WCFAH 219 - The Music of Two Ring Cycles

Institution:

Westminster College (Salt Lake City)

Subject:

Description:

In this course students will examine music composed for two of the greatest fantasy epics ever created, Richard Wagner's 4-opera Der Ring des Niebelungen and Howard Shore's soundtracks to the 3-film version of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Comparisons between the literary content of the cycles are inevitable, from the subject matter to parallel plot developments and even the fantasy creatures that inhabit each world, and these will be studied in the course. In addition to these correspondences, the composers of each cycle used very similar compositional devices to organize the musical content, providing continuity over 10+ hours of music while simultaneously clearly delineating characters, objects, emotional states and more abstract ideas. Students will present their own specialized research on diverse topics relating to the two cycles to their classmates. (WCore: WCFAH and RE)

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.westminstercollege.edu

Phone Number:

(801) 484-7651

Regional Accreditation:

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

Calendar System:

Four-one-four plan

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