MUSI 342 - Medieval to Mozart

This course traces the development of Western art music from its beginnings in the monophonic chant of early Christianity, through the development of polyphonic vocal genres in the Renaissance (mass, motet, madrigal), to the emergence of opera in Italy around 1600 and the stylistic revolution that we now call the Baroque (including the musical life of the extravagant court of France’s Louis XIV and Johann Sebastian Bach’s synthesis of multi-national Baroque styles), to the multi-movement instrumental works and operatic genres of the later Baroque and Classical styles. Its central aims are: 1) to understand the place of music in social and cultural life in these particular times and places, 2) to gain an appreciation of the musical style and rhetorical devices that characterize each of the periods we study, and 3) to develop students’ abilities in communicating, in writing and the spoken word, what they learned about this music and the culture in which it was produced. Course activities will include lectures, musical analyses, performances, and discussion of assigned listening and reading. Lectures will introduce key terms and concepts and will address broader concerns of social-cultural life. In-class analysis and performance will lead to a more detailed understanding of key works. Examinations will test students’ retention of course listening and lecture/reading material. The course assumes no historical knowledge of the periods in question. However, basic skills in score reading and musical analysis are necessary in order to get the most possible out of it. Fall semester. (4 Credits)