MHL 603: TOPICS IN MUSIC HISTORY(1900-2008)
(F-09)
These are the readings that will be assigned over the course of
the semester. You’ll find xeroxes in
binders on reserve in the library. In addition I’ve posted
a PDF of each reading on this website.
Click on the links below to access them.
Topic 1 – Igor Stravinsky, Life and works
Edward T. Cone, “Stravinsky: The progress of a method,” in Perspectives on Schoenberg and Stravinsky
(ed. Boretz and Cone, 1972), 155-194.
Charles Hamm, “The Genesis of Petrushka,” in Igor Stravinsky, Petrushka, An Authoritative
Score . . . (ed. Charles Hamm, 1967), 3-20.
Richard Taruskin, “The Rite of Spring,”
in Richard Taruskin, The
Joseph N. Straus, “Stravinsky the serialist,” in The Cambridge
Companion to Stravinsky (ed. J. Cross, 2003), 149-174.
Topic 2 – The Rise and fall of 12-tone music
Arnold Schoenberg, “Composition with twelve tones,” in in Classic Essays on 20th-century Music
(ed. R. Kostelanetz & J. Darby, 1996), 233-264. (1st published, 1950)
David Cope, “Serialism,” Chapter 6 in Techniques of the Contemporary Composer (1997), 58-75
Luciano Berio, “Meditation on a 12-tone horse,” in Kostelanetz
& Darby, 167-171 (1st published, 1968)
Jennifer DeLapp-Birkett, “Aaron Copland and the politics of
twelve-tone composition in the early cold war
Dmitri Shostakovitch, “Music and the times,” in Contemporary Composers on Contemporary
Music (ed. E. Schwartz & B. Childs, 1978), 107-110 (1st
published, 1965)
Pierre Boulez, “Schoenberg is Dead,” in Music
in the Western World (ed. P. Weiss & R. Taruskin, 1984), 507-509 (1st
published 1952)
Topic 3 – Art/Pop/Folk
Béla Bartók, “The influence of peasant music on modern music,” in
Kostalanetz & Darby, 125-129. (1st published, 1931)
Constant Lambert, “Nationalism and the modern scene,”
Music Ho! (1936/1966), 151-163.
Topic 4 – Experimental Music
John Cage,
“Experimental music,” in Kostelanetz & Darby, 202-206. (1st published in Silence, 1961)
Frederic Rzewski, “Little Bangs: A nihilist theory of
improvisation,” in Audio Culture (ed. C. Cox and D. Warner, 2004), 266-271.
Topic 5 – Minimalism / Post-Minimalism
Gann, Kyle. “Minimal Music, Maximal Impact,” on NewMusicBox.org.