SFSU Music 754: Laura Prichard

San Francisco State University
Department of Music
Music 754: The Romantic Era
Spring 2002

Faculty: Dr. Laura Prichard, (510) 336-0336, laura@prichard.net

Course meets: Mondays, 6:30-7:15pm, SFSU Creative Arts Building, Room 147

Description: Graduate seminar involving detailed historical and analytical study of the works of a single composer, style, or special repertoire from the period indicated. Priority given to music majors and graduate students in Music. Prerequisite: Music 551 or consent of instructor. 3 units.

Use and evaluation of major bibliographic materials, including primary and secondary sources for the Romantic period
Use of library resources and networks for research
Bibliographic style and techniques of research through development of individual projects. Individualized projects permit optimum benefit to students of each degree program.

Grading & Assignments:

Participation in Class Discussions, 25%
Impersonation, due 2/11 or 2/18, 15%
Midterm Exam, due 4/8, 20%
Symphonic Poem Paper, due 5/6, 20%
Final Project, due 5/20 20%

Texts: Writing About Music

Charles Rosen. The Romantic Generation: Based on the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures. Cambridge: Harvard, 1995.
Kate L. Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 5th or 6th edition, will do just what the title promises: serve as a reference for all kinds of stylistic and formatting problems.

Secondary Texts:

March 18 class Alexander Ringer, ed. The Early Romantic Era - Between Revolutions: 1789 and 1848. BBC Man & Music Series. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1991.
April 15 class Jack Sullivan. New World Symphonies: How American Culture Changed European Music. New Haven: Yale, 1999.

Schedule:

1/28 Introduction to Course [CA147]

Overview of trends andsounds from the Romantic period
Nineteenth-century musical scholarship, awards, & publishing - RIPM
Primary sources: Letters, facsimiles, criticism, critical editions
Secondary sources: Journals, dissertations, biographies, indexes, books

2/4 Fragments & Miniatures

Discussion of Rosen, The Romantic Generation chapters 1-2
Beethoven Sonata, op. 111, final movement
J. S. Bach Musical Offering, six-voice ricercar
Schumann, Humoresk; Des Abends (from Fantasiestucke, op. 12); *Phantasie in C Major, op. 17; *Carnaval; Dichterliebe
Chopin Nocturne in E-flat, op. 9, no. 2; Nocturne in B, op. 32, no. 1; Ballade No. 1; Preludes

2/11 New Vocal Approaches [Impersonation Due - group one]

Lied & Chanson Rosen, chapter 3
Schubert Winterreise and Die schöne Mülluerin
Beethoven An die ferne Geliebte
Schumann Waldscenen and Davidsbündlertänze

2/18 Piano Music - Chopin [Impersonation Due - group two]

Rosen, chapters 5-7
Chopin *Nocturne in D-flat, op. 27, no. 2; *Nocturne in G, op. 37, no. 2; Polonaise in F-sharp, op. 44; Sonata in B-flat minor; 4 Ballades, 2 sets of Etudes, Mazurkas

2/25 Field Trip to Davies Symphony Hall: Welcher Mill Songs

3/4 Guest lecturer: Adriana Ratsch-Rivera on Beethoven & Women Romantics

Read at least two articles from this bibliography on women and performance

3/11 Library Tour & Catalog Demonstration [Library]

Locate catalogs, search by author, title, keyword, subject
Reference tools and music classification
Online & specialized resources

[3/18 Instructor illness]

~~3/25~~ Spring Break, no classes at SFSU

~~4/1~~ Campus Holiday, no classes at SFSU

4/8 Geographic Approaches to Romanticism

Maps and Historical Atlases
Multi-cultural influences on nineteenth-century European music
Discussion of Ringer, The Early Romantic Era

4/15 Developing Forms [Midterm Examination]

Symphonic Poem Rosen, chapter 8
Symphony Rosen, chapter 9

4/22 Chamber Music & Theatre Pieces "Classical" - "Modern"
and American Music & Popular Entertainments

Discussion of Chase, America's Music

Discussion of Sullivan, New World Symphonies

4/29 Field Trip to Davies Symphony Hall: Stravinsky L'Histoire du Soldat

5/6 Symphonic Poem Paper due, Ballet

5/13 Opera & Choral Music Rosen, chapters 10-11

5/20 Conclusions Rosen, chapters 4 & 12

Objectives and methods:

This course is intended to prepare you to carry out the research and writing that you will need to do as a music teacher, performer, and/or scholar. It will focus on research and writing within the sphere of western art or "classical" music, with a particular focus on the history and performance practices of this music since 1600.

Among our specific goals will be:

learning (or improving our understanding of) how to use a music library and related online resources
learning to locate, read, and evaluate primary and secondary literature about music and musical reference materials
learning to locate, use, and evaluate editions of music
clearly presenting our findings--facts, interpretations, and evaluations--in both aural and written forms

Course requirements

This is an intensive course: a full semester's worth of work must be covered within just thirteen class meetings. For this reason, attendance is mandatory and more than one unexcused absence will result in an automatic reduction of grade.

Because this is a graduate course, students are expected to come to class fully prepared, having done all reading and writing assignments and ready to participate in class discussion. We are entered here into a radical social contract, and I pledge to uphold my end. Please respect our commitment to each other. Class participation will constitute 25% of the final grade.

Major assignments will comprise both aural and written components: typically, students will be asked to give a ten-minute presentation to the class and to turn in a written version of their presentation. In the case of the "Impersonation," an aural presentation will suffice, since we will ask questions afterwards.

Seminar format

Much of this course will be taught in a seminar setting, method courtesy of Socrates. You will not be lectured at, unless the topic is specifically marked "lecture." Rather we will get to practice sharing information and insights, based on individual and common research and topics. The general structure of the course will find us proceeding from developing research techniques and methods, to identifying problems of and perspectives in music history, to applying methods to historical problems of our own devising and interest.

Collaboration

Because you will all be working on similar assignments in the same places, you are encouraged to help one another locate and use items in the library or online. You are also encouraged to share advice with one another about how to use resources and how to evaluate them. However, all class presentations and written work must be strictly your own. Any sharing of written work or helping one another with the actual writing or preparation of assignments is strictly forbidden and will be considered a breach of academic regulations.

In addition, please be considerate of your fellow students and other library users. When you finish using an item, carefully return it to its proper place on the shelf, double-checking the call number. Please do not leave items out on desks or in carrels, and if you must carry them out of their immediate area (for instance, to use the photocopiers), bring them back where they belong; otherwise it may be several days before the library staff reshelves them!