Music Of The Viennese Classical Period

(2016)
Center: 
Vienna
Program(s): 
Vienna Summer - Music
Discipline(s): 
Music
Course code: 
MS 372
Terms offered: 
Summer
Credits: 
3
Language of instruction: 
English
Instructor: 
Morten Solvik
Description: 

Cultural analysis of composers’ settings and stylistic analysis of compositions of the Viennese Classical period using original scores. The emphasis in this historical survey of both vocal and instrumental music will be given to the socio-cultural sphere in Austria and the works of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Content will be closely tied to the repertoire chosen for the Performance Workshop. Includes excursions to historical sites and attendance at performances.

Prerequisites: 

Music major and intermediate background in music history and analysis

Method of presentation: 

Lectures, discussions, excursions.

Required work and form of assessment: 
  • Class participation (10%)
  • Journal* (20%)
  • Two listening quizzes (20%)
  • Midterm exam (20%)
  • Final exam (30%)

*The journal consists of student reviews of concerts plus two five-page essays on subjects assigned during the course of the term.

content: 

(Selections subject to change)

  1. Course Introduction: The Viennese Classical Period
    Reading: Rosen 19-53
  2. Haydn: biography, patronage, the Enlightenment
    Reading: Heartz
  3. All-Day Excursion: Rohrau (Haydn’s birthplace); Eisenstadt (Esterhazy palace, where Haydn worked); Heuriger and welcoming dinner
  4. Haydn: masses and oratorios: The Creation, The Seasons
  5. Haydn: arias
  6. Haydn: chamber music
  7. Mozart: biography, life under Joseph II.
    Readings: Landon 58-71; Pezzl 54-88
  8. Mozart: instrumental works
    Reading: Landon 78-83
  9. MIDTERM EXAM
  10. Mozart: opera: The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute
    Readings: Landon 74-78; Branscombe
  11. Excursion: Figaro House (where Mozart wrote the opera) Till 140-172
  12. Excursion: Baroque theater at Schönbrunn Castle
    Reading: Landon 358-371
  13. Beethoven: biography, the age of revolution
    Readings: Ingrao; Weiss 319-325
  14. Beethoven: piano sonatas
    Reading: Kinderman
  15. Excursion: Historic pianos by Gert Hecher
  16. Beethoven: Symphony No.5; Opera: Fidelio
    Readings: Forbes 3-16, 143-50
  17. Excursion: Theater an der Wien (where these works were premiered); Pasqualatihaus and Heiligenstadt
    (Beethoven apartments)
    Readings: Hoffmann; Weiss 326-28; Solomon 126-38
  18. FINAL EXAM
  19. Excursion and farewell dinner: Heuriger in Mödling (where Beethoven spent many a summer)
Required readings: 
  • Anderson, Emily, transl. Mozart’s Letters. Boston: Bulfinch, 1990.
  • Branscombe, Peter. W. A. Mozart. Die Zauberflöte. Cambridge: Univ Press, 1991.
  • Braunbehrens, Volkmar. Mozart in Vienna. 1781-1791. London: André Deutsch, 1990.
  • Broder, Nathan. Mozart. Symphony in G Minor K.550. New York: Norton, 1967.
  • Carter, Tim. W. A. Mozart. Le Nozze di Figaro. Cambridge: Univ Press, 1987.
  • Forbes, Elliot. Beethoven Symphony No. 5 in C Minor. New York: Norton, 1971.
  • Heartz, Daniel. Haydn, Mozart and the Viennese School. 1740-1780. New York: Norton, 1995.
  • Hoffmann, E.T.A. “Beethoven’s Instrumental Music” in: Giorgio Pestelli, The Age of Mozart and Beethoven. Cambridge: Univ Press, 1984.
  • Hughes, Rosemary. Haydn. London: Dent, 1974.
  • Ingrao, Charles. The Habsburg Monarchy 1618-1815. Cambridge: Univ Press, 1994.
  • Kinderman, Willliam. Beethoven. Berkeley: UC Press, 1995.
  • Landon, H. C. Robbins, ed. The Mozart Compendium. Ann Arbor, MI: Borders Press, 1990.
  • Pezzl, Johann. “‘Sketch of Vienna’ (1786-1790)” in: H.C. Robbins Landon, Mozart and Vienna. New York: Schirmer Books, 1991.
  • Plantinga, Leon. “’Classic’ and ‘Romantic’ Beethoven and Schubert” in: Schubert’s Vienna, ed. Raymond Erickson. New Haven: Yale Univ Press, 1997.
  • Rosen, Charles. The Classical Style. New York: Norton, 1972.
  • Sadie, Stanley, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan,1980.
  • Solomon, Maynard. Beethoven Essays. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ Press, 1988.
  • Till, Nicholas. Mozart and the Enlightenment. New York: Norton, 1993.
  • Weiss, Piero, and Richard Taruskin. Music in the Western World: A History in Documents. New York: Schirmer, 1984.
Recommended readings: 
  • Gruber, Gernot. Mozart and Posterity. London: Quartet Books, 1991.
  • Gutman, Robert. Mozart. A Cultural Biography. New York: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1999.
  • Hanson, Alice. “Vienna, City of Music” in: Schubert’s Vienna, ed. Raymond Erickson. New Haven: Yale Univ Press, 1997.
  • Heartz, Daniel. Mozart’s Operas. Berkeley: UC Press, 1990.
  • Kerman, Joseph. Opera as Drama. Berkeley: UC Press, 1988.
  • Landon, H. C. Robbins. Mozart. The Golden Years. London: Thames and Hudson, 1990.
  • Matthews, Denis. Beethoven. London: Dent, 1990.
  • Newbould, Brian. Schubert. The Music and the Man. London: Victor Gollancz, 1997.
  • Roeder, Michael Thomas. A History of the Concerto. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, 1994.
  • Rushton, Julian. W. A. Mozart. Don Giovanni. Cambridge: Univ. Press, 1994.
  • Solomon, Maynard. Beethoven. 2nd ed. New York: Schirmer Books, 1998.
  • Steptoe, Andrew. The Mozart-Da Ponte Operas. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988.
Contact Hours: 
46 classroom contact hours classroom and at least 18 hours of field study