21M.220 Early Music, Spring 2007

Abstract

This class covers the history of Western music from antiquity until approximately 1680, about 2000 years worth of music. Rather than cover each topic at the same level of depth, we will focus on four topics in particular and glue them together with a broad overview of other topics. The four topics chosen for this term are (1) chant structure, performance, and development; (2) 14th century music of Italy and France; (3) Elizabethan London; and (4) Venice in the Baroque era. The class will also introduce many of the tools we use in studying music history such as manuscript study, original notation work (the musical equivalent of foreign language study), and historical performance practice.