This schedule is tentative and subject to change!
Abbreviations: HWM = History of Western Music (the big textbook)
NAWM = Norton Anthology of Western Music (the spiral bound book you should bring to class)
Jan. 30: Introductions; Listening to and Performing “New” Music
Feb. 1–8: Modernism: Dodecaphony, Serialism, and Virtuosic Complexity
Read: HWM Chapter 33 & 37 pp. 812–830; 930–939
Listen: Schoenberg, Piano Suite Op. 25 NAWM 173; Berg, Wozzeck NAWM 174; Webern, Symphonie Op. 21 NAWM 175; Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time, NAWM 201, Boulez, Le marteau sans maître, NAWM 202
Feb. 13: No Class
Feb. 15: Other Modernisms & Neo-Classicism
Read: HWM Chapters 33 & 35 pp. 830–847; 875–880;
Listen: Stravinsky, Symphony of Psalms, NAWM 177; Milhaud, La creation du monde, NAWM 185; Bartok, Music for Strings Percussion and Celesta, NAWM 179
Feb. 22: Traditionalists and “Neo-Romantics”
Read: HWM Chapter 35 pp. 898–902; and Chapter 38 pp. 980-991
Listen: Copland, Appalachian Spring, NAWM 195, Still, Afro-American Symphony, NAWM 196; George Rochberg, String Quartet No. 5, David Del Tredici, Final Alic
Feb 27–March 1: Experimentalists, Radicals & Indeterminacy
Read: HWM Chapters 32, 35 & 37 pp.802–811, 893–897; 939–945
Listen: Cowell, The Banshee, NAWM 193, Varèse, Hyperprism, NAWM 192; Cage, 4’33” and “First Construction in Metal” (no scores, listening only)
Cage, Sonatas and Interludes NAWM 203 and Music of Changes NAWM 204; + Pauline Oliveros
March 6–8 Global Encounters
Read: HWM Chapters 35, 37 & 39 pp. 890–92, 953–55, 966–68, and 1005. See also a recent blog post on musical appropriate and an academic study on representation and appropriation in music, all given on the Readings / Listening page for this topic.
Listen: Villa Lobos, Bachianas Brasileiras, NAWM 190; Revueltas Homenaje a Federico Garcia Lorca, NAWM 191; Sheng, Seven Tunes Heard in China, NAWM 215; Golijov, La passion según San Marcos, NAWM 217
Others mentioned in textbook include McPhee’s Tabuh tabuhan and Toru Takemitsu can all be found on YouTube
March 13–15: Simplicity and Process NOTE: Change of date for this topic
Read: HWM chapter 38 pp. 975–981, 987–989
Listen: Reich: Tehillim, NAWM 209 and Come out; Adams, Short Ride in a Fast Machine, NAWM 210; Pärt, Seven Magnificat Antiphons, NAWM 212 and Spiegel im Spiegel; John Tavener, Lament of the Mother of God; Gavin Bryars, Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet; Philip Glass Einstein on the Beach
March 20–22: Experiments in Timbre and Texture
Read: HWM Chapter 37 pp. 945–47; 950–53
Listen: Crumb, Black Angels, NAWM 205; Penderecki, Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, NAWM 208; Ligeti, Atmospheres (no score)
March 27–29:Music and Politics—Germany, the USSR and others NOTE: Change of date for this topic
Read: HWM Chapter 35 (esp. pp. 880–890) and 983 (Gubaidulina)
MWW 148 –151 (Weill, Nazism, Pravda etc.), “Music and Ideology”–manifesto of the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians (RAPM)
Listen: Weill, Three Penny Opera NAWM 186; Hindemith Mathis der Maler NAWM 187; Prokofiev, Alexander Nevsky, NAWM 188; Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5, NAWM 189; Gubaidulina, Rejoice!, NAWM 213
April 3–5: Electronics & Computers
Read: HWM Chapter 37, 38 & 39 pp. 947-50, 969-71, 997-1000
Oswald, “ Plunderphonics or Audio Piracy as Compositional Prerogative”
Jonathan Lethem, “The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism Mosaic” and Daphne Keller, “The Musician as Thief: Digital Culture and Copyright Law” in Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture, ed. Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008)
Listen: Hugh Le Cain, Dripsody, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Gesang der Jünglinge; Edgard Varèse, Poeme éléctronique NAWM 206, Milton Babbitt, Philomel, NAWM 207
DJ Danger Mouse, The Grey Album
Surf YouTube for recordings of any musicians who are using digital media to make connections with the past or with other musical styles. Try: Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR), Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid), Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson, Morton Subotnik
SPRING BREAK
Time to finalize ensembles and pieces for the May concert.
Deadline for submission of ensembles and repertoire is April 19.
April 19-20: Jazz, Third Stream, and other Fusions
Note: Thursday on a Monday Schedule!
Read: HWM chapters 37-39 pp.954, 959-966, 1000(bottom)-1003
Listen: Bernstein “Cool” from West Side Story; John Zorn; Bring something to share–our text mentions a few fusions on p. 1001 including Tori Amos, Radiohead, Uri Caine, Jason Moran, Esperanaza Spalding, Robert Glasper…
April 24-26: Quotation, Parody and Music’s Relationship with the Past
Read: TBA
Listen: Berio, Sinfonia III; Alfred Schnittke, Concerto Grosso NAWM 214; Saariaho, L’amour de lion, NAWM 216
May 1-3: Theater–Traditional and Environmental
Read: whatever you haven’t already read in the textbook!
Listen: Britten Peter Grimes, NAWM 200, Adams, Dr. Atomic, NAWM 219 and from YouTube: Schafer, Patria, Princess of the Stars; John Luther Adams, Inuksuit; Stockhausen Helicopter String Quartet from Mittwoch from Licht
May 8-10: Prepare for Class Concert May 10 at 12:30pm in the Recital Hall
May 15-17 TBA and prepare for final
May 22 Final Exam 8:30-10:30am (note time!)
