Composers: Fryderyk Chopin

Catalog description

This course will center on the biography, works, and cultural context of a specific composer or group of composers. As well as introducing students to the musical works of the composer(s), the course will examine issues such as reception history, the canon, mechanisms of cult formation, authorship and attribution, identity, historical and social contexts, and nationalism and patriotism. Fulfills Arts and Letters Requirement. Permanently exiled from his native Poland for half his short life, and debilitated by illness for much the same time, Fryderyk Chopin nonetheless produced a profoundly important repertory of music for the piano, music at times transcendentally beautiful and at times viscerally exciting. Through close listening to recordings, viewing of recorded live performances, and selected readings, this course will explore Chopin’s music and the cultures within which and for whom he composed. The course is intended for non-majors, but music majors and performers are more than welcome as well.