4

Click here to load reader

UChicago Music 104 Syllabus

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: UChicago Music 104 Syllabus

7/23/2019 UChicago Music 104 Syllabus

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/uchicago-music-104-syllabus 1/4

Music 10400Introduction to Music Analysis and Criticism

 Autumn Quarter 2015 TTh, 10:30–11:50, Goodspeed Hall 402

Instructor: Course assistant:Lawrence Zbikowski Braxton Shelley email: [email protected] email: [email protected]: Goodspeed 207Office phone: 773-702-8788Office hours: Friday, 12:00–1:30  and by appointment

Overview of the course: 

 This course is an introduction to the analysis and criticism of music. The course is unique in that itsprimary ‘texts’ are musical recordings. An exploration of the works represented on these recordings will be the basis for the discussion and writing undertaken in the class. We’ll also use the recordingsto gain insight into topics like the use of words to describe music, the strategies composers use toshape musical works, the conditions of musical performance, interactions between music and text,and the relationship between music and ideology. There will, of course, also be readings, but these will for the most part be short and will be available on the Chalk site for the course.

 The repertory for the course is as follows (please note that we will use specific recordings, whichare listed on p. 3):

Henry Purcell, Dido and Aeneas  (c. 1688; opera) Johann Sebastian Bach, St. John Passion  (1724; oratorio) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Keyboard works  (1780s–1791; solo instrumental compositions)Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral) (1808; multi-movement orchestral work)

What I expect from class members: I expect class members to listen to the assigned compositions carefully. This will mean listeningmultiple times, and with as few distractions as possible. While I shall attempt to guide listeningthrough assignments, listening exercises, and outlines of specific works, there is no substitute forsimply taking listening seriously: students who do so almost always develop their own strategies forlistening, and thereby discover new and interesting things about both the music and the activity oflistening to it. I expect class members to work hard at their writing, trying to capture the elusive

features of music to the best of their ability. And I expect class members to show up for class, to dothe readings, to participate in discussions, to attend the video screenings and the assigned concert,and to turn in their work in a timely fashion.

What you will learn:  You will gain a better sense of musical organization, an awareness of the values associated with orassigned to music, and knowledge about the historical and cultural contexts associated with therepertory for the course. You will also learn about basic musical terms and typical genres of musicalexpression. Finally, you will acquire an appreciation of the dramatic possibilities that music can offer,the way music is used in religious contexts, and how music and words can relate to one another.

Page 2: UChicago Music 104 Syllabus

7/23/2019 UChicago Music 104 Syllabus

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/uchicago-music-104-syllabus 2/4

Schedule

 Week 1 (9/29–10/1)Introduction to the course; listening strategies, musical terminology, the notion of “musicking.”Repertoire: Mozart, Variations on “Ein Weib ist das herrlichste Ding,” K. 613.

 Week 2 (10/6–10/8)Musical themes, relationships between tonal centers, aspects of musical form. Repertoire: Mozart,Piano Sonatas in B flat (K. 333) and F (K. 332).

 Week 3 (10/13–10/15)Musical rhetoric and improvisation; historical and cultural contexts for operas; musical and dramaticstructure. Repertoire: Mozart, Fantasie in C minor (K. 396); Purcell, Dido and Aeneas .  Listening exercise #1: 10/13 Writing assignment #1: 10/16

 Week 4 (10/20–10/22)Using music to shape drama; relationships between different expressive media. Repertoire: Purcell,Dido and Aeneas .

 Week 5 (10/27–10/29)Operatic staging; introduction to the oratorio. Repertoire: Purcell, Dido and Aeneas .N.B.: Viewing of video of Dido and Aeneas  the evening of 10/26; no class on 10/29.  Listening exercise #2: 10/27 Writing assignment #2: 10/30

 Week 6 (11/3–11/5)Religious practice and music in the early 18th century Lutheran Germany. Repertoire: Bach, St. John Passion .

 Week 7 (11/10–11/12) The drama and liturgy of Easter. Repertoire: Bach, St. John Passion . N.B.: Viewing of video ofSt. John Passion  the evening of 11/11. Listening exercise #3: 11/12

 Week 8 (11/17–11/19)Orchestral music in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; audiences and performance in earlynineteenth-century Vienna; program music. Repertoire: Beethoven, Symphony no. 6 (Pastoral) .  Writing assignment #3: 11/16

Required concert: University of Chicago Presents, Friday 20 November, 7:30 p.m.: KristianBezuidenhout, fortepiano ($5.00 student tickets)

 Week 9 (11/24–11/26)Musical mimesis. No class on 11/26—Thanksgiving! Repertoire: Beethoven, Symphony no. 6 .

 Week 10 (12/1) The development of musical materials; orchestration and orchestral music; further adventures inmusical form. Repertoire: Beethoven, Symphony no. 6 . Listening exercise #4: 12/1  Writing assignment #4 will be due on Wednesday, 9 December, at 1:00 p.m.

  Music 10400 Syllabus, Autumn 2015, p. 2

Page 3: UChicago Music 104 Syllabus

7/23/2019 UChicago Music 104 Syllabus

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/uchicago-music-104-syllabus 3/4

Policies:

Late assignments are not accepted for grade.

 Your final grade will be determined on the basis of the following distribution:

Listening exercises (four total) 20%Short written assignments 10%Concert review + papers (four) 50%Participation 20%

Required Purchases

 You must purchase four recordings for the class; you need purchase no books. It will be simplest foryou to buy the recordings from iTunes or similar vendor, as you’ll be able to get them pretty muchinstantly. Please note that you must obtain these exact  recordings, as other versions will havedifferent timings, and a portion of our class discussion will be concerned with the interpretationsmade by these particular performers on these particular recordings. Here are the iTunes searchesthat you can use to find the recordings that we shall use:

1. Mozart, Keyboard Music, Vol. 3, (Kristian Bezuidenhout, fortepiano; harmonia mundi [HMU907499)

iTunes search: “Bezuidenhout keyboard”, a number of volumes show up, you want volume3: $9.99

2. Purcell, Dido and Aeneas  (Nicholas McGegan, director, with Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Lisa Saffer,

Michael Dean, the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra;Harmonia Mundi France [HMU 907110])

iTunes search: “purcell dido McGegan”, sole hit: $9.99

3. Bach, St. John Passion  (John Eliot Gardiner: English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir[SDG712])

iTunes search:“gardiner st. john passion padmore”, sole hit: $19.99

4. Beethoven, Sixth Symphony  (John Eliot Gardiner, director; the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et

Romantique, Archiv Produktion [477 8643—complete symphonies])

iTunes search: “gardiner beethoven pastoral”, four hits, you want only Beethoven:Symhonies [sic] Nos. 5 & 6: $9.99 [If, for some reason, you only want to purchase therecordings of the sixth symphony that’s fine, although we’ll probably make reference to thefifth in our discussions. And, really, you should have a recording of it anyway.]

  Music 10400 Syllabus, Autumn 2015, p. 3

Page 4: UChicago Music 104 Syllabus

7/23/2019 UChicago Music 104 Syllabus

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/uchicago-music-104-syllabus 4/4

 Assignment for Thursday, October 1:

1. Read Christopher Small, “Prelude : Music and Musicking,” from Musicking: The Meanings of Performingand Listening  (Hanover, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 1998), 1-18; available inthe Text Materials folder in the Course Documents section of the Chalk pages for the course.

Prepare answers to these questions for class discussion:

 What is included in Small’s definition of “musicking”? What is not  included in thatdefinition? (Another way to put this second question would be “What kinds of humanly-produced sounds wouldn’t be included in musicking?”)

Small’s book was published in an era before mp3s and streaming were a feature of themusical landscape. How has the ready—perhaps even instant—availability of recordedsound changed musicking?

2. Listen to Kristian Bezuidenhout’s recording of Mozart’s “Variations on ‘Ein Weib ist dasherrlichste Ding’” (K. 613) and answer these questions (to be handed in ):

 Which variation did you find the most interesting (for whatever reason)? What musical  factorscontributed to your choosing this variation? Don’t worry if you don’t have precise languageto describe these factors, but focus as carefully as you can on the musical sounds to see ifyou can capture why they made this variation particularly worthy of your attention. N.B.: youmay find that you need to listen to part or all of recording a number of times to answer thisquestion.

 Where would you locate the dramatic focus of this set of variations? (Note that your answerto this question may have no overlap with your answer to the first question.) You should not

only identify the specific variation, but (to the extent you can) you should describe why this variation—or even a particular section of the variation—is the dramatic focus.

3. Listen to Bezuidenhout’s recordings of Mozart’s piano sonatas in Bb (K. 333) and F (K. 332), eachof which has three movements. Be prepared to discuss how the movements of each sonata aredifferent from one another. (This does not  need to be written up or handed in, although (a) you may want to make notes for your own purposes and (b) you may have to listen to part or all of thesonatas to accurately describe the differences between their constituent movements.)

  Music 10400 Syllabus, Autumn 2015, p. 4