MUSC 227 - Music History II: Key Figures in Music History, Beethoven to Beyoncé

2023-2024 Catalog Year

Credit(s): 3
Lecture: 3
Non-Lecture: 0

An examination of the contributions of key figures in music history during the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. Students begin in Europe with the classical music tradition, analyzing the music of composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Richard Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi, and Johannes Brahms. Students conclude in the United States, surveying the rise of new traditions such as jazz and rock ‘n roll, and considering the cultural significance of artists such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Chuck Berry, Michael Jackson, and Beyoncé Knowles. Students gain an understanding of the personal, 11 cultural, and political forces that shaped (and continue to shape) the classical music canon, and they gain an understanding of the personal, cultural, and political forces that shaped the formation of new canons, namely the canons of jazz, rock ‘n roll, and popular music more broadly.

Prerequisite(s): MUSC 226 or Permission of Instructor.
Offered: Every Spring Semester