MUS 402 - Senior Seminar in Music: The Music of Bela Bartok

Institution:

Williams College

Subject:

Music

Description:

Bela Bartok's activities--as a composer, a comparative musicologist, a performer, a music editor, an essayist--place him at the center of many intersecting trends and issues prevalent in the early twentieth century (e.g., the rise of nationalism, consciousness of tonality's decline, anxiety about musical 'progress' and the search for new means of musical organization). The course will consider Bartok's music in the light of his many activities, and as a lens through which we can explore both the music that shaped his development (music of Brahms, Strauss, Debussy, Ravel, Beethoven quartets, seventeenth-century Italian keyboard music) and the musical developments that he influenced (music of Messiaen, Lutoslawski, his influence on Jazz). We will employ a variety of means to gain insights into Bartok's work, including the exploration of Hungarian folk repertoire through transcription exercises, examination of manuscript drafts, consideration of Bartok's own writings about music, and so on.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

MUS 202, 231, 232, 233

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Seminar

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.williams.edu

Phone Number:

(413) 597-3131

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Four-one-four plan

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