MUSC 350 Music Analysis: Form, Genre, Point of View

This course approaches musical form and genre from a stylistic point of view. Intense focus on details at both the surface and background levels of musical activity -- melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, and sonic (texture, density, articulation, dynamics, timbre) -- will yield a broad understanding of the ways in which all aspects of musical language influence musical form and style. Readings will reinforce the connection between culture and style, yielding discussion of issues around links between intellectual history and musical genre. For example, why did the fugue evolve and flourish during the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution? What happened to opera's da capo aria after the 18th century, and why? Repertoire will be chosen in conjunction with students, and may include works from the Renaissance to the 21st century. The final project will be an analytic paper and a classroom presentation based on this work.