M° Roberto Andreoni, Composer and Prof. Chiara Marchelli, Writer
Description:
This course probes the connections between two great Italian traditions--literature and music--by critically examining as well as practicing the ways in which these two fields have evolved and creatively influenced each other in contemporary times. Specifically, the course focuses on two writers-- Italo Calvino and Umberto Eco--and one composer Luciano Berio. These three artists have also been selected because of their international stature: they represented Italy at Harvard University's prestigious Charles Eliot Norton Lectures. Indeed, the course itself is structured around the five notions itemized by Calvino in his Six Memos for the Next Millenium: lightness, quickness, exactitude, visibility and multiplicity. Each of Calvino's terms will be considered as a point of departure for discussing critical issues related to the interrelatedness among these three creative minds.
The course's approach is comparative: writing and composing will be considered as parallel activities that are subject to similar contextual issues, such as, for example the role of imagination, structure, memory, timing, form within the creative process of art, literature and music making. The course will examine the ways in which at critical points in history, music and literature mutually inform each other, and together we will identify points of contact, contradiction and contamination. These artists evaluate the present “state of the art” in order to suggest core values and possible innovative paths to be explored by the creative minds of the New Millenium.
Taking advantage of the course's setting in the city of Milan, the instructors will invite local authors and composers to discuss with the class key issues related to each topic. In order to use their newly gained
interpretative skills in a variety of refined Milanese cultural settings, students will attend concerts around the city and will visit the Museo della Scala, the new Museo del Novecento, the Ricordi Edition Archive and some of the top Italian publishers/bookstores.
Prerequisites:
Passion for reading, listening and applying basic analytic skills to art-forms are the only prerequisites for this class. However, since this course includes some reading and analysis of musical scores, some ability to read music is relevant. Assignments may be customized with students' different goals and backgrounds in mind. That is, music majors may receive different assignments and be graded with different expectations, though the amount of work and time required will be the same for all students.
Learning outcomes:
Through this course students will:
-Gain thorough understanding of how the thoughts and research of top artists deeply affects modern life and contemporary culture.
-Develop an understanding of how Italy has contributed to contemporary artistic values on an international level, as well as of the specific nature of the Milanese cultural context that produced the main threads that connect the three artists under consideration.
-Refine their critical reading and listening skills, and will be able to identify as well as analyze key structures of processes used in both Literature and Music, in order to be able to apply them in other fields as well.
Method of presentation:
There will be three projects over the course of the summer term, the nature of which will depend on the interest and background of the individual student: creative writing / music compositions / cultural analysis / staging performances / class presentations / audio-visual installations.
Required work and form of assessment:
Participation (15%), reading and listening responses (20%), midterm exam (20%), two projects (15%), Final Exam (30%)
Both the Midterm and Final will be in the form of short essay, based on listening as well as reading assignments, field studies and comparative approach to the techniques as well as contents encountered during the lectures.
Guest speakers will expand on a particular chapter studied during the week, by sharing and lecturing on their creative processes, experience and work in both the literary and musical fields. Relevant composers and authors who currently live and work in town will discuss the content of the works of Berio, Calvino
and Eco by exemplifying how an idea is created, processed, and put into form in their musical and/or literary expressions, and how creativity and rules penetrate each other in order to generate a creative object.
There will also be two projects over the course of the semester, the nature of which will depend on the interest and background of the individual student (project examples: creative writing / music compositions / cultural analysis / staging performances / class presentations / audio-visual installations). Expectations will be different for music majors and non-majors, though the effort and time expected will
be the same. Late work is not acceptable. Group-Projects are acceptable.
content:
Session 1: Semiotics (Eco): Entering the Woods
Session 2: Literature (Calvino): Lightness
Session 3: Music (Berio): Formations (Music vs. Language)
Session 4: Literature (Calvino): Quickness; Semiotics (Eco): Lingering in the Woods
Session 5: Music (Berio): Translating Music; Semiotics (Eco): Possible Woods
Session 6: Literature (Calvino): Exactitude (Leopardi, Montale, Leonardo, Crystal vs. Flame)
Session 7: Music (Berio): Forgetting Music
Session 8: Literature (Calvino): Visibility; Semiotics (Eco): The Woods of Loisy
Session 9: Music (Berio): Seeing Music; Semiotics (Eco): The Strange Case of Rue Servandon
Session 10: Literature (Calvino): Multiplicity
Session 11: Music (Berio): O Alter Duet
Session 12: Music (Berio): Poetics of Analysis; Semiotics (Eco): Fictional Protocols
Required readings:
Calvino, Italo. Six Memos for the Next Millennium. Vintage, 1993.
Berio, Luciano. Remembering the Future. Harvard University Press, 2006.
Eco, Umberto. Six Walks in the Fictional Woods. Harvard University Press, 1998.
Readings will sum up to about 40-50 pages per week.
REQUIRED LISTENING:
Excerpts from the following works:
Berio
Cries of London
Chemins II (su "sequenza V..)
Chemins IV (su "sequenza V..)
Corale (su "sequenza VIII"..)
Points on the curve to find
Folk Songs, 6. La donna ideale (Italy)
Linea (1973) for two pianos, vibraphone and marimba
Recital I for Cathy: "ah ! he hadn't been there before..."
Sequenza VII for oboe
Wasserklavier
Schubert-Berio
Rendering For Orchestra
Bach-Berio
Contrapunctus XIX (Die Kunst Der Fuge)
Brahms-Berio
Sonata for Clarinet and Orchestra in F minor
Boccherini-Berio
Quattro Versioni Originali Della "Ritirata Notturna Di Madrid"
Battistelli
Vendetta
Boccadoro
Royal Garden Music
Maderna
Don Perlimplin
Castagnoli
Cloches En Noir Et Blanc: II - Cloches À Midi
Castiglioni
Inverno In-Ver - Undici Poesie Musicali Per Piccola Orchestra (1973)
Quodlibet (Da "Figure")(1965)
Corghi, Azio
Mazapégul
Dallapiccola
Canti di prigionia/3: Girolamo Savonarola's farewell
Carter
Con Leggerezza Pensosa – a homage to Italo Calvino
Mozart-Berio
Divertimento per Mozart Variations on the Papageno's Aria "Ein Mädchen Oder Weibchen"
Donatoni
Prom
Vacchi
Dai Calanachi Di Sabbiun
Romitelli
Dead City Radio. Audiodrome (2003)
En Trance (1995)
Flowing Down To Slow (2001)
The Nameless City (1997)
Fedele
Scena Per Orchestra
Concerto per Pianoforte
Francesconi
Cobalt Scarlet
Ballata del Rovescio del Mondo
Gervasoni
Due Poesie Francesi Di Rilke - Chemins
Scelsi
Trio Cordes (1958)
Quatuor cordes n 5 (1974/85)
Gorli
REQUIEM
Marianelli
Atonement
Marinetti
Musica Futurista
Morricone
The Untouchables
The Mission
Nono
A Carlo Scarpa, Architetto, Ai Suoi Infiniti Possibili Per Orchestra In Microintervalli
Petrassi
Serenata Per 5 Strumenti (1958)
Respighi
Feste Romane: Harvest Festival in October
Rota
Amarcord
Satyricon
Russolo
Risveglio di una città
Sciarrino
Perduto in una città d'acque
Sei Capricci (1976)
Solbiati
By my window II (2001)
Sollima
Madonie
Verrando
Agile for Orchestra
Andreoni
3 Tales by Kafka – installation music
Spazi Infiniti – ballet music
Bausch-Labour&Pulse – ballet music
Passaggio alla Luce – art installation
A-B-Cell – Video installation
Walzer Muto
Parole in libertà - video
Vicini & Lontani
PR en Air
...Rino
...E noi che una notte vegliammo
Il Vento, le Vele – for flute orchestra
Miguel Mañara – stage music
Primordial Background
Vola!
Kaiser Soze
Slinking Around Midnight
Una Finestra, a Betsaida
Bardo
Quattro Luci sul Lago di Notte
Sì – Opera
Concerto per Archi
Three Trees
Little California Suite
Blitz
911 Blues
Scattering
Conflitto in Trio
The Antennae of Thought That Listens
Slinking around Midnight
Sacred Folk Songs per Vno e Archi
Crescendo – movie soundtrack
Andreoni-Tadini
Elogio dell’Imprevisto – Homage to Eugenio Montale
Recommended readings:
Mussgnug, Florian. Writing Like Music: Luciano Berio, Umberto Eco and the New Avant-Garde. Comparative Critical Studies, BCLA, 2008.
Carter, Elliott. “Con Leggerezza Pensosa – a Homage to Italo Calvino.” Boosey & Hawkes Ed, 1990.
Notes:
This course is offered during the regular semester and in the summer. For summer sections, the course schedule is condensed, but the content, learning outcomes, and contact hours are the same.
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Roberto Andreoni, is currently the Director of the Milan program. He holds a doctorate in Music
Composition from the University of California, Berkeley. His undergraduate degrees were earned at the Conservatorio G. Verdi in Milan and the Accademia Internazionale della Musica. He previously served as the Director of the Civica Scuola di Musica in Assago and of the Accademia Internazionale della Musica in Milan. In addition to directing IES’ program, he is a Professor of Composition at the Conservatorio di Musica N.Piccinni of Bari. During Fall 2010, he was a Fulbright Scholar in Residence for Music and Italian Studies at Scripps College, CA. Dr. Andreoni is an active composer whose works are regularly performed and recorded.
Chiara Marchelli is an Italian author living in New York and Milan. Her first novel appeared in 2003 as Angeli e Cani with Marsilio Editore, Venice, and was awarded the "2003 Rapallo-Carige Opera Prima" literary prize upon publication. Her second book, the short story collection "Sotto i Tuoi Occhi", Fazi Editore, Rome, appeared in 2007. As a translator, she worked and is currently contributing to several literary and non-literary projects, including Contemporary Art performance texts, cinematographic productions, biographies, contemporary poetry, fashion, and advertisement. She has also worked as an author, editor, proofreader and translator on numerous Italian grammar textbooks and online publications. Her areas of interest and knowledge focus on the Italian language teaching, contemporary Italian literature, creative writing and composition, as well as literary translation. She recently was appointed Language Lecturer at the Department of Italian Studies at New York University and in 2006-09 was appointed Italian Language Coordinator of the Italian Department at New York University.
Contemporary Composition In Italian Music And Literature
This course probes the connections between two great Italian traditions--literature and music--by critically examining as well as practicing the ways in which these two fields have evolved and creatively influenced each other in contemporary times. Specifically, the course focuses on two writers-- Italo Calvino and Umberto Eco--and one composer Luciano Berio. These three artists have also been selected because of their international stature: they represented Italy at Harvard University's prestigious Charles Eliot Norton Lectures. Indeed, the course itself is structured around the five notions itemized by Calvino in his Six Memos for the Next Millenium: lightness, quickness, exactitude, visibility and multiplicity. Each of Calvino's terms will be considered as a point of departure for discussing critical issues related to the interrelatedness among these three creative minds.
The course's approach is comparative: writing and composing will be considered as parallel activities that are subject to similar contextual issues, such as, for example the role of imagination, structure, memory, timing, form within the creative process of art, literature and music making. The course will examine the ways in which at critical points in history, music and literature mutually inform each other, and together we will identify points of contact, contradiction and contamination. These artists evaluate the present “state of the art” in order to suggest core values and possible innovative paths to be explored by the creative minds of the New Millenium.
Taking advantage of the course's setting in the city of Milan, the instructors will invite local authors and composers to discuss with the class key issues related to each topic. In order to use their newly gained
interpretative skills in a variety of refined Milanese cultural settings, students will attend concerts around the city and will visit the Museo della Scala, the new Museo del Novecento, the Ricordi Edition Archive and some of the top Italian publishers/bookstores.
Passion for reading, listening and applying basic analytic skills to art-forms are the only prerequisites for this class. However, since this course includes some reading and analysis of musical scores, some ability to read music is relevant. Assignments may be customized with students' different goals and backgrounds in mind. That is, music majors may receive different assignments and be graded with different expectations, though the amount of work and time required will be the same for all students.
Through this course students will:
-Gain thorough understanding of how the thoughts and research of top artists deeply affects modern life and contemporary culture.
-Develop an understanding of how Italy has contributed to contemporary artistic values on an international level, as well as of the specific nature of the Milanese cultural context that produced the main threads that connect the three artists under consideration.
-Refine their critical reading and listening skills, and will be able to identify as well as analyze key structures of processes used in both Literature and Music, in order to be able to apply them in other fields as well.
There will be three projects over the course of the summer term, the nature of which will depend on the interest and background of the individual student: creative writing / music compositions / cultural analysis / staging performances / class presentations / audio-visual installations.
Participation (15%), reading and listening responses (20%), midterm exam (20%), two projects (15%), Final Exam (30%)
Both the Midterm and Final will be in the form of short essay, based on listening as well as reading assignments, field studies and comparative approach to the techniques as well as contents encountered during the lectures.
Guest speakers will expand on a particular chapter studied during the week, by sharing and lecturing on their creative processes, experience and work in both the literary and musical fields. Relevant composers and authors who currently live and work in town will discuss the content of the works of Berio, Calvino
and Eco by exemplifying how an idea is created, processed, and put into form in their musical and/or literary expressions, and how creativity and rules penetrate each other in order to generate a creative object.
There will also be two projects over the course of the semester, the nature of which will depend on the interest and background of the individual student (project examples: creative writing / music compositions / cultural analysis / staging performances / class presentations / audio-visual installations). Expectations will be different for music majors and non-majors, though the effort and time expected will
be the same. Late work is not acceptable. Group-Projects are acceptable.
Session 1: Semiotics (Eco): Entering the Woods
Session 2: Literature (Calvino): Lightness
Session 3: Music (Berio): Formations (Music vs. Language)
Session 4: Literature (Calvino): Quickness; Semiotics (Eco): Lingering in the Woods
Session 5: Music (Berio): Translating Music; Semiotics (Eco): Possible Woods
Session 6: Literature (Calvino): Exactitude (Leopardi, Montale, Leonardo, Crystal vs. Flame)
Session 7: Music (Berio): Forgetting Music
Session 8: Literature (Calvino): Visibility; Semiotics (Eco): The Woods of Loisy
Session 9: Music (Berio): Seeing Music; Semiotics (Eco): The Strange Case of Rue Servandon
Session 10: Literature (Calvino): Multiplicity
Session 11: Music (Berio): O Alter Duet
Session 12: Music (Berio): Poetics of Analysis; Semiotics (Eco): Fictional Protocols
Calvino, Italo. Six Memos for the Next Millennium. Vintage, 1993.
Berio, Luciano. Remembering the Future. Harvard University Press, 2006.
Eco, Umberto. Six Walks in the Fictional Woods. Harvard University Press, 1998.
Readings will sum up to about 40-50 pages per week.
REQUIRED LISTENING:
Excerpts from the following works:
Berio
Cries of London
Chemins II (su "sequenza V..)
Chemins IV (su "sequenza V..)
Corale (su "sequenza VIII"..)
Points on the curve to find
Folk Songs, 6. La donna ideale (Italy)
Linea (1973) for two pianos, vibraphone and marimba
Recital I for Cathy: "ah ! he hadn't been there before..."
Sequenza VII for oboe
Wasserklavier
Schubert-Berio
Rendering For Orchestra
Bach-Berio
Contrapunctus XIX (Die Kunst Der Fuge)
Brahms-Berio
Sonata for Clarinet and Orchestra in F minor
Boccherini-Berio
Quattro Versioni Originali Della "Ritirata Notturna Di Madrid"
Battistelli
Vendetta
Boccadoro
Royal Garden Music
Maderna
Don Perlimplin
Castagnoli
Cloches En Noir Et Blanc: II - Cloches À Midi
Castiglioni
Inverno In-Ver - Undici Poesie Musicali Per Piccola Orchestra (1973)
Quodlibet (Da "Figure")(1965)
Corghi, Azio
Mazapégul
Dallapiccola
Canti di prigionia/3: Girolamo Savonarola's farewell
Carter
Con Leggerezza Pensosa – a homage to Italo Calvino
Mozart-Berio
Divertimento per Mozart Variations on the Papageno's Aria "Ein Mädchen Oder Weibchen"
Donatoni
Prom
Vacchi
Dai Calanachi Di Sabbiun
Romitelli
Dead City Radio. Audiodrome (2003)
En Trance (1995)
Flowing Down To Slow (2001)
The Nameless City (1997)
Fedele
Scena Per Orchestra
Concerto per Pianoforte
Francesconi
Cobalt Scarlet
Ballata del Rovescio del Mondo
Gervasoni
Due Poesie Francesi Di Rilke - Chemins
Scelsi
Trio Cordes (1958)
Quatuor cordes n 5 (1974/85)
Gorli
REQUIEM
Marianelli
Atonement
Marinetti
Musica Futurista
Morricone
The Untouchables
The Mission
Nono
A Carlo Scarpa, Architetto, Ai Suoi Infiniti Possibili Per Orchestra In Microintervalli
Petrassi
Serenata Per 5 Strumenti (1958)
Respighi
Feste Romane: Harvest Festival in October
Rota
Amarcord
Satyricon
Russolo
Risveglio di una città
Sciarrino
Perduto in una città d'acque
Sei Capricci (1976)
Solbiati
By my window II (2001)
Sollima
Madonie
Verrando
Agile for Orchestra
Andreoni
3 Tales by Kafka – installation music
Spazi Infiniti – ballet music
Bausch-Labour&Pulse – ballet music
Passaggio alla Luce – art installation
A-B-Cell – Video installation
Walzer Muto
Parole in libertà - video
Vicini & Lontani
PR en Air
...Rino
...E noi che una notte vegliammo
Il Vento, le Vele – for flute orchestra
Miguel Mañara – stage music
Primordial Background
Vola!
Kaiser Soze
Slinking Around Midnight
Una Finestra, a Betsaida
Bardo
Quattro Luci sul Lago di Notte
Sì – Opera
Concerto per Archi
Three Trees
Little California Suite
Blitz
911 Blues
Scattering
Conflitto in Trio
The Antennae of Thought That Listens
Slinking around Midnight
Sacred Folk Songs per Vno e Archi
Crescendo – movie soundtrack
Andreoni-Tadini
Elogio dell’Imprevisto – Homage to Eugenio Montale
Mussgnug, Florian. Writing Like Music: Luciano Berio, Umberto Eco and the New Avant-Garde. Comparative Critical Studies, BCLA, 2008.
Carter, Elliott. “Con Leggerezza Pensosa – a Homage to Italo Calvino.” Boosey & Hawkes Ed, 1990.
This course is offered during the regular semester and in the summer. For summer sections, the course schedule is condensed, but the content, learning outcomes, and contact hours are the same.
Roberto Andreoni, is currently the Director of the Milan program. He holds a doctorate in Music
Composition from the University of California, Berkeley. His undergraduate degrees were earned at the Conservatorio G. Verdi in Milan and the Accademia Internazionale della Musica. He previously served as the Director of the Civica Scuola di Musica in Assago and of the Accademia Internazionale della Musica in Milan. In addition to directing IES’ program, he is a Professor of Composition at the Conservatorio di Musica N.Piccinni of Bari. During Fall 2010, he was a Fulbright Scholar in Residence for Music and Italian Studies at Scripps College, CA. Dr. Andreoni is an active composer whose works are regularly performed and recorded.
Chiara Marchelli is an Italian author living in New York and Milan. Her first novel appeared in 2003 as Angeli e Cani with Marsilio Editore, Venice, and was awarded the "2003 Rapallo-Carige Opera Prima" literary prize upon publication. Her second book, the short story collection "Sotto i Tuoi Occhi", Fazi Editore, Rome, appeared in 2007. As a translator, she worked and is currently contributing to several literary and non-literary projects, including Contemporary Art performance texts, cinematographic productions, biographies, contemporary poetry, fashion, and advertisement. She has also worked as an author, editor, proofreader and translator on numerous Italian grammar textbooks and online publications. Her areas of interest and knowledge focus on the Italian language teaching, contemporary Italian literature, creative writing and composition, as well as literary translation. She recently was appointed Language Lecturer at the Department of Italian Studies at New York University and in 2006-09 was appointed Italian Language Coordinator of the Italian Department at New York University.