MUSI 343 - Romanticism and Nationalism

This course explores music of the European nineteenth century from two perspectives that together define the era. Romanticism is an aesthetic orientation that pits itself against Enlightenment and Classicism. Unlike the refined music of the eighteenth century, Romantic music (piano music, operas, even symphonies) sold itself to bourgeois audiences as wild, tuned to the supernatural, the transcendent, touched by madness, intoxicated by drugs, obsessed with sex. Meanwhile, these same cultural consumers, the bourgeoisie, were driven to identify themselves as national subjects, citizens of unique and independent cultural and political nations. National music sold itself as an expression of the spirit of a language community. In class, guided by listening and reading assignments, we will discuss the ways in which these two framing ideas shaped musical composition, performance, and audience listening habits, leading to changes in the way music was discussed in philosophical and political discourse. Prerequisite(s): MUSI 113 or permission of instructor. Every year. (4 Credits)