The Hobbies Corner

Website Update

2006-09-11T12:36:00.000-05:00

All lists and future updates are now posted on my main page, Salome's Corner. Please update your bookmarks.

French Art in the 18th Century

2006-05-09T12:46:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part IV, Lecture 38

"In this lecture, we look at variations to be found within the Rococo style, from the serious still lifes and genre paintings of Chardin to the frivolity of Greuze and Fragonard. We also touch briefly on Rococo architecture and the style as seen outside of France."

Image: The Bathers by Fragonard (1765); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Louis XIV and Versailles

2006-05-09T12:39:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part IV, Lecture 37

"In this lecture, we look at the architecture and gardens of the Palace of Versailles and discuss how the palace reflected Louis XIV's notion of himself as the Sun King, the center of the universe and source of absolute, divine power, and simultaneously impressed the rest of Europe. Louis died after reigning for nearly 75 years, and the mood in France shifted. We will look at the work of Watteau to illustrate the pervading sense of nostalgia seen for a brief time in the transition from Baroque to Rococo."

Image: Versailles by Louis le Vau (1682); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Baroque Painting in Spain

2006-05-07T20:12:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part III, Lecture 36

"In this lecture, we look at four painters living and working in Spain in the 'golden age of Spanish art' during the late 16th and 17th centuries. We examine the unique distortions of form of El Greco, the light-dark contrasts of Francisco de Zurbarán, the affecting painting of Murillo, and the brilliant illusionism and unique interpretations of Velázquez."

Image: The Burial of Count Orgaz by El Greco (1586); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Poussin and Claude - The Allure of Rome

2006-05-07T20:05:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part III, Lecture 35

"We return to Rembrandt in this lecture, along with Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain, all three of whom, along with many other artists, were drawn to the art of Rome from the High Renaissance. Although Rembrandt never traveled to Italy, he clearly admired and borrowed from the subjects and lighting of Italian artists. Poussin and Claude, too, took inspiration from Rome and spent most of their lives there."

Image: Et in Arcadia ego by Poussin (1638); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Rembrandt

2006-05-06T15:07:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part III, Lecture 34

"In this lecture, we look at the art of Rembrandt, a superb printmaker and portraitist and the only great Protestant religious painter. We'll look first at his explorations of the then-relatively-new technique, followed by a discussion of his religious painting and his famous portraits and self-portraits. As we'll see, he possessed great powers of empathy for his subjects - an understanding of the range of human experience and a tolerance for human foibles and sins."

Image: The Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch (Night Watch) by Rembrandt (1642); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Dutch Painting in the 17th Century

2006-05-06T15:01:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part III, Lecture 33

"In this lecture, we look at the very different artistic world of the northern Netherlands, or Holland, as it is commonly called today. Because of political circumstances, government and religious commissions were far less common here than in other countries. As a result, painting flourished in the open marketplace, where artists survived by specializing in various genres. We will look at these specific genres and representative artists for each."

Image: View of Delft by Johannes Vermeer (1661); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Peter Paul Rubens

2006-05-04T12:53:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part III, Lecture 32

"A world-famous artist during his lifetime and after, Peter Paul Rubens received innumerable commissions throughout his career. In this lecture, we will look at some of these works, including three altarpieces, his Marie de'Medici cycle, and self-portraits and landscapes."

Image: Massacre of the Innocents by Rubens; Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

2006-05-04T12:48:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part III, Lecture 31

"In this lecture, we will look at Bernini, the single greatest artist in Rome during the Baroque period. Bernini was a painter, architect, and above all, a sculptor. We will focus on his sculpture, including his virtuosic Apollo and Daphne, and marvel at his sweeping piazza in front of the Basilica of St. Peter's in Rome. We will explore half a dozen of his works to try to grasp the depth and breadth of his abilities."

Image: Apollo and Daphne by Bernini (1625); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Italian Baroque Painting in Rome

2006-05-02T15:14:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part III, Lecture 30

"Annibale Carracci and Caravaggio, two artists previously discussed, formed a bridge from art of the 16th century to the 17th century. They are also considered founders of the 17th-century style called Baroque. We will continue to study Italian Baroque artists during this time period. In addition, we will discuss the role of the Chruch in the artistic revival in Italy after the Sack of Rome."

Image: Et in Arcadia ego by Guercino (1622); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Caravaggio

2006-05-02T15:10:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part III, Lecture 29

"In this lecture, we focus on a single artist of the Catholic Counter-Reformation, Caravaggio. Briefly outlining his scandalous life, we will see why critics are confounded by his sexual undertones as well as his profound reverence for sacred subjects. In addition, we will look at the treatment of light and dark in many of his paintings. We will explore some of Caravaggio's individual works, as well as his commissions for two chapels."

Image: Crucifixion of St. Peter by Caravaggio (1601); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Annibale Carracci and the Reform of Art

2006-04-29T18:20:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part III, Lecture 28

"In this lecture, we will discuss a reform in art that was a reaction against the style of Mannerism, as well as artists who anticipated this reform, including Antonio Correggio. Looking at Correggio's illusionistic paintings, we will see his influence on subsequent eras. We will then explore the Carracci family of Bologna, who founded a teaching academy that influenced many artists. We will take a close look at Annibale Carracci's works, including his decorations in the Farnese Palace in Rome."

Image: Assumption of the Virgin by Annibale Carracci (1590); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Mannerism and the Late Work of Michelangelo

2006-04-29T18:10:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part III, Lecture 27

"We return to Italy to discuss the movement of style called Mannerism, which began in 16th century Italy and spread throughout Europe. We will learn the characteristics of Mannerism and study various artists who used this style, including Jacopo Pontormo, Rosso Fiorentino, Parmigianino, and Agnolo Bronzino. We will also discuss the later work of Michelangelo," specifically his The Last Judgment fresco in the Sistine Chapel and his unfinished sculpture entitled The Deposition.

Image: Deposition from the Cross by Pontormo (ca. 1528); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

2006-04-28T14:27:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part III, Lecture 26

"In this lecture, we look at the art of Pieter Bruegel the Elder and examine aspects of his art that set him apart from his contemporaries. In addition, we will focus on the great variety of Bruegel's art, from his imaginative depiction of the Fall of Icarus, to his vast, detailed landscape of Hunters in the Snow, to the political implications of The Blind Leading the Blind."

Image: Fall of Icarus by Bruegel (ca. 1558); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Netherlandish Art in the 16th Century

2006-04-28T14:20:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part III, Lecture 25

Note: I skipped Part II until it becomes available at the library.

"In this lecture, we'll look at four 16th-century artists from the Netherlands. Hieronymus Bosch, Joachim Patinir, Jan Gossaert, and Lucas van Leyden. We'll devote most of this lecture to Bosch's famous triptych, the Garden of Earthly Delights. Looking closely at both the subject matter and symbolism of these four artists, we will see how these works were related to and reflected their historical period, leading up to the Reformation."

Image: center portion of the Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch (ca. 1506); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Early Renaissance Architecture in Florence

2006-04-25T15:11:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part I, Lecture 12

"We return to Florence to examine some spectacular and influential architecture of the early 15th century. Looking closely at some of these buildings, we discover how Renaissance architects solved major construction dilemmas with new methods and inventions. This lecture focuses on works by Brunelleschi and Alberti."

Image: dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore by Brunelleschi (1436); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Early Renaissance Sculpture in Florence

2006-04-25T15:02:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part I, Lecture 11

"We begin this lecture by exploring the reasons that sculpture, rather than painting, led to the development of the Renaissance style. We will also single out and discuss several great sculptors of the early 15th century, including Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello, and Luca della Robbia. We will describe their significant contributions and discover how they used sculpture as a medium to invent new ways to portray the human body in space. We will look at Brunelleschi's and Ghiberti's Bapistery doors, Donatello's David, and Luca della Robbia's Cantoria."

Image: David by Donatello (ca. 1440s); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

The Black Death and the International Style

2006-04-24T09:17:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part I, Lecture 10

"Picking up from our last lecture, we discuss how the bubonic plague of the mid-14th century affected art as a whole. In this same vein, we also compare artistic renditions of the same subject from works before and after the plague. We then trace the rise of the International Gothic style in specific works by artists from different regions. Finally, we will see how the international style influenced Italy and laid the foundation for the Italian Renaissance of the 15th century."

Images: Presentation in the Temple by Ambrogio Lorenzetti (1342) and Presentation in the Temple by Bartolo di Fredi (1353); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Sienese Art in the 14th Century

2006-04-24T09:09:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part I, Lecture 9

"We begin this lecture by discussing the historical influence of the Italian city-state during this period and its relationship to artistic representation. We continue exploring other artists succeeding Duccio in Siena, such as Simone Martini, Pietro Lorenzetti, and Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Finally, we examine the Palazzo Pubblico, a civic building in Siena and a significant monument to the Italian Gothic, with its detailed frescoes of Sienese scenes."

Image: Palazzo Pubblico (14th century); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Duccio and the Maestà

2006-04-23T19:19:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part I, Lecture 8

"In this lecture, we consider the work of Duccio di Buoninsegna, specifically his masterpiece, the Maestà. We compare Duccio and his great contemporary, Giotto, in terms of their reputation and their technique. We'll also examine several panels from the Maestà, including the large central altarpiece and scenes from the pinnacles and the predella. Doing our best to view the Maestà as a whole, we will look at possible reconstructions of the work and at the many pieces that are located in different museums, as well as the original cathedral where it was created."

Image: portion of the Maestà (Madonna with Angels and Saints) by Duccio (1311); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Giotto and the Arena Chapel Part II

2006-04-22T14:20:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part I, Lecture 7

"We return to the Arena Chapel to study several scenes from the life of Christ. We discuss Giotto's powerful renditions of popular Christian subjects by describing specific details of the narrative. We also return briefly to Mary and Joseph's story but emphasize scenes that represent Christ's life and death. In conclusion, we examine Giotto's handling of subjects from Christ's miracles to the Christian Last Judgment of all humanity."

Image: Kiss of Judas by Giotto from the Cappella degli Scrovegni or Arena Chapel (ca. 1305); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Ballet Spring Session, Week One

2006-04-19T21:31:00.000-05:00

Today, I restarted ballet after a three week break. I was supposed to begin last week, but our series of unfortunate events kept me home. Since my exercise kick has fizzled, I was probably not as physically prepared for this evening as I should have been. Too late!

I started at 6pm with the same teacher and class as last session, Marcus and adult beginners ballet, with four people from last session returning as well. While a little accelerated from our previous pace (this course is only seven weeks instead of eight), I still felt comfortable with the techniques we practiced. It felt like a solid hour of review for me with nothing too excessive or challenging. The only problem is my general lack of physical aptitude at present.

Come 7pm, three women went home but the rest of us stayed for the advanced beginners class, also taught by Marcus. Yikes! By that point - suffering through a combination of fatigue from the first hour and the rapid-fire pace of the new techniques - I was ready to drop shortly after class began.

We learned two new ronds de jambe sequences - one on the floor and one in the air - and generally made a mess of that. We also practiced frappé, a triple step (the name for which I cannot recall), pique onto relévé, several balancing exercises, and more more more that worked me very hard. I cannot remember a time when I accomplished two hours of physical exercise, unless it involved pushing the girls in a double stroller.

I grabbed a six pack on the way home and here I am, ready (mentally) for next week. We'll see how sore I am tomorrow morning...

Giotto and the Arena Chapel Part I

2006-04-19T21:20:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part I, Lecture 6

"This lecture and the following one discuss the achievements of Giotto, who painted one of the depictions of the Madonna and Child enthroned that we considered in our last lecture. Giotto was commissioned by the Scrovegni family to fresco the interior of the family chapel. We will discuss the history of the Arena Chapel, including its location, its patron, and its significance. After describing the technique of fresco, we will study several scenes from Giotto's fresco cycle narrating the life of the Virgin and the life of Christ."

Image: the Cappella degli Scrovegni or Arena Chapel (1303); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Gothic Art in Germany and Italy

2006-04-18T21:35:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part I, Lecture 5

"In this lecture, we continue our study of Gothic art forms and styles. Beginning with France, we study a famous sculpture in the Strasbourg Cathedral before moving on to other works of art in Italy. In Pisa, we find extensive examples of the Gothic style, including relief carvings by Nicola Pisano and his son, Giovanni. Once again, we consider the Roman influences on these works, including inspirations gained from sarcophagi. Finally, we compare and contrast three paintings about the same subject, the Madonna enthroned with the Christ Child, by three different artists, today in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence."

Image: Ognissanti Madonna by Claude Giotto (1310); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Gothic Art in France

2006-04-17T19:28:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part I, Lecture 4

"In this lecture, we look first at the evolution of the Gothic style, including the origins of the word and the style's architectural characteristics. Next, we discuss some primary examples of this style, including Notre-Dame of Paris, Chartres Cathedral, Rouen Cathedral, and Saint-Maclou. The emergence of the Flamboyant Gothic style can be seen in the latter two examples. Looking closely at both the façades and naves of Notre-Dame of Paris and Chartres Cathedral, we will note the specific architectural elements of Notre-Dame and study the sculptural doorjamb figures at Chartres."

Image: Rouen Cathedral, Full Sunlight by Claude Monet (1894); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Romanesque Sculpture and Architecture

2006-04-16T20:56:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part I, Lecture 3

"In this lecture, we consider the origins and characteristics of the Romanesque style and look at several examples in various art forms. By exploring the historical and cultural background of this period, we uncover many influences on Romanesque art. Roman architecture greatly influenced this style, with its arches, stone sculptures, and massive structures, as we will see in the churches of St. Étienne and St. Trophime. We will also discuss other works, including the Temptation of Eve, the Last Judgment, and Isaiah, found in churches across France. Finally, we look at the importance of the pilgrimage roads and their influences on the quantity and location of Romanesque-style churches throughout southern France."

Image: Detail of the church at St. Trophime (12th century); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Carolingian and Ottonian Art

2006-04-16T20:43:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part I, Lecture 2

"Before we begin our survey of European art with the Carolin- gian dynasty, we take a brief backward glance to the illuminations produced by Irish monks in the early Middle Ages. Here, we see the animal style of the nomadic German tribes combines with Celtic elements to make a statement about the earlier pagan world and its domestication by Christianity and the divine order. We then compare early Byzantine architecture in the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna with the architecture of Charlemagne's Palatine Chapel in Aachen, noting the light, insubstantial atmosphere of the former and the heavy, muscular appearance of the latter, a throwback to Greco-Roman antiquity. Finally, we look at two masterpieces of narrative art, the bronze doors of the Abbey Church of St. Michael at Hildesheim in northern Germany and the Bayeux Tapestry, a depiction of the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings in England in 1066."

Image: Bayeux Tapestry (1077); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Approaches to European Art

2006-04-11T15:15:00.000-05:00

A History of European Art by Professor William Kloss
Part I, Lecture 1

"This first lecture of our survey offers some ideas about looking at art - how we do it and why we do it. We'll set a starting date for our survey and define five elements in art - sub- ject, interpretation, style, context, and emotion - that will be our touch- stones as we look at hundreds of works of art over these 48 lectures and learn how art can affect our lives."

Image: Ideal portrait of Emperor Charlemagne by Albrecht Dürer (1511); Quoted material ©2005 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Early Twentieth-Century Modernism: The Search for a New Musical Language - Schönberg

2006-04-02T13:35:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part VI: From Romanticism to Modernism; Lecture 48

Last one!!

"In this lecture we conclude our exploration of early twentieth- century modernism with a discussion of the early life and music of Arnold Schönberg. Schönberg saw himself not as a revolutionary but as the next inevitable step in the history of German / Austrian music. To that end, this lecture discusses the essential elements of German music from the Protestant Reformation through the nineteenth century. These elements - an emphasis on craft, polyphony, motivic development, spirituality, and deep, inward-looking expressive content - were considered by Schönberg as his musical birthright. This lecture explores and discusses Schönberg's 'emancipation of dissonance' through which he attempted to 'free' his music from the shackles of traditional tonality while still maintaining those musical traditional elements he considered his birthright. As examples of Schönberg's 'freely atonal' music, this lecture introduces and discusses three songs from his seminal Pierrot Lunaire (1912)."

Image: Schönberg (1938); Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Early Twentieth-Century Modernism: The Search for a New Musical Language - Stravinsky

2006-03-29T16:35:00.000-06:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part VI: From Romanticism to Modernism; Lecture 47

"In this lecture we continue our exploration of early twentieth- century modernism with a discussion of the early life and music of Igor Stravinsky. Born in St. Petersburg and trained by Rimsky- Korsakov, Stravinsky was never- theless powerfully influenced by Debussy and his modernist spirit of the early twentieth century. Following Stravinsky's arrival in Paris in 1909, the composer was discovered by Serge Diaghilev and gained almost instantaneous fame with the production of The Firebird in 1910. The Firebird displays aspects of both tradition and innovation, its innovative aspects being marked by Stravinsky's idiosyncratic use of rhythm. Stravinsky's early experiments with rhythmic asymmetry and layering reach a high point with Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) (1912), an experimental high point discussed and examined during this lecture."

Image: Stravinsky; Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Early Twentieth-Century Modernism: The Search for a New Musical Language - Debussy

2006-03-28T21:30:00.000-06:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part VI: From Romanticism to Modernism; Lecture 46

"This lecture initiates an exploration of early twentieth-century modernism with an examination of the life and music of Claude Debussy. We first explore the traditional differences between French music and mainstream Italian / Austrian / German music. We then discuss the humiliating French defeat at the hands of the Prussians in 1870-71 which further alienated French artists from Austrian / Germanic models. The lecture then explores the increasing French cultivation of the French language itself - its sound, color, and idiosyncratic nature - in the arts, both visual and musical. Finally, this lecture observes and analyzes the music of Claude Debussy, a French language-inspired music that represented an extraordinary break with the past in terms of both compositional and expressive content."

Image: Debussy; Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

The Early Twentieth Century and the Modernist Movement: An Introduction

2006-03-25T21:35:00.000-06:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part VI: From Romanticism to Modernism; Lecture 45

"This lecture seeks to explain the historical inevitability of early twentieth-century modernism by surveying musical and expressive trends from the Baroque era through the late nineteenth century. The lecture first discusses the three Bs - Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms - and the critical and aesthetic resistance their music met in their own lifetimes, the point being that new music has always been difficult for its contemporary listeners. The lecture then explores the changing role of music from the Baroque era through the Romantic, with special attention given to the ever more inclusive and self-expressive music of the nineteenth century. After discussing some of the many technological, scientific, and philosophic discoveries and changes in and around the turn of the twentieth century, the lecture asks the key question: with an expressive language pressed to the breaking point, with a new scientific and technologic world at hand, and the thrill of a new century about them, will the best young composers be content to work within the same melodic and harmonic language as their great-great-grandfathers? Clearly, they were not."

Image: Gustav Mahler, young lion (1909); Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Russian Nationalism

2006-03-23T13:17:00.000-06:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part VI: From Romanticism to Modernism; Lecture 44

"In this lecture we turn to nineteenth-century Russian musical nationalism. The lecture begins with a brief history of St. Petersburg, a city build by Czar Peter I as his window on to the west, the most 'modern' and westernized city in eight- eenth- and nineteenth- century Russia. Russia's entry into the greater European community as a result of the defeat of Napoleon and the Decembrist Revolution of 1825 are discussed, as is the growing conviction, during the 1820s and 1830s, that the Russian language and native Russian music were capable of the highest artistic expression, a conviction realized in the literature of Pushkin and the operas of Mikhail Glinka. The music and ideas of the 'Russian Five' - Balakirev, Cui, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Borodin - are discussed, and illustrated, with a special emphasis placed on Rimsky-Korsakov and his Russian Easter Overture."

Image: Rimsky-Korsakov by Valentin Aleksandrovich Serov (1898); Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Ballet, Week 8

2006-03-22T15:25:00.000-06:00

Tonight was my last class for this session. But never fear! I have another seven weeks to look forward to beginning April 12th, when I will be taking both the beginners and advanced beginners courses back to back every Wednesday for seven weeks, with Marcus as the instructor again. I will be a sore, sore old lady at the end of each Wednesday night. What a surprising experience this has been. I expected just to fill time with this class, but I have enjoyed it far more than the bellydancing course I took last semester. Everything comes down to the instructors' style. And now my feet are stronger than those of any average human! Onward to advanced beginners!

Romantic Nationalism: Post-1848 Musical Nationalism

2006-03-21T13:00:00.000-06:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part VI: From Romanticism to Modernism; Lecture 43

"This lecture examines the trend of folkloric musical nationalism during the second half of the nineteenth century. It begins with a description of the extraordinary events of 1848, the so-called 'year of failed revolutions.' With the destruction of the revolutionary movement assured, artistic nationalism became one of the few remaining modes of nationalist expression. A brief history of nineteenth-century nationalism in music ensues, followed by a discussion of musical exoticism. Ultimately, the lecture turns to Franz Liszt, perhaps the most representative instrumental virtuoso/composer of the nineteenth century, and his composition Totentanz."

Image: "The Four Ages of Liszt" from The Etude magazine (1913); Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

The Concert Overture

2006-03-20T14:31:00.000-06:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part VI: From Romanticism to Modernism; Lectures 41-42

"These lectures return to the realm of instrumental music, specifically late nineteenth- century orchestral program music. After exploring the increasing specificity of nineteenth-century orchestral program music, we will define and discuss the major genres of nineteenth-century orchestral program music: the Program Symphony, the Concert or Symphonic Overture, and the Symphonic or Tone Poem. A discussion of Shakespeare's importance to the music of the nineteenth century follows. These lectures introduce the life and personality of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and they conclude with an in-depth examination of his Overture-Fantasy to Romeo and Juliet."

Image: Tchaikovsky; Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Ballet, Week 7

2006-03-08T21:28:00.000-06:00

Full pirouettes! And a nifty glissade combination with a spin that was a blast to do. I have only one lesson left after next week's spring break, so that makes me sad. I've had so much fun with this class! But...

...in April, Marcus will be teaching two classes back-to-back on Wednesday nights. Beginning ballet will be at 6pm, followed by advanced beginners at 7pm. Keven said he'll watch the girls for that extra hour, so on Monday I'm signing up to take both classes. Thursday mornings will be like a horror film - me, as a zombie, hunched over and moaning in pain from two hours of ballet the night before - but I'm looking forward to practicing the basics I'm learning now while adding more advanced techniques. Very exciting!

Ballet, Week 6

2006-03-02T21:51:00.000-06:00

A quick recap: everyone seemed off their marks this week, with several missteps and a generally lackluster atmosphere. We continued to prepare for pirouettes, tried leaps and sous-sus again, and added bourrée (excellent!) and frappé (difficult!) to our ever-expanding vocaublary of technique. My balance is improving weekly, and my transitions to rélevé are becoming more reliable as my foot strength improves. I like that when we do arm work, my shoulders and upper arms look so toned these days!

Note: This is a great link for ballet terminology. I hear the words spoken in class, but this is where I go to learn how each word is spelled!

A History of European Art

2006-03-01T00:05:00.000-06:00

A History of European Art by William Kloss

Approaches to European Art (1)
Carolingian and Ottonian Art (2)
Romanesque Sculpture and Architecture (3)
Gothic Art in France (4)
Gothic Art in Germany and Italy (5)
Giotto and the Arena Chapel Part I (6)
Giotto and the Arena Chapel Part II (7)
Duccio and the Maestà (8)
Sienese Art in the 14th Century (9)
The Black Death and the International Style (10)
Early Renaissance Sculpture in Florence (11)
Early Renaissance Architecture in Florence (12)
Netherlandish Art in the 16th Century (25)
Pieter Bruegel the Elder (26)
Mannerism and the Late Work of Michelangelo (27)
Annibale Carracci and the Reform of Art (28)
Caravaggio (29)
Italian Baroque Painting in Rome (30)
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (31)
Peter Paul Rubens (32)
Dutch Painting in the 17th Century (33)
Rembrandt (34)
Poussin and Claude - The Allure of Rome (35)
Baroque Painting in Spain (36)
Louis XIV and Versailles (37)
French Art in the 18th Century (38)

RETURN TO THE HOBBIES CORNER

Ballet & Bellydancing

2006-03-01T00:04:00.000-06:00

Bellydancing
Ballet, Week 1
Ballet, Week 2
Ballet, Week 3
Ballet, Week 4
Ballet, Week 5
Ballet, Week 6
Ballet, Week 7
Ballet, Week 8
Ballet Spring Session, Week 1

RETURN TO THE HOBBIES CORNER

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music

2006-03-01T00:03:00.000-06:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenburg

Introduction (1)
The Ancient World & the Early Church (2)
The Middle Ages (3)
Introduction to the Renaissance (4)
The Renaissance Mass (5)
Secular Music & the Madrigal (6)
Introduction to the Baroque (7)
Style Features of the Baroque (8)
Rise of German Nationalism in Music (9)
Handel & the Fugue (10)
Baroque Opera (11-12)
Baroque Sacred Music: The Oratorio (13)
Bach & the Church Cantata (14)
Bach & Passacaglia (15)
Ritornello Form & the Baroque Concerto (16)
Introduction to the Classical Era (17)
Viennese Classical Style (18)
Theme and Variation (19)
Lully & Minuet and Trio I (20)
Haydn & Minuet and Trio II (21)
Rondo (22)
Sonata-Allegro Form I (23 & 24)
Sonata-Allegro Form II (25)
Handel & the Symphony (26)
Mozart & the Solo Concerto (27)
Pergolesi & Opera Buffa (28)
Mozart & the Operatic Ensemble (29)
Beethoven & the French Revolution (30)
Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 (31 & 32)
Introduction to Romanticism (33)
Early Romanticism: Chopin & Schubert (34)
Berlioz & the Program Symphony (35 & 36)
19th Century German Opera (37-40)
Tchaikovsky & the Concert Overture (41 & 42)
Liszt & Romantic Nationalism (43)
Rimsky-Korsakov & The Five (44)
Mahler & the Modernists (45)
Debussy (46)
Stravinsky (47)
Schönberg (48)

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Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition

2006-03-01T00:02:00.000-06:00

Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition by The Teaching Company

William James (62)
Sigmund Freud (63 & 64)
A. J. Ayer (65)
Max Weber (66)
Edmund Husserl (67)
John Dewey (68)
Martin Heidegger (69)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (70)
The Frankfort School (71)
Saussure and Lévi-Strauss (72)
Friedrich Hayek (73 & 74)
Karl Popper (75)
Thomas Kuhn (76)
Willard Van Orman Quine (77)
Jürgen Habermas (78)
John Rawls (79)
Jacques Derrida (80)
Richard Rorty (81)
Alvin Gouldner (82)
Alasdair MacIntyre (83)
Robert Nozick (84)

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Original Work

2006-03-01T00:01:00.000-06:00

Poem: "Fall"
Poem: "Stranger Ride"
Poem: "Voice of the Storm"

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How to Listen to and Understand Opera

2006-03-01T00:00:00.000-06:00

How to Listen to and Understand Opera by Robert Greenburg

German Opera Comes of Age (25)
Wagner and Tristan & Isolde (26 & 27)
Richard Strauss and Salome (28)
Russian Opera (29-30)
Verismo, Puccini and Tosca (31-32)

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Nineteenth-Century German Opera: Nationalism and Experimentation

2006-02-25T10:31:00.000-06:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part V: Nineteenth-Century Romanticism; Lecture 39

I skipped lectures 37 ("Bel Canto Opera"), 38 ("Giuseppe Verdi"), and 40 ("Richard Wagner") because I listened to Professor Greenberg's entire How to Listen to and Under- stand Opera last year. While by no means an opera expert, I have no desire to revisit an excessive amount of Verdi and Wagner.

"This lecture continues our four-lecture traversal o fnineteenth century opera with an examination of early nineteenth-century German opera. German opera developed rather late as compared to Italian and French opera. Genuine German opera - in terms of singing style and the nature of its plots - developmed late because it evolved from native German roots, not by imitating and adapting Italian operatic plots and singing style. The lecture discusses the rise of both German literature and musical theater in the late eighteenth century in the hands, respectively, of Goethe and Mozart. It examines nineteenth-century German opera as an experimental tradition, using as an example Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz."

Image: Weber (artist unknown); Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Ballet, Week 5

2006-02-23T07:44:00.000-06:00

We tackled many new techniques this week, including both petit and grande battement, a tombé to cou-de-pied sequence, and a half pirouette en dehors. I know how to do them, but I hardly know how to spell them! We also repeated that horrible pique step that plagues me, so I am determined to practice the following between now and next Wednesday: the pique sequence into the tombé, balancing for my pirouette (we're progressing to full next week and I want to be ready), balancing onto rélevé (to strengthen my arches), our changements sequence (jumping from first to second and back again, with arms), the arm pattern for our little dégagés, and anything into a passé.

The Program Symphony - Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique

2006-02-22T19:51:00.000-06:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part V: Nineteenth-Century Romanticism; Lecture 35-36

"These lectures explore the life, times, and music of one of the great Romantic originals - Hector Berlioz. Neither a child prodigy nor a particularly gifted adolescent, Berlioz grew up in French countryside and was sent to medical school in Paris at the age of 18. Having quit medical school, he rather late in life pursued a career in music unhindered by the sort of early musical training that might have constrained his imagination. He entered the Paris Conservatory at the age of 23 and graduated at age 27 in 1830. In that year he wrote his Symphonie Fantastique, a work that combines his four great loves: the dramatic power of Shakespeare, the musical story-telling of opera, the symphonic genre of Beethoven, and himself. As these lectures point out, Berlioz's own unrequited love for a Shakespearean actress named Harriet Smithson was the inspiration for the Symphonie Fantastique. We examine the gestation of the symphony, the fixed melodic idea that is heard in each movement and which represents the 'beloved image,' and the final two movements of this five movement symphony, 'March to the Scaffold' and 'Dream of a Witch's Sabbath.'"

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; Image: Berlioz, photograph by Karl Reutlinger (1864)

Formal Challenges and Solutions in Early Romantic Era Music: Miniatures - Leider and Chopin

2006-02-20T07:51:00.000-06:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part V: Nineteenth-Century Romanticism; Lecture 34

"This lecture explores a paradox encountered by many early Romantic composers: the spontaneity and creative freedom of the composer was at odds with the notion of preordained musical form. During the early Romantic era, some composers continued to use the Classical-era forms, others used them contextually, while still others abandoned them altogether. This lecture discusses the formal solutions embraced by those composers who chose to abandon Classical-era form. It focuses specifically on two sorts of miniatures: Leider (German language songs) and instrumental miniatures. Works by Franz Schubert and Frédéric Chopin are used, respectively, to illustrate these compositional genres."

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; Images: Chopin (left), detail of an oil painting by Eugène Delacroix (1838), and Schubert (right), lithograph by Josef Kriehuber (1846)

Introduction to Romanticism

2006-02-19T21:10:00.000-06:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part V: Nineteenth-Century Romanticism; Lecture 33

"This lecture introduces the Romantic era, a not altogether easy task as the progression from Classicism to Romanticism is an evolutionary, not a revolutionary, one. As this lecture points out, the ultimate difference between Classicism and Romanticism has to do with expressive content, as Romantic-era composers attempted to express ever more in their music. For many Romantic-era composers, music became an inclusive art, a composite art, as they sought to paint pictures, describe increasingly complex emotions, an tell stories in purely instrumental terms. This lecture also examine the legacy of Beethoven and the profound effect of Beethoven's vision of music as self-expression on the music of the nineteenth century. Finally, it introduces and examines four essential Romantic trends that will be studied in detail over the next few lectures: the Romantic cultivation of heightened and personalized emotional expression; nationalism; the Romantic fascination with nature, particularly the wilder aspects of natures; and the Romantic fascination with the supernatural and the macabre."

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; Image: Romantic composer Tchaikovsky, artist unknown.

Ballet, Week 4

2006-02-16T07:44:00.000-06:00

No matter what exercise I do during the week, ballet class always seems to seek out some neglected part of my butt and abuse it mercilessly. I awaken, stooped over, with some deep, interior gluteus part of me yelling out in pain. Which is good. I think.

This week was a blast. The class is starting to loosen up and get into Marcus's flamboyant mannerisms and unorthodox teaching style (unorthodox for ballet, anyway). We worked on ronds de jambe for the first time, alternated chassé steps, accelerated dégagé work which is too fast for mere humans, and some funky pique steps where you step onto a relévé - ouch! Marcus also introduced us to the fourth foot position (that makes all five now) and third arm position (now we've done all but fourth).

I'm feeling uncoordinated, awkward, and terribly challenged, but not in a way that makes me frustrated. This like learning a new language, one that says hips are not allowed. Yes, you lead with your pelvis - but by no means let that pelvis shimmy!. It's making us all stiff and unsure.

Case in point: Toward the end of class, Marcus put on a new tape - one intended for the jazz class that comes after ours - because he was getting tired of the classical music, and we needed inspiration to propel us through our (proto) leaps. Suddenly, everyone perked up. All of these staid, quiet women started to shake out their bodies. Ladies I would not have guessed might have rhythm were suddenly dancing, properly, and shaking free of the kinks that standing "turned out" puts in one's spine and funky style (if there is any funky style to be had). The song was perfect for bellydancing, so while waiting my turn to go across the floor, I shook my hips and did and little belly work. Marcus was stunned by our transformation from stiffs into shimmies, and by the transformation the music made in our energy and the ambition of our dance. He insisted that we all need to take his jazz class next time so that he can see a looser side of us as dancers. I might just take him up on that in the fall, when Keven gets back from Virginia.

Ballet, Week 3

2006-02-09T10:01:00.000-06:00

I find it much harder to spot turns when I'm trying to remember arm and foot positions at the same time. It sucks to get so dizzy! I also find it very difficult to point my toes with my heel turned out when my silly foot is cramping. Ah well... I feel uncoordinated and clumsy, but I like this challenge. Ballet is utterly unlike any dance I have ever been able to do, partly because of the amount of technique required before actual dancing takes place and partly because of the complete lack of hips! I mean, what is dancing without hips? It's ballet, or maybe Irish step. In class, between exercises, I tend to shake out my body with a quick Egyptian step or a couple of hip slides! One cannot lived "turned out" all the time! But apparently, my feet are equipped with lovely, high arches, just ripe for the perfectly pointed toe. Who knew? Too bad the girls both inherited Keven's feet...

Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op 67

2006-02-07T12:46:00.000-06:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music
By Robert Greenberg
Part IV: The Classical Era II; Lecture 31-32

"These (two) lectures describe Beethoven's mature compositional innovations and artistic beliefs through the example of his Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 (1808). Beethoven's four compositional periods are described and discussed, as are his great compositional innovations. These innovations - contextual use of form, motivic development, dramatic progression of movements, use of rhythm - are all a function of Beethoven's essential artistic tenet that music composition is self-expression above all. These innovations give voice to Beethoven's belief that the forms and aesthetic rules of the past (the Classical era) apply only to the point that the composer deems them useful. Ultimately, according to Beethoven, form must follow expressive content. As an example of Beethoven's extraordinary compositional innovations and his self-expressive view of music, these lectures rapidly but vigorously examine his Symphony No. 5, paying special attention to his idiosyncratic use of Classical-era musical form and his remarkable motivic development."

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; Image: the "fate motif" of Symphony No. 5.

The French Revolution and an Introduction to Beethoven

2006-02-04T18:36:00.000-06:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part IV: The Classical Era II; Lecture 30

"This lecture discusses the life of Ludwig van Beethoven and the revolutionary times in which he lived. Beginning with a comparison between Haydn's Symphony No. 88 and Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, this lecture emphasizes the fact that Beethoven's symphony does not reflect a period style but is, rather, a self-referential art work. Beethoven's willingness - indeed, his need - to flout authority is discussed as a function of his personality and of his cultural and political environment. We explore Beethoven's early life and progressive hearing disability with the aim of understanding the sources of his rage, alienation, and independence. We also explore the elements of heroism, radical change, revolution, and Napoleon that helped to inspire Beethoven's musical and allowed for its acceptance."

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; Image: Gary Oldman as Beethoven in Immortal Beloved (1994).

Classical Era Opera: Mozart and the Operatic Ensemble

2006-02-03T11:36:00.000-06:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part IV: The Classical Era II; Lecture 29

"This lecture discusses the operas of Mozart, with special attention to Don Giovanni. It begins with a brief but detailed account of the life of Lorenzo da Ponte, the librettist for Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte. We then discuss the nature and content of an opera buffa finale, an act-ending episode of continuous music which, in Mozart's operas, is often upwards of twenty minutes in length. As an example of Mozart's unparalleled ability to sustain a musical-dramatic line, this lecture features a hearing and discussion of Act I, scene 1 of Don Giovanni. Finally, we examine the Act II finale of Don Giovanni, during which time the tragic music that initiated the overture returns with the entrance of the status an the Don's subsequent (and fiery) demise."

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; Image: Don Giovanni (1979).

Classical-Era Opera: The Development of Opera Buffa

2006-02-02T07:50:00.000-06:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part IV: The Classical Era II; Lecture 28

"Lecture Twenty-Eight explores the development of Classical-era opera buffa. Opera buffa is discussed as the ideal operatic genre for the Classical era, which rejected the magnificence and overblown characters and emotions of Baroque opera seria in favor of more realistic plots, more 'natural' music, and more common characters. This lecture describes the formulaic nature of late Baroque opera seria and the domination of these operas by singers and virtuosic singing. The relevance of these operas to the age of the Enlightenment was questioned by many contemporaries, in particular Jean-Jacques Rousseau. We will consider Rousseau's objection to Baroque opera seria and his unqualified support of a new type of opera (opera buffa), then emerging from Italy, as the ideal opera for the Enlightenment. Finally, we will sample a portion of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's opera La Serva Padrona (1733), a work embraced by Rousseau in the early 1750s as a model for the operas of the future."

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; Image: artist unknown.

Classical-Era Orchestral Genres: The Solo Concerto

2006-02-02T07:41:00.000-06:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part IV: The Classical Era II; Lecture 27

"This lecture examines the Classical-era solo concerto, a genre which fitted perfectly the homophonic/tune-dominated ideal of the Classical era. This lecture first discusses the perfection of the violin family and the invention of the piano during the Baroque era, instruments that became the essential beneficiaries of the concerto repertoire during the Classical era. In particular, we discuss the invention of the piano and compare the sound of an early piano to a harpsichord. Mozart's incredible piano concerti - twenty-seven in all - are discussed as a pinnacle of his compositional output. We then explore double exposition form, the adaptation of sonata-allegro form to the needs of the Classical-era solo concerto. The first movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major is examined as an example of both the Classical-era solo concerto and double exposition form."

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; Image: artist unknown.

Ballet Class, Week 2

2006-02-01T20:52:00.000-06:00

I cannot imagine how fit proper ballet dancers are, at least for the handful of years when they are at their peak. My rear is so sore from class today! We learned passé techniques on the barre, croisé and effacé stances, an introduction to spotting turns, and several arm positions, and we reviewed everything from last week. Everything is getting more complicated and building nicely in difficulty, without the instructions becoming too difficult to follow. But already we're losing some of the other students, so next week may be more for review.

Careless Bouquet

2006-01-18T07:50:00.000-06:00

This is the first artistic thing I've done in about three months, so I was not expected genius. But I do not like this one. Too flat, colors too ordinary. Oh well - I decided a while ago to upload everything I completed, as a record of my attempts, and this is no exception.
Oil pastels on Canson paper
11.5 x 8"
Jan 2006

Classical-Era Orchestral Genres: The Symphony - Music for Every Person

2005-11-13T12:29:00.000-06:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part IV: The Classical Era II; Lecture 26

"This lecture explores the Classical- era symphony as both an orchestral genre and a social phenomena - it had become by the early nine- teenth century the musical property of the rising middle class. We differentiate between 'orchestra' (the performing ensemble) and 'symphony' (a multi-movement compo- sitional played by an orchestra). The Baroque antecedents of symphony - the orchestral concerto and the Italian opera overture ('Sinfonia') are described and discussed; a Baroque, Italian-style overture by Handel is compared directly to an early Classical-era symphony by Stamitz [pictured]. We then examine the tremendous influence, both direct and indirect, of opera on the genre on symphony."

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; Image: artist unknown.

Classical-Era Form: Sonata-Allegro Form II

2005-10-25T20:35:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part IV: The Classical Era II; Lecture 25

"This lecture completes the survey of Classical-era instrumental musical forms with a further exploration of sonata-allegro form. Two additional sonata-allegro form movements are analyzed and discussed, the first movement of Haydn's Symphony No. 88 in G Major and the overture to Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. Regarding the overture to Don Giovanni, we examine the long, tragic introduction that precedes the brilliant and comic sonata-allegro form and questions its meaning here at the onset of the opera; it is an element to be discussed at length in Lecture Twenty-Nine."

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; Image: Don Giovanni performance poster from Opera Pacific.

Vase & Flowers #4

2005-10-19T12:36:00.000-05:00

Lesson learned: never again use colored pencils on textured Canson paper (meant for pastels). Detail is impossible. And the vase has such poor perspective that looks like it was meant to be surrealist. It wasn't. I just drew it like a monkey would have.

Colored pencils w/ soft & oil pastels on Canson paper
7.5" x 11.5"
Oct 2005

Dream of a Vase

2005-10-10T22:08:00.000-05:00

For some reason, I'm able to make time on Monday nights for something artistic, usually while watching Medium. Nice!

Oil pastel w/ turpentine wash on Canson paper
8" x 10"
Oct 2005

Classical-Era Form: Sonata-Allegro Form I & II

2005-10-09T12:34:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part III: The Classical Era; Lectures 23 & 24

"Lectures Twenty-Three and Twenty-Four continue the investigation into Classical-era instrumental form with an examination of sonata-allegro form. Preliminary to this formal investigation, we observe the life and personality of the extraordinary Wolfgang Mozart and then discusses the many various meanings and uses of the word 'sonata.' Sonata-allegro form is introduced as that Classical-era formal procedure that allows for the introduction and development of two or more principal themes. Sonata-allegro form is then discussed as an instrumental manifestation of operatic procedure, with the character introductions, development, denouement, and curtain calls of the opera house corresponding to the exposition, development, recapitulation, and coda of sonata-allegro form. The fourth movement of Mozart's Symphony in G Minor, K 550 is analyzed and discussed in depth as an example of sonata-allegro form."

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; likeness: Tom Hulce as Mozart in Amadeus.

Classical-Era Form: Rondo

2005-10-08T12:21:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part III: The Classical Era; Lecture 22

"This lecture continues the examination of Classical-era instrumental musical form with a discussion of Rondo form. Rondo form, based on the process of periodic thematic returns, is the least formulaic of any of the Classical era forms. This lecture discusses the antecedents of Rondo form - the French Rondeau and the Baroque Ritornello (or refrain) form. In a Classical-era Rondo form movement, the Rondo theme itself is the central musical element, not the departures from that theme (the contrasting episodes), as is the case in so many Baroque Ritornello movements. Movements by Ludwig van Beethoven [pictured] and Joseph Haydn are demonstrated and analyzed as examples of Classical-era Rondo form."

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; likeness: artist unknown (let me know if you recognize the work and know its artist).

Classical-Era Form: Minuet and Trio II

2005-10-05T20:37:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part III: The Classical Era; Lecture 21

"This lecture continues the discussion of minuet and trio form begun in Lecture Twenty with an examination of Classical-era minuet and trio form. Using Baroque-era minuet and trio form as a model, late eighteenth-century composers extended the formal structure and the expressive content of minuet and trio form to create movements appropriate to for the multi-movement instrumental genres of the Classical era. Using minuet and trio movements by Mozart and Haydn as examples, this lecture examines the highly stylized minuet and trios of the Classical era. It also discusses the meaning and origin of 'Köchel' numbers as they apply to the music of Mozart, and it examines the reputation and personality of Joseph Haydn [pictured]."

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; likeness: Thomas Hardy (not that Thomas Hardy, but one about whom I cannot find any information), 1791, courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London.

Classical-Era Form: Minuet and Trio - Baroque Antecedents

2005-10-04T09:21:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part III: The Classical Era; Lecture 20

"This lecture continues the examination of Classical-era instrumental musical form with an investigation of Baroque-era minuet and trio form, the antecedent of Classical-era minuet and trio form. To this end, the important of courtly dance in seventeenth-century France is discussed, as is Baroque-era binary dance form and the advent and development of stylized dances. This lecture lists the most important and popular dance types to come out of seventeenth-century France, among which the minuet and trio was preeminent. Seventeenth-century French minuet and trio form is demonstrated and examined using a movement by Jean-Baptiste Lully [pictured]."

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; Likeness: artist unknown (let me know if you recognize the work and know its artist).

Market Flowers

2005-10-04T09:13:00.000-05:00

Again, I hope my kids will be able to paint this well by the time they hit junior high. But since I had to drop my painting class, this is the best I can do for now. Although I do like how the pattern from the vase looks organic, like part of the flowers.

Acrylic on canvas
8" x 11.5"
Oct 2005

Classical-Era Form: Theme and Variations

2005-10-01T20:38:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part III: The Classical Era; Lecture 19

"This lecture initiates a discussion of Classical-era instrumental musical form that will continue through Lecture Twenty-Five. In this lecture, we examine theme and variation form, which represented an adaptation of Baroque-era variations procedure to the expressive and musical needs of the Classical era. While maintaining much of the compositional rigor of the Baroque models, Classical-era theme and variations form utilizes a 'tune' as its theme rather than a bassline and/or harmonic progression. Wolfgang Mozart's Variations on 'Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman' is used as an example of Classical-era theme and variations form."

Pictured is the cover of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by Jeanette Winter, because the variation used in the lecture was "Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman" - better known as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." The girls were particularly fond of listening in on this lecture.

Quoted material Â©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership.

The Viennese Classical Style: Homophony and Cadence

2005-09-30T16:05:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part III: The Classical Era; Lecture 18

"This lecture seeks to further build listening skills and a descriptive vocabulary regarding cadence, or musical punctuation. The tremendous difference between Baroque-era musical process and Classical-era musical narrative is demonstrated and discussed, as is the subsequent recognition, during the early Classical era, of the expressive and rhetorical power of cadence. The four essential cadence types – open/half cadences, closed/ authentic/standard cadences, deceptive/false cadences, and plagal cadences – are defined, demonstrated, and discussed. Finally, we examine the geographical and social importance of the city of Vienna for the origin of the Classical style."

Pictured is Johann Pachelbel, whose Kanon of 1700 is lambasted as possessing all of the limitations of high Baroque composition.

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; Likeness: artist unknown (let me know if you recognize the work and know its painter).

The Enlightenment and an Introduction to the Classical Era

2005-09-29T19:45:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part III: The Classical Era; Lecture 17

"This lecture introduces the Age of Enlightenment and its impact on musical style. By means of directed musical comparisons, the dramatic difference between the music of the late Baroque era and the Classical era is brought into high relief. As music is indeed a mirror, these dramatic musical differences are a function of societal change during the seventeenth century, changes that are observed and discussed at length. This lecture discusses such Enlightenment-inspired / Classical era trends as cosmopolitanism, the doctrine of accessibility and naturalness, and the rise of musical amateurism."

Pictured is BartolomeoCristofori, who is discussed in this lecture as having invented the first piano.

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; Likeness: artist unknown (let me know if you recognize the work and know its painter).

Nozick's Defense of Libertarianism

2005-09-24T18:25:00.000-05:00

Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition
Part VII: The Crisis of Modernity; Lecture 84 (Reader Jeremy Shearmur)

I finished!! I began sometime in the winter after Ilsa was born, so all 84 lectures have taken me roughly 20 months to complete. Eeek!

"Hayek sometimes described himself as a 'libertarian,' but his arguments were largely consequentialist, arguing that his views were to be preferred because of the freedom and well-being that individuals could be expected to enjoy in the kind of society that he favored. Robert Nozick is perhaps best known for Anarchy, State, and Utopia, a work that is libertarian with an emphasis on rights. A brilliant Harvard philosophy professor, Nozick also wrote in other areas of philosophy both before and after this work.

In this work, Nozick asks us to consider that individuals have rights to their person and to their justly acquired property - and then asks us to take these ideas seriously. Starting with a view of individuals in a 'state of nature' - a situation before the existence of government - Nozick poses the question: could such people form a government without the infringement of people's rights? (Consider, in particular, the rights of those people who don't want to form a government.) Nozick argues that the purpose would be in order to form a 'nightwatchman state.' He then argues that anything that goes beyond that - any government of the kind with which we are today familiar - would be illegitimate. He offers several striking lines of criticism, including some reflections on democracy, redistribution, and justice, and a critique of the leading American political philosopher, John Rawls.

One problems arises, however, with Nozick's views: much of the weight of his argument is carried by claims about rights, including rights to property, but he does not provide more than a sketch of the underlying character of these rights. In addition, in a later work, Nozick indicated that he now has some reservations about his earlier views. His work is important, nonetheless. It is full of powerful ideas put in a striking manner. It also leads us to focus on the implications for individuals and their rights of many ideas about the role of government that we casually take for granted. It also contains, in its final and under-appreciated section on 'utopia,' an important discussion of how libertarian ideas may allow for the flowering of different social ideals and for experiments in living, from which we may all learn."

Quoted material ©2000 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Style Features of Baroque Music and a Brief Tutorial on Pitch, Motive, Melody, and Texture

2005-09-23T20:25:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part I: Ancient World; Lecture 8

"This lecture seeks to build listening skills and a descriptive vocabulary, and it will discuss some essential style features of Baroque-era music. Music is first defined as 'sound in time' or 'time defined by sound.' A vocabulary for addressing the sound aspects of music is presented, defining and discussing, respectively, 'discrete sound,' 'frequency,' 'pitch,' 'melody,' 'motive,' 'theme,' and 'tune.' Texture is defined and the textures of monophony, polyphony, and homophony are defined and discussed. The advent of instrumental music during the Baroque era is examined, as is the abstract nature of instrumental music itself. Finally, the ongoing development of such essential musical elements as pulse, meter, scales, and harmony are examined in light of the Baroque predilection for scientific investigation, systematic organization and codification."

Pictured is Beethoven, whose Ninth Symphony is featured in this lecture.

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; Likeness: artist unknown (let me know if you recognize the work and know its painter).

Introduction to the Baroque

2005-09-23T20:15:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part I: Ancient World; Lecture 7

"This lecture introduces the brilliant and exuberant Baroque era. In a series of comparisons between Renaissance and Baroque music, this lecture differentiates between the measured elegance of Renaissance music and the extravagant emotionalism of Baroque music. Special attention is paid to the scientific and investigative spirit of the Baroque and its impact on the arts of the era. The Baroque artistic duality of emotional extravagance and intellectual control is examined as a manifestation of the scientific and philosophical currents of the time. The lecture concludes with an examination of magnificence in Baroque art, using as a musical example the genre French Overture."

Pictured is Bach, again.

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; Likeness: artist unknown (let me know if you recognize the work and know its painter).

Secular Music in the Late Renaissance and the Search for Expression - The Madrigal

2005-09-22T19:58:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part I: Ancient World; Lecture 6

"This lecture focuses on the madrigal, the most important genre of Italian secular music of the late Renaissance. First we examine the heightened poetic content of the madrigal and the Petrarchian revival. Then we examine the role played by word painting in the genre of the madrigal. Three madrigals [Cipriano de Rore's Datemi Pace, Carlo Gesualdo's Io Parto, and Thomas Weelkes's As Vesta was from Latmos Hill Descending] are examined in order to observe the progressive development of the genre from the mid-sixteenth century to the very early seventeenth century."

Pictured is Carlo Gesualdo, the Price of Venosa who murdered his wife and lover, hired ten men to beat him three times a day to inflict what he determined to be his appropriate punishment, and then took up composition to express his obviously distressed emotional state. Fantastic old blue-bloods!

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; Likeness: artist unknown (let me know if you recognize the work and know its painter).

MacIntyre - The Rationality of Traditions

2005-09-22T18:17:00.000-05:00

Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition
Part VII: The Crisis of Modernity; Lecture 83 (Professor Philip Cary)

"Alasdair MacIntyre, a contemporary philosopher of ethics, articulates a form of 'right-wing' postmodernism, affirming the importance of traditions in contrast to the modern rejection of tradition and authority. For MacIntyre, traditions are not only capable of being rational, but are also the necessary context of rationality. This point is illustrated by his contention in After Virture that modern moral reasoning is incoherent, because it consists of ill-understood fragments of previous and more coherent traditions of moral reasoning. The former point - that traditions can be rational - is argued at length in his later book Whose Justice? Which Rationality, which provides a non-relativist account of the nature of traditions."

Quoted material ©2000 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Gouldner - Ideology and the "New" Class

2005-09-22T07:29:00.000-05:00

Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition
Part VII: The Crisis of Modernity; Lecture 82 (Professor Darren Staloff)

I have now encountered a philosopher so recent that he has no Wikipedia entry or online photo!

"Alvin Gouldner was often called a 'renegade sociologist.' He was a self-professed ridge-rider between traditional academic sociology and critical Marxist social theory. In the trilogy The Dark Side of the Dialectic, Gouldner presented a Marxist critique of Marxism itself. He became and 'outlaw Marxist.' He used the dialectic to show the flaws in Marxism, calling himself a 'Marxist Socratic.' His analysis of the 'new class' of intellectuals and others who earn their living from their education, not their ownership of capital, provides a necessary corrective to the Marxist idea of class struggle and helps explain why so many Marxists and radicals were not proletarians, but intellectuals."

Quoted material ©2000 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Rorty's Neo-Pragmatism

2005-09-19T20:23:00.000-05:00

Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition
Part VII: The Crisis of Modernity; Lecture 81 (Professor Darren Staloff)

"Rorty argues that philosophers have traditionally sought to escape from history by searching for 'truth.' Rorty believes that truth can never be found imbeded in language but is merely a statement that we approve of. He believes philosophers should end their pursuit of the truth. Rorty admires 'ironists,' who see the contingency of truth and instead aim for self-creation and the elimination of cruelty by means of cultural edification. Rorty's pragmatism is the basis of his defense of the postmodern bourgeois liberalism of the West."

Quoted material ©2000 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

The Renaissance Mass: Josquin, Palestrina, and the Counter-Reformation

2005-09-18T21:03:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part I: Ancient World; Lecture 5

"This lecture introduces the Mass as the most important compositional genre of the Renaissance. The Mass itself is defined and the ceremony is discussed in detail, in particular the nature and content of the Proper and Ordinary of the Mass. We then examine the Renaissance musical setting of the Ordinary of the Mass and the three essential types of Renaissance Masses: the Cantus Frmus or Tenor Mass, the Paraphrase Mass, and the Imitation Mass. We then discuss the Protestant Reformation and the subsequent impact of the Counter-Reformation and the Council of Trent on the nature of Catholic liturgical music in general and the Mass specifically."

Pictured is Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, whose conservative masses became the epitome of the Counter-Reformation style.

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; Painting: artist unknown (let me know if you recognize the work and know its painter).

Derrida and Deconstruction

2005-09-18T15:33:00.000-05:00

Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition
Part VII: The Crisis of Modernity; Lecture 80 (Professor Lou Markos)

"In this lecture, we will consider the origins of deconstruction in the theories of Derrida, particularly as they were first presented in America in his (in)famous lecture, 'Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences' (1966). We shall see how Derrida, rather than work within the binaries of traditional metaphysics (or logocentrism), attempted to break down (or deconstruct) all such binaries. We shall contrast deconstruction from both Platonic and Christian thought and seek to understand the main terminology associated with deconstruction."

Quoted material ©2000 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Rawls's Theory of Justice

2005-09-18T15:23:00.000-05:00

Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition
Part VII: The Crisis of Modernity; Lecture 79 (Professor Darren Staloff)

"John Rawls's A Theory of Justice has been the most influential works of social philosophy in the twentieth century. Drawing on the theories of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau, Rawls argues that the best society would be founded on principles chosen by rational citizens in the 'original position'. Making decisions behind a 'veil of ignorance' that prevents social position or natural talents to skew their choices, these rational citizens, according to Rawls, would then choose a system that would grant the most extensive liberties to its citizens while ensuring the maximum justice. The text has served as a philosophical defense of the modern welfare state."

Quoted material ©2000 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Habermas - Critical Theory and Communicative Action

2005-09-11T22:32:00.000-05:00

Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition
Part VII: The Crisis of Modernity; Lecture 78 (Professor Douglas Kellner)

"Jürgen Habermas has emerged as one of the most influential philosophers of our day, distinguished by his analyses of language, communication, and democracy. A second-generation member of the so-called 'Frankfort School,' Habermas studied with Horkheimer and Adorno in Frankfort, Germany, and published his first major book [The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere] on the origins, genesis, and decline of the public sphere. This work showed how democracy was made possible by the rise of newspapers, literary journals, and public spaces where ideas that are critical of the existing order could be discussed and debated. Eventually turning to the study of language and communication, Habermas made many important contributions to philosophy and social theory and is today one of the most highly respected thinkers of our time."

Quoted material ©2000 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Quine - Ontological Relativism

2005-09-08T14:51:00.000-05:00

Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition
Part VII: The Crisis of Modernity; Lectures 77 (Professor Darren Staloff)

"Willard Van Orman Quine is among the most profound and important philosophers of the twentieth century, as well as one of its most eminent logicians. He made major contributions to ontology, epistemology, and mathematical logic. Quine's philosophy came at a time when logical positivism suffered a series of setbacks in its attempt to reduce mathematics to logic. He attacked positivism's attempt to create a foundational first philosophy that would establish the meaning of language."

Quoted material ©2000 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Kuhn's Paradigm Paradigm

2005-09-06T14:13:00.000-05:00

Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition
Part VII: The Crisis of Modernity; Lecture 76 (Reader Jeremy Shearmur)

"Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions has sold more than a million copies. The use of the term 'paradigm' in the sense that he introduced it has become so well known that many people may not know where it came from or just what Kuhn meant by it. In this lecture, we will look at Kuhn's views and how he came to them. We will follow his concern, from his early encounter - as a Ph.D. student in physics - with Aristotle's ideas about motion, through his work on The Copernican Revolution, to his recognition of 'The Function of Dogma in Scientific Research.' All this will lead us into his Structure of Scientific Revolutions and his striking and controversial ideas about the character of science.

"We will look at his ideas about scientific education, normal science, and scientific revolutions, as well as his controversial view that ideas on each side of a scientific revolution may be 'incommensurable'. We will also look at how his work was received and consider why different people's reactions were so different that they almost seemed to be incommensurable, as if the people had been reading different books. We will examine Kuhn's response to critics and at the way in which he was led to refine his idea of a 'paradigm' in light of criticism that he had used the term too loosely. Finally, we will look at the kinds of research to which Kuhn's ideas have led."

Quoted material ©2000 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Popper - The Open Society and the Philosophy of Science

2005-09-06T13:40:00.000-05:00

Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition
Part VII: The Crisis of Modernity; Lecture 75 (Reader Jeremy Shearmur)

"Karl Popper was a leading twentieth-century philosopher of science. He wrote extensively on scientific issues and the history of ideas and was the author of The Open Society and its Enemies, an impressive work in political philosophy, which was also controversial for its critical engagement with both Plato and Marx.

"In this lecture, we will explore Popper's ideas about knowledge and politics and their connections. We will look at his distinctive approach to the status of scientific knowledge - his stress on its fallibility - and at his account of how science progresses by way of conjectures and refutations, rather than by means of induction. We will also consider other aspects of his views, including the role that Popper gives to non-testable ideas in the development of science, his theory of 'metaphysical research programs.'

"After discussing Popper's theory of knowledge, we will turn to his social philosophy. This draws on his ideas about knowledge - in which his stress on fallibility puts a premium on openness to criticism - and on what he calls 'protectionism': a concern for the role of the state in securing the liberty and freedom from exploitation of each individual."

Quoted material ©2000 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

The Middle Ages: Darkness, Change, and Diversity

2005-09-05T16:03:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part I: Ancient World; Lecture 3

"This lecture focuses on the changing role of music in the medieval world. First we examine the liturgical plainchant of the so-called 'dark ages,' its role within the Church, and its musical characteristics. The rebirth of Europe during the High Middle Ages and the attendant development of polyphony are next examined. Finally, we explore the violent disruptions of the fourteenth century - the so-called 'Babylonian Captivity,' the Great Schism, the Black Plague, the Hundred Years War - and their impact on the arts and music of the time."

Pictured is Guillaume de Machaut (ca. 1300-1377) whose isorhythmic motet Quant en Moy is featured in the lecture.

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; Painting: artist unknown (let me know if you recognize the work and know its painter).

Turbulent Sea

2005-09-03T23:44:00.000-05:00

I hope my kids will be able to paint this well by the time they hit high school. As for me, sunsets were indended for people with no formal painting instruction. Can't wait for my class to start...

Acrylic on canvas
8" x 11.5"
Sept 2005

I Finally Finished My Skirt

2005-09-02T22:26:00.000-05:00

I finally finished my bellydance skirt. It will be nine years on Thursday since my mother finished sewing it in 1996, the day before I left for England for my junior year of university abroad. A little history:

I started bellydancing during the summer of 1996 when I was obsessed with all things U2 (a trend that has continued). I studied Morleigh (now Mrs. Edge) Steinberg's performance on the ZooTV Live from Sydney video for weeks and weeks. I have come to learn that her performance was not a very good teacher, in that it is very pop-based and uses few traditional moves, but I loved it.

I was greatly anticipating my trip to England, and perhaps trying to ignore the uncertainty of my adventure, and bellydancing became something very special to me. I was up early (a rare occurrence) on the Saturday before my departure and watched the local news while my mom read the paper. One of the segments featured a bellydancing convention being held in nearby South Bend, and my mom suggested that we go. I think it was her way, too, of enjoying some of our last moments together before my trip.

The convention was strange, small and vaguely informative, but it put us in mind to construct a proper costume. Over the three days that followed, I helped design the costume that my mom sewed. I put a few beads on the skirt for effect, but it really was just the skirt and a top (which I have since outgrown).

I took the costume with me to England where a night of drinks led my flatmates to dare me to show off my moves (I had pinned the costume to my dorm wall as decoration). Along the common terrace of our dorm, they shone lights out the windows like a catwalk and turned up the music. I attracted quite a bit of attention, notably from several Egyptians who were studying at UEA (leering) and a bloke named Andy.

I don't think Andy saw the performance, but he heard about it some days later. Andy had known Jess (Kusine) during her year abroad in 1994-95, and then he met Melissa, my Resident Advisor and a friend of Jess's from their home town, in late 1995. Upon her return, Melissa told me to look up this great bunch of people, but in our typically disassociative style she forgot to provide all parties with contact information. Andy found my e-mail address (because I was trying to join the ballroom dancing club his wife, Kara, was a member of) and asked if I happened to be from Bowling Green. Bingo.

The following weekend, Andy asked me round his flat for dinner, at which time I met Richard (Ipsrich) and Keven, currently of Mr. & Mrs. Keven Lofty. Ta-dah. Bellydancing is an ancient art of seduction, and in a round-about way, that's how I met my husband.

Years later, I decided that the paltry beads I had sewn were hardly adequate. Jess took me to a great bead shop in Columbus called Byzantium, and I continued to putter around with it while we were lived Fairfield (roughly the year 2000 by this point) before the girls came along. Now, since I'm taking a bellydance course this fall (my first consistent bellydance instruction in all these years!) I thought I'd finally finish the costume that has lived like a strange relic of my early adulthood.

I am so very pleased with this accomplishment - even if my belly looks a little different now, two children and nine years later.

The Ancient World and the Early Church

2005-09-02T19:14:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part I: Ancient World; Lecture 2

"This lecture introduces the ancient world as a 4,000-year period of extraordinary cultural richness and variety. From this long ancient era only forty or so fragments of music have survived. In this lecture we discuss the cyclical, rather than linear, nature of art and music. Ultimately, this lecture focuses on the role of music in the ancient Greek and Roman world, and it concludes with a brief examination of the role of music in the early Christian Church."

Pictured is Euripides, whose Stasimon Chorus from Orestes (408 BCE) is featured in the lecture.

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Introduction & Hayek and the Critique of Central Planning

2005-09-02T14:26:00.000-05:00

Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition
Part VII: The Crisis of Modernity; Lectures 73 (Professor Darren Staloff) & 74 (Reader Jeremy Shearmur)

"Philosophy in the latter half of the twentieth century was written in the context of accelerating and often disturbing changes in Western society, politics, and culture. These unsettling changes, coupled with the transformations and crises of the previous fifty years, led many philosophers to reexamine the entire modern project. In particular, philosophers focused on two critical features of modernity (both inherited from the Enlightenment). One issue focused on modern political theory and practice. The other focused on the ideal of objective scientific rationality and progress."

"Friedrich Hayek was an economist and political philosopher, although he is also well known for his work on intellectual history and has written challenging material in psychology. In this lecture, we will look at his striking ideas about the use of knowledge in society.

"Hayek's starting point was with a debate about whether socialism (in the sense of a planned economy) was compatible with the act of making rational decisions about the use of resources. Hayek was among those who argued that it was not. In the course of exchanges with socialists, he developed a distinctive view of markets as allowing for the use of knowledge that was scattered through society, including tacit knowledge, that is, 'knowledge how' rather than 'knowledge that.' This allowed for Hayek to offer a powerful reinterpretation of Adam Smith's ideas about the social division of labor. He also argued, in his Road to Serfdom, that the attempt to introduce central planning into a society was incompatible with individual liberty.

"Hayek is also well known for his critique of the ideal of 'social justice' - arguing that, in a market-based economy, one cannot expect that people will be rewarded on the basis of some notion of what they merit. We will explore this and some of Hayek's other key ideas in social philosophy, including his interpretation of the rule of law. We conclude by discussing some of the continuing lessons that his ideas offer for societies such as our own."

Quoted material ©2000 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Introduction

2005-08-31T22:21:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part I: Ancient World; Lecture 1

I am returning now to Part I of this series, thanks to my library hold coming in.

"This opening lecture introduces themes, concepts, and terminology that will be followed and used throughout the series. The nature of concert music as a living, breathing entity and not a fossil of the past is introduced. Important definitions and distinctions are introduced and discussed, including 'concert' music, 'classical' music, 'popular' music, and 'Western' music. The concept of 'music as a mirror' is introduced, as are the four basic tenets of music as a mirror. The three-pronged approach to the music under study during the course is discussed, as is the importance of building a descriptive vocabulary for describing that music. Heartfelt apologies are offered for the limitations of a survey course as well as for the overstatements that will be necessary in a course like this one. Lastly, using Ludwig van Beethoven as an example, the 'composer' is discussed, not as idiot savant or Godhead, but as a person describing some aspect or aspects of his life and world in his music."

Pictured is Gary Oldman as Beethoven in Immortal Beloved.

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Baroque Instrumental Forms Part II: Ritornello Form and the Baroque Concerto

2005-08-27T14:55:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part II: The High Baroque; Lecture 16

"The discussion of Baroque era instrumental form begun in Lecture Fifteen now focuses on Ritornello form and the Baroque concerto. This lecture first differentiates between chamber and orchestral music, a distinction not truly recognized until the late seventeenth century. Next we discuss the degree to which the opera house was responsible for the development of the orchestra as well as such orchestral genres as overture, suite and concerto. The three types of high Baroque concerti - orchestral concerto, solo concerto, and concerto grosso - are defines and discussed, as is the terminology surrounding these orchestral genres. Finally, the concerto grosso is examined in detail, with special attention paid to the Ritornello form first movement of Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5."

Pictured: Antonio Vivaldi, who wrote one of the first violin concerti, The Four Seasons (my favorite classical music).

And thus ends Part II. Back to Part I now...

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Baroque Instrumental Forms Part I: Passacaglia

2005-08-25T14:31:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part II: The High Baroque; Lecture 15

"This lecture introduces the vital concept of instrumental musical form - preordained processes which organize musical materials into recognizable structures without the presence (or need for) words. Until the Baroque era, almost all musical form was determined by the words being set to music. The advent of instrumental music during the Baroque indicated the parts of musical speech - melody, rhythm, harmony, and form - had developed substantially enough in and of themselves to provide a satisfying, albeit 'abstract,' musical experience. This lecture then focuses on Baroque-era musical forms based on the process of variation: passacaglia, ground bass and chaconne (or ciaconna). Such Baroque variations procedure is then demonstrated using works by Henry Purcell [pictured] and Johann Sebastian Bach."

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Baroque Sacred Music Part II: The Lutheran Church Cantata

2005-08-22T19:48:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part II: The High Baroque; Lecture 14

"This lecture continues the examination, begun in Lecture 13, of Baroque sacred music, focusing now on the Lutheran church cantata. Unlike oratorio, the Lutheran church cantata was part of a regular religious service (specifically, the Sunday service). The Lutheran church cantata evolved as a musical commentary on a given week's particular Bible reading, becoming known as the musical 'sermon before the sermon.' This lecture examines the evolution of the Lutheran church cantata, the operatic ideals of the Lutheran librettist Erdman Neumeister [pictured], and Johann Sebastian Bach's Cantata No. 140, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme."

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Baroque Sacred Music Part I: The Oratorio

2005-08-20T21:22:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part II: The High Baroque; Lecture 13

"This lecture and the next focus on the adaptation of Baroque operatic elements to the world of Baroque sacred music. This lecture introduces the two most important new genres of Baroque sacred music - the oratorio and the Lutheran Church cantata - and briefly discusses and defines the Baroque Mass, Magnificat, Passion, and sacred Motet as well. The oratorio is then examined in detail, from its modest beginnings as a musical setting of Biblical text through its growing popularity as an opera-like entertainment, particularly during Lent, becoming ultimately an opera on religious subject. The lecture concludes with a discussion of the career of George Frederick Handel and a brief examination of his English language oratorio Messiah of 1742."

Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership; CD cover photo ©2003 Bethany College

Baroque Opera

2005-08-18T16:20:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part II: The High Baroque; Lectures 11 & 12

"These lectures discuss the evolution of opera from the late Renaissance through the early Baroque. They begin with a return to the late Renaissance and an examination of the intermezzi/intermedi that developed concurrently with the madrigal. Inserted within the acts of stage plays, these musical interludes, which commented musically on the progress of the play in a manner not unlike a Greek chorus, had become by the late sixteenth century an important genre in their own right. Many composers wrote such intermezzi and, unlike madrigals, they tended to utilize a solo rather than group singing. Increasingly, such solo singing was seen as more expressive and more capable of evoking a singular emotional response than group singing. These lectures describe and discuss the Florentine Camerata and its conviction that only solo singing could evoke true emotions in the ears and hearts of listeners. Believing that ancient Greek drama was entirely sung, members of the Camerata sought to create their own musical dramas, and in doing so, they invented opera around the year 1600. These lectures discuss two earlier operas - Peri's Euridice and Monteverdi's Orfeo - and describe and demonstrate the musical content of these early operas. Finally, they discuss the transition of Italian opera from courtly to popular entertainment, as well as the development of 'aria' around 1660."

Painting: Orfeo ed Euridice, artist unknown (let me know if you recognize the work and know its painter). Quoted material ©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Fugue

2005-08-17T21:48:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part II: The High Baroque; Lecture 10

"This lecture examines fugue, arguably the single most representative musical form/procedure of the Baroque era. Fugue is defines as a typically monothematic, polyphonic work in which a theme - or properly, a subject - is examined, broken down, reassembled, etc. in as many different ways as possible. Drawing on fugues by Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frederick Handel, this lecture introduces and examines the three essential parts of a fugue: the exposition, subject restatements, and episodes. This lecture also seeks to define and discuss the various tuning systems used up to and during the Baroque era: Pythagorean tuning, mean tone tuning, and well-tempered tuning."

©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

The Rise of German Nationalism in Music

2005-08-15T12:01:00.000-05:00

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music by Robert Greenberg
Part II: The High Baroque; Lecture 9

I'm starting with Part II of this 6-part series because of its availability at the library. I'll come back to Part I sometime soon.

"This lecture describes the rise of a distinctly German music during the Baroque. The Protestant Reformation is examined not just as a religious upheaval but also as a product of sixteenth-century German nationalism. The ultimate victory of Protestantism saw a new emphasis placed on the German language in worship, an emphasis that led to a new sort of music that followed the idiosyncratic cadences of the German (as opposed to Latin/Italian) language. This lecture also explores the Lutheran view of music and musical composition as a spiritual act, a view that would profoundly alter the history and nature of German music."

©1998 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Structuralism: Saussure and Lévi-Strauss

2005-08-03T13:49:00.000-05:00

Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition
Part VI: Modernism and the Age of Analysis
Lecture 72 by Louis Markos, Ph.D
Photo: Ferdinand de Saussure

"In this lecture, we consider the modern school of structuralism, an interdisciplinary approach to all branches of human knowledge that rejects all ontological and epistemological sources of meaning in favor of an anti-metaphysical approach. This approach posits that all humanistic pursuits are the products of deep structures that pre-date human consciousness. After tracing the roots of this approach to Marx and Freud, we unpack the linguistic and anthropological systems of Saussure and Lévi-Strauss. We will also define the at-times obscure terminology used by structuralism and decode its rather elaborate theoretical systems."
©2000 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

The Frankfort School

2005-08-03T13:48:00.000-05:00

Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition
Part VI: Modernism and the Age of Analysis
Lecture 71 by Douglas Kellner, Ph.D
Photo: Horkheimer

"Members of the Frankfort School [including Herbert Marcuse, Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, Erich Fromm, and Jürgen Habermas, among others] developed highly provocative and original perspectives on contemporary society and culture, including analyses of fascism, state monopoly capitalism, the culture industries, advanced industrial society, and the high-tech and consumer society that we currently find ourselves in. Drawing on Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, and Weber, the Frankfurt School synthesized philosophy and social theory to develop a critical theory of contemporary society."
©2000 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Heidegger - Dasein and Existenz

2005-07-31T13:48:00.000-05:00

Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition
Part VI: Modernism and the Age of Analysis
Lecture 69 by Robert Solomon, Ph.D

"This lecture focuses on Heidegger's early philosophy in Being and Time. Heidegger is often associated with both the existentialists and the postmodern philosophers who were inspired by him. He bagen with Husserl's idea of phenomenology (he studied with Husserl), but his interests were in theology and metaphysics. The focus of his philosophy was the study of being, which for him always had religious, as well as metaphysical, significance. The focus of the study of being, however, is on our own place in the world, what Heidegger called Dasein, or simply, 'being-there.' From this seemingly simple starting point, Heidegger weaves a refreshing new way of thinking about knowledge, ourselves, and our place in the world. Heidegger has always been a controversial figure, both because of his conscientiously obscure style and because his brilliance in philosophy was compromised by his terrible taste in politics."
©2000 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership