This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.

 

Readings, Music and Films

This page lists the required readings, music and films for each class session, followed by a table of supplemental readings.

Required Readings, Music and Film

SES # TOPICS READINGS, MUSIC and FILMS
L1 Introduction  
Part I. Witches
L2 Social history of witch-hunting

Readings

Buy at Amazon Briggs, Robin. Excerpts from Witches and Neighbors: The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996, pp. 3-13, 137-157, and 259-286. ISBN: 9780670835898.

Buy at Amazon Stephens, Walter. "Why Women? The Malleus Maleficarum." Chapter 2 in Demon Lovers: Witchcraft, Sex, and the Crisis of Belief. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2002, pp. 32-57. ISBN: 9780226772615. [Preview in Google Books]

S1 Section discussions on witches introduction

Readings

Buy at Amazon Willis, Deborah. "(Un)neighborly Nurture." Chapter 2 in Malevolent Nurture. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995, pp. 27-65. ISBN: 9780801481949. [Preview in Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Gibson, Marion. "Witches and magistrates: Essex 1582." Excerpt from Witchcraft and Society in England and America, 1550-1750. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003, pp. 28-36. ISBN: 9780801488740. [Preview in Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Midelfort, Erik H. C. "The General Crisis of Confidence, 1627-1684." Excerpt from Witch Hunting in Southwestern Germany, 1562-1684. Standford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1972, pp. 150-154. ISBN: 9780804708050. [Preview in Google Books]

L3 Introduction to Shakespeare's Macbeth

Readings

Buy at Amazon Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth Oxford World's Classics Edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780192834171.

Notes on the supernatural in Shakespeare's Macbeth (PDF)

F1 Kurosawa, Throne of Blood

Film

Buy at Amazon Kurosawa, Akira. Throne of Blood. 1957.

Reading (optional)

Buy at Amazon Goodwin, James. Akira Kurosawa and Intertextual Cinema. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993, pp. 169-191. ISBN: 9780801846618.

S2 Shakespeare, Kurosawa and context

Reading

Buy at Amazon Greenblatt, Stephen. "Shakespeare Bewitched." In New Historical Literary Study: Essays on Reproducing Texts, Representing History. Edited by Jeffrey N. Cox and Larry J. Reynolds. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993, pp. 108-135. ISBN: 9780691015460. [Preview in Google Books]

L4 Purcell, Dido and Aeneas; Handel, Alcina (excerpts)

Music

Buy at Amazon Purcell, Heny. Dido and Aeneas. European Voices, Le Concert d'Astrée, Susan Graham, Ian Bostridge, et al. Virgin Veritas CD 7243 5 45605 2 1, 2004.

Buy at Amazon Handel, George Frideric. Excerpts from Alcina. William Christie, Les Arts Florissants, Renee Flemming, Susan Graham, et al. Erato, 2000.

Ah! mio cor!
Verdi prati
Ah! Ruggiero crudel
Ombre pallide

Readings

Notes on the supernatural in 17th- and 18th-century music for London. (PDF)

Notes on Alcina (PDF)

Readings (optional)

Buy at Amazon Price, Curtis. "Dido and Aeneas: The Allegory." In Henry Purcell and the London Stage. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2009 (reissue of 1984 edition). ISBN: 9780521105156.

Pietropaolo, Domenico. "Alcina in Arcadia." University of Toronto Quaterly 72, no. 4 (2003): 858-869.

S3 Alcina performance excerpts; discussion of Purcell, Handel Alcina synopsis (PDF)
L5 Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique; Verdi, Macbeth (excerpts)

Music

Buy at Amazon Berlioz, Hector. Symphonie fantastique. Roger Norrington, London Classical Players. Virgin Classics, 2006 (reissue). Mvmt. 1, 2, 4 and 5.

Buy at Amazon Verdi, Guisseppe. Macbeth. Claudio Abbado, Alla Scala Theater Orchestra and Chorus, Shirely Verrett, Piero Cappuccilli. Deutsche Grammophon, 1997. [Listen online to complete opera (MP3 stream) (64 kbps encoding)]

Excerpts from Act 1

Preludio
Introduzione: Che faceste? dite su!
Due vaticini compiuti or sono
S'allontanarono!
Sappia la sposa mia
Di destarlo per tempo il re m'impose

Excerpts from Act 3

Tre volte miagola
Ballo
Finche appelli
Fuggi, regal fantasima
Ondine e Silfidi

Macbeth libretto: Italian | English translation

Readings

Notes on Verdi's Macbeth (PDF)

A Beginner's Guide to the Supernatural in Music: Macbeth and Symphonie fantastique (PDF)

Buy at Amazon Parker, Roger. "Macbeth." In New Grove Guide to Verdi and His Operas. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 98-104. ISBN: 9780195313147. [Preview in Google Books]

L6 Berlioz, Verdi

Reading

Buy at Amazon Albright, Daniel. "MacBeth." Part II in Musicking Shakespeare: A Conflict of Theatres. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2007. ISBN: 9781580462556. [Preview in Google Books]

Part II. Wizards
L7 Introduction to learned magic, alchemy and astrology

Readings

Buy at Amazon Kieckhefer, Richard. "Arabic Learning and the Occult Sciences," and "Necromancy in the Clerical World." Excerpts from Magic in the Middle Ages. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp. 116-119 and 133-165. ISBN: 9780521785761. [Preview in Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Grafton, Anthony. "The Master of Time," and "The Astrologer's Practice." Chapters 1 and 2 in Cardano's Cosmos: The Worlds and Works of a Renaissance Astrologer. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999, pp. 1-37. ISBN: 9780674095557. [Preview in Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Maxwell-Stuart, P. G. Wizards: A History. London, UK: Tempus/History Press, 2004, pp. 13-32 and 77-81. ISBN: 9780752428406.

Buy at Amazon Godwin, Joscelyn. Robert Fludd: Hermetic Philosopher and Surveyor of Two Worlds. Newburyport, MA: Red Wheel/Weiser, 1991 (reprint), pp. 23, 30, 34, 40, and 47. ISBN: 9780933999695.

S4 Section discussions on wizards introduction  
L8 Introduction to Goethe's Faust

Reading

Buy at Amazon Goethe, Johan Wolfgang von. Faust: Part I. New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 2005. ISBN: 9780140449013. Beginning to line 2072 (p. 69).

S5 Goethe's Faust

Reading

Goethe, Faust: Part 1. Line 2073 to end.

L9 Liszt, Faust Symphony

Music

Buy at Amazon Liszt, Franz. Faust Symphony. Leonard Bernstein, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, Kenneth Riegel. Deutsche Grammophon, 1996 (reissue).

Song settings of Goethe's poem "Der Erlkönig" (text), by Franz Schubert and Johann Friedrich Reichardt:

- In-class performance of both songs by Ellen Harris, voice, and Charles Shade, piano.
- Recording: Buy at Amazon Schubert, Franz. The Hyperion Schubert Edition, Vol. 8: Complete Songs. Sarah Walker, Graham Johnson. Hyperion, 1990.

Reading

Buy at Amazon Searle, Humphrey. "Franz Liszt (1811-1886)." In The Symphony. Edited by Ralph Hill. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books, 1949, pp. 191-197; music examples 1-8, pp. 200-201.

"Dr. Johannes Faustus: Puppet play." London, UK: David Nutt in the Strand, 1893.

- Required excerpts (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF - 1.0MB)
- Optional: Complete edition (Open Library | This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF - 4.1MB)

S6 Symphonic repertoire

Reading

Handout on Liszt (PDF)

F2 Murnau, Faust

Film

Buy at Amazon Murnau, F. W. Faust. 1926. (View or download the complete work from Internet Archive.)

Reading (optional)

Buy at Amazon Ott, Frederick W. "Faust." In The Great German Films. Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1991, pp. 69-73. ISBN: 9780863695728.

S7 Murnau and Goethe  
L10 Gounod, Faust

Music

Buy at Amazon Gounod, Charles. Excerpts from Faust. Serge Baudo, Philadelphia Opera Orchestra, Marta Senn, Valerie Masterson, et al. Ponto, 2005.

Libretto for Faust: French | English translation

Reading

Notes on Gounod's Faust (PDF)

Buy at Amazon Sternfeld, F. W. "Faust." In New Grove Dictionary of Opera. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780195221862. (Also in the library subscription service Oxford Music Online.)

Buy at Amazon Huebner, Steven. "Faust (ii)." In New Grove Dictionary of Opera. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780195221862. (Also in the library subscription service Oxford Music Online.)

S8 Gounod, Goethe

Readings

Faust comparison: Goethe, Carré, Gounod, Murnau (PDF)

Buy at Amazon Kelly, James William. The Faust Legend in Music. Detroit, MI: Detroit Reprints in Music, 1976. ISBN: 9780911772814. [See especially the lists of musical works.]

Buy at Amazon Huebner, Steven. "Faust." In The Operas of Charles Gounod. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1990, pp. 99-132. ISBN: 9780193153295.

Part III. Ghosts
L11 Introduction to hosts and spiritualism; Henry James's Turn of the Screw; Britten's Turn of the Screw

Readings

Buy at Amazon James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw. New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 2003. ISBN: 9780141439907. [Download a version of this work from Project Gutenberg]

- Introductory notes

Historical Outline on Henry James and Benjamin Britten (PDF)

Britten's Turn of the Screw: A Basic Guide (PDF)

- Context

Buy at Amazon Braude, Ann. Radical Spirits: Spiritualism & Women's Rights in Nineteenth Century America. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2001, chapters 1-2 (required); chapter 3 (optional). ISBN: 9780253215024. [Preview in Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Menand, Louis. "The Man of Two Minds." Chapter 4 in The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America. New York, NY: Macmillan, 2002. ISBN: 9780374528492. [Preview in Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Richardson, Robert. Excerpts from William James in the Maelstrom of American Modernism. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2007, pp. 257-265, 478-79, and 506-510. ISBN: 9780618919895. [Preview in Google Books]

- Henry James

Buy at Amazon Jones, Vivien. "Henry James's 'The Turn of the Screw'." Chapter 1 in Benjamin Britten: The Turn of the Screw. Edited by Patricia Howard. Cambridge Opera Handbooks. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1985, pp. 1-22. ISBN: 9780521283564. [Preview in Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Beidler, Peter. Excerpts from Ghosts, Demons, and Henry James: The Turn of the Screw at the Turn of the Century. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1989, pp. 76-101 and 150-159. ISBN: 9780826206848.

- Benjamin Britten

Buy at Amazon Howard, Patricia, eds. "Myfanwy Piper's 'The Turn of the Screw'." Chapter 2 in Benjamin Britten: The Turn of the Screw. Cambridge Opera Handbooks. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1985, pp. 23-62. ISBN: 9780521283564. [Preview in Google Books]

For students with considerable musical experience: Buy at Amazon Evans, Peter. "The Turn of the Screw." Chapter 10 in The Music of Benjamin Britten. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 203-222. ISBN: 9780198165903. [Preview in Google Books]

For students with less musical experience: Buy at Amazon White, Eric Walter. Benjamin Britten: His Life and Operas. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1970, pp. 176-186. ISBN: 9780520016798.

Music

Buy at Amazon Britten, Benjamin. The Turn of the Screw. English Opera Group Orchestra. 1955 original recording. In Britten Conducts Britten Operas 2. Decca, 2005 (box set reiusse).

L12 Spiritualism and ghost stories

Film

"Telegrams from the Dead." American Experience. PBS/WGBH, 1997.

Reading

Buy at Amazon Gaskell, Elizabeth. "The Old Nurse's Story." In Victorian Ghost Stories: An Oxford Anthology. Edited by Michael Cox and R. A. Gilbert. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780192829993.

F3 Evening film screening Britten, Turn of the Screw

Film

Buy at Amazon Britten, Benjamin. The Turn of the Screw. Mark Padmore, Lisa Milne, Diana Montague, Catrin Wyn Davies, City of London Sinfonia, Richard Hickox. BBC / Pro Arte DVD, 2005.

S9 Discuss choice of presentations  
L13 Turn of the Screw on film  
S10 Presentation preparations  
S11 Student presentations; discussion of context and James  
S12 Student presentations; discussion of James and Britten  
L14 Summary of class  

Supplemental Readings

TOPICS READINGS
Witches
Context

Buy at Amazon Briggs, Robin. Witches and Neighbors: The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. ISBN: 9780670835898.

Buy at Amazon Levack, Brian P. The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe. 3rd ed. White Plains, NY: Pearson Longman, 2006. ISBN: 9780582419018.

Shakespeare

Buy at Amazon Wills, Gary. Witches and Jesuits: Shakespeare's Macbeth. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780195102901. [Preview in Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Willis, Deborah. "Performing Persecution," and "Strange Brew." Chapters 5 and 6 in Malevolent Nurture. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995, pp. 159-237. ISBN: 9780801481949. [Preview in Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Stallybrass, Peter. "Macbeth and Witchcraft." Chapter 9 in Focus on Macbeth. Edited by J. K. Brown. New York, NY: Routledge, 2005 (reprint of 1982 edition). ISBN: 9780415352765. [Preview in Google Books.]

Purcell

Walkling, Andrew R. "Political Allegory in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas." Music & Letters 76 (1995): 540-571.

Buy at Amazon Harris, Ellen T. Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1990 (reprint of 1987 edition). ISBN: 9780193152526. [Preview in Google Books]

Verdi

Buy at Amazon Schmidgall, Gary. "Macbeth." In Literature as Opera. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1977, pp. 181-215. ISBN: 9780195022131.

Buy at Amazon Rosen, David, and Andrew Porter, eds. Verdi's Macbeth: A Sourcebook. New York, NY: Norton, 1984. ISBN: 9780521265201. [A complete compendium of the paper trail for Macbeth, including all of Verdi's letters to his librettist, his producer, his singers, etc. on the/his conception of the opera.]

Buy at Amazon Budden, Julian. "Macbeth." Chapter 12 in The Operas of Verdi. Vol. 1. 2nd (revised) ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1992. ISBN: 9780198162612. [Preview in Google Books]

Ghosts and spiritualism
Context

Crowe, Catherine. "Introduction," and "Troubled Spirits." Chapters I and XII in The Night Side of Nature, or Ghosts and Ghostseers. 1858. Scanned original pages (PDF ‑ 2.1MB); other online formats, including complete HTML text, are in the Internet Archive.

Buy at Amazon Blum, Deborah. Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life after Death. New York, NY: Penguin, 2007. ISBN: 9780143038955. [Preview in Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Owen, Alex. "Culture and the Occult at the Fin de Siecle." Chapter 1 in The Place of Enchantment. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780226642017. [Preview in Google Books]

Henry James Buy at Amazon James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw. 2nd Norton critical ed. Edited by Deborah Esch and Jonathan Warren. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1999. ISBN: 9780393959048.
Benjamin Britten

Other essays in Buy at Amazon Benjamin Britten: The Turn of the Screw. Edited by Patricia Howard. Cambridge Opera Handbooks. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1985. ISBN: 9780521283564. [Preview in Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Seymour, Claire. The Operas of Benjamin Britten: Expression and Evasion. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: Boydell Press, 2007 (reprint). ISBN: 9781843833147. [Preview in Google Books]