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GERM285

The Dark Muse: Music and the German Mind
GERM285 SP

Next Offered in 9899 SP

The course will explore the relationships between literature, philosophy, and music in Germany during the 19th and earlier 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 one hundred 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: Discussion Lecture

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UG Credit: 1.00 Gen Ed Area & Dept: HA GERM

Prerequisites: None

Last Updated on MAR-10-1997




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