, the public music culture of the European bourgeoisie, and so on.Pieces on the listening list are presented in lectures that stress broad themes (Chopin and Parisian salon culture, aesthetic modernism in fin-de-siècle Vienna, the politics of gender in the early 19th century). Classroom activities include lectures, directed listening of pieces on the listening list (and sometimes, for comparison, other works), some formal and stylistic analysis, and discussion. AssignmentsThe following constitutes graded work for the course. Each is described in more detail below and/or in your course packet:
The two response papers are based upon the assigned listening and reading and are all the same length: 1200 words (approximately 4 pages double-spaced). Readings and lectures are meant to provide you with ways to engage with the listening list, which for me is the true content of the course. My main concern with the papers is that you are synthesizing the reading, lectures, and listening. The papers are meant to serve the same function that tests usually do: as indicators of how well you are internalizing the information, how much reading you are doing, how closely you are listening, and so on. You may be creative in your approach, and you may choose the writing style or tone that best suits your skills and interests. But keep in mind that these are serious papers: write in the most careful prose you are capable of, proofread them, be sure to address in depth some aspect of the listening and reading that you have found provocative. (More details about my expectations in student writing and about these response papers in particular are included on separate pages in the course packet.) One final, and most important, word of advice on the papers: the best papers will develop one or two specific ideas rather than treat superficially a number of ideas. Do not summarize the readings, and do not merely describe the music. Engage with both reading and listening by synthesizing the information that you get from both. The final exam will consist of a ten-minute conversation with the instructor. Questions will be based upon important terms and key ideas from lectures and readings. The purpose of this exam is for me to witness first-hand what you have learned in this course by having an intelligent conversation with you about broad topics the course covers. You will be responsible for using details from the listening, reading, and lectures to support what you are saying. The final course paper provides you with the opportunity to explore a topic of your choice in more depth than the course materials provide. The details of this assignment are explained on a separate sheet in the course packet. Sample papers are also included.
GradingLetter grades (with +/-) will be assigned to all assigned work. Late work will be penalized with a reduction in the final grade for that assignment. Grading of papers is necessarily subjective; consider the following as a general guide to my letter grades on papers:
A: Excellent. Imaginative, fluent, sophisticated, thought-provoking, careful.
Your final grade will be determined as follows:
Two final notes on grading (which I hate to have to include, but do for the sake of being as clear as possible):
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