MUSC 262 Western Music and Culture in the 19th Century

This interdisciplinary course will survey the music of the long 19th century from the French Revolution to the beginning of World War I. We will commence by considering Beethoven's response to Napoleon the Eroica Symphony in the context of post-Revolution European geo-politics and end with the musical cultures of turn-of-the-century Vienna Paris and New York City. Topics to be explored include the following: the Industrial Revolution and emergent technologies (including photography); landscape painting and poetry; nationalism (including "folk" music); aesthetics and philosophy; science and medicine; the expansion of tonal and formal musical language and the essaying of new musical forms; the public concert and music for home performance; and Richard Wagner and artistic responses to his music and writings.