Music Appreciation and History Classes Winter and Spring 2015 Course Calendar Online: rcmusic.ca/MusicAppreciation Registration: Online: rcmusic.ca/MusicAppreciation By phone: 416-408-2825 In person: 273 Bloor St. West Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music Opera in the City Instructor: Eric Domville Tuesdays, 1:00-3:00 • January 13 to February 3 (4 weeks) • $195 Calling all opera lovers! Whether you’re a seasoned opera-goer or new to this timeless art form, before you take your seat in the theatre for another highly anticipated season of opera in the city, join University of Toronto Professor Emeritus Eric Domville for an illuminating journey into operatic history and enhance your experience of the following two operas scheduled to be performed in Toronto this winter: • Mozart’s darkly comedic Don Giovanni (COC; opens January 24) • Wagner’s epic Die Walküre (COC; opens January 31) Immerse yourself in the music, the plot, and the characters; hear arias sung by students of the Glenn Gould School; and study excerpts from the libretto (English translations provided). We’ll explore the place of each opera within the composer’s artistic output and its position within both the history of opera and the socio-political context of the time. Questions and discussion will be encouraged as an essential component of a communal introduction to these enduring works. Eric Domville is a Professor Emeritus in English literature at the University of Toronto, where he taught at all levels for 30 years. Since his retirement, he has concentrated on the relationship between words and music in song and opera. He has given many pre-performance talks for the Canadian Opera Company and Opera Atelier, and delivered lectures to opera guilds across Ontario. For the past 20 years, Eric has acted as commentator for the Music and Poetry series at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. Currently, in addition to presenting opera courses at various institutions, he appears as a guest presenter of programmes on classical music on the University of Toronto’s radio station at 89.5 FM. Many of his articles on operas have appeared in the programme books of the Canadian Opera Company. Notes: A spring session of this course will cover Berlioz's Orpheus and Eurydice, Rossini's Barber of Seville, Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, and Schoenberg's Erwartung (Tuesdays 1-3, March 24 to April 28). See below for course details. Students may purchase 2 tickets to The Glenn Gould School spring opera, Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène conducted by Uri Mayer (Koerner Hall; Wednesday, March 18, 2015 at 7:30 pm OR Friday, March 20, 2015 at 7:30 pm) at 10% off, while quantities last. Call (416)408-0208 or visit the Weston Family Box Office after registering. Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music How Music Works: A Practical Primer Instructor: James Stager Wednesdays, 10:00–12:00 • January 21 to March 11 (8 weeks) • $395 If you’ve always wanted to understand how music “works,” this practical course combining guided listening and active participation in basic musicianship exercises is for you. Explore the building blocks of music and how they create the magic of the music you love! We’ll deconstruct selections from classical, folk, and popular repertoires—including Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik,” Pachelbel’s “Canon,” Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” Bach’s cello suites, and pieces by Bernstein, the Beatles, B.B. King, and Gershwin, among many others—and unlock the secrets of melody, rhythm, harmony, texture, form, genre, and more. Along the way, we’ll cover topics such as basic staff notation, scales, intervals, time signatures, note and rest values, meters, chords, and cadences. In the final class, we’ll put all the pieces together and apply our cumulative learning to an enlightening study of Beethoven’s monumental Symphony No. 5. Participants will emerge from this course with a deeper understanding of the music they experience. James Stager is a sought-after trombonist, pianist, and educator. He teaches music theory, music history, low brass, and jazz improvisation at The Royal Conservatory as well as at several of Toronto’s performing arts schools, and music theory at York University. He is frequently heard in concert halls, festivals, and nightclubs in a wide variety of musical settings including symphony orchestras (Toronto Philharmonia), musical theatre (Shaw Festival and Soulpepper Theatre), world music (Moda Eterna, Caché), and jazz groups (Big Rude Jake, Red Hot Ramble). In addition to his teaching and performing career, as a member of The Conservatory’s College of Examiners, James adjudicates woodwind, brass, and percussion examinations throughout Canada and the United States, and evaluates written examinations in music theory and history. Notes: Students may purchase 2 tickets to Sir Roger Norrington Conducts the Royal Conservatory Orchestra (Koerner Hall; Friday, April 10, 2015 at 8pm), featuring Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, at 50% off, while quantities last. Call (416)408-0208 or visit the Weston Family Box Office after registering. Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music Schubert’s Song Cycles: Love, Longing, and Despair Instructor: Robert Loewen Wednesdays, 1:30-3:00 • January 28 to February 18 (4 weeks) • $150 “I came here a stranger, as a stranger I depart …” This four-week course illuminates the song cycles of Franz Schubert, considered the “father” of German lieder and the most prolific of all German art song composers. Working in the early 19th century, Schubert wrote more than 600 songs for piano and voice in which the poetry of contemporary Romantic poets such as Goethe and Müller is set to music. The song cycle --- a grouping of songs that comprise a narrative, or that are united by a common theme or idea --- was among the most important musical genres of the 19th century. Through these intimate works, narratives unfold, existential questions arise, and complex psychological and emotional states are explored. Schubert took the song cycle to previously unknown --- and, many argue, unsurpassed --- heights. Die schöne Müllerin, which Schubert composed in 1823, traces the trajectory of young love from optimism to its tragic conclusion, while Winterreise, the proofs for which Schubert was correcting at the time of his early death in 1827, follows the flight of a romantic hero from unrequired love. When Winterreise was published in 1828, an Austrian journal remarked of the songs that “none can sing or hear them without being touched to the heart.” Discover the beauty of these works and contemplate their enduring themes through lecture, legendary recordings, and live performances. The German mezzo-soprano Elena Gerhardt said of Winterreise, “You have to be haunted by this cycle to be able to sing it.” On February, 26, hear the outstanding German baritone Christian Gerhaher perform Winterreise live in Koerner Hall. Dr. Robert Loewen teaches voice to a wide range of singers including high school and college students, young professionals, and avocational mature individuals. His students have been accepted into leading music programs, including The Curtis Institute, and are working in the profession. He has also taught the choral scholars of Trinity College at the University of Toronto; served as presenter and clinician for the Royal Conservatory Music Development Program; given presentations for Royal Conservatory Examinations; and served as an adjudicator across Canada. Dr. Loewen is on the Voice Faculty of the Royal Conservatory School, the Academic Faculty of the Glenn Gould School, and is a Senior Voice Examiner for Royal Conservatory Examinations and Royal Conservatory Music Development Program. Notes: Students may purchase 2 tickets to Christian Gerhaher & Gerold Huber (Koerner Hall; Thursday, February 26, 2015 at 8pm), at 10% off, while quantities last. Call (416)408-0208 or visit the Weston Family Box Office after registering. Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music The Intimate World of Chamber Music Instructor: Rick Phillips Thursdays, 10:00-12:00 • February 5 to March 12 (6 weeks) • $295 This course provides an introduction to and survey of chamber music, one of the most personal and intimate forms of musical expression. Composed for small groups of instruments with one performer to each part, chamber music is characterized by the expression and “conversation” among ensemble members rather than by a focus on the virtuosity of a soloist or unity under a conductor’s baton. The larger forms of opera, symphony, concerto, and oratorio all have an irresistible, inspirational grandeur and majesty, but chamber music should never be overlooked for its ability to communicate ideas and emotion. In the words of the German composer Hans Werner Henze: “The importance of chamber music is that, in dealing with the intimate, it can attain the indescribable.” Originally performed in a small space, such as a room in a palace or in a house, chamber music today is alive in concert halls across the world, thrilling audiences and performers alike with its unique charms and challenges. What skills---musical and non-musical---do chamber musicians require, and how do these differ from those required to play solo or symphonic works? How are questions of interpretation resolved among groups of musicians working together as equals? What special considerations are involved in the rehearsal and performance of chamber music, and what are the challenges and rewards? Through trios, quartets, quintets, and more by composers including Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Bartók, and Shostakovich, we’ll trace the development of chamber music starting in the 17th century through to the 20th. The Royal Conservatory’s quartet-in- residence, the Afiara Quartet, will join us for a special glimpse into the workings of a real quartet and an informal interview with course leader Rick Phillips. Rick Phillips was affiliated with CBC Radio for 30 years, working in Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary, and Toronto in a career that spanned production to management to on-air.