Introduction to Classical Music

This is a course for students who are passionate about classical musicand eager to learn more about it, but who have not necessarily had anyadvanced technical training or taken any college-level music courses. Theonly prerequisite is a basic knowledge of how to read musical notation.Otherwise, no prior experience is needed; all concepts will be explainedin class, and musical terms will be defined as they arise. This coursewill focus on Western classical music of the eighteenth and nineteenthcenturies, music that exemplifies tonality, the system of major and minorkeys, including pieces composed by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann,Chopin, Wagner, Brahms, Richard Strauss, and others. This course will telltwo competing stories about tonal music and try to reconcile them. On onehand, we will explore what all tonal pieces have in common, the sharedmusical language that makes them intelligible and allows them to communicate;on the other hand, we will try to discover what makes each piece unique,how composers bend the common language to say something new. Although thecourse will incorporate historical perspectives, it will not be a chronologicalsurvey. Instead, it will combine music theory with aesthetics, balancingprinciples of structural organization with insights into the aestheticmeaning and effects of these principles. By illustrating his lectures withhis own performances at the keyboard, Professor Korsyn will bring the musicto life.