Fall 2006

Instructor: Dr. John Roeder, 604.822.3715, Office Hours: Thursday Mornings, Room 401.

Meeting times: MWF, 11:00-12:00, Music Building Room 304

Description

This course explores the diverse concert-music repertoire since 1950. In this sense it is a continuation and enrichment of Music 301. Representative works will be presented and analyzed, ranging across orchestral, chamber, solo, and electro-acoustic genres. Theories of pitch and rhythm appropriate to the repertoire will be developed, using the composers’ own writings as references and points of departure. Although the course focuses primarily on compositional, theoretical, and analytical issues, the position of the works with respect to important social, aesthetic, and philosophical trends will also be considered. A wide range of composers and styles will be considered, beginning with the European modernists of the 1950s, but branching out to include (according to students' interests) postmodern works by eminent American, Canadian, and Asian composers.

There will be three assignments, each involving analysis of excerpts similar to those covered in the lectures. In lieu of a final exam, students will be asked to write a fifteen-page analytical paper on an art-music composition of the last fifteen years, as approved by the instructor. It should elucidate the audible form and processes of the music, and should not dwell on precompositional matters. Any unfamiliar concepts necessary for the analysis should be clearly explained. The analysis should apply concepts and techniques covered in the course; and it should be simple and direct. The content and expression of graduate students’ papers should be at a level commensurate with their advanced standing.

The course is designed for fourth-year undergraduates and first-year graduate students. They will participate at a level appropriate to their degree program and specialty, possibly including performing, lecturing, or original research, as determined in consultation with the instructor.

Grading

30% Class Presentation

30% Three assignments

40% Final paper

Outline

Date	Topic
6 Sept	Overview. Mystery piece. Review of pitch-class-set and serial theory.
8 Sept	Pre-war precedents; planning session for class presentations
11 Sept	Boulez: serial pitch structure and form in Improvisation sur Mallarm_(c) I
13 Sept	Boulez on pitch and rhythm: multiplicative techniques in Le marteau sans maître
15 Sept	Karlheinz Stockhausen on the “unity” of pitch, timbre, and rhythm, Kontakte andGruppen
20 Sept	Stockhausen: intro to formula composition.
22 Sept	Stockhausen: superformula composition: Licht. Presentation topics due.
25 Sept	Stefan Wolpe: writings and various excerpts (String Quartet, Form for Piano)
27 Sept	Wolpe: Music for 2 instrumental units
2 Oct	Witold Lutoslawski: excerpts, basic concepts
4 Oct	Lutoslawski: Quartet (1964)
6 Oct	Lutoslawski: Mi-parti; handout assignment 1
11 Oct	Elliott Carter: excerpts, basic concepts
13 Oct	Carter: Enchanted Preludes, Riconoscenza per Goffredo Petrassi

The remainder of the course will be determined by October 13, and depends partly upon what the students choose to prepare for their class presentations. Please note there will be no classes Sep 18, Sep 29, Oct 9, Nov 3 and Nov. 13.

General Bibliography (on reserve in the Music Library)

Cope, David. New Directions in Music. 7th ed. Prospects Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 2001.

Griffiths, Paul. Modern Music and after: Directions since 1945. London: Oxford, 1995.

Kostka, Stefan. Materials and Techniques of Twentieth-Century Music. 2d ed. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1999.

Schwartz, Elliott and Daniel Godfrey. Music Since 1945. New York: Schirmer, 1992.

Whittall, Arnold. Musical Composition in the Twentieth Century. New York: Cambridge, 1999.

Whittall, Arnold. Exploring Twentieth-century Music: Tradition and Innovation. New York: Cambridge, 2003.