MUS 206 — Love, Drugs, and War: The Obsessions of History's Great Composers
Quarter: Winter
Instructor(s): Stephen Schultz
Date(s): Jan 6—Feb 3
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Wednesdays
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Class Meeting Time: 5:30—7:20 pm (PT)
Tuition: $385
Refund Deadline: Jan 8
Unit(s): 1
Status: Registration opens Nov 30, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Winter
Day: Wednesdays
Duration: 5 weeks
Time: 5:30—7:20 pm (PT)
Date(s): Jan 6—Feb 3
Unit(s): 1
Tuition: $385
Refund Deadline: Jan 8
Instructor(s): Stephen Schultz
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens Nov 30, 8:30 am (PT)
From the opium-fueled passions of 19th-century Romanticism through the devastation of two world wars and the psychedelic culture of the 1960s, music both reflected and transformed the turbulent world around it. This course traces 150 years of history and music as love, drugs, and war found expression in some of the era's most extraordinary works. We begin with Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, a fevered portrait of romantic obsession. Mahler's First and Fifth Symphonies then chart a path from unrequited longing to fulfillment. Holst's The Planets and Shostakovich's symphonies reveal how war and life in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin shaped the music of these composers. In Penderecki and Górecki, we'll hear the lingering memory of World War II before the course closes with Lennon, McCartney, and the musical experimentation of The Beatles. Throughout the course, deep listening pairs with historical context to uncover the expressive forces that give this music its enduring power.
STEPHEN SCHULTZ
Professor of Music History, Carnegie Mellon
Stephen Schultz plays solo and principal flute with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Musica Angelica and performs with other leading early-music groups such as the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Apollo's Fire, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Orchester Wiener Akademie, Con Gioia, and Chatham Baroque. At Carnegie Mellon, he directs the Baroque Ensemble and has been a featured faculty member of the Jeanne Baxtresser International Flute Master Class. He has also taught at Juilliard and the International Baroque Institute at Longy School of Music. Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.