Piano Literature MUAG 3270
Course information/Policy Dr. Heejung Kang
Spring 2015
1. Primary Aims of the Course
1) to survey piano music from the 19th through 20th centuries
2) to familiarize students with important piano works in a historical context
3) to examine styles of composition and performance practice
2. The class will be a combination of lecture/ discussion and listening/ playing.
3. Class Presentation/ Performance
1) Each student is responsible for an oral presentation on one of the pieces which will be studied in the class. The student will prepare an informative handout and recording; if possible, the student will demonstrate the piece by playing.
2) Each student should give a final presentation which introduces a piece by 20th century composer (born after 1920). The student should be able to play/demonstrate the piece on the keyboard.
3) Each student is required to play pieces by 2 different composers (12 pages total) EXCLUDING your final presentation composer.
4. Grade (100%)
1) Attendance: Every student is expected to attend all classes. If you have 3 unexplained absences, one lower letter grade will be given. If you make more than 3 absences, the WF grade can be given.
2) Class presentation/ performance/assignment20%
3) Quiz (week 6) 5%
3) Midterm exam (week 8) 20%
4) Final exam (week 16)25%
5) There will be five listening exams (30%)
Listening Test I (week 3) – Franck, Fauré. Debussy
Listening Test II (week 7) - Ravel, Messiaën, Albeniz, de Falla
Listening Test III (week 9) –Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Hindemith, Bartok
Listening Test IV (week 12) – Russia/USSR
Listening Test V (week 15) – Ives, Copland, Barber, Carter, Ginastera
9 PIANO LITERATURE SEMESTER OUTLINE Spring 2015 MUAG 3270Dr. Heejung Kang
Required Reading: Schonberg, Harold C. 1987. The Great Pianists.
Revised and updated. New York: Simon & Schuster.
DATE / TUESDAY / THURSDAY
Week 1
Jan. 20, 22 / Introduction to course, Syllabus, Presentation topic, Performance assignments, etc.
France/Belgium
Saint-Saëns
Franck – Preludes, Chorale & Fugue / Prelude, Aria, and Finale
Fauré / Fauré- Barcarolles, Impromptus, Nocturnes
Chabrier – Bourrée Fantasque
Debussy – Pour le Piano, Arabesque, Suite Bergamasque,
Reading: G.P. pp. 281-290
pp. 363-364
Week 2
Jan. 27, 29 / Debussy – Estampes, Image I, Image II, Preludes Book I and II, Etudes / Ravel – Pavane pour une infante d’efunte, Jeux d’eau, Miroirs
Week 3
Feb. 3, 5 / Ravel – Gaspard de la nuit, Le Tombeau de Couperin, Sonatine, Concerto in G / Listening Test I: Franck, Fauré, Debussy
Week 4
Feb. 10, 12 / Messiaën – 8 Preludes, Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jesus, Catalogue d’oiseaux / Spain
Albeniz – Iberia
Granados – Goyescas
DeFalla – Piezas españolas, Fantasia Baética
Reading: G.P. pp. 358-362
Week 5
Feb. 17, 19 / Germany
Reger, Busoni
Schoenberg – Op. 11, 19
Op.23, 25
Reading: G.P. pp. 366-376 [Busoni] / Berg – Piano Sonata Op.1
Webern – op.27
Hindemith – Sonatas,Ludus Tonalis
Krenek- sonata No.3
Week 6
Feb. 24, 26 / Hungary
Bartok – Rhapsody Op.1, Mikrokosmos, Two Rumanian Dances, Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm, Rumanian Folk Dances / Quiz – French, Spanish, and German composers and works
Week 7
Mar. 3, 5 / Bartok - Rumanian Folk Dances, Improvisations, Op.20, Sonata (1926), Out of Doors (1926),
Suite Op.14, Concerto No.2 and 3 / Listening Test II: Ravel, Messiaën,
Review for Midterm Exam
Week 8
Mar. 10, 12 / Szymanowski-Etudes
Mazurkas
Anton Rubinstein
Tchaikovsky
Reading: G.P. pp. 269-280
Russia/USSR
The Five
-- Balakirev, Mussorgsky / MIDTERM EXAM
Mar. 17, 19 / SPRING BREAK
Week 9
Mar. 24, 26 / Scriabin
- sonatas,
Etudes, Op.8 and 42, etc. / Listening Test III: Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Hindemith, Bartok, Albeniz, de Falla
Rachmaninoff
- Preludes, Op.23 and 32
Etudes-Tableaux, Op.33 and 39
Sonata No.1
Reading: G.P. pp. 390-399
Week 10
Mar. 31, Apr. 2 / Rachmaninoff continued
Sonata No.2
Concerto No. 3
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Reading: G.P. pp. 326-331 / [Satie and Les Six]
Stravinsky
- Petrouchka
Sonata (1924)
Week 11
Apr. 7, 9 / Prokofiev
- Sonatas Nos. 1-9
Sarcasms
Visions Fugitives / Prokofiev- Concerto Nos. 2 and 3
Shostakovich – 24 Preludes and Fugues
Kabalevsky –Sonata No.2
Week 12
Apr. 14, 16 / Listening Test IV: Russia/USSR
United States
MacDowell, Griffes, Ives, / Antheil, Copland, Barber, Crumb, Cowell
Week 13
Apr. 21, 23 / Harris, Carter, Perle, others
South America
Villa-Lobos / Ginastera
Late 20th Century
Cage, Adams, Reich
Stockhausen
Week 14
Apr. 28, 30 / Nancarrow, Ligeti, Dallapiccola, Berio, Bolcom, Corigliano, Liebermann / Final Presentation
Week 15
May 5, 7 / Listening Test V: Ives, Copland, Barber, Carter, Ginastera
Final exam Review / Final Presentation continued
Week 16
May 11-13 / FINAL EXAM