Music History 1820-1890
Code
711021061
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Ciências Musicais
Credits
6
Teacher in charge
Luísa Cymbron
Weekly hours
4
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
After successfully completing this course the student should be able to:
a) Identify and discuss the main conceptual and methodological problems of 19th century Music History;
b) Be familiar with the main questions, stylistic tendencies, personalities, institutions and musical genres relevant to the historical period under consideration;
c) Contextualize the musical phenomena of that period from a historical, sociological and ideological point of view;
d) Be familiar with the most relevant works of the music repertory and that of theatrical music of the period;
e) Write a text for the general public, of the programme note type, and present it orally.
Prerequisites
None
Subject matter
1. Different historical approaches to 19th century music. Problems of periodization. Romanticism versus \"romantic taste\".
2. Opera as a central genre of Italian music life and its European spread: from Rossini to early Verdi.
3. The German cultural space and the establishment of Romanticism: Schubert and the Lied. Weber and Romantic opera. Mendelssohn and the rediscovery of the past. The Romantic ideals in Schumann. The establisment of the canon.
4. Paris: cultural centre of Europe. French traditions and cosmopolitanism. Opera as an image of the nation. Meyerbeer and cosmopolitanism in music. Instrumental virtuosity. Berlioz and French Romanticism.
5. The mid-century situation. Liszt and the symphonic poem. Verdi and opera in Italy after the unification. Wagner and the music drama. Vienna and symphonism.
6. Nationalism and cosmopolitanism. Opera as a means towards the creation of a national music. Eastern Europe, Spain and Russia.
Bibliography
Dahlhaus, C. (1989). Nineteenth-Century Music. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Della Seta, F. (1993). Italia e Francia nellOttocento. Turim: EDT.
Di Benedetto, R. (1991). Romanticismo e scuole nazionali nell Ottocento. Turim: EDT.
Rosen, C. (1996). The Romantic Generation. London: Harper Collins.
Samson, J. (2001). Romanticism. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, London, MacMillan, vol. 21, 596-602.
Samson, J. (Ed.) (2002). The Cambridge History of Nineteenth-Century Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Taruskin, R. (2005). Music in the Nineteenth Century. The Oxford History of Western Music, vol. 3. New York: Oxford University Press.
Teaching method
Key ideas in each programme module will be exposed in class by the teacher but there will always be an element of interaction with the students (discussion of problems, questions or other interventions). 40% of the classes are practical, being devoted either to commented readings of texts prepared by the students beforehand or to the presentation of short papers written by them.
Evaluation method
Evaluation has two central moments: a written test and a paper. The latter consists of a text meant for the general public, of the programme note type. This paper, or part of it, will be presented and discussed in class. Its final version will also be discussed with the teacher.