MusL 243 Syllabus:

Music of the Baroque and Classic Eras

Fall 2003, MWF 10:10-11:00, Blair Rm ????

Information, Policies and Grading

Professor Cyrus:

Office: Blair Rm 2104

Phone 322-7693 or msg 322-7651; home phone: 662-8514

E-mail address: Cynthia.Cyrus@vanderbilt.edu

Office Hours: Mondays 11:00-12:00, Thursdays 8:30-9:30 and by appointment

Course Objectives

By the end of the semester, the student should be able to:

• identify each composition aurally or visually
• evaluate it in relation to a "typical" example of its genre
• appraise the impact of cultural or biographical considerations on its composition
• defend or dispute its place in the canon

Grades

40% Formal 12-15 page paper

10% two critiques of scholarly methodologies (5% each)

20% discussion days (usually Wednesdays) plus 5 journal entries preparing or responding to the discussion

10% repertoire quizzes

20% final exam

Disabilities

Academic Honesty

For this course, you are bound by the terms of the Vanderbilt Honor System. Any breach of academic honesty, including cheating, plagiarism, or failing to report a known or suspected violation of the Code will be reported to the Honor Council. In particular, creative work including papers and web presentations must assign credit to the sources you use. Material borrowed from another--quotations, paraphrases, key words, or ideas--must be credited following appropriate citation procedures (footnotes and bibliography).

Other policies are listed on the paper syllabus

Course Outline

• Opera (madrigal to monody; Florentine camerata; The Paying Public)

  What is the canon and who gets to choose?

  Critique: Monteverdi methodologies

  Farinelli the movie: pro and con

  Rant: performers matter

• Other vocal genres: secular cantata, concerted motet, sacred cantata, oratoria

  What makes a genre? how is it defined?

  Rant: 30 year's war, printing and poverty--it's all about money!

• It's ALL about Louis XIV (Lully, clavicinists, etiquette, dance; Qchristina in Rome)

  Rant: Louis XIV was the center of the universe

• Instrumental genres (ricercare to fugue; toccata; chorale; sonata; concerto)

  Tous les matins du monde: should/do historical movies educate?

  What makes a good performance?

  Rant: Germany as the cultural capital of the Baroque (?)

• J.S. Bach (bio and genre)
• Galant and "pre-Classical"

  Are periods useful?

  Rant: What kinds of music matter? (Isabelle de Charriere...)

• Biography (Haydn, Minor masters, methods, Beethoven)

  Critique of Biography and its methods

  Does biography matter?

• Operatic Reform

  If we were to stage Don Giovanni: performance decisions

  Rant: Mozartean Myths

• Instrumental Repertory (orchestral genres and chamber music)

  Why Vienna?

  What is the canon and who gets to choose>

• Final exam: Saturday December 13th at 3:00