(Any changes or additions will be handed out in class, and posted here.)
January 10
Introduction to this course.
(Any changes or additions will be handed out in class, and posted here.)
January 10
Introduction to this course.
January 17
The crisis in classical music: Is there one? Will the classical music audience disappear? How has the field changed in the past 10 years?
reading:
excerpts from Americanizing the American Orchestra (report published by the American Symphony Orchestra League in 1993)
Peter Gelb: "Hope for the Future of Classical Records." (Speech delivered at the Klassik Komm Conference in Hamburg, Germany on September 26, 1997)
January 24-January 31
The classical music world: Institutions, careers, art, audience. Why is classical music valuable? Who listens to it? How does the classical music world really function? Was it always as formal as it is now?
reading:
Greg Sandow, "The Secret of the Silver Ticket" (from the Village Voice)
(about classical music in past centuries):
Stendahl, Life of Rossini, chapter 6: "The Impresario and His Theater," pp. 110-119
Hans Mersmann, ed., Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, pp. 105-108. (Mozart’s letter to his father, July 3, 1778)
listening:
Rossini, L’Italiana in Algeri, first act finale. (CD and libretto are on reserve in the record library, along with all other listening assignments)
assignment:
Two-page paper, due February 7.
Describe your own career (so far). Do you like working in classical music? Why? Does your work in classical music give you creative freedom as a musician? Or is that not a relevant question? If there are things you don’t like about your work, is there any way you can change them?
For this and all other assignments: Let me know in advance if you can’t get your work in on time. Otherwise you’ll get points off your grade. And please print your papers with a computer. I’ll only accept handwritten papers if they’re exceptionally clear.
February 7-February 21
The pop music world: The history of pop music since the dawn of rock & roll. How does pop music function, as an art and a business? How does it compare, institutionally and artistically, to classical music? Can it teach classical music anything?
reading:
The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll (in the reference section of the library):
Greil Marcus, "The Beatles," pp. 209-221
Ellen Willis, "Janis Joplin," pp. 382-387
Greg Sandow, "Why Classical Music Needs Rock & Roll" (unpublished article)
listening:
Four CDs of rock songs, from the ‘50s to a few years ago. On reserve in the record library. (Numbered "disc two" to "disc five." Skim through the ‘50s stuff. There’s too much.)
(no class February 28-March 6; spring break)
March 13
Concert presentation: Should classical musicians dress informally, use dramatic lighting, talk to the audience? How would this affect the music?
reading:
Allan Kozinn, "Attuning Classical Music to the Eye as Well as the Ear," (from The New York Times)
March 20
Guest: Edgar Meyer, classical and bluegrass bassist and composer.
reading:
Greg Sandow: "Pickin’ and Grinnin’ at Lincoln Center" (review from The Wall Street Journal)
listening:
Edgar Meyer, Bela Fleck, Mike Marshall, Uncommon Ritual (if you don’t want to listen to all of it, just try the first few tracks, and skim through the rest)
Edgar Meyer, Quintet. (played by Edgar Meyer and the Emerson String Quartet)
March 27
Crossover: What’s the relationship between classical music and pop? Can the two fields mix?
reading:
David Schiff, "Classical Appeal" (article from The Atlantic Monthly, August 1997)
Greg Sandow, "’Titanic’ Floats Sony Classical" (article from the Wall Street Journal)
listening:
TBA (crossover selections, on a special CD)
April 3
Behind the Tuxedo Curtain" (from the Village Voice)Marketing: Who’s the audience, and how do we expand it? Should orchestras and opera companies use the tools of normal advertising, or does that cheapen the music?
reading:
Greg Sandow, "
Eileen Dasprin, "Sex, Drugs, and…Opera?" (from the Wall Street
Journal)
April 10
The Career of a Classical Musician: What careers should classical musicians expect in the future? How will classical musicians relate to the world outside classical music? Is it their job to help build a new audience? Can they create alternative institutions within the field?
reading:
Greg Sandow: "Inner City Symphony" (article from The Wall Street Journal)
Bruce Weber, "Love Story of a String Quartet and a County in Maine" (from The New York Times)
assignment:
Three-page paper, due April 24.
Imagine you’ve been asked to give a concert that will attract people who don’t usually listen to classical music. This can be a solo recital or a chamber performance, and you can give it anywhere you like, with one exception -- you can’t give it for a captive audience, of the kind you’d find at a school, for example, or a retirement home. You have to attract paying customers.
Describe what you’d do. Where would you give the concert? (It doesn’t have to be in a concert hall.) What music would you play? How would you present the music? Would you talk to the audience, or use special lighting or other stage effects? How would you attract your new listeners?
Feel free to imagine anything you like, within reason. You don’t have to give your concert in New York, for instance. You can give it in another city, in another country, in a small town -- you name it. And you can aim your concert at any kind of audience, at artists, for instance, or children, or jazz listeners, anybody, as long as they don’t normally go to classical concerts.
Describe your plans as specifically as possible. Make me feel as if I’ve attended the concert myself.
April 17
Contemporary music: Why is the classical music business still largely built on works from before the 20th century? Why do new works have trouble finding an audience? What does this say about classical music as an art?
reading:
TBA
listening:
TBA
April 24
Performing the standard repertoire: What do classical masterworks mean in the contemporary world? Do we need to do something special to convey that meaning, or do they speak for themselves?
reading:
Greg Sandow, "Beethoven Howls" (from the Village Voice)
listening:
Mozart, Cosi fan tutte, conducted by René Jacobs (excerpts TBA)
more TBA
assignment:
Take-home exam, given out in class. Due on May 8.
(no class May 1; jury week)
May 8
Final discussion. Any and all subjects related to the course.
Fall 1998 version of this course (with long descriptions of what happened in the first few classes)