The Symphony Since Beethoven
Beethoven’s legacy proved an inspiration and obstacle to the next generation of symphonists, who struggled with the implications of Beethoven’s formal innovations but managed to infuse the symphonic genre with greatly expanded thematic dimension inspired by the philosophy, literature, and even visual arts that shaped their own experience. Our core repertoire will be the symphonies of Mendelssohn (including the Scottish and the Italian Symphonies), Schumann (including the Rhenish), Brahms, Bruckner, and Mahler.
Thursday 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Tuition: $365.00
Early Registration Rate: $335.00 before 3/16/2010
Click here to register for The Symphony Since Beethoven
Syllabus
Week 1: In the Shadow of Beethoven - An overview
- Beethoven’s ubiquity
- Beethoven’s heroic paradigm
- Beethoven and the sublime
- The heroic sublime
- The pastoral sublime
- The utopian sublime
Symphonic Responses By:
- Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, Suk, Mahler, Strauss, Busoni
Week 2: Berlioz and the program symphony
- Symphonie Fantastique (1830)
- Harold in Italy (with obbligato viola) (1834)
- “Dramatic Symphony” Romeo et Juliette (with chorus) (1839)
- Symphonie Funebre et Triumphale (giant wind band) (1840)
Mendelssohn: Reformation, Beethoven Anxiety and Travelogues
Week 3: Schumann: The Master, the Amateur and the Poet
Liszt: The Satanic and Divine
- Faust Symphony (1854)
- Dante Symphony (1857)
Week 4: “Brahms the Progressive”
Bruckner: Beethoven and God (or is that redundant?)
Due to revisions, the chronology of Bruckner’s symphonies is quite complex. A separate handout will be provided.
Week 5: Mahler: The Agony and the Ecstasy
- Symphonies TBD
Strauss and Hindemith
Strauss:
- Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony), Op. 64 (1915)
Hindemith:
- Mathis der Maler Symphony (1933-1934)
Week 6: Eastern European Tradition
Suk:
- Asrael Symphony
Dvorak
- TBD
Week 7: The Symphony in All but Name
- Strauss’s Ein Heldenlebe
- Busoni piano concerto
Week 8: The Heroic Paradigm in the 20th Century
Responses to Beethoven (?) by Sibelius, Nielsen, Britten, Shostakovich, Hartmann, and others TBD
