The
Music History & Literature sequence at Millsaps is designed to deepen your
understanding and enrich your experience of Western art music, through the examination
of scores, recordings, and primary source material. Our textbook by Mark Evan
Bonds will provide the framework, focusing on specific works and attempting to
present the cultural and political contexts that surrounds each. Our challenge
will be to find a balance between a contextual approach and a purely musical approach
which examines the notes themselves. As we look at the social function and performance
circumstances surrounding these works, we will think about what that says about
the people who valued such music and helped support its creation. We will read
primary source material and enter into debates when these “raw materials
of history” (Bonds) are open to conflicting interpretations, which can be
often. Finally, as we experience the music itself through active and intelligent
listening, we will seek to understand the nature of the evolution of musical style
in the West, from ancient Greece to the present day.
