Instruction will be primarily by lecture, enhanced by audio and visual materials. Flexibility in class presentation will allow for students to engage actively through question, comment, and discussion. Students will be assigned listening and reading for each class. Lectures will provide general contexts for detailed study of representative pieces of music. Supplementary library and online resources will be recommended. Students will be informed of concert performances by professional organizations such as Early Music Vancouver, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Vancouver Opera, or Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, which might serve as curriculum enrichment. One or more appropriate field trips may be planned.
- The Development of Baroque Style in the Seventeenth Century
- Transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque
- New developments in science, religion, politics, and economics
- The Baroque as a term and as a period; Baroque art and architecture
- General characteristics of Baroque music and expression
- Monteverdi and the Second Practice in music composition
- Influence of Greek thought on the Florentine Camerata
- Recitative, aria, and the development of opera in Italy
- Genres of Italian vocal chamber music and Latin sacred music
- Music in France under Louis XIV; Lully and French opera
- Music in England; the dramatic music of Purcell
- Baroque instruments, tuning, and temperament; improvisation
- Genres of Italian instrumental music; trio sonata and concerto
- Compositional style of Corelli; major and minor tonality
- Lute and harpsichord music in France; the dance suite
- Lutheran organ music in Germany; chorale settings; toccata and fugue
- Spain and the New World; sacred and secular music in the colonies
- Beginnings of European settlement in Canada; missionaries and music
- Baroque Style in the Eighteenth Century
- Development of opera seria in Italy; rise of the castrato singer
- Development of concerto types in Italy; Vivaldi and Venice
- Couperin and the reconciliation of French and Italian styles
- Rameau’s theory of harmony and French opera
- The life and music of Bach in Germany; Lutheran cantata
- The life and music of Handel; opera seria and oratorio in England
- The Early Classical Style in the Eighteenth Century
- Philosophy of the Enlightenment and its effects on society
- Rise of the galant and empfindsam styles in music
- Melody, harmony, texture and form in Classical music
- Rise of comic opera in Italy, France, England and Germany
- Gluck and the reform of Italian opera seria
- Keyboard music: from harpsichord and clavichord to fortepiano
- Development of sonata form; Scarlatti and the sons of Bach
- The early symphony in Italy and Germany; Sammartini and Stamitz
- Music and musicians in the Americas; the first opera in Canada
- The Classical Style in the Late Eighteenth Century
- Vienna as a centre for music
- The life and music of Haydn; role of patronage in his creative work
- Haydn’s compositional style; keyboard sonata, string quartet, symphony
- The life and music of Mozart; from patronage to freelancing
- Mozart’s compositional style; piano concerto and symphony
- Mozart as dramatist: Italian opera seria and opera buffa, German singspiel
- Music in the Classical style as manifestation of Enlightenment thought
At the end of the course, the successful student should be able to demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of stylistic developments in western art music during the Baroque and Classical periods by the following means: aural identification of characteristics of representative pieces of music; visual analysis of representative musical scores; and written discussion of terms and topics appropriate to the style periods and music studied. The student should also be able to discuss general social, cultural, and political aspects of the periods studied. Finally, the student should be able to demonstrate competent research and critical thinking skills in the writing of a major essay on a topic appropriate to the periods being studied.
| Regular short quizzes (6-8) | 10% |
| Short library assignments (2-3) | 5% |
| Major research and writing project | 25% |
| Major listening tests (2) | 20% |
| Major written tests (2) | 20% |
| Final examination (listening and written) | 20% |
| Total | 100% |
Students will be required to purchase a standard text such as the following, along with its accompanying score anthology, for use in all courses in the music history survey:
- Burkholder, J. Peter, Donald Jay Grout, and Claude V. Palisca. A History of Western Music, 7th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006.
Students will also be required to purchase a reputable music dictionary such as:
- Randel, Don Michael. The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2002.
MUSC 1120 or permission of instructor