How to Listen to Great Music

by Greenberg, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780452297081
• ISBN10: 0452297087
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-04-26
• Publisher: Plume

Summary

From one of the most trusted names in continuing education-the knowledge you need to unlock "the most abstract and sublime of all the arts." Whether you're listening in a concert hall or on your iPod, concert music has the power to move you. The right knowledge can deepen the ability of this music to edify, enlighten, and stir the soul. In How to Listen to Great Music, Professor Robert Greenberg, a composer and music historian, presents a comprehensive, accessible guide to how music has mirrored Western history, that will transform the experience of listening for novice and long-time listeners alike. You will learn how to listen for key elements in different genres of music - from madrigals to minuets and from sonatas to symphonies-along with the enthralling history of great music from ancient Greece to the 20th century. You'll get answers to such questions as Why was Beethoven so important? How did the Enlightenment change music? And what's so great about opera anyway? How to Listen to Great Musicwill let you finally hear what you've been missing.

Table of Contents

Understanding and Listening to Music	p. 1
A Mad Dash Through the Roots of Western Music	p. 7
The Music of the Medieval Church	p. 13
A Necessary and Invigorating Excursion into the Worlds of Music Theory and Terminology	p. 30
Emotional Exuberance and Intellectual Control: The Paradox of Baroque Art	p. 36
Play It, Don't Say It: The Rise of Instrumental Music	p. 45
National Styles: Italy and Germany (or Why German Music Will Never Hit Your Eye Like a Big Pizza Pie and Italian Music Will Never Go from Best to Wurst]	p. 54
Fugue It!	p. 63
Opera: The Baroque Expressive Revolution in Action	p. 69
Opera Goes to Church	p. 79
A New Liturgy Comes of Age: Lutheran Baroque Sacred Music	p. 88
Instrumental Form in Baroque Era Music	p. 96
Baroque Era Musical Genres	p. 102
Enlightened Is as Enlightened Does: An Introduction to the Classical Era	p. 111
Putting It All Together: Classical Era Musical Form, Part One	p. 124
Classical Era Musical Form, Part Two	p. 137
Classical Era Orchestral Genres, Part One	p. 146
Classical Era Orchestral Genres, Part Two	p. 156
Send in the Buffone: Opera in the Classical Era	p. 166
A Revolutionary Artist for a Revolutionary Time: Ludwig van Beethoven	p. 177
Beethoven's Compositional Innovations: When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Innovate	p. 186
Isn't It Romantic?: The Music of the Nineteenth Century	p. 197
Structural Problems: Formal Challenges in Early Romantic Music	p. 205
Going Beyond Beethoven: Hector Berlioz's Symphony Fantastique and the Program Symphony	p. 215
Nineteenth-Century Italian Opera	p. 228
Giuseppe Verdi: It's All About the People-Dramatic Truth in Italian Opera	p. 234
Nineteenth-Century German Opera: Von Weber and Wagner, Nationalism and Experimentation	p. 241
Of Thee I Sing: Musical Nationalism in the Nineteenth Century	p. 255
Romantic Nationalism, Russian Style	p. 264
A Modern Music for a Modern World	p. 271
Revolutions, Evolutions, and ô-ismsö Galore: The Making of a New Music in the Early Twentieth Century	p. 280
From Russia with Rhythm: Igor Stravinsky	p. 288
No Waltz in the Park: Arnold Schoenberg's Vienna and Expressionism	p. 295
Postlude	p. 305
Music Selections	p. 309
Glossary	p. 315
Bibliography	p. 323
Index	p. 325
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