Course Descriptions
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Music History
6MHS 070 (I, II-0) Discussion Session
Optional listening session for MHS 121-123. Students sign up for any section that coincides with the appropriate course number and instructor.
6MHS 119 (I, S-1.5) Music History Review
A tutorial course for graduate students who, upon entrance into the graduate program, are found deficient in history of music. This course cannot be used as elective credit.
6MHS 121 (II-3) Music & Society: 800-1750
This course deals with the history of Western music from its first extant traces (liturgical chant in the ninth century) to the music of Bach and Handel. Although this span is too vast to allow a true survey, the course investigates many of the significant music-historical developments over that period, focusing on key composers and repertoires. Along with the traditional history of genres and styles, students learn about the historical and cultural context of music and music-making at various times and places. The course aims not only to introduce students to the earlier history of their own artistic tradition (a tradition that continues to draw on that very history), but also to expand their conceptions of the nature and purposes of music itself by exposing them to less familiar musics and cultures. In addition to a midterm and final examination, the course requires two papers of short to medium length. Classroom lectures are supported by optional (but highly recommended) discussion sections, which meet one hour per week.
6MHS 122 (I-3) Music & Society: 1730-1880
This course deals with the history of Western music during what are often described as the Classic and Romantic eras. It begins with composers (such as the sons of Bach) who broke from the prevailing genres and styles of the high Baroque era and continues through the achievements - in such genres as symphony, quartet, and opera - of such masters as Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Berlioz, Liszt, Brahms, Verdi, Wagner, Bruckner, Musorgsky, Tchaikovsky, and Dvorak. Along with the traditional history of genres and styles, students learn about the historical and cultural context of music and music-making at various times and places. The course also aims to expand the student's conceptions of the nature and purposes of music itself by exposing them, more briefly, to other musical traditions relevant to the repertoires under discussion, such as traditional musics of Eastern Europe (which can be compared helpfully to the mazurkas of Chopin and the Hungarian Rhapsodies of Liszt) or Caribbean polyrhythms (which influenced certain pieces by Gottschalk). In addition to a midterm and final examination, the course requires one paper of medium length and several short writing assignments and quizzes. Classroom lectures are supported by optional (but highly recommended) discussion sections, which meet one hour per week.
6MHS 123 (II-3) Music & Society: since 1880
The aim of this course is to trace the history of twentieth-century European and American art music; we will also touch on the nineteenth-century roots of modern music and the influence of non-art traditions throughout the era. Students will explore not only important changes in musical style and compositional techniques, but also the variety of cultural contexts and social meanings music both reflected and created. Be prepared to ask fresh questions about familiar pieces, to listen to new and difficult works with open minds, and to engage in close and careful analysis of sounds, scores, and the written word. Our primary goals are to gain a broad sense of twentieth-century musical life and to learn how to communicate our opinions and ideas about music thoughtfully, clearly, and persuasively. Students will be required to write two papers; there will be two exams during the semester and one (non-comprehensive) final exam.
6MHS 281, 282 (I, II-3) Special Topics
Intensive study of literature within limited topic areas. Emphasis upon analysis and comparative studies, with critical writing by the student. May be repeated for credit. Recent offerings include: Shakespeare & Music; The Symphonies of Beethoven; 19th-century Performance Practices; Vienna, 1900: Music and Culture; History and Analysis of Jazz (for non-jazz majors); World Musics; Women and Music; History of Rock Music; Rhythm, Blues, & Beyond.
6MHS 421 (I or II-3) Music in the Middle Ages
This course explores the music and culture of the Middle Ages from the 9th century to the early 15th century. We will address questions of style, genre, notation, organology, and performance practice as they pertain to the liturgical, sacred, and secular monophonic and polyphonic repertoires of the time.
6MHS 422 (I or II-3) Music in the Renaissance
Music of the early modern period from 1400 to 1600 is the focus of the course. Areas of emphasis include the development of vocal genres (motet, Mass, chanson, madrigal), as well as distinctive types of instrumental music. Overviews of political, artistic and social developments will contextualize the activity of composers and musicians. Also addressed are issues such as the interactions of patrons and composers, Franco-Flemish and Italian musical styles, and music and rhetoric. Basic theoretical underpinnings such as mode, hexachord, and notational conventions are covered, along with strategies for locating distinctive aesthetic features of works composed in a variety of styles and genres.
6MHS 423 (I or II-3) Music in the Baroque
This course examines the music and culture of the so-called baroque period in music, from the birth of monody and opera to the deaths of Bach and Handel. In order of increasing importance, the course aims to 1) expand students' familiarity with baroque repertoire; 2) trace the origin and development of important genres; 3) locate baroque music in its historical and cultural contexts; 4) follow the general development of style; and 5) explore and understand the expressive languages employed by baroque composers. In addition to a midterm and final examination, the course requires one or two short writing assignments and one longer paper later in the semester.
6MHS 424 (I or II-3) Music in the Classic Period
Although the works of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven serve as the primary "texts" of this course, close attention is paid to the history of styles and contexts of music-making from the so-called early classic period through the early 19th century. The relation of musical style to genre, performance venue, and audience is considered alongside changes in systems of patronage, dissemination of music as a commodity, private and public concert traditions, and performance practices documented in contemporary treatises.
6MHS 425 (I or II-3) Music in the Nineteenth Century
This course will not only deal with the history of musical style in nineteenth-century Europe, it will also explore music's cultural contexts and social meanings. Through a study of the major genres of the era (symphony, Lieder, opera, piano miniatures, etc.) we will explore how music embodied social, political, and gendered meanings in both public and private spheres. We will encounter new works (as well as ask new questions about familiar pieces) and will engage in close and careful analysis of sounds, scores, and the written word. Our primary goals are to gain a broad sense of nineteenth-century musical life and to learn how to communicate opinions and ideas about music thoughtfully, clearly, and persuasively.
6MHS 426 (I or II-3) Music Since 1900
This course is designed to provide a solid grasp of twentieth-century European and American art music by offering both broad coverage of significant works and in-depth examination of the era's diverse musical trends, social and political environments, and aesthetic and cultural controversies. Students are expected to contribute to class discussion, engage closely with musical scores, listen attentively to pieces, and write sensitively about compositional details as well as music's multiple roles in contemporary culture. Major graded work includes a midterm, final, and a paper that combines analysis and interpretation.
6MHS 435 (I - 1.5) Concert Repertoire: Museum or Living Art?
This course will examine some major works that have stood the test of time and have entered the musical "canon," as well as others that were originally unpopular, but are now staples in the repertoire. It will take prismatic approach to study music in cultural, sociological, and historical contexts, and through formal and theoretical analysis. By following a work from composition to performance to reception; through active listening, score study and text reading, we will explore what makes a work of music "classic." (2/28/08)
6MHS 441 (I-2) Issues in Performance Practice: Baroque
An introduction to the study of performance practice with an emphasis on Baroque music. Principles of rhetoric, phrasing, expression, articulation, rhythm, rubato and tuning based on historical sources. Designed to combine with MHS 443 as a comprehensive study of Baroque performance practices.
6MHS 442 (II-2) Performance Practice: Middle Ages and Renaissance
6MHS 443 (II-2) Performance Practice: Baroque
Dance music, tempo, ornamentation, improvisation, recitative, Baroque opera practice and a special session on performance practice issues in Bach, based on historical sources. Prerequisite: MHS 441 recommended.
6MHS 480 (I, II-2) Bibliography
A study of sources and reference materials in music.
6MHS 590 (I, II, S-3) Research Seminars
Seminars and independent studies on selected topics. May be repeated for credit. Recent offerings include:
The Bach Organ; Handel's Italian Vocal Music; The Mass from Chant to Stravinsky; Music and Ritual; Reading Mozart's Operas; The Symphony, 1800-1900; Studies in the German Lied; 19th c. Performance Practice; Romantic Music and Critics; Song after Schubert; Operas of Richard Wagner; Asian Classical Musics; American Musics; Popular Music from the Margins; Music and Postmodernism; The Improvising Musician; Music, Gender, and the Body; The Symphonic Poem; National Styles & Exoticism; 20th-century Voice and Spectacle.