COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course will explore how music in the Age of Revolutions reflected the culture’s dominant concerns and contained within itself the seeds of a musical revolution which continued into the next century. Romanticism’s insistence on newness and originality continues to the present day. Although the primary focus of this course will be music, a reading knowledge of music is not necessary for success in the course. We will devote a significant amount of time to learning how to listen actively and intelligently to Western art music, but our approach will be truly interdisciplinary and will incorporate the visual arts, history, philosophy, and literature.

Three major works will be studied in depth through close listening: the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven, the Symphonie Fantastique of Berlioz, and and opera (in alternating years Salomé, by Richard Strauss--this year Carmen, by Georges Bizet). These works illustrate early, middle, and late Romanticism.