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Academic Year 2000/2001

The Dark Muse: Music and the German Mind
GERM 285 SP

The course will explore the relationships between literature, philosophy, and music in Germany during the 19th and early 20th centuries. We will study the idea of music in German thought, with an emphasis on its darker aspects as conceived in the first phase of Romanticism and developed during the course of the next 100 years. Music and the demonic, music and death, music as pure poetic expression, music as religion, and music as a copy of the will (Schopenhauer): these topics and others will be studied in the context of the crisis of Western culture at the turn of the century and, more specifically, of the "German problem" of the modern epoch. We will investigate the role of music as an abstract idea in German thinking (Schopenhauer, Nietzsche) ; music as a literary obsession (Hoffmann, Mann); and music as structure (Beethoven, Wagner, Schoenberg, et al.). The course will conclude with a close reading of Thomas Mann's DOCTOR FAUSTUS.

MAJOR READINGS

Gottfried, TRISTAN Wackenroder, essays and stories E.T.A. Hoffmann, tales and essays Selections from Heine and the German Romantic Poets Schopenhauer, THE WORLD AS WILL AND REPRESENTATION (Selections) Nietzsche, BIRTH OF TRAGEDY; NIETZSCHE CONTRA WAGNER Wagner, THE ARTWORK OF THE FUTURE Schoenberg, STYLES AND IDEA Mann, TONIO KROEGER; TRISTAN; DOCTOR FAUSTUS Short selections from: Beethoven, Schubert, Hanslick, and other commentators on 19th-century music.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Frequent papers; frequent listening assignments; take-home examination.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

It will be helpful for students to have had some exposure to the intellectual currents of the 19th century. A facility for listening to music is necessary, as well as a general acquaintance with the history of Western music in the 19th and 20th centuries. Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA GERM    Grading Mode: Student Option   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-26-2001

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