[WesMaps 98/99 Home Page]
[Course Search]
[Course Search by CID]
GERM285
The Dark Muse: Music and the German Mind
GERM285 SP
Not Currently Offered
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 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: Discussion Lecture
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Level: UG Credit: 1.00
Gen Ed Area & Dept: HA GERM
Prerequisites:
None
Last Updated on MAR-22-1999
Contact wesmaps@wesleyan.edu to
submit comments or suggestions.
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459