A&H 195 A History of Western Music

Content

This course offers a broad, general introduction to the History of Western Music from the Middle Ages to Mod­ernism. The history of music is primarily a history of musical style and cannot be understood fully without first-hand know­ledge of the music itself. It therefore is essential to become acquainted with the sound of the music discussed and to be able to examine it more or less in its entirety. Therefore, the class will listen to a varie­ty of compositions in this course. Major Western composers and their works as well as develop­ments of the major genres and theories will be studied. Secondly, problems of interpretation and historical con­­text will be discussed. Questions such as the fol­low­ing will be dealt with: What do we know about an­cient music? What is the relationship between music and rhet­oric? Why do musicologists consider the Re­nais­sance as the Age of the Low Countries? Why is it impossible to un­der­stand works by composers such as Schütz, Bach, and Händel, without any theological knowledge? Are there con­nections between Mozart’s work and Free­masonry? What can be said about Wagner’s success within the context of the Third Reich?

Instructor

Prof. Dr. Albert Clement

Track

Music

Period

Fall / 2008

Required for

This course is required in order to take the following course:

• A&H 295 Music in Context