Histories of Western Music Dr. Matthew Chamberlain Western Music - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Histories of Western Music Dr. Matthew Chamberlain Western Music Appreciation | IHSS 1740 Monday, 15 January 2019

Histories of Western Music Today’s Class About Me 1. 2. What is Music Appreciation? 3. Central Topics For this Class What exactly are histories? 4. Syllabus Walkthrough Class Policies, Assignments, Schedule

Histories of Western Music About Me Conductor, primarily of “contemporary music” 1. focussing on music written since 1950 2. Composer particularly interested in computer-assisted composition, microtonality, imperfection, and humor

What does it mean to appreciate music? / Why are you taking this class?

Histories of Western Music Central Topics For this Class What exactly are histories? 1. Music and Meaning 2. Music History Has a History 3. Histories Are Stories

3 MINUTES Does a Piece of Music Have a Meaning? If so, what is that meaning’s source?

Histories of Western Music Walkürenritt (The Ride of the Valkyries) from Die Walküre (1870) . One (tiny) part of a 5-hour opera by the German composer Richard Wagner (1813-1833).

Histories of Western Music

Histories of Western Music Times Tend to Have Changed Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie in Thor Ragnarok (2017) Amalie Materna as the valkyrie Brünnhilde from Wagner’s Die Walküre (1876)

Histories of Western Music

Histories of Western Music That performance was at the MET in NYC. SIDE NOTE Singers are Athletes It seats 3500 people. Opera singers have to be able to sing loudly enough that all 3500 listeners can hear them… …even while an orchestra of about 75 musicians plays.

Histories of Western Music Apocalypse Now (1979) directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Does the meaning of this music change along with these different contexts?

Histories of Western Music Music history has a history.

Histories of Western Music Important Dead White Men Behind “Music History” Meow… Hugo Riemann Heinrich Schenker Carl Dahlhaus 1849–1919 1868–1935 1928–1989

Histories of Western Music A history is a story written by an author. It has a beginning and an end, a particular setting, a language, a style. It is limited by the perspective of its author . It is not objective.

Histories of Western Music A major focus of this class is to approach histories critically, to celebrate their contributions to our understanding of past events while also recognizing their limitations.

Histories of Western Music Teleology and its Critiques

Histories of Western Music Teleology is an explanation for something as a function of its end, purpose, or goal. ex. “Aquatic creatures slowly developed legs as they evolved to become humans.“ ex. “The seed burst open to grow into a tree.“

Histories of Western Music Teleologies can be made explicit in the language used to tell histories. They can also be implied by the choice of what information to include, the order in which facts are presented, and the style of presentation.

Histories of Western Music Historiography is the study of histories — how they are researched and written. We will explore multiple historiographic methods — i.e., approaches to understanding the past — in order to challenge teleological narratives about music history.

Histories of Western Music Let’s look at the syllabus to get more detail.

Histories of Western Music Homework The only thing as certain as death and taxes. 1. Intro Survey 2. Listening + Response

Histories of Western Music Next Class The "West" and its Music(s)