Global Arc

Major developments of Western music up to about 1400, including some of the following: the origin and growth of chant, its liturgical context and musical properties; medieval secular song; early polyphony and Parisian organum; the French ars nova and Machaut; the Italian trecento; English medieval music. Prerequisite: a year of theory or instructor's permission.

Introduction to the history and current scholarship of European music in the period 1400-1600. The principal thread is compositional history; in addition, the course includes extensive coverage of these topics: aesthetics, orality/literacy, improvisation, gender and sexuality.

An introductory survey of style developments, aesthetic trends affecting music, and principal vocal and instrumental genres (opera, cantata, concerto, sonata, and suite) of the period 1600-1750. Major figures to be considered include Monteverdi, Schütz, Lully, Corelli, Vivaldi, Handel, and J. S. Bach. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Prerequisite: any music course or instructor's permission.

Introduction to the history of 18th-century music, giving equal attention to pre-Classical and Classical periods, and covering France, England and Italy as well as Germany. The course features Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and numerous other significant figures. The chief narrative thread is the history of musical style and taste. A separate storyline running alongside this is the imaginative retelling of Dr. Charles Burney's musical journeys through Europe in the early 1770s. Extensive playlist and readings of contemporary texts (diaries, letters, travel accounts, music treatises, opera libretti, translated into English). Two lectures, one class.

A study of major styles and issues in European music from the death of Beethoven through the generation after Wagner, as seen against the aesthetic and cultural backgrounds of the time. Selected works from Schubert through Strauss and Mahler may be included. Two one-hour lectures and one one-hour class. Prerequisite: any music course, or some musical background, or instructor's permission.

What is the relationship between sound and place? How do we experience the everyday sounds of our acoustic environment? What stories can sound tell? This course invites students to engage with Princeton's soundscape. We will explore a range of topics in sound studies--including acoustic ecology, sound maps, sonification, and historical soundscapes--as well as study, perform, and experience sound art and experimental music that engages with notions of place. Students will make field recordings and work on creative final projects (individual or collaborative) developed in consultation with the instructor.

An introduction to modern music, beginning with its origins in late Romanticism, up to World War II. Composers considered include Mahler, Stravinsky, Debussy, Ravel, and Berg. Topics range from urban centers for modern music (Paris and Vienna), the relationship of musical modernism to contemporary literature and visual arts, music and politics, to the impact of recording technology and cinema on musical arts. Prerequisite: any music course, some classical music background, or instructor's permission. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

European and American music since World War II. Study of many recent approaches to music and their cultural, social, and philosophical bases. Topics include: postwar European avant-garde, American extensions of serialism, technological developments, influences of popular and folk cultures, American avant-garde. Prerequisite: any music course, some musical background, or instructor's permission. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

A performance course in African dance drumming with a focus on music from the West African Manding Empire (Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea Bissau and Senegal.) Taught by master drummer Olivier Tarpaga, exponent of the Mogo Kele Foli drumming technique, the course provides hands-on experience on two main instruments, the Djembe and the Dun dun. Students will acquire performance experience, skills, and techniques on the Také and Diansa and develop an appreciation for the integrity of drumming in the daily life of West Africa.

From holiday costumes to dining hall menus to GIFs, from popular songs to films to operas, many forms of expression cross cultural borders, raising aesthetic and ethical questions. This course explores the phenomenon of cultural appropriation through a wide lens, analyzing popular song, film, television, opera, and concert music. We scrutinize the familiar claim that respectful intentions negate power imbalances, and we explore complex questions regarding identity, ownership, representation, and authenticity. In the face of ever-shifting cultural boundaries, how do individuals and cultures retain and reconfigure meaning?