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Music 344: Music Literature Since 1900 Course Overview | Calendar | Listening Repertoire | Course Readings Course Overview Course DescriptionThe primary aim of this course, a required element of the music major, is to provide a thorough overview of the development of Western art music over the course of the 20th century. The course stresses both the musical texts themselves and the contexts surrounding their composition and reception. It aims to be a course as much about "history" writ large - the history of ideas, aesthetics, political and social history - as it is one about the history of music per se.We begin with the modernist movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, focusing on the various innovations enacted upon the common-practice tonal tradition in the works of Strauss, Mahler, Schoenberg, Debussy, Stravinsky, and a host of "nationalist" composers. We continue with developments in the 1920s and 30s - neoclassicism and absurdism in Paris; the "new objectivity" of Germany's Weimar Republic; and art music in America. At mid-semester, we cover major mid-century composers (Bartók, Britten, Shostakovich, Messiaen) and move into a survey of the post-1945 European avant-garde, including the serial movement in Darmstadt and the rise of electronic music. The course concludes with several weeks on such topics as John Cage, American minimalism, collage techniques, and emerging (and established) American and Eastern European composers. It should go without saying that there are countless composers, musicians, and musical traditions that I regret not having the time to include. From this perspective, the course is best approached as a jumping-off point: an introduction to the musical possibilities that music-makers have been exploring during the past 100 years. The fundamental aim is to expose students to the most music possible. The course is based around a substantial listening list, with readings and lectures meant to provide a context for such listening. Tests and papers are designed to ensure that students are doing concentrated listening and reading on a regular basis. 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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