HV_618 Expressionism in music

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2021
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Taught online.
Teacher(s)
doc. PhDr. Pavel Sýkora, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Jana Perutková, Ph.D.
Department of Musicology – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Jan Karafiát
Supplier department: Department of Musicology – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Thu 14:00–15:40 N43
Prerequisites
Succesfully passed university entrance exam.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 12 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The aim of the course is to familiarise students with one of the main artistic and musical styles at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The attention focuses on the life and works of members of the so-called second Vienna school (especially Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg and Anton Webern). Other composers whose works displays expressionist elements (Richard Strauss, Alexander Scriabin, Leoš Janáček, Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Alois Hába, Arthur Honegger, Dmitri Shostakovich) are captured, too. The main compositional techniques will be explained on musical examples: atonality, twelve-tone technique, serialism, punctualism. Similar features in philosophy, visual arts and literature will be also reflected.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course student will be able to know artistic styles at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries associated with expressionism; to describe life and work of the important composers of musical expressionism, especially A. Schoenberg, A. Berg and A. Webern; to characterise the main compositional techniques: twelve-tone technique, serialism, punctualism etc.; to analyse typical works of the members of the so-called second Vienna school in the wider artistic an spiritual context.
Syllabus
  • Europe at the beginning of the 20th century – new concept of time, catastrophic visions: Proust, Joyce, Schönberg (Fünf Orchesterstücke, Gurre-Lieder). ˂p> Expressionist tendencies in art history (mannerism etc.): Grünewald, Bosch, Gesualdo. ˂p> The fundamental features of expressionism: sadness, deformation, abstraction: Munch, Kandinsky, Schoenberg (Erwartung). ˂p> Expressionism in the visual arts: Die Brücke, Der blaue Reiter, Kokoschka, Schönberg. ˂p> Expressionism in literature: Wedekind, Benn, Werfel, K. Čapek, Deml, Durych. ˂p> Second Vienna school – its philosophical justification and defence, Adorno: Philosophy of Modern Music. ˂p> The late (crisis-laden) romanticism – the poetics of Tristan in the period of fin de siècle: Schönberg (Verklärte Nacht), Strauss (Salome), Skrjabin (Prometheus). ˂p> The problematic of the terms atonality and athematic principle – Janáček’s polemic with Schoenberg’s Harmonielehre, Sprechgesang and the theory of speech melodies (Pierrot lunaire, Kantor Halfar). ˂p> Alban Berg’s theatrical poetics and its influence on „absolute“ music (Wozzeck, Lyric Suite). ˂p> Berg’s operatic allusions to Janáček and Shostakovich (From the House of the Death, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District). ˂p> The principles of classical twelve-tone technique – spiritual aspects of this system: Schoenberg’s polemics with Stravinsky and Thomas Mann (Moses und Aron, Survivor from Warsaw, Canticum sacrum, Doctor Faustus). ˂p> Serialism and punctualism in music – the reduction and abstraction principles: Webern, Klee. ˂p> Sonic music and its sources: Bartók, Stravinsky, Webern, Varèse (The Miraculous Mandarin, The Rite of Spring, Klangfarbenmelodie, Ionisation). ˂p> The genesis and principles of microtonal music: Aristoxenos, Gesualdo, Hába.
Literature
    recommended literature
  • ADORNO, Theodor W. Filozofie nové hudby. Praha: Akademie múzických umění v Praze, 2018.
  • JELINEK, Hanns: Uvedení do dodekafonické skladby. Praha–Bratislava: Editio Supraphon, 1967.
  • HRČKOVÁ, Naďa: Dějiny hudby VI. 20. století (1). Praha: Euromedia Group – Ikar, 2006.
  • SPURNÝ, Lubomír and Vlasta REITTEREROVÁ. Alois Hába (1893-1973): mezi tradicí a inovací (Alois Hába (1893-1973): between tradition and innovation). 1. vyd. Praha: Koniasch Latin Press. 256 pp. ISBN 978-80-87773-08-6. 2014. info
  • Styl a idea. Edited by Ivan Vojtěch, Illustrated by Arnold Schönberg. Vyd. 1. Praha: Arbor vitae. 400 s. ISBN 808630048X. 2004. info
  • HÁBA, Alois. Nová nauka o harmonii : diatonické, chromatické, čtvrttónové, třetinotónové, šestinotónové a dvanáctinotónové soustavy. Vyd. 1. Jinočany: H & H. 253 s. ISBN 8086022544. 2000. info
  • ŠTĚDROŇ, Miloš. Leoš Janáček a hudba 20. století : paralely, sondy, dokumenty. 1. vyd. Brno: Nadace Universitas Masarykiana. 301 s. ISBN 80-902197-4-8. 1998. info
  • CHALUPECKÝ, Jindřich. Expresionisté :Richard Weiner, Jakub Deml, Ladislav Klíma, podivný Hašek. [Praha]: Torst. 200 s. ISBN 80-85639-00-9. 1992. info
  • STUCKENSCHMIDT, Hans Heinz. Arnold Schönberg. Translated by Zdeněk Nouza - Miloš Pohl. 1. vyd. Praha: Supraphon. 151 s. 1971. URL info
  • HERZFELD, Friedrich. Musica nova. Translated by Bohumil Černík. Vyd. 1. Praha: Mladá fronta. 466 s. 1966. URL info
  • KOHOUTEK, Ctirad. Novodobé skladebné směry v hudbě. 2. rozš. a opr. vyd. Praha: Státní hudební vydavatelství. 270 s. 1965. URL info
Teaching methods
Lectures accompanied by audial and visual examples. Final discussion on the theme.
Assessment methods
The oral examination based on the themes of course.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught only once.
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