Classical music appreciation: basics
History, styles, definitions, backstories, understanding: all you need to know about the backbone of classical music
Understand and enjoy classical music at your own pace. A music history course, including a music theory introduction.
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History, styles, definitions, backstories, understanding: all you need to know about the backbone of classical music
A Journey Through the History of Classical Music: From Medieval Chants to Modern Masterpieces
This course examines eight great concert masterworks by Mozart, Beethoven, Dvorák, Strauss, Brahms, Mendelssohn, and Liszt. You explore the life, times, personality, and stylistic assumptions of the composers and analyze each composition's form, themes, thematic relationships, and expressive content. You will also discuss the impact on musical development of the Enlightenment aesthetic ideal, nationalism, Beethoven’s heroic style, the Romantic Era, and more. Many musical excerpts are included.
Music is an integral part of humanity, from large societies to small tribes—but why? Music and the Brain probes this profound mystery, exploring the origins of music’s emotional powers; the connections between music and language; the links between hearing, moving, remembering, and imagining; and beyond. This interdisciplinary course combines music and cognitive science to reveal the glory of this marvelous gift.
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