MUSC 263 Western Music and Culture: 1830 to the Present
This course picks up where MUSC 261 leaves off, with the emergence of musical Romanticism and, with it, an understanding of music, composer, and audience that still informs listening practices today. After surveying the music of the first generation of Romantic composers (with special attention to the music of Fryderyk Chopin), we turn to Richard Wagner’s music and writings and how they shaped the rise of modernism in music, with its new forms, genres, styles, and pitch systems. We then take up jazz, the radical experimentation of the 1920s ultra-modernists, and music under fascism. Thereafter, we study all subsequent major musical developments, through to post-minimalism and hip hop. Throughout, we will be alert to the political, philosophical, and cultural forces shaping the music at issue. This course may be used by Music majors to fulfill the College-wide Second-Stage Writing Requirement. Prerequisite: MUSC 101 or permission of instructor.
Prerequisite
MUSC 101 or permission of instructor
Core Requirements Met
- Global Connections
- Fine Arts