History of Music: 1750-1820

Objectives

a) To gain and deepen knowledge about the history of music in the period between ca.1750 and ca.1815;
b) to know the main issues, stylistic trends, musical genres, figures and institutions concerning the historical period in question;
c) to gain and develop skills in terms of the historical, sociological and ideological contextualization of musical phenomena, as well as to gain awareness of the main lines of continuity and change taking place in the period considered;
d) to know the most relevant musical-theatre and instrumental repertoire at this time;
e) to gain experience and autonomy regarding the approach to relevant and up-to-date scientific bibliography of international scope.

General characterization

Code

711021071

Credits

6.0

Responsible teacher

Paulo Manuel Rêgo Ferreira de Castro

Hours

Weekly - 4

Total - 168

Teaching language

Portuguese

Prerequisites

N/A

Bibliography

  • Downs, P. G. (1992). Classical music: The era of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Norton.
  • Keefe, S. P. (Ed.). (2009). The Cambridge history of eighteenth-century music. Cambridge University Press.
  • Pestelli, G. (1984). The age of Mozart and Beethoven. Cambridge University Press.
  • Taruskin, R. (2010). The Oxford history of Western music, vol. 2: Music in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. Oxford UniversityPress.
  • Zaslaw, N. (Ed.). (1989). The Classical era: From the 1740s to the end of the 18th century. Macmillan.

Teaching method

The theoretical exposition of the essential contents, carried out by the teacher, is regularly complemented by commented listening and viewing of musical examples representing the topics being studied, as well as by a critical approach to other relevant sources (scores, librettos, iconography, and other documents), in which participation of the whole class is required. There is also room for the discussion of passages from the supporting bibliography, questions, and other perspectives.

Evaluation method

Continuous assessment - Two written tests, carried out in the middle and at the end of the semester (50% + 50%)(100%)

Subject matter

1. The emergence and the characteristics of the galant style.
2. The flourishing of the comic genres of musical theatre in Italy and France: intermezzo, opera buffa, dramma giocoso and opéracomique. The cases of the ballad opera and the Singspiel.
3. The transformation of opera seria in Italy and the reform carried out by Gluck.
4. The sacred and choral-symphonic repertoire in the second half of the 18th century.
5. From Empfindsamkeit to Sturm und Drang.
6. The flourishing of instrumental genres in a domestic context: the piano sonata and the string quartet. The case of the Lied.
7. The flourishing of instrumental genres within the context of the public concert: the solo concerto, the sinfonia concertante, and thesymphony.
8. The creative journey of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and other composers.

Programs

Programs where the course is taught: