Assigned readings are from the following books:
[MSC] Steinberg, Michael. The Concerto. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780195103304.
[MSS] ———. The Symphony. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780195061772.
[PS] Stedman, Preston. The Symphony. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1992. ISBN: 9780138800550.
[LC] Cuyler, Louise. The Symphony. 2nd ed. Warren, MI: Harmonie Park Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780899900728.
[MR] Roeder, Michael. A History of the Concerto. Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1994. ISBN: 9780931340611.
[DT] Tovey, Donald. Essays in Musical Analysis. Vols. I-IV and VI. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1935.
Readings by Session
Under works, the parenthetical note lists the city, conductor, and year of the first performance.
| SES # | TOPICS | WORKS | READINGS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A "pictorial" concerto by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) before age 47 and a "dramatic" symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) at 38 | Vivaldi, Antonio. "Winter" Concerto, op. 8 #4 in F minor, RV 297 (Venice, Vivaldi before 1725) |
MR, pp. 62-3 Scan the background info in PS, pp. 3-16 and LC, pp. 3-10 |
| Beethoven, Ludwig van. Symphony #5 in C minor, op. 67 (Vienna, Beethoven 1808) |
MSS, pp. 24-33 PS, pp. 76-82 LC, pp. 66-70 DT Vol. I, pp. 38-44 |
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| 2 |
Baroque structure in orchestral concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) before age 36 and Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) at 56 Pre-Classic style in a solo concerto by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) before age 33 |
Bach, J. S. Brandenburg Concerto #3 in G, concerto grosso for 3 violins, 3 violas, 3 violoncellos, double bass and harpsichord, BWV 1048 (Cöthen, Bach before 1721) |
MSC, p. 13 MR, pp. 89-90 |
| Stravinsky, Igor. Dumbarton Oaks Concerto in Eb for a chamber orchestra of 15 instruments: Flute, clarinet, bassoon, 2 horns, 3 violins, 3 violas, 2 cellos and 2 double basses (Dumbarton Oaks, Nadia Boulanger 1938) | MR, pp. 356-7 | ||
| Haydn, Franz Joseph. Cello Concerto #1 in C (Esterhazy Palace, unknown/Haydn before 1765) | |||
| 3 |
Baroque perfection in Bach by 36 Classic perfection in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) at 27 |
Bach, J. S. Brandenburg Concerto #2 in F, BWV 1047 (Cöthen, Bach before 1721) |
MSC, pp. 11-13 MR, pp. 82-9 |
| Mozart, W. A. Symphony #36 ("Linz") in C, K. 425 (Linz, Mozart 1783) |
MSS, pp. 388-91 LC, pp. 34-8 DT Vol. I, pp. 183-6 |
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| 4 | A fiery/dark/minor and calm/bright/major pair of piano concertos by Mozart at 29 | Mozart, W. A. Piano Concerto #20 in D minor K. 466 (Vienna, Mozart/Mozart 1785) |
MSC, pp. 303-5 MR, pp. 127-32 and pp. 153-62 |
| Mozart, W. A. Piano Concerto #21 in C, K. 467 (Vienna, Mozart/Mozart 1785) |
MSC, pp. 305-7 MR, pp. 162-3 |
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| 5 | Consummate craft in three of Mozart's last four symphonies, at 30-33 | Mozart, W. A. Symphony #38 ("Prague") in D, K. 504 (Prague, Mozart 1786) |
MSS, pp. 391-3 LC, pp. 39-40 |
| Mozart, W. A. Symphony #40 in G minor, K. 550 (perhaps Dresden, Mozart 1789) |
MSS, pp. 397-401 PS, pp. 46-55 LC, pp. 41-4 DT Vol. I, pp. 191-5 |
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| Mozart, W. A. Symphony #41 ("Jupiter") in C, K. 551 (perhaps Dresden, Mozart 1789) |
MSS, pp. 401-4 LC, pp. 44-7 DT Vol. I 195-8 |
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| 6 | Beethoven's "heroic" and "pastoral" symphonies, at 35-38 | Beethoven, Ludwig van. Symphony #3 ("Eroica") in Eb, op. 55 (Vienna, Beethoven 1805) |
MSS, pp. 3-4 and pp. 11-19 PS, pp. 63-5 and pp. 68-70 LC, pp. 48-52 and pp. 59-65 DT Vol. I, pp. 29-34 |
| Beethoven, Ludwig van. Symphony #6 ("Pastoral") in F, op. 68; mvts 2-4 (Vienna, Beethoven 1808) |
MSS, pp. 33-8 PS, pp. 71-2 LC, pp. 70-2 DT Vol. I, pp. 44-56 |
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| 7 | The transcendent pianist in concertos by Beethoven at 38, Franz Liszt (1811-86) at 44, and Serge Prokofiev (1891-1953) at 30 | Beethoven, Ludwig van. Piano Concerto #4 in G, Op. 58 (Vienna, Beethoven/Beethoven 1808) |
MSC, pp. 50-1 and pp. 71-6 MR, pp. 188-91 DT Vol. III, pp. 84-7 |
| Liszt, Franz. Piano Concerto #1 in Eb (Weimar, Liszt/Berlioz 1855) |
MSC, pp. 237-40 MR, pp. 239-45 |
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| Prokofiev, Serge. Piano Concerto #3 in C, Op. 26 (Chicago, Prokofiev/Stock 1921) |
MSC, pp. 343-4 and pp. 347-9 MR, pp. 316-20; compare to PS, pp. 286-300 and LC, pp. 219-20 |
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| 8 | Symphonies with messages requiring voices: The 9th by Beethoven at 54 and the 7th by Krzysztof Penderecki (b. 1933) at 64 | Beethoven, Ludwig van. Symphony #9 ("Choral") in D minor, op. 125 (Vienna, Umlauf 1824) |
MSS, pp. 47-58 PS, pp. 73-6 LC, pp. 76-83 DT Vol. I, pp. 67-83 and Vol. II, pp. 1-45 |
| Penderecki, Krzysztof. Symphony #7: Seven Gates of Jerusalem, for five soloists, speaker, three mixed choirs and orchestra; mvt. V: Lauda Jerusalem Dominum and mvt. VII: Haec dicit Dominus (Jerusalem, Maazel 1997) |
PS, pp. 432 LC, pp. 228-30 |
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| 9 | Franz Schubert (1797-1828), a supreme lyricist who emulated Beethoven, at 25-31 | Schubert, Franz. Symphony #8 ("Unfinished") in B minor, D759 (Vienna, Herbeck 1865 [composed in 1822]) |
MSS, pp. 470-83 PS, pp. 96-101 and pp. 105-7 LC, pp. 83-8 DT Vol. I, pp. 211-15 |
| Schubert, Franz. Symphony #9 ("The Great") in C, D944 (Leipzig, Mendelssohn 1839 [composed in 1828]) |
MSS, pp. 483-92 PS, pp. 103-4 LC, pp. 88-92 DT Vol. I, pp. 205-11 |
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| 10 | Fantastic orchestration animates the programs in Hector Berlioz (1803-69) at 27, Richard Strauss (1864-1949) at 31, and Bela Bartók (1881-1945) at 63 | Berlioz, Hector. Symphonie fantastique ("Episode in the Life of an Artist") in C, op. 14 (Paris, Habeneck 1830; then, after extensive revisions, Paris, Habeneck 1832) |
MSS, pp. 59-66 PS, pp. 123-33 LC, pp. 139-45 DT Vol. VI, pp. 44-50 |
| Strauss, Richard. Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, symphonic poem in F, for large orchestra, after the old roguish manner, in rondo form, op. 28 (Cologne, Strauss 1895) |
PS, pp. 201-7 LC, pp. 174-83 DT Vol. IV, pp. 154-6 |
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| Bartók, Bela. Concerto for Orchestr; mvts 1-2, and 4 (Boston, Koussevitzky/BSO 1944) | MR, pp. 385-7 | ||
| 11 | Romantic reveries in concertos by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-47) at 36, Robert Schumann (1810-56) at 31, and Johannes Brahms (1833-97) at 46 | Mendelssohn, Felix. Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 (Leipzig, David/Gade 1845) |
MSC, p. 261 and pp. 264-70 MR, pp. 230-2 DT Vol. III, pp. 178-81 (compare to PS, pp. 108-15 and LC, pp. 93-6) |
| Schumann, Robert. Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 54; mvt 1, finished in 1841 and titled Fantasy (Dresden, Clara Schumann/Hiller 1845) |
MSC, pp. 413-19 MR, pp. 249-55 DT Vol. III, pp. 182-4 (compare to PS, pp. 115-23 and LC, pp. 96-103) |
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| Brahms, Johannes. Violin Concerto in D, op. 77; mvt 1 (Leipzig, Joachim/Brahms 1879) |
MSC, pp. 120-8 MR, pp. 265-9 DT Vol. III, pp. 126-39 |
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| 12 | Mid-semester review | ||
| 13 | Mid-semester quiz | ||
| 14 | Restoration of bygone forms by Johannes Brahms (1833-97) at 43, Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) at 33, Anton Webern (1883-1945) at 46, and Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) at 39 | Brahms, Johannes. Symphony #1 in C minor, op. 68 (Karlsruhe, Dessoff 1876) |
MSS, pp. 67-75 PS, pp. 140-4 and pp. 151-8 LC, pp. 104-17 DT Vol. I, pp. 84-95 |
| Schoenberg, Anton. Chamber Symphony #1 for 15 instruments, op. 9 (Vienna, Schoenberg 1907) |
MSS, pp. 463-9 LC, pp. 208-9 |
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| Webern, Anton. Symphony for chamber orchestra, op. 21 (New York, League of Composers, opening of its 7th season, 18 December 1929, conducted by Smallens) | |||
| Hindemith, Paul. Symphony"Mathis der Maler"/"Mathis the Painter"; mvt 1: Engelkonzert / Angelic Concert (Berlin, Furtwängler 1934) |
MSS, pp. 248-55 PS, pp. 325-35 LC, pp. 204-7 |
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| 15 | Romantic features in violin concertos by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-93) at 41, Alban Berg (1885-1935) at 50, and John C. Adams (b. 1947) at 46 | Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich. Violin Concerto in D, op. 35 (Vienna, Brodsky/Richter 1881) |
MSC, pp. 484-8 MR, pp. 296-8 |
| Berg, Alban. Violin Concerto: To the Memory of an Angel (Barcelona, Krasner/Scherchen 1936) |
MSC, pp. 92-105 MR, pp. 374-80 |
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| Adams, John C. Violin Concerto; mvt 1 (Minneapolis, Fleezanis/de Waart 1993) | MSC, pp. 3-10 | ||
| 16 | Symphonic manifestos by Tchaikovsky at 48 and Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-75) at 31 | Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich. Symphony #4 in F minor, op. 36 (St. Petersburg, Tchaikovsky 1888) |
MSS, pp. 630-4 PS, pp. 159-60 and pp. 162-3 LC, pp. 154-9 |
| Shostakovich, Dmitri. Symphony #5 in D minor, op. 47; mvts 1 and 4 (Leningrad, Mravinsky 1937) |
MSS, pp. 533-8 and pp. 546-50 PS, pp. 300-3 and pp. 310-17 LC, pp. 220-24 |
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| 17 | "New World" elements in works by Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904) at 52, George Gershwin (1898-1937) at 26, and Aaron Copland (1900-90) at 50 | Dvorák, Antonín. Symphony #9 ("From the New World") in E minor, op. 95 (NYC, Seidl 1893) |
MSS, pp. 147-54 LC, pp. 159-63 PS, pp. 181-87 DT Vol. II, pp. 106-10 |
| Gershwin, George. Rhapsody in Blue for piano and jazz band (NYC, Gershwin/Whiteman 1924; later for piano and orchestra; the instrumentation of both versions was by Ferde Grofé (1892-1972)) | MR, pp. 419-22 | ||
| Copland, Aaron. Concerto for Clarinet, with string orchestra, harp and piano (NBC Symphony, Goodman/Reiner 1950) |
MSC, pp. 175-9 MR, pp. 422-5 (compare to PS, pp. 390-98 and LC, pp. 217-18) |
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| 18 | Post-Romantic concertos by Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) at 36, Samuel Barber (1910-81) at 52, and Edward Elgar (1857-1934) at 62 | Rachmaninoff, Sergei. Piano Concerto #3 in D minor, op. 30 (NYC, Rachmaninoff/Damrosch 1909) |
MSC, pp. 356-62 MR, pp. 299-303 |
| Barber, Samuel. Piano Concerto, op. 38; mvt 3 (BSO in New York, Browning/Leinsdorf 1962) |
MSC, pp. 20-26 MR, pp. 430-32 (compare to LC, pp. 216-17) |
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| Elgar, Edward. Violoncello Concerto in E minor, op. 85; mvts II and IV (London, Salmond/Elgar 1919) |
MSC, pp. 185-9 MR, pp. 326-7 and pp. 329-32 (compare to LC, pp. 192-4) |
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| 19 | The refreshing French air provided by Claude Debussy (1862-1918) at 43, Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) at 57, and Henri Dutilleux (b. 1916) at 43 | Debussy, Claude. La mer / The Sea, Three Symphonic Sketches (Paris, Chevillard 1905) |
PS, pp. 238-43 LC, pp. 183-6 |
| Ravel, Maurice. Piano Concerto in G; mvts 1 and 3 (Paris, Long/Freitas-Branco 1932) | MSC, pp. 371-5 | ||
| Dutilleux, Henri. Symphony #2 ("Le double"), mvt 3 (Boston, Munch/BSO, 1959) | |||
| 20 | Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) at 52 and Charles Ives (1874-1954) at 35-42, the spiritual, philosophical, religious and hermeneutic culmination of the symphonic genre | Mahler, Gustav. Symphony #9 (Vienna, Bruno Walter 1912) |
MSS, pp. 274-8 and pp. 349-54 PS, pp. 214-25 LC, pp. 130-36 DT Vol. VI, pp. 73-83 |
| Ives, Charles. Symphony #4, mvts 1-2 (New York, Stokowski 1965 [composed in 1909-16]) |
MSS, pp. 266-73 PS, pp. 349-65 LC, pp. 168-73 |
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| 21 | Splinterings of the symphonic genre in Stravinsky at 31, Roy Harris (1898-1979) at 41, and William Schuman (1910-92) at 31 | Stravinsky, Igor. The Rite of Spring (Le sacre du printemps) (Paris ballet, Monteux 1913) | |
| Harris, Roy. Symphony #3 (Boston, Koussevitzky/BSO, 1939) |
PS, pp. 365-77 LC, pp. 214-16 |
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| Schuman, William. Symphony #3; Part I: Passacaglia and Fugue (Boston, Koussevitzky/BSO, 1941) |
MSS, pp. 493-9 PS, pp. 377-90 |
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| 22 | Concertos by composers in America: John Harbison (b. 1938) at 52, Libby Larsen (b. 1950) at 42, Peter Child (b. 1953) at 49, Evan Ziporyn (b. 1959) at 43, and Keeril Makan (b. 1972) at 34 | Harbison, John. Concerto for Double Brass Choir and Orchestra; mvts 1 and 3: Invention on a Motive and Invention on a Cadence (Los Angeles, Previn 1990) | |
| Larsen, Libby. Marimba Concerto, after Hampton (Long Beach CA, Moersch/Falletta 1992) | |||
| Child, Peter. Concertino for violin and chamber winds (MIT, 2002, Kim/Harris) | |||
| Ziporyn, Evan. Drill for bass clarinet and winds (MIT, 2002, Ziporyn/Harris) | |||
| Makan, Keeril. Still for solo violin, solo viola and chamber orchestra (2006, Graeme Jennings, vln; Masumi Rostad, vla; and Sinfonia da camera of Champaign/Urbana, Illinois, dir. Vlad Conta) | |||
| 23 | Review | ||
| 24 | Final quiz | ||
| 25 | Discussion | ||
| 26 | Discussion (cont.) |