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

2. 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

5. Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring
   • Analysis of The Rite of Spring’s premiere and its revolutionary impact.
   • Duration: 43 min

6. The Paradox of Arnold Schoenberg
   • Understanding Schoenberg’s complexities and his influence on 20th-century music.
   • Duration: 45 min

7. The Emancipation of Melody!
   • Examination of Schoenberg’s musical evolution and friendships.
   • Duration: 43 min

8. 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

10. Schoenberg and the 12-Tone Method
    • Overview of Schoenberg’s 12-Tone Method and its significance.
    • Duration: 45 min

11. 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

13. 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

15. Electronic Music and European Ultraserialism
    • Introduction to electronic music and its evolution alongside Ultraserialism.
    • Duration: 46 min

16. Schoenberg in Exile
    • Tracing Schoenberg’s creative years and his war-inspired masterworks.
    • Duration: 47 min

17. Stravinsky in America
    • Overview of Stravinsky’s neoclassic music and adaptation in the US.
    • Duration: 48 min

18. For Every Action an Equal Reaction
    • Examination of composers rejecting Serialism and their new approaches.
    • Duration: 47 min

19. The California Avant-Garde
    • Focus on California’s musical innovators and their contributions.
    • Duration: 44 min

20. Rock around the Clock
    • Exploration of minimalism’s development and its ties to rock music.
    • Duration: 45 min

21. East Meets West; South Meets North
    • Insights into global musical influences from Asia and Latin America.
    • Duration: 48 min

22. Postmodernism: New Tonality and Eclecticism
    • Analysis of postmodernism’s blend of past musical traditions.
    • Duration: 46 min

23. The New Pluralism
    • Exploration of musical inclusivity in 20th-century compositions.
    • Duration: 44 min

24. Among Friends
    • Professor Greenberg’s personal journey and contributions to music.
    • Duration: 48 min