MUSIC and the VISUAL ARTS (FA 49D.01) SYLLABUS Lecturer: Rana Gediz İren ([email protected]) Spring 2021 Wednesdays, 2-5Pm
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MUSIC AND THE VISUAL ARTS (FA 49D.01) SYLLABUS Lecturer: Rana Gediz İren ([email protected]) Spring 2021 Wednesdays, 2-5pm Course Description This course gives a broad overview of Western art music (a.k.a. Classical Music) from the Middle Ages to our times, using an interdisciplinary approach. The course will concentrate on the masterpieces of music from each time period, which will be studied within their historical and cultural contexts and in relation to the representative examples of visual arts (painting, sculpture and architecture in particular) of their times. The class aims to awaken and encourage an appreciation of Western art music and to allow students to draw comparisons and enjoy the connections between different art forms. No previous musical knowledge is needed. Course Objectives • Learn new musical repertoire and new pieces of visual art • Grasp the historical trajectory of both Western art music and of the visual arts • Learn how to think critically of arts as dynamic cultural products Course Material Musical examples will be heard and videos will be watched in each class. I will assign readings or some listening as homework most weeks. None of this will take more than half an hour of your time per week. Required Reading Joseph Kerman and Gary Tomlinson, Listen, 7th edition, Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, 2011. Craig Wright, The Essential Listening to Music, 6th edition, Cengage Learning, 2013. E. H. Gombrich, The Story of Art, Phaidon Press. Evaluation 1. Mid-term exam (25%) 2. Final exam (25%) 3. Two assignments (50%) (25% each) Assignments: 1. A Response Paper (2 pages) on an online classical music concert, which will be assigned to you (25%). If anyone has a chance to attend a live classical music concert this term, they can do the Response Paper on that concert. 2. A Response Paper (2 pages) on the exhibitions “For Eyes that Listen” and “Rainforest V” at ARTER in Istanbul (25%). For those of you who are not in Istanbul, alternatives will be discussed individually. These assignments are given to enrich your experiences of live art productions, and provide you with a chance to express your own thoughts and ideas. I therefore strongly urge you to refrain from plagiarism. Exams: There will be an online mid-term exam on Week 7 and an online final exam at the end of term. The mid-term exam will cover all material presented until the exam; the final exam everything after the mid-term exam (but drawing on what you should have assimilated through the entire course). The exams will consist of: 1. A listening section, for which a list will be given a week before each exam. 2. A multiple choice section. If you miss the mid-term exam, a make-up exam can only be offered if you provide a Doctor’s report. If you miss the final exam without notification or an explanation, your grade for the class will be submitted as NP. Course Policies If the course has to be delivered online this term, we will use Moodle and Zoom as learning platforms. We will do 3 consecutive Zoom sessions for each class, each of 40 minutes. We will take breaks when it makes sense to break-up, so you should make sure you are totally available during the assigned period. Course schedules reflecting what we will cover that week will be available for each weeks’ class on Moodle, but please be aware that I will not record and post classes, nor put slides on Moodle. It is therefore essential that you attend the class and take notes. Most weeks a reading will be assigned, and you are expected to read this. As this is a multidisciplinary course, no book alone will cover the entire course material. You are advised to read the chapter on each period for both visual arts and music of the relevant books listed above as required reading, but you will only be examined on the material covered in class. Please raise questions and offer comments at any time by using the chat function on Zoom or, if I cannot see your question, then by unmuting yourselves. Class Schedule (This schedule is only indicative and intends to give you a flavour of the class. Not all pieces will be covered if the course is held online this term, as using the full 3 hours can be too tiring for all. The shortened schedules for each class will be posted on Moodle each week.) Class 1 : Introduction: Syllabus and course overview Introduction, discussion of syllabus, course overview. Reflect on the common elements and differences between visual arts and music. The beginnings – Greek and Roman heritage. Basic introduction to the elements of music: Instrumentation, Harmony Tonality, Melody, Rhythm and Metre. Listening: Excerpts from: Ø Promenade. 1. The Gnome from Pictures at an Exhibiton, Modest Mussorgsky (1874) Ø The Sugar Plum Fairy, Act II, from The Nutcracker, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1892) Ø Epitaph of Seikilos, (1st Century) Ø Stasimon of Orestes, (5th Century BC) Ø Bolero, Maurice Ravel (1928) Class 2 : The Middle Ages The role of the church in arts - a highly religious art, characterised by iconographic paintings illustrating scenes from the Bible, manuscript illumination, church architecture and sculpture. Gregorian chant, development of notation in churches and monasteries. Architecture of Gothic cathedrals and the parallels between the development of Gothic architecture and polyphony in France. Ars subtilior. Listening: Ø Anonymous, Gregorian Chant Puer Natus est Nobis Ø Anonymous, Gregorian Chant Ut Queant Laxis Ø Anonymous, Gregorian Chant Viderunt omnes Ø Leoninus, Viderunt omnes (Notre Dame de Paris) (c. 1160) Ø Perotinus, Viderunt omnes (Notre Dame de Paris) (c. 1198) Ø Guillaume de Machaut, Kyrie from the Messe de Notre Dame (Cathedral de Reims) (c. 1364) Ø Baude Cordier, Belle, Bonne, Sage (14th C.) Ø Baude Cordier, Tout par compass (14th C.) Ø Jacob Senleches, La harpe de melodie (14th C.) Class 3 : The Renaissance The Renaissance in arts and its reflection to music in Italy. Court patronage, co-existence of musicians, architects and artists. Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. Architects Alberti, Brunelleschi and Bramante. Guillaume Dufay’s Nuper Rosarum Flores and the Cathedral of Florence. ‘Cori Spezzati': Venetian Polychoral Music. Palladio’s villas in the Veneto. The Sistine Chapel in the Vatican and Palestrina and de Victoria’s music. Listening: Ø Anonymous, Bella gerit Ø Guillaume Dufay, Nuper Rosarum Flores (1436) Ø Guillaume Dufay, Lamentatio sanctae matris ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (1454) Ø Heinrich Isaac, Quis dabit capiti meo aquam (Lament on the death of Lorenzo de' Medici) (1492) Ø Jacques Arcadelt, Il Bianco e dolce cigno (The White and Sweet Swan) (b. 1538) Ø Josquin des Prez, Ave Maria…Virgo serena (c.1475) Ø Josquin des Prez, Missa Pange Lingua - Kyrie (1515) Ø Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Missa Papae Marcelli - Kyrie (1557) Ø Tomas Luis de Victoria, O magnum mysterium (1572) Ø Giovanni Gabrieli, Salvator Noster a 15 voci, in 3 cori (Our Saviour for 15 voices in 3 choirs) (b. 1615) Class 4 : The Baroque Period I: Early Baroque - The birth of Opera, Oratorio and Cantata. Italian court patronage, the academies and the development of monody. Drama, movement and expressivity in visual arts: Caravaggio, Velazquez, Bernini, Borromini. New musical genres in the early 1600s in Italy: Music for the courts (opera and cantata) and music for the prayer hall (oratorio). Public Opera in the 17th Century in Venice. The French Tragedie en musique in the context of Louis IVth's palaces and André Le Notre’s garden designs for Versailles and Chantilly. Listening: Ø Excerpts from Claudio Monteverdi, Orfeo (1607) o Toccata o Vi ricorda o boschi ombrosi o Ahi, caso acerbo! o Tu sei morta o E la virtute un raggio Ø Monteverdi or colleague, Pur ti Miro from L’Incoronazione di Poppea (1642) Ø Giacomo Carissimi, Historia di Jephta (1648) Ø Francesco Cavalli, Giasone, Delizie contente (1649) Ø Luigi Rossi, Lamento d’Arione (c.1635) Ø Jean-Baptiste Lully, Armide (1686) o Ouverture o Enfin il est en ma puissance Act 2, Scene 5 o Les plaisirs ont choisi pour asile Act 5, Scene 2 Class 5 : The Baroque Period II: The High Baroque Music for different performance contexts and spaces, the different cases of J.S Bach, Vivaldi and Handel. Vivaldi in Venice at the Pietà. J.S. Bach in Weimar, Köthen and Leipzig. Handel’s music for the Opera and the conception of Oratorios for London. Listening: Ø Antonio Vivaldi, Gloria in excelsis Deo 1st Mov. (1715) Ø Antonio Vivaldi, Four Seasons, Spring 1st Mov. Op. 8 RV 269 (c. 1720) Ø Antonio Vivaldi, Four Seasons, Winter 1st Mov. Op. 8 RV 269 (c. 1720) Ø Antonio Vivaldi, from Farnace, Gelido in ogni veno (Frozen in every vein) (1727) Ø J.S. Bach, The Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 (c. 1710) Ø J.S. Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major, 1st Mov. BWV 1049 (1721) Ø J.S. Bach, Ich habe genug, BWV 82 (1727) Ø J.S. Bach, Matthaus Passion, Erbarme Dich BWV 82 (1727) Ø Georg Friderich Handel, Rinaldo (1711) § Cara Sposa § Lascia ch'io pianga Ø Georg Friderich Handel, Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Julius Ceasar) V’adoro Pupille (I adore you, pupils) (1724) Ø Georg Friderich Handel, Hallelujah chorus from the Messiah HWV 56 (1742) Class 6 : Classical Period The Enlightenment, balance, clarity and elegance in music, parallel to Neoclassical art and architecture, including Canova’s sculptures and Jacques-Louis David's paintings. Sonata, symphony and the sonata form. Haydn’s early symphonies composed at the Esterhazy Palace (Neoclassical Architecture). Mozart, the piano concerto and the Singspiel.