Newberry Seminars Chicago Interest Arts, Music, and Language
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WINTER / SPRING 2016 Newberry Seminars Chicago Interest Arts, Music, and Language Gilded Age Chicago Women The Keys to 400 Years of Keyboard Music Wednesdays, 5:45 - 7:45 pm Tuesdays, 2 - 4 pm February 17 - April 20 February 16 - April 19 In this seminar, we will utilize gender as a In “The Keys to 400 Years of Keyboard Music” lens through which to scrutinize an era that is our syllabus will comprise piano pieces by often associated with male titans of industry Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, the Schumanns, and their economic achievements. Framed Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, Debussy, by the Gilded Age’s oft-competing concepts Ravel, and Liszt; early Baroque keyboard works of capitalism and democracy, our historical by Couperin and Scarlatti; the output of such inquiries will seek to reexamine women’s roles nineteenth-century American composers as in the formation of social class structures and William Mason, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Chicago’s industrialization, urbanization, and and Stephen Foster; the offerings of such political struggles. Readings for the first session “popular” composers as Gershwin, Bernstein, will be distributed electronically; please refer to and Ellington; and finally some representative your registration confirmation for details. Ten twentieth-century works by Karlheinz sessions, $270. Stockhausen, Ruth Crawford Seeger, and Olivier Messiaen. Ten sessions, $270. LaShonda Barnett, a historian and novelist, writes short fiction and plays; she is the author of the 2015 Stephen Kleiman holds a BS degree from the Mannes historical novel Jam on the Vine, a Chicago College of Music and an MM degree in music composi- Tribune Editor’s pick. Raised in Park Forest, Illinois, tion from the University of Michigan. He has conducted she received her PhD in American Studies from the throughout Europe and the U.S., and his music has College of William and Mary. been performed in many countries. Mr. Kleiman has been teaching at the Newberry for 8 years. Chicago Roots Thursdays, 5:45 - 7:45 pm The French Correction: A Relaxed Approach March 3 - March 31 to le français (class will not meet March 24) Thursdays, 5:45 - 7:45 pm February 18 - April 28 While records such as birth certificates and (class will not meet March 24) marriage licenses can yield important insights for genealogists, knowing where to find a city’s Looking for an enjoyable way to start studying unique records can ease the process of tracking French or to improve your French pronunciation? down elusive ancestors. This seminar will This laid-back course, intended for students at cover research sources and strategies specific to any level of proficiency, will use the vocabulary Chicago in four lively, participatory sessions. The of fine food and wine to help you decode the final session will include time for brainstorming French spelling system and pronounce French solutions to participants’ Chicago-specific words more easily and accurately in a welcoming research problems. The class is designed for any classroom environment. Ten sessions, $270. level of researcher interested in the people of Susan Pezzino, a lifetime French-English bilingual Chicago’s past. Four sessions, $160. and former United States Fulbright Scholar, holds an Ginger Frere, MLIS, is a Newberry reference librarian MA in applied linguistics and works as a professional and professional researcher. language teacher and multimedia curriculum designer in Chicago. An illustration of the Womans Building from the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893. Registration opens January 12. The early registration deadline is February 6. Register online at www.newberry.org/adult-education-seminars or call (312) 255-3700. Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse: Twentieth-Century Music A Creative Dialogue Wednesdays, 2 - 4 pm Saturdays, 10 am - noon February 24 - April 13 February 20 - April 2 Twentieth-century music is no longer (class will not meet March 26) “contemporary” music; it has become yet Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse were the another complex and multifaceted notch along towering artistic geniuses of the first half of the the continuum of musical history. We can twentieth century, and their legacies are still now examine with reasonable objectivity the apparent. The two were friends and rivals, and influence and permanence of a diverse range of their artistic production reflects this competitive composers, from the once-radical (Schoenberg, spirit. This course will consider their careers Varese) to the once-reactionary (Rachmaninov, as artists and public figures by exploring the Copland), while also distinguishing the intersections – and the divergences – in their art various “-isms”: primitivism (Prokofiev, Orff), and in their words. For the first class, participants neoclassicism (Stravinsky, Les Six), minimalism, should read pages 1-26 and 30-43 in Jack Flam’s post-minimalism, and neo-spirituality Matisse on Art. Six sessions, $200. (Reich, Adams, Gorecki). We will also study those figures that defy classification, such as Margaret Farr is an art historian who has worked at Shostakovich, Britten, Bartok, and Hindemith. the Art Institute for 17 years and has taught at the Eight sessions, $240. Newberry, St. Xavier University, and Columbia College. John Gibbons, a music teacher and lecturer, holds a PhD in composition from the University of Chicago and Examining the Life and Works of is a long-time instructor at the Graham School. George Frideric Handel Saturdays, 1 - 2:30 pm Historical Bookbinding: February 20 - April 16 Three Specimens in Paper (class will not meet March 26) Wednesdays, 5:45 - 7:45 pm February 24 - March 23 Handel’s earliest biographer described him as a man with a “noble spirit of independency.” Plain and decorative papers have been Today, however, we might describe him as a incorporated into book coverings for centuries. hothead. Handel fought a duel with a leading From simple blue wrappers to more embellished German musician; he threatened to throw a paste, printed, and marbled designs, paper soprano out a window; and he evaded authorities has been both an economical and a beautiful to realize the performance of his works. This covering material for the protection of the class explores the composer’s colorful personality, printed book. This course will explore historical adventurous life, and engaging operatic works, designs and techniques and will present especially Agrippina (1709) and Giulio Cesare participants with the exciting opportunity to (1724). Eight sessions, $200. examine sixteenth- through nineteenth-century examples from the Newberry’s collection. Regina Compton holds a PhD in musicology from Participants will create model bindings with the Eastman School of Music; awarded the 2015 plain and patterned papers based on three of the International Handel Research Prize, her dissertation Newberry specimens. Five sessions, $170. There examines the simple recitative in Handel’s operas. will be an additional $20 materials fee payable at the first class session. Richard Wagner and the Ring Cycle Wednesdays, 2 - 4 pm Lesa Dowd is the Director of Conservation Services February 24 - April 13 for the Newberry. Outside of her daily work in conservation, she enjoys practicing the art of fine The musical dramas of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, bookbinding. She has studied French fine binding 15.5 hours in length, are among the most technique with Tini Miura and Monique Lallier. distinguished and enduring works of music in Western culture. Through listening and watching, we will explore the genesis and musicality of each of the cycle’s four operas: The Rhine Gold, The Valkyrie, Siegfried, and Twilight of the Gods. We will also study the performance history of these masterpieces, at Bayreuth and beyond. Eight sessions, $240. David Pituch completed his formal music studies at the University of Colorado and at Northwestern University. He was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship to the Musicology Institute of Warsaw University. He served as a co-director of a National Endowment for the Arts Seminar for College Professors held at New York University and in Bayreuth, Germany. Dr. Pituch has attended the Ring Cycle at the Bayreuth Festival on three wonderful occasions. An example of a bookbinding from the Newberry’s Ayer Collection. Great Movie Music from Greta Garbo to Exploring Medieval Music Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Thursdays, 2 - 4 pm Thursdays, 2 - 4 pm March 3 - April 7 February 25 - April 14 Driven by voice and tailored to specific settings, In this seminar, we will explore the development medieval music remains largely unexplored by of film music, from its inception to the 1960s. the modern listener. How can we appreciate the Originally appearing as mere background beauty of medieval music today? In this seminar, accompaniment, movie music was eventually we will listen to and discuss important music deployed to enhance atmosphere or elicit composed from the twelfth through the fifteenth emotional reactions from the audience. We centuries, from the bawdy and satirical pieces in will listen to and discuss music from some of the original Carmina Burana and the emotional the greatest early film composers, including expressions of courtly love of the troubadours, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Adolph Deutsch, to contemplative music composed for medieval Dmitri Shostakovich, Aaron Copland, and cathedrals. Short talks and discussions led by Bernard Herrmann, along with the incomparable the instructor will increase our understanding contributions of the Disney Studios. “That’s All and appreciation of the music’s texts, physical Folks!” Eight sessions, $240. settings, functions, and intended responses. No previous knowledge of medieval music is Stephen Kleiman holds a BS degree from the Mannes necessary. Six sessions, $200. College of Music and an MM degree in music composi- tion from the University of Michigan. He has conducted John Nygro is a lecturer, musician, and actor in the throughout Europe and the U.S., and his music has Chicago area. been performed in many countries. Mr. Kleiman has been teaching at the Newberry for 8 years.