Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mozart and Haydn (MUS 221)
Tuesdays & Thursdays 11:30-12:45
Prof. Sprague

January 27, 2006 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is appropriate then that Mozart and Haydn will focus on the life and music of not only one of the great geniuses of Western Art Music, but also his contemporary and friend Franz Joseph Haydn. This course will explore how events and the environment in which they worked shaped their artistic output.

No prerequisites. Fulfills core requirements (fine arts)

The American Musical Theatre (MUS 223)
Tuesdays & Thursdays 11:30-12:45
Prof. Lawing

MUS 233 is a historical survey of American musical theatre. While it will extend back into pre-twentieth-century influences, and include some examples of European influence, its primary focus will be the Broadway musical. The class will begin by examining the various components - the book, the lyrics, the music, the characters - that must work together to create a successful musical. These components will be our basic points of reference throughout the semester. While many works will be examined and discussed, the class will at the same time focus upon a smaller group of representative works that will be analyzed in greater detail.

No prerequisites. Fulfills core requirements (fine arts)

Carmen says, "Mauro's course is
Magnifíco! "

Music of Brazil (MUS 246)
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 8:30-9:45
Prof. Botelho

Music of Brazil is a historical survey of cultivated and vernacular traditions of Brazilian music from colonial times to the present. This course examines sacred and secular colonial music, the barroco mineiro, nationalist and non-nationalist concert-hall music, urban popular genres, modernismo and the avant-garde, samba, bossa nova, MPB, tropicália,candomblé, capoeira, jazz, rock, and rap. Although this course emphasizes somewhat the music of the concert hall and urban popular music — a bias that reflects the current state of historical inquiry, musicological research, and especially recording industry practice — we will also touch upon the music of Aboriginal populations, rural areas, and folk traditions.

No prerequisites. Fulfills core requirements (fine arts), cultural diversity, and ethnic studies concentration (Latin-American track)

One musical canon: the gold record
sent on the Voyager 1 (1977)

Music History II: After 1800 (MUS 328)
Tuesdays & Thursdays 10:00-11:15
Prof. Lerner

This course will survey the so-called cultivated musical traditions of western Europe and the United States from 1800 until, roughly, the present. Much of what is known as the canon of “art” music comes from this repertoire (see, for example, the play list at WDAV or the typical programming of the Charlotte Symphony). But who, if anyone, is listening now? And why? What can we learn about earlier cultures by studying this music? Beethoven and the others (e.g., Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Wieck, Hensel, etc.) began doing things composers had never done before, taking their music as often gravely serious utterances while thrilling and captivating generations of listeners with their innovations in form, harmony, and timbre. Yet a curious thing happens: as we progress chronologically, much of the concert hall music becomes less palatable to audiences, who respond first with criticism but then, more deafeningly, not at all. As Tolstoy asked of the depressed Rachmaninov, after hearing him play some of his piano works: “Does anybody need music like that?” Since so much of the twentieth century in music was spent responding to the nineteenth century (with but a few exceptions, like jazz), this course will consider the two centuries as a more or less connected period. Learn how to amaze your friends and patrons at cocktail parties by distinguishing between romanticism, postromanticism, modernism, and postmodernism. Work will include: quizzes, mid-term review, essay, and final. Fun part will include: nineteenth-century opera; lost words to melodies by Stravinsky and Strauss; and repeated answers to the question of minimalism.

Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard
Herrmann hard at work

Herrmann and Hitchcock (MUS 380/CIS 421)
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 1:00-2:15
Screenings Wednesdays, 7:00 PM
Prof. Lerner

The extraordinarily fruitful collaboration of Bernard Herrmann (1910-1975) and Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) from 1955-66 remains one of the more remarkable achievements in film and music history. Not only did it yield some of Hitchcock’s most daring films and Herrmann’s best-known scores—Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960)—but their apparently complementary aesthetic vision was achieved in spite of their often conflicting personalities. Beginning with The Trouble with Harry (1955), Hitchcock employed no other composer until the two parted suddenly and acrimoniously in 1966, following Hitchcock’s rejection of Herrmann’s score for Torn Curtain. The end of the collaboration, as scholars have often noted, marked the end of both men’s most productive period, and although both continued to work, neither regained the critical plaudits or popular acclaim that they formerly enjoyed.

This seminar will concentrate on the nine films and film scores stemming from this remarkable team, striving for close readings of the films as well as reflection upon what we can learn from their collaborative process. After an introductory section on each man, where we will read, watch, and listen to examples of their earlier work, we will then proceed chronologically through their nine films, ending with a brief examination of their legacy for future filmmakers and composers (i.e., Williams/Spielberg, Elfman/Burton, etc.). Student responsibilities will include: weekly reading and listening assignments; weekly screenings; some short papers and class presentations leading up to one longer seminar paper.

Prerequisite: Permission of instructor. Normally students will have had at least one prior semester of college-level music or film study.