Muh 2018: Music History at the Movies

Professor Carmelo Comberiati
Music Department
Email: comberiatic@mville.edu
Voice Mail: (914) 323-5252
Music Building, Room 114
Intersession, 2010

	Go to Course Requirements
	Go to Class Outline and Assignments
	Go to Music Resources on the Internet

MUH 2018: Music History at the Movies

Course Requirements
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1. Attendance at all sessions
2. Listening Assignments
3. Reading Assignments
4. Field Trip and Worksheet (January 16)
5. First project (due January 14)
7. Second project (due January 25)

The main activities of the course will be listening to music, viewing films, and reading biography. We will analyze three musical masterpieces by Chopin, Mozart, and Beethoven, and we will examine popular and scholarly biography by viewing popular films and comparing information about the composers' lives to academic sources. On January 16, the class will meet in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for viewing of materials in that collection related to world music. A museum worksheet will be completed on site, due the following Tuesday. Two written projects will be required based upon the class materials. No musical background is required for the class, just an interest in music and biography.

There will be fees required to cover the museum visit (Approximately $7.00).
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Required Texts:
J.W.N. Sullivan. Beethoven: His Spiritual Development. (New York, 1960);
H. C. Robbins Landon. 1791: Mozart's Last Year. (New York, 1988).

Grading
Part. & Attendance 20%
Class Projects 60%
New York City Trip 20%

Site accessed times since 10/19/2009
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"What should I be listening for?" This question cannot be answered specifically, because as music lovers you should be listening to all stylistic factors that will help you form a critical judgment about a composer and his or her work. As initial guidelines, however, you may wish to consider the following questions to ask yourself. Remember that these works are famous works that deserve to be part of your knowledge.

	What is the meaning of the text? What language is being sung? What does the composer do to project or enhance the meaning of the text?
	How has the composer cooperated with a librettist to produce meaningful drama?
	How would you characterize the texture of the music--complex? simple? melody and accompaniment?
	What role does repetition play in the formal pattern? Does the piece adhere to a traditional formal structure (recitative, aria, etc.)?
	Is the piece composed idiomatically for the performing forces?
	What performing forces are present? Do these help to identify the work?
	In instrumental music, are there distinctive elements of scoring present (many passages for solo instruments, separation of choirs of different sonority, etc.)?
	How would you characterize the harmony? Chromatic? Diatonic?
	What other techniques, or striking details of any kind, give the piece its identity (e.g., dynamic contrasts, leitmotivs, rhythmic detail, etc.)?

Course Outline and Reading Assignments

Date	Reading	Composer/Topic	Work/Film
1/5, 1/6	Landon: Chaps. II, IV, VII, XI-XIII	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	Requiem
1/7, 1/8	Mozart On Line	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	Amadeus
1/11, 1/12, 13	Metropolitan Museum On Line	Ethnomusicology	"What's Up Doc"
1/14		First Project due: Mozart's Last Year
1/16 (Meet at Museum at 10:00 AM) 1/19		New York Trip to Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum Project due
1/14, 1/15, 1/19	Sullivan: Chaps. 1-4, 6, 8-10 Beethoven On Line	Ludwig van Beethoven	Symphony No. 9 in D Minor
1/20, 1/21	George Sand On Line	Ludwig van Beethoven Frédéric Chopin and Gendered Music	Immortal Beloved Character Pieces Bach/Gounod, Ave Maria sung by Alessandro Moreschi
1/22	Chopin Society On Line	Frédéric Chopin	Impromptu
1/25 (due at noon)		Second Project due: Beethoven and His Relationships or Gendered Music

Learning Objectives: MUH 2018: Music History at the Movies provides an introduction to appreciating music in the concert tradition. It also introduces some basic repertoire and an overview of the historical eras of music in the western art tradition . This broad entry level course will introduce students to the following Music Department Learning Objectives:

Objective II: Critical Thinking and Aural Analysis

By learning to examine pieces within specific historical and cultural contexts, and learning to ask questions about the style, context, and function for historical understanding, performance or transmission of ideas to others.

By developing the ability to compare and contrast major works in history of music.

Objective VI: Develop a Global Outlook

By understanding the role of religion, socio-economic, and political factors in influencing music.

Music Resources on the Internet

The Metropolitan Museum of Art web page describes resources at the Met including the music instrument materials.

The American Musicological Society web page contains links to many music organizations, as well the most comprehensive list of both classical and popular music on the web.

The Library of Congress often has music exhibits, currently including music at the Vatican.

Go to Manhattanville College Main Page

	By learning to examine pieces within specific historical and cultural contexts, and learning to ask questions about the style, context, and function for historical understanding, performance or transmission of ideas to others.
	By developing the ability to compare and contrast major works in history of music.