Overview
Course No. 7006
Travel into the lives of the great 20th-century composers and immerse yourself in the era’s sublime musical masterworks. The 20th century was a hotbed of musical exploration, innovation, and transformation unlike any other epoch in history. This course comprises 24 lectures that present a musical cornucopia of astounding dimensions—focusing on the incredible brilliance and diversity of musical art across a turbulent century.
Video Lectures
- 20th-Century Music: Be Afraid No Longer!
- Goals of the course and exploration of historical factors shaping 20th-century music.
- Duration: 47 min
- Setting the Table and Parsing Out Blame
- Examination of influences on composers and the rise of new musical traditions.
- Duration: 44 min
- Debussy and le français in Musical Action
- Investigating Debussy’s connection to French art and his role in modernism.
- Duration: 45 min
- Russia and Igor Stravinsky
- Exploration of Stravinsky’s early influences and his partnership with Diaghilev.
- Duration: 42 min
- Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring
- Analysis of The Rite of Spring’s premiere and its revolutionary impact.
- Duration: 43 min
- The Paradox of Arnold Schoenberg
- Understanding Schoenberg’s complexities and his influence on 20th-century music.
- Duration: 45 min
- The Emancipation of Melody!
- Examination of Schoenberg’s musical evolution and friendships.
- Duration: 43 min
- The Second Viennese School
- Overview of Schoenberg and his students’ contributions to non-tonal music.
- Duration: 47 min
- The “New” Classicism
- Insights into Stravinsky’s neo-Classical works and influence in the 1920s.
- Duration: 46 min
- Schoenberg and the 12-Tone Method
- Overview of Schoenberg’s 12-Tone Method and its significance.
- Duration: 45 min
- Synthesis and Nationalism: Béla Bartók
- Exploration of Bartók’s Hungarian roots and his folk music influence.
- Duration: 43 min
- America’s Musical Gift
- Examination of American vernacular music’s impact on classical composers.
- Duration: 46 min
- American Iconoclasts
- Focus on nonconformist American composers and their unique works.
- Duration: 47 min
- The World Turned Upside Down
- Analysis of the post-WWII shift in musical composition.
- Duration: 46 min
- Electronic Music and European Ultraserialism
- Introduction to electronic music and its evolution alongside Ultraserialism.
- Duration: 46 min
- Schoenberg in Exile
- Tracing Schoenberg’s creative years and his war-inspired masterworks.
- Duration: 47 min
- Stravinsky in America
- Overview of Stravinsky’s neoclassic music and adaptation in the US.
- Duration: 48 min
- For Every Action an Equal Reaction
- Examination of composers rejecting Serialism and their new approaches.
- Duration: 47 min
- The California Avant-Garde
- Focus on California’s musical innovators and their contributions.
- Duration: 44 min
- Rock around the Clock
- Exploration of minimalism’s development and its ties to rock music.
- Duration: 45 min
- East Meets West; South Meets North
- Insights into global musical influences from Asia and Latin America.
- Duration: 48 min
- Postmodernism: New Tonality and Eclecticism
- Analysis of postmodernism’s blend of past musical traditions.
- Duration: 46 min
- The New Pluralism
- Exploration of musical inclusivity in 20th-century compositions.
- Duration: 44 min
- Among Friends
- Professor Greenberg’s personal journey and contributions to music.
- Duration: 48 min

