Special Topics Courses and Seminars Offered by the Musicology Faculty
Academic Year 2007–08
(Times subject to change; see quarterly updates. Course prerequisites below.)

Fall

16-HILT-661 (3 U or 3 G, call number 406586): Composer Topics: “Josquin des Prez: Prince of Musicians” (Schlagel, TH 11:00-12:20). Josquin des Prez is among the most famous and most often studied composers of the Renaissance. In this course we will learn the new Josquin biography and the revised chronology of his output, and we will study his Mass, motet, and chanson output with particular attention to his variety of compositional styles and strategies. We will also consider his impact on later generations. Other topics that we will explore along the way include reading mensural notation, modern editorial techniques, the use of musica ficta, Renaissance modal theory, and performance practices.

16-HILT-662 (3 U or 3 G, call no. 406552): Genre Topics: “Text Setting from the Structuralist Perspective” (Nowacki, MWF 1:00-1:50). In conservatories, examination of the relations between words and music is a familiar component of musical analysis, along with analysis of form, harmony, and style. Yet these analyses are often mired in shallow, pre-structuralist routine, pointing out cases of word-painting and the responsiveness of the music to the phonetic properties-especially the accentuation-of the words. They neglect the syntactical (i.e., non-lexical, non-phonetic) aspects of the relation between words and music. The course will attempt to remedy this situation by reviewing the theory of structuralism and examining case-studies from the whole history of music, including the Gregorian eighth-mode tracts, the chansons of Dufay, the madrigals of Rore, selected works of Verdi, and selected songs of Schubert.

16-HILT-845 (3 G, call no. 406558): Nineteenth-Century Advanced Topics: “The Lied and Mélodie in the Nineteenth Century ” (Kregor, TH 9:30-10:50). An exploration of the art song as cultivated in Germany (Lied) and France (mélodie) during the long nineteenth century. Issues of text-music relationship, cyclicity, performance practice, and cross-fertilization with other genres will be considered using representative works by Schubert, R. Schumann, Clara Wieck Schumann, Berlioz, Gounod, Brahms, Wolf, Fauré, Debussy, and Schoenberg. Analysis through in-class performances will be encouraged.

16-HILT-982 (4 G, call no. 406564): Seminar in Musicology: “Neo-classical Stravinsky” (Joe, W 2:00-4:50). In this seminar, we will study neo-classical elements in Stravinsky's aesthetics of music and his compositions. Works to be analyzed will encompass a wide range of genres-stage, symphonic, and chamber works. Readings will be selected from both primary sources, such as his autobiography, Poetics of Music, and other writings in collaboration with Robert Craft, and various secondary sources, including Theodor Adorno's Philosophy of Modern Music and many studies by Richard Taruskin. Among other issues to be examined are Stravinsky's treatment of language in vocal compositions and his attitude toward technology and popular culture.

Winter

16-HILT-662 (3 U or 3 G, call no. 507098): Genre Topics: “German Romantic Opera” (Boyd, MWF 11:00-11:50).This course explores the development of German Romantic opera from the turn of the nineteenth century up to 1850. Although we will examine some of the warhorses of the repertory (Fidelio, Der fliegende Holländer), we will also look at some lesser-known works by Marschner, Lortzing, Schubert and R. Schumann. Our aim is to work toward an understanding of this multivalent, fluid genre in its historical, musical, and cultural context.

16-HILT-848 (3 G, call no. 507103): Music in Culture Advanced Topics: “Paris in the 1830s” (Kregor, TH 11:00-12:20). The 1830s marked one of the most concentrated periods of aesthetic and compositional achievement for music in the entire nineteenth century. In particular, Paris-saturated with artists, writers, and musicians from all corners of Europe-proved to be a particularly fertile environment for the likes of the Mendelssohns, Chopin, Liszt, Berlioz, Alkan, Meyerbeer, and Paganini. This course explores their contributions to the construction of the virtuoso and the modern recital, grand opera and program music, the idea of musical originality, and the myth of Beethoven.

16-MTHC-821 (3 G, call no. 507174): History of Theory: Antiquity and Middle Ages (Nowacki, TH 2:00-3:20). The theories of tuning, scale formation, transposition, and notation of ancient Greek writers, including Aristoxenus, Ptolemy, Cleonides, Aristides Quintilianus, and Boethius, and theories of the Latin ecclesiastical modes, especially as seen in the writings of Aurelian, Hucbald, Guido, Berno, Hermannus, and Johannes Cotto, and the anonymous Musica Enchiriadis and Alia Musica.

16-HILT-982 (4 G, call no. 507109): Seminar in Musicology: “Seventeenth-Century Opera: Sources and Interpretation” (Dubowy, W 2:00-4:50). In this seminar, a series of case studies will provide an introduction to research in seventeenth century opera and to recent approaches and methodologies. Special emphasis will be given to interpretation and the limits of interpretation as can best be seen in the case of Monteverdi's Incoronazione di Poppea and the debate over the meaning of this opera (Rosand, Fenlon, Carter, Heller). Italian opera is the core of the seminar but we will also look at cases from France, Germany and Spain. The analysis of operas from different countries and national cultures will provide an overview of national developments. Our main interest, however, lies in the exploration of the genre as a whole, as a cultural phenomenon and as a cultural practice.

Spring

16-HILT-662 (3 U or 3 G): Genre Topics: “The Instrumental Concerto from its Beginnings to Mozart” (Dubowy). This course will trace the history of the concerto from late 17th century experimentalism to the establishment of the form at the beginning of the 18th century and its mid-century transformation into the Classical concerto. We will consider the genre in all of its manifestations, including such types as the ensemble concerto and sinfonia concertante. While the course outlines the historical development of the genre, it also aims to include new interpretative aspects of the concerto, such as the contemporary theory of dramatic dialogue most recently applied to Mozart's piano concertos among others.

16-HILT-663 (3 U or G): Music in Culture Topics: “The Culture of Divas” (Joe).Composers and their works had long been the main focus in the area of music history. Over the past few decades, however, there has been a growing attention to performers. This course is designed to approach music history through the study of famous singers, their art of singing, and the distinctive cultures and fandom they have created. Divas to be examined will be selected from a broad spectrum of music history, ranging from Francesca Cuzzoni, Maria Malibran, and such castrati as Farinelli and Senesino to Maria Callas, Cecilia Bartoli, and such deviant divas as Florence Foster Jenkins. We will examine their biographical background and major issues discussed in the scholarship on divas, such as performance practice, reception history, and diva-worship as explored in gay and lesbian studies.

16-HILT-848 (3 G): Music in Culture Advanced Topics: “Reflections on Popular Music Culture, Criticism, and Analysis” (Boyd). This course explores some of the diverse methodological approaches, discussions and debates surrounding popular music culture, criticism and analysis, ranging from Elvis of the 1950s, to heavy metal, rap, and hip hop. Our interdisciplinary toolbox-sociology, feminist studies, media studies, musicology, music theory-will allow us to examine the phenomenon of popular music within a range of social contexts, and to apply a variety of analytical skills to music, lyrics, and images.

16-HILT-842 (3 G): Renaissance Advanced Topics: “Reconsidering the Early Renaissance” (Schlagel). In 1476 Tinctoris seemingly defined the beginnings of the musical Renaissance when he declared that “Nothing written more than forty years ago is worth listening to.” As a result, music historians have held on to the notion that the new harmonic language emphasizing “sweet” thirds and sixths defines a break from the past and the onset of the musical Renaissance. But could it have started earlier? By studying continuities and changes not just in harmonic language, but also in genres, compositional procedures and notational systems in the music of Vitry, Machaut, Ciconia, Dufay, Binchois, Ockeghem and others, along side religious, political, and artistic developments, we will challenge the conventional narrative of music history.

PRE-REQUISITES 

500- and 600-Level Topics Courses

Undergraduate: Completion of 16-HILT-111–113 and 211–213 or permission of the instructor.

Graduate: Passing grade on the relevant segment of the Music History Placement Exam or relevant segment of Graduate History Review, or permission of the instructor.

800-Level Advanced Topics Courses

Undergraduate: These courses are not open to undergraduates.

Graduate: Successful completion of Graduate Research and Writing (16-HILT-821) AND passing grade on either the relevant segment of the Music History Placement Exam or Graduate History Review, or permission of the instructor.

900-Level Seminars in Musicology

Open to M.M.-Music History and Ph.D.-Musicology students. Students in other doctoral programs by permission of the instructor.