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Course Description

Summary

In this course we will acquaint ourselves with Igor Stravinsky's explosive early ballets, his stunning neoclassical middle period music and his final serial phase; and we will follow Arnold Schoenberg as he goes from a gorgeous late-nineteenth century idiom that grows out of Wagner and Brahms, to his freely atonal works, his invention of twelve-tone music, and additional works that continue to explore a highly original kind of tonality. In their very different ways, Schoenberg and Stravinsky were among the crucial shapers of the developing language of twentieth century music. By placing the trajectories of these two wonderful composers in tandem, we will have an angle through which to see the issues in art and life that they and their contemporaries faced, and an opportunity to discover both their differences and their commonalities. The course work will include notes on readings and listening assignments, papers, brief oral presentations, and one small creative assignment. Both music students and non-music students are welcome.