How would you bring classical music to the people Richard Florida describes? How would you bring it to people your own age? What kind of concert could you present, that would fit into their world, and would interest them? These are hard questions, so don’t worry if your answers don’t seem perfect. Just come up with some ideas that make sense to you, and write them down, along with reasons why you think the ideas might work.

Please e-mail all written assignments to me, at greg@gregsandow.com. If you can’t get them to me by the due date, you must let me know in advance.

January 29

Classical music in the past

reading:

James H. Johnson, Listening in Paris, excerpt from chapter 1, about Baroque opera in Paris (If you find the beginning of this very academic, just skim for a while, until you get to all the juicy stories, about what happened in the audience.)

Some descriptions of performances in past centuries, from various sources

excerpt from a letter Mozart wrote to his father on July 3, 1778, about the premiere of his Paris Symphony

listening/video:

Mozart, Symphony No. 31, “Paris,” first movement (Academy of Ancient Music; Jaap Schroeder, concertmaster, Christopher Hogwood, continuo.)

new addition: Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto, second movement (Joseph Szigeti, violin, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham, recorded in 1933)

Wilhelm Backhaus, a great pianist from the last century, improvises preludes to pieces on his recital programs:

Chopin, Nocturne, Op. 27, No. 2 in D flat (live performance, Lugano, 1953)

Schumann, “Das Abend” (This was recorded at Backhaus’s last recital, which he played in 1969 in Carinthia, Austria. First there’s an announcement from the stage, saying that Backhaus isn’t well, and won’t play the scheduled work, Beethoven’s Op. 111 sonata. Instead, he’ll play a short Schumann piece, which we then hear, starting with an improvised prologue.)

YouTube video: “Toreador Song” from Carmen, sung in Italian by Gino Bechi, from the 1948 film Follie per l’opera (“Mad About Opera”)

YouTube video: Puccini, La Bohème, end of Act 1 (excerpt), sung by Jussi Björling and Renata Tebaldi, from a 1956 television broadcast on NBC, complete with worshipful introduction by the British actor Charles Laughton. (The telecast actually included a good deal more of this scene, both before and after the two arias you’ll be watching. But no one has yet put the whole thing on YouTube.)

February 5

Pop music

Peter Guralnick, Sweet Soul Music, excerpt (about an Aretha Franklin recording session)

listen to Aretha Franklin, “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)”

Greil Marcus, excerpt from his entry on the Beatles, from The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll

Lester Bangs, “Astral Weeks” (an example of rock criticism, from Greil Marcus, ed., Stranded: Rock and Roll for a Desert Island)

listen to Van Morrison’s “Madame George”

read the lyrics

Robert Walser, Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music, excerpt (an example of musicological writing about pop music)

listen to Van Halen’s “Runnin’ with the Devil”

February 12

Fixing the crisis: Presenting classical music to a new audience (1)

reading:

Clive Thompson, “Sex, Drugs, and Updating Your Blog,” from the New York Times Magazine, May 13, 2007 (about how to promote a pop career all by yourself, on the Web)

three posts from my blog:

“Bad Press Releases”

“A Bad Caramoor Press Release”

“How to Write a Press Release”

three introductions to familiar classical pieces, from the American Symphony Orchestra League's now-defunct "Meet the Music" website:

Anne Midgette, “The Last Hallelujah” (about Handel’s Messiah)

Joshua Kosman, “How You Like Me Now?” (about Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1)

Elena Park, “The Intimate Ninth” (about Beethoven's Ninth)

listening:

“The Ring and I” (introduction to Wagner's Ring, produced and broadcast by WNYC, New York's public radio station)

February 19

Fixing the crisis: Presenting classical music to a new audience (2)

Class presentation (this week and next week, if necessary):

Pick a piece that you’ve performed, and that you really love. Or, if you’re a composer, something you’ve written. Come to class prepared to say why you love this piece. Imagine that you’re talking to people your own age, who don’t usually listen to classical music? What would you say to get them interested?

Be as personal as you like. In fact, the point is to talk about your own thoughts and feelings, about the very personal, individual, even unique reasons why you love the piece you’re talking about. There’s no need to talk about the history of the piece, or its structure, unless these are things that truly excite you. Speak from your heart, in your own way.

take-home exam, emailed to you, due by e-mail February 26

February 26

Final discussion

Plus conclusion of presentations