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Brandeis University
Music Department
Music 135a: History of Music III: Romantic and 20th Century
Fall 2015
Instructor: E. Chafe, Slosberg 218, Phone: 63334 & 617-916-5286; email:
Teaching Fellow:
Office Hours: Tuesday, Friday 10:30 - 11:00; 12:30-1; other times by appointment
Class time: TF, 11:00 - 12:20
Classroom: Slosberg 212
Prerequisite: Music 101a and b
Required text: 1) J. Peter Burkholder, Donald J. Grout, Claude V. Palisca, A History of Western Music. Ninth Edition. W. W. Norton and Co., New York, 2014
2) & 3) J. Peter Burkholder, Claude V. Palisca, Norton Anthology of Western Music. Volume II: Classic to Romantic. Seventh Edition. W. W. Norton and Co., New York, 2010 and Volume III: Twentieth Century. Seventh Edition. W. W. Norton and Co., New York, 2014
Supplemental materials (not required): J. Peter Burkholder and Claude V. Palisca, editors, Norton Recorded Anthology of Western Music, Volume Two (Classic to Romantic) and Volume Three (The Twentieth Century and After)
Additional required materials: Scores of compositions discussed in class but not in the Burkholder/Palisca Anthologies. These will be provided in photocopies in advance of class discussions.
Course description
This course surveys music history from c. 1830 to the present, considering major styles, genres,
and techniques of musical composition from a historical and analytical perspective. Styles and
composers represented include Chopin, Liszt, Wagner, impressionism, serialism, Debussy,
Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Bartok, and Babbitt. NB: This course may not be repeated for credit by
students who have taken MUS 134b or 135a in prior years.
Requirements
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This course will be divided into two parts. Classes 1-13 (August 28-October 13) will center on the Romantic period, and Classes 14-27 (October 20-December 8) on the twentieth century. There will be an in-class midterm exam on October 16, covering the Romantic period and a three-hour final exam scheduled by the registrar’s office during the final examination period.
The first half of the course will focus on the study of representative composers and their works from approximately 1830 to 1900, in mostly chronological order. It will follow the contents of Chapters 25 through 30 of the Burkholder/Palisca textbook in order (i.e., six chapters).The second half will follow the contents of Chapters 32-3, 35 and 37 of the Burkholder/Palisca textbook (i.e., four chapters). In each Aunit@ selected compositions will be studied in class. The emphasis will be on acquiring a repertoire of characteristic compositions from the periods in question and learning to describe them in terms of their styles, the analytical issues they embody and their place in Western culture. Not all compositions on the course list are contained in the Burkholder Anthologies cited above. Some of the remaining pieces will be studied from photocopies (to be provided). All pieces studied for the course have been or will soon be posted on LATTE. Many are available on the Naxos library and Youtube, Spotify, etc. After the first class you will need to listen to the required pieces and study them with the scores and the text in advance of class discussions. Attendance is required. Always bring to class the scores for the pieces to be studied on the day in question.
There will be an in-class midterm on Friday, October 16. It will involve identification and commentary on musical excerpts played from the listening list as well as short definitions and an essay-type question (with some choice). The midterm will cover everything that has been studied to that point. There will also be a three-hour final exam scheduled by the Registrar=s office. It, too, will contain both listening and essay components and possibly commentary on score excerpts and short identifications. The listening component on the midterm and the final exam will be worth 40% of the exam grade. Listening excerpts on the tests may not be played from the beginnings of the pieces. You will be expected to provide basic information regarding the composer, title, date of composition, genre, style, form, text (if any), instrumentation, date of composition and an assessment of the significance of the piece in question. You will also be required to write two 6-8 page papers, one on a Romantic topic and one on a 20th Century topic; the due dates are October 20 and December 8. Topics will be announced in class. Each paper will be worth 15% of the course grade, the midterm 30% and the final exam 40%. Your participation in class discussions will be taken into account. Please bring me any questions you have concerning this outline.
Attendance policy
You may miss up to two classes with no effect on your grade. More than two absences will result in a reduction of your final grade: e.g., three absences will lower A to A-, four absences A to B+, etc.
Late essays
All assigned work must be handed on the due date to receive full credit. Late work will be accepted at the discretion of the instructor. You will not receive a passing grade unless all assigned work for the course is completed.
Students with Disabilities: If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see the instructor immediately.
Do not schedule anything that conflicts with either the midterm exam or the final exam. Make-up exams will be given only for legitimate reasons (e.g., documented illness)
Class Outline
NB. In this outline compositions marked with an asterisk * are not found in the Burkholder/Palisca anthologies. Scores will be provided.
UNIT ONE: THE ROMANTIC GENERATION: SONG AND PIANO MUSIC (Burkholder, Chapter 25)
Fri., 8/28: Schubert: Gretchen am Spinnrade
Tu., 9/1: Schumann, excerpts from song cycle Dichterliebe; the first movement of the *Phantasie for piano
Fri., 9/4: Schumann continued; introduction to Chopin
Tu. 9/8: Chopin, Nocturnes, Op. 27, *no. 1 and 2
Fri., 9/11: Liszt, Un sospiro for piano and *Sonata for piano
UNIT TWO: ROMANTICISM IN CLASSIC FORMS: ORCHESTRAL, CHAMBER AND CHORAL MUSIC (Burkholder, Chapter 26)
Tu. 9/15: NO CLASS
Fri., 9/18: Liszt continued
Tu., 9/22: Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique, with special emphasis on movement five
UNIT THREE: ROMANTIC OPERA AND MUSICAL THEATER TO THE LATER NINETEENTH CENTURY (Burkholder, Chapters 27 and 28)
Fri., 9/25: Weber, opera Der Freischütz,“Wolf’s glen scene“ (finale to Act Two)
Tu., 9/29: NO CLASS: Brandeis Monday
Fri., 10/2: Verdi, opera La Traviata, ending of opera
UNIT FOUR: LATE ROMANTICISM IN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA AND DIVERGING TRADITIONS IN THE LATER NINETEENTH CENTURY (Burkholder, Chapters 29 and 30)
Tu., 10/6: Wagner, opera Tristan und Isolde, Prelude and ending of Act One
Fri., 10/9: Brahms, Quintet in F minor for Piano and Strings, first movement ; Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique,” third movement.
Tu., 10/13: Mahler, song cycle Kindertotenlieder, first song, „Nun will die Sonn so hell aufgeh’n“ and Hugo Wolf, song *„Mühvoll komm‘ ich und beladen“ from the Spanisches Liederbuch. Read about Mahler and Strauss in Burkholder, Ch. 32, pp. 778-790
MIDTERM Friday, October 16
UNIT FIVE: THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY (Burkholder, Chapter 32)
Tu., 10/20: Debussy, *Prelude: „Afternoon of a faun“
Fri., 10/23: Debussy continued: Video performance of “Afternoon of a faun”
UNIT SIX: RADICAL MODERNISTS (Burkholder, Chapter 33)
Tu., 10/27: Alban Berg, *Sonata for Piano
Fri., 10/30: Schoenberg, *Piano piece, Op. 11 no. 1, and two movements from the Suite for piano, Op. 25 (Prelude and Menuet)
Tu., 11/3: Webern, Symphony, first movement
Fri., 11/6: Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring, with special emphasis on the first, second and last movements; Video performance of The Rite of Spring either today or Tuesday
Tu., 11/10: Stravinsky, Symphony of Psalms, first movement
Fri., 11/13: Bartok, Music for Strings Percussion and Celesta, *first movement
Tu., 11/17: Ives, song “General William Booth enters Heaven”; *Crawford, String Quartet, fourth movement
UNIT SEVEN: BETWEEN THE WORLD WARS (Burkholder, Chapter 35)
Fri., 11/20: Copland, Appalachian Spring, with video performance
UNIT EIGHT: POSTWAR HEIRS TO THE CLASSICAL TRADITION
Tu., 11/24: Babbitt,*Semi-simple Variations for piano
Fri., 11/27: NO CLASS
Tu., 12/1: Carter, No. 2 from *“A mirror on which to dwell”
Fri., 12/4: TBA
Tu., 12/8: TBA
FINAL EXAM TBA