Lecture Description
This lecture begins the third part of the course, which looks at music from a historical perspective. Here Professor Wright focuses on the medieval period. He discusses chant, and its role in the lives of monks and nuns in medieval monasteries, convents, and cathedrals. He then moves on to briefly discuss polyphony. The lecture is supplemented by visuals of cathedrals, monasteries, and medieval illuminations, as well as recordings of monophonic chant by the eleventh-century polymath Hildegard of Bingen, anonymous polyphony, polyphony by the Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi Palestrina, and a recording of the last papal castrato, Alessandro Moreschi. 00:00 - Chapter 1. Gregorian Chants in the Medieval Period 07:14 - Chapter 2. Religious Influence on Early Music: The Roles of Monks and Nuns 16:56 - Chapter 3. Chant Analysis of Hildegard's "O Greenest Branch" 26:56 - Chapter 4. From Monophony to Polyphony: A Cappella of the Sistine Chapel 46:22 - Chapter 5. Conclusion
Course Index
- Introduction
- Introduction to Instruments and Musical Genres
- Rhythm: Fundamentals
- Rhythm: Jazz, Pop and Classical
- Melody: Notes, Scales, Nuts and Bolts
- Melody: Mozart and Wagner
- Harmony: Chords and How to Build Them
- Bass Patterns: Blues and Rock
- Sonata-Allegro Form: Mozart and Beethoven
- Sonata-Allegro and Theme and Variations
- Form: Rondo, Sonata-Allegro and Theme and Variations (cont.)
- Guest Conductor: Saybrook Orchestra
- Fugue: Bach, Bizet and Bernstein
- Ostinato Form in the Music of Purcell, Pachelbel, Elton John and Vitamin C
- Gregorian Chant and Music in the Sistine Chapel
- Baroque Music: The Vocal Music of Johann Sebastian Bach
- Mozart and His Operas
- Piano Music of Mozart and Beethoven
- Romantic Opera: Verdi's La Traviata, Bocelli, Pavarotti and Domingo
- The Colossal Symphony: Beethoven, Berlioz, Mahler and Shostakovich
- Musical Impressionism and Exoticism: Debussy, Ravel and Monet
- Modernism and Mahler
- Review of Musical Style
Course Description
This course fosters the development of aural skills that lead to an understanding of Western music. The musical novice is introduced to the ways in which music is put together and is taught how to listen to a wide variety of musical styles, from Bach and Mozart, to Gregorian chant, to the blues.