This course will offer a history of European art music from the early Middle Ages to the present day. Featured composers will include Hildegard, Machaut, Strozzi, Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, Stravinsky, Beach, and Cage. Students will relate course content to art, architecture, and literature of the periods, as well as to major economic and historical events. We will explore the technical workings of music and together build a vocabulary for analyzing music and articulating a response to it; music will be interpreted as a cultural phenomenon. By the end of the semester, students should be equipped for a lifetime of informed listening. |