History of Music: 1815-1890 - 2nd semester
Code
711021093
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
a) To acquire and develop methodological and conceptual skills in the field of the History of Music;
b) To acquire knowledge about the main issues, styles, personalities, institutions and musical genres of the relevant historical period;
c) To develop the ability to relate musical phenomena to their historical, sociological and philosophical contexts;
d) To become familiar with the musical and music-theatrical repertoire of the period;
e) To become acquainted with the current methods of research, presentation and communication, in line with international musicological standards.
Prerequisites
None
Subject matter
A survey of 19th-century Western art music, with a special focus on the historical significance of technical, formal and aesthetic changes in compositional theory and practice, as well as their impact on subsequent periods. Discussion of the concepts ‘Romantic’ and ‘Romanticism’ in terms of their musical relevance. Interrelations between musical phenomena and the historical processes of social/political emancipation, industrialization, urbanization, the emergence of the middle classes, nationalism, historicism, and the discourse of aesthetic autonomy. A detailed approach to some of the period’s leading creative figures, especially Rossini, Schubert, Berlioz, Verdi, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Wagner, Brahms, Bizet, Franck, Grieg and the Russian ‘Five’.
Bibliography
Dahlhaus, C. (1989). Nineteenth-Century Music. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Della Seta, F. (1993). Italia e Francia nell’Ottocento. 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.