Steve Reich wins 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Music

Composer Steve Reich has been awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Music. This is a significant development, since the Pulitzer has often gone to establishment composers who work in academically approved styles. Minimalism was for years an outsider style disdained by academic composers, but now it is clearly becoming part of the establishment.

Electronic music

• Moog synthesizer demonstration by Marc Doty

Final exam review

The final exam review is now published. It is available by selecting "Exam review" at right.

Syllabus and outline update

I have filled in the syllabus for the remainder of the course and do not anticipate any further revisions. If you have printed out the syllabus in the past, please be sure to print out a new copy.

Also, please note that I have revised the course outline to correspond with the syllabus.

Review for exam 2

The review guide for exam 2 is now complete. See the link at right under Class Resources.

John Cage at BSO Online Conservatory

Exhibit on John Cage at Boston Symphony Orchestra Online Conservatory (select "Cage, The Seasons" at top right)

New feature: Boston concert listings

Please note the new link for "Boston concert listings" under Class Resources at right. You will find this list of resources useful as you plan your final project.

Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings

Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings in the Vietnam War film Platoon (1986)

Exam 2 postponed

Exam 2 is postponed until Wednesday, March 25.

Exam review posted

The review guide for exam 2 has been posted. It is available from a link under Class Resources at right, or from a link on the syllabus.

Aaron Copland and Barack Obama

• Tom Hanks narrates A Lincoln Portrait at the Obama Inauguration Concert
  
• Barack Obama narrates A Lincoln Portrait, Chicago, 2005
• Air and Simple Gifts, composed by John Williams (film composer) for Obama inauguration
  

Final project

The guidelines for the final project have been added under Class Resources at right.

Links for Charles Ives

Excellent website for Charles Ives: explications of his works, biography, criticism, etc.

New feature: interpretative themes

I have added a document, "Themes," under Class Resources at right. This page summarizes the broad interpretative themes that we revisit time and again throughout the course. You should use the themes in conjunction with the outline as you prepare for this course.

PowerPoint presentations posted

All PowerPoint presentations through exam 1 have been posted to Blackboard.

Exam review posted

The exam review is now posted. It is available under Class Resources at right, or from a link on the syllabus.

The Rite of Spring ballet video

Reconstruction by the Joffrey Ballet of 1913 premiere staging of ballet The Rite of Spring:

• Part 1: prelude through beginning of "Round Dances of Spring"
• Part 2:

• 0:00 Continuation of "Round Dances of Spring"
• 0:37 End of excerpt in Listen.
  
• 0:37 "Ritual of the Rival Tribes"
• 2:52 "Procession of the Sage"
• 3:55 "Adoration of the Earth"
• 4:15 "Dance of the Earth"
• 5:28 End of act I

• Part 3: 6:32 to end for "Sacrificial Dance."

Links for Second Viennese School

Webern in Mayberry: scene from Andy Griffith Show with soundtrack replaced by Webern

No class Wednesday, 1/21/09

No class Wednesday, 1/21/09, because of illness.

Presentations posted

The PowerPoint presentations for listening skills and introduction to Modernism (for classes Wed, Jan 14 and Fri, Jan 16) are now posted to Blackboard.

Welcome

Welcome to Music of the Twentieth Century, Humanities 210-A.