How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition
How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition
Seasons
November 1, 2023
We continue our exploration of early 20th-century modernism with a discussion of Igor Stravinsky. He gained almost instant fame in Paris with The Firebird in 1910, which displays aspects of tradition and innovation, the latter marked by Stravinsky's idiosyncratic use of rhythm.
Watch How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition Season 1 Episode 47 Now
November 1, 2023
This lecture explores early 20th-century modernism with an examination of the life and music of Claude Debussy. We discuss the increasing French cultivation of the French language in the arts, both visual and musical.
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November 1, 2023
Survey musical and expressive trends from the Baroque era through the late 19th century. With an expressive language pressed to the breaking point, with a new scientific and technological world at hand, and the thrill of a new century about them, will the best young composers be content to work within the same melodic and harmonic language as their great-great-grandfathers?
Watch How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition Season 1 Episode 45 Now
November 1, 2023
Russia's entry into the greater European community as a result of the defeat of Napoleon and the Decembrist Revolution of 1825 are discussed, as is the growing conviction that the language and native music of Russia were capable of the highest artistic expression. The music and ideas of the Russian Five are discussed, with special emphasis on Rimsky-Korsakov and his Russian Easter Overture.
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November 1, 2023
This lecture examines the trend of folkloric musical nationalism during the second half of the 19th century with a brief history, followed by a discussion of musical exoticism. Ultimately, the lecture turns to Franz Liszt, perhaps the most representative instrumental virtuoso/composer of the 19th century, and his composition Totentanz.
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November 1, 2023
In this lecture we continue to discuss major genres of 19th-century orchestral program music. We discuss Shakespeare's importance to 19th-century music.
Watch How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition Season 1 Episode 42 Now
November 1, 2023
We return to the realm of instrumental music, specifically late 19th-century orchestral program music. We will define and discuss major genres of 19th-century orchestral program music and Shakespeare's importance to 19th-century music.
Watch How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition Season 1 Episode 41 Now
November 1, 2023
Richard Wagner was a revolutionary who sought to radically reinterpret the function and substance of music drama in the mid-19th century. This lecture explores his early life and his paternity, then turns to the overture and Act I of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde as an example of Wagner's use of the orchestra, leitmotif, and the impact of the ideas of philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer.
Watch How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition Season 1 Episode 40 Now
November 1, 2023
In this lecture we examine early 19th-century German opera, which developed rather late compared to Italian and French opera. Genuine German opera evolved from native German roots, not by imitating and adapting Italian operatic plots and singing style.
Watch How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition Season 1 Episode 39 Now
November 1, 2023
Verdi was not an innovator or reformer; his operatic style evolved as he sought ever-greater refinement of dramatic line, singing technique, and literary truth. He elevated the role of the orchestra and favored characterization and dramatic truth over the vocal prettiness of the bel canto style.
Watch How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition Season 1 Episode 38 Now
November 1, 2023
In this lecture, early 19th-century Italian opera is examined as a popular art, the product of a highly profitable media industry. The style of this opera is called bel canto; its essential composers were Gaetano Donizetti, Vincenzo Bellini, and Gioacchino Rossini.
Watch How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition Season 1 Episode 37 Now
November 1, 2023
Hector Berlioz's Symphony Fantastique combines his four great loves: the drama of Shakespeare, the musical storytelling of opera, the symphonic genre of Beethoven, and himself. We examine the gestation of the symphony, the fixed melodic idea that is heard in each movement and that represents the "beloved image," and the final two movements.
Watch How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition Season 1 Episode 36 Now
November 1, 2023
Hector Berlioz's Symphony Fantastique combines his four great loves: the drama of Shakespeare, the musical storytelling of opera, the symphonic genre of Beethoven, and himself. We examine the gestation of the symphony, the fixed melodic idea that is heard in each movement and that represents the "beloved image," and the final two movements.
Watch How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition Season 1 Episode 35 Now
November 1, 2023
This lecture explores a paradox encountered by many early Romantic composers: the spontaneity and creative freedom of the composer being at odds with the preordained musical form. This lecture discusses the formal solutions embraced by composers who chose to abandon Classical form, and focuses on two miniatures.
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November 1, 2023
This lecture introduces the Romantic era and examines the legacy of Beethoven's vision of music as self-expression. Finally, we introduce and examine four Romantic trends that will be studied in detail over the next few lectures.
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November 1, 2023
Lecture 32 continues describing Beethoven's mature compositional innovations and artistic beliefs through the example of his Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op.
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November 1, 2023
In comparing Haydn's Symphony No. 88 and Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, we emphasize the fact that Beethoven's symphony does not reflect a period style but is, rather, a self-referential art work. We explore Beethoven's early life and progressive hearing disability to understand the sources of his rage, alienation, and independence.
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November 1, 2023
We discuss the operas of Mozart with special attention to Don Giovanni. We then discuss the nature and content of an opera buffa finale.
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November 1, 2023
Explore the development of Classical opera buffa: the ideal operatic genre for the Classical era's more realistic plots, more "natural" music, and more common characters, over the Baroque era's formulaic nature in opera seria and the domination of these operas by singers and virtuosic singing. Finally, we will sample Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's opera La Serva Padrona.
Watch How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition Season 1 Episode 28 Now
November 1, 2023
We discuss the perfection of the violin family and the invention of the piano during the Baroque era, primary instruments for the concerto repertoire during the Classical era. We discuss the invention of the piano and compare the sound of an early piano to a harpsichord.
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November 1, 2023
This lecture explores the Classical symphony as both an orchestral genre and a social phenomena. The Baroque antecedents of symphony are described and discussed; a Baroque, Italian-style overture by Handel is compared directly to an early Classical symphony by Johann Stamitz.
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November 1, 2023
Two additional sonata-allegro form movements are analyzed and discussed: the first movement of Haydn's Symphony No. 88 in G Major, and the overture to Mozart's opera Don Giovanni.
Watch How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition Season 1 Episode 25 Now
November 1, 2023
In Lectures 23 and 24 we examine sonata-allegro form, but first, we observe the life and personality of the extraordinary Wolfgang Mozart. We discuss the many meanings and uses of the word "sonata.
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November 1, 2023
In Lectures 23 and 24 we examine sonata-allegro form, but first, we observe the life and personality of the extraordinary Wolfgang Mozart. We discuss the many meanings and uses of the word "sonata.
Watch How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition Season 1 Episode 23 Now
November 1, 2023
We discuss the antecedents of rondo form
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November 1, 2023
Late 18th-century composers extended the formal structure and the expressive content of minuet and trio to create movements appropriate for the multimovement instrumental genres of the Classical era. With minuet and trio movements by Mozart and Haydn as examples, we examine the highly stylized minuet and trios of the Classical era.
Watch How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition Season 1 Episode 21 Now
November 1, 2023
This lecture continues the examination of Classical instrumental musical form with an investigation of Baroque minuet and trio form, the antecedent of Classical minuet and trio form. The importance of courtly dance in 17th-century France is discussed, as is the development of stylized dances.
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November 1, 2023
This lecture initiates a discussion of Classical instrumental musical form that will continue through Lecture 25. We examine the theme and variations form, an adaptation of Baroque variations to the expressive and musical needs of the Classical era.
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November 1, 2023
This lecture seeks to further build listening skills and vocabulary regarding cadence, or musical punctuation. The four cadence types are defined, demonstrated, and discussed.
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November 1, 2023
This lecture introduces the Age of Enlightenment and its impact on musical style. The dramatic difference between the music of the late Baroque and Classical eras is brought into high relief
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November 1, 2023
Focus now on ritornello form and the Baroque concerto. We first differentiate between chamber and orchestral music.
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November 1, 2023
We introduce the concept of instrumental musical form
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November 1, 2023
This lecture continues the examination of Baroque sacred music, focusing now on the Lutheran church cantata, which evolved as a musical commentary on a particular Bible reading. We also examine the operatic ideals of the Lutheran librettist Erdman Neumeister, and Johann Sebastian Bach's Cantata No.
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November 1, 2023
his lecture introduces the oratorio and Lutheran Church cantata, and briefly discusses and defines the Baroque Mass, Magnificat, Passion, and sacred Motet as well. The oratorio is then examined in detail, from its modest beginnings as a musical setting of some Biblical text through its growing popularity as an operalike entertainment.
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November 1, 2023
We continue the evolution of opera from the late Renaissance through the early Baroque. We discuss the transition of Italian opera from courtly to popular entertainment and the development of the aria around 1660.
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November 1, 2023
We discuss the evolution of opera from the late Renaissance through the early Baroque. Believing that ancient Greek drama was entirely sung, members of the Florentine Camerata sought to create their own music dramas, and, in doing so, they invented opera around the year 1600.
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November 1, 2023
Drawing on fugues by Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frederick Handel, this lecture introduces and examines the parts of a fugue: the exposition, subject restatements, and episodes. This lecture also seeks to define and discuss the various tuning systems used up to and during the Baroque era.
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November 1, 2023
This lecture describes the rise of German music during the Baroque. The Protestant Reformation put a new emphasis on the German language in worship, and the music with it followed the idiosyncratic cadences of the German language, as opposed to Latin/Italian.
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November 1, 2023
In this lecture, we build listening skills and a descriptive vocabulary and discuss style and features of Baroque music. Essential musical elements as pulse, meter, scales, and harmony are examined in light of the Baroque predilection for scientific investigation, systemic organization and codification.
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November 1, 2023
This lecture introduces the brilliant and exuberant Baroque era. We differentiate between the measured elegance of Renaissance music and the extravagant emotionalism of Baroque music.
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November 1, 2023
This lecture focuses on the madrigal, the most important genre of Italian secular music of the late Renaissance. Examine the heightened poetic content of the madrigal and the Petrarchian revival.
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November 1, 2023
This lecture introduces the mass as the most important compositional genre of the Renaissance. The mass itself is defined and the ceremony is discussed in detail, in particular the nature and content of the Proper and Ordinary.
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November 1, 2023
This lecture examines the impact of the rediscovery of ancient Greek and Roman culture on Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. Important Renaissance trends are defined and discussed.
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November 1, 2023
This lecture focuses on the changing role of music in the medieval world. First we examine the liturgical plainchant and its musical characteristics.
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November 1, 2023
This lecture introduces the ancient world as a 4,000-year period of extraordinary cultural richness and variety. We discuss the cyclical, rather than linear, nature of art and music.
Watch How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition Season 1 Episode 2 Now
November 1, 2023
This opening lecture introduces themes, concepts, and terminology that will be used throughout the series. Important definitions and distinctions are discussed, including: concert music, classical music, popular music, and Western music.
Watch How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition Season 1 Episode 1 Now
How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition is a series categorized as a new series. Spanning 1 seasons with a total of 46 episodes, the show debuted on 2023. The series has earned no reviews from both critics and viewers.
How to Watch How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition
How can I watch How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition online? How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition is available on The Great Courses with seasons and full episodes. You can also watch How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition on demand at Prime, Prime Video, The Roku Channel online.
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