We
begin our journey through music history with the two towering figures of the
Baroque Era: Bach and
Handel. Their music epitomizes the grandiose extravagance and
complexity of the Baroque aesthetic through the use of polyphony (many sounds) -
the interweaving of parallel strands of melody in instrumental and choral
music. Handel delighted audiences with his flamboyant opera and then oratorio
masterpieces, while Bach's scholarly approach united the intellectual and
emotional drives of the human spirit. Contemporaries at the height of the
Baroque, one Catholic, the other staunchly Lutheran, their music carries distinctive
musical signatures that makes one distinguishable from the other.
The
Classical masters, Haydn
and Mozart, bring us to the Age of Reason, and a simpler mode
of musical expression emphasizing clarity, order, and above all,taste. Different in lifestyles,
personality, and modi operandi, their
music might sound rather similar, but closer analysis reveals quite distinct
differences.
In the third tutorial we discover how Beethoven, a Child
of Revolution, propelled music from the refined exclusive salons of the
Enlightenment into the turbulent Sturm
und Drang - and public arena - of Romanticism, while Brahms, the arch-conservative, couched Romantic expression in
Classical forms. We will explore the musical differences of these brilliant
German structuralists, and their unique, personal modes of musical expression.
In
the fourth tutorial we meet three quintessential Romantics: Chopin, Tchaikovskyand Liszt,and their individualistic, emotionally-charged styles of composition and
musical expression.
The
course concludes with the Post-Romantics, Mahler and Richard Strauss, composers
who, in their adventurous handling of harmony, texture and orchestration, paved
the way for the cataclysmic musical events of the early twentieth century. Both
were significant in contributing much to the art of conducting, and brought to
their scores their own distinctive musical language.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Tutorial 1:
Baroque Masters: Bach and Handel
Tutorial 2:
The Classicists: Haydn and Mozart
Tutorial 3:
German Classico-Romantics: Beethoven
and Brahms
Tutorial 4:
Arch-Romantics: Chopin, Tchaikovsky
and Liszt
Tutorial 5:
Post-Romantic conductor-symphonists: Mahler and Richard Strauss
Website: https://joiedevivremagazine.com/lectures
Background reading list:
Donald Jay Grout: A History of Western Music
Nicholas Kenyon: Bach
The Master Musician Series: JS Bach, GF
Handel, WA Mozart, FJ Haydn, L von Beethoven, J Brahms, F Chopin, PI
Tchaikovsky, F Liszt, G Mahler, R Strauss.
John Warrick: Tchaikovsky
Any general, illustrated history of "Classical”
music books
Please bring a notebook and pen
