OVERVIEW

The course can be taken 

- complete (9 CFU for 54 class hours) 

- only part I (6 CFU for 36 class hours)

Part I: European music from Bach to Brahms: a journey from Baroque to Romantic Age

Part II: Smiling on the brink of a precipice: Ravel, Strauss and Puccini 1911-17 

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims at offering a guide to main styles and forms of musical theatre and instrumental music, considered in the

chronological development of history of music.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims at providing the student with the capabilities to understand symbols and meanings of musical language, increasing the awareness of the numerous relationships between music, literature, arts and sciences. The main assumption of the course is that the knowledge and competence about genres, forms and authors from the history of western music completes significantly the cultural preparation of any student of humanities. By the end of the course students will be able to understand a significant time span of the history of western music, having developed tools to understand musical language which could be applied also to other contexts. 

TEACHING METHODS

Class lessons with CD and DVD examples.

The class will be invited to attend concerts and operas on stage in Genoa, when related to the course program, including Puccini's La rondine at the Teatro Carlo Felice.

Attending class is strongly recommended.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course might be chosen in a 6 or 9 (6+3) credit format.

No specific background in music is required.

Part I (6 credits) will enquire the development of Western Music 1680 to 1890, from late Baroque to the Romantic age. The general outline of that historical period will be regularly exemplified in class through CDs and DVDs, leading students to a solid knowledge of styles, genres and main composers of Western Music from Bach to Brahms. The course will explore four seasons of European Music: Baroque, Galant, Classic and Romantic styles. 

Part II (3 CFU) offers a glimpse on three masterpieces of european opera - Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss, L'heure espagnole by Maurice Ravel and La rondine by Giacomo Puccini - composed at the eve of the huge tragedy of World War I.

Students will face three very different approaches to musical comedy at the time of the belle époque, showing how distant languages (neoclassicism, exotism, operette) have been employed, in different aesthetic contexts, to achieve comedy. 

The three operas are going to be considered on the background of the broader 1890-1918 season. 

The course is going to be completed by the performance of Puccini's La rondine at the Teatro Carlo Felice the class is going to attend. 

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Readings in English (see page in Italian for Readings in Italian)

Part 1 (6 CFU)

1. J.A. Rice, Music in the Eighteenth Century, Norton, 2013 (all)

2. W. Frish, Music in the Nineteenth Century, Norton, 2013,  p. 1-194.

Part 2 (3 CFU)

1. Libretto, DVD or CD recording (+ score for those who can read music) of

- Richard Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier

- Maurice Ravel, L'heure espagnole

- Giacomo Puccini, La rondine

Books are normally available at the University Library, via Balbi 2, 3rd floor.

Listening experience during the preparation to the exam is strongly recommended. CDs and DVDs are also available at the same library. 

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

RAFFAELE MELLACE (President)

SIMONA MORANDO

STEFANO FERNANDO VERDINO

LESSONS

LESSONS START

October 18 ottobre 2017

I semester (36 h.) (Part I)

II semester (18 h.) (Part II)

Class schedule

HISTORY OF MUSIC

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral Exam.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The exam will consist in an oral interview on the course program and its bibliography. Students will be tested on (instrumental and vocal) genres and forms, styles and main authors of the portion of history of music considered in the course program, paying specific attention to the evolution of each style.

Students will be tested on the knoledge of the course programme (topics discussed in class, readings taken from the bibliography or uploaded in the course "aulaweb"), on their capabilities in discussing the course topics and in the accuracy in employing the specific language.

The knowledge of notes taken at class will by no means considered enough.

Exam schedule