Music 242: Proseminar in Baroque Music
Genre, style, and form in 18th-century music
Fall 1998
Note: the following syllabus is that which was used when this course
was most recently offered, in fall 1998.
Instructor: David Schulenberg (Hill Annex, Rm. 1); office hours Tu 11-12,
Th 1-2
Meetings: Thursdays 2-5 (Hill 205)
This course will investigate genre, style, and form in
eighteenth-century music. The concept of genre is central to modern
views of Western music and music history; it has also been a major topic
in recent literary, linguistic, and anthropological theory. Focusing on
the instrumental music of J.S. Bach, this seminar will explore classical
and modern definitions of genre by theorists, their applicability to
musical works, and problems of music historiography and analysis
relating to genre. A particular concern will be the emergence of the
sonata and the concerto as distinct genres during the eighteenth century
and their intertextual relationships to aria, recitative, and other
vocal types. Seminar participants will prepare short written reports
for presentation to the group and a final term paper.
Our goals will be: to gain an intimate knowledge of the musical works
studied; to become familiar with recent scholarly writing concerning
genre in these works; to understand the intellectual and musical
background to the composition of these works; and to develop our own
ways of analyzing and understanding the historical genres that they
represent.
Plan of work: Each week, seminar members will be expected to
report on and discuss assigned reading and/or musical selections; they
will also be asked to formulate questions and to investigate them by
pursuing additional reading and listening as well as independent
analysis. Findings will be regularly presented in short written reports
(3-5 pages) also delivered orally to the group, which will also serve as
the basis of further discussion; topics will range from sources and
editions to criticism and analysis.
In addition, participants will submit a term paper at least 15 pages
long (exclusive of notes, examples, and tables). This paper will be on
any one genre employed by J. S. Bach; it will seek to identify how the
genre in question was defined or understood by Bach's contemporaries and
how Bach follows or does not follow the conventions of that genre in his
own compositions. The paper may incorporate portions of presentations
previously prepared for the seminar. A twenty-minute aural presentation
of this paper to the group will serve as the final examination. A
150-word abstract of each paper, stating the proposed topic and general
approach, is due four weeks before the final meeting; attached to this
abstract should be a bibliography. A rough draft is due two weeks
before the end of the semester.
During the first two weeks of the semester, I will meet with each member
of the class to discuss his or her expectations of the course and
particular interests. Students should come prepared to indicate any
special topics, readings, or other matter that they would like to
pursue, and we will try to find ways of incorporating these into their
work for the course. I will also meet on a regular basis with each
member to discuss their work and contributions to the course and,
especially, the final paper.
Grades will be based on attendance and participation
(approximately 25%), short written reports (25%), and term paper (50%).
Acceptable work will receive a P; work significantly above average will
receive an H. Attendance is mandatory; failure to attend meetings or to
contribute constructively to discussions, as well as late or inadequate
written work, will be grounds for an L.
Syllabus
MEETING DATE TOPIC
1 8/20 What is genre? What are some Baroque genres?
2 8/27 Literary theories of genre
3 9/3 Theories of musical genre
4 9/10 18th-century definitions of selected genres
5 9/17 Bach cantatas
6 9/24
7 10/1 Concerto
8 10/8
-- 10/15 (Fall break)
9 10/22 Sonata
-- 10/29 (AMS)
10 11/5 ABSTRACT OF PAPER DUE
11 11/12 Chorale
12 11/19
-- 11/26 (Thanksgiving) ROUGH DRAFT OF PAPER DUE 11/25
13 12/3 Fugue
12/16, noon FINAL EXAM: reading of papers
Reserve List
BOOKS
STUDIES OF LITERARY GENRE
Beebee, Thomas O. The Ideology of Genre: A Comparative Study of
Generic Instabiity. University Park: The Pennsylvania State
University Press, 1994. Davis PN45.5.B38 1994
Fishelov, David. Metaphors of Genre: The Role of Analogies in Genre
Theory. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press,
1993. Davis PN228.M4 F57 1993
Fowler, Alastair. Kinds of Literature: An Introduction to the Theory
of Genres and Modes. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
1982. Davis PN45.5.F6 1982
Guillén, Claudio, Literature As System. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1971. Davis PN441.G78
Halliwell, Stephen, The Poetics of Aristotle: Translation and
Commentary. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1987.
Davis PN1040.A513 1987b
Paltridge, Brian. Genre, Frames, and Writing in Research
Settings. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1997. Davis
P302.P25 1997
GENRE IN MUSIC THEORY
Riepel, Joseph. Anfangsgründe zur musikalischen Setzkunst.
Regensburg, 1752-68. Facs. in Sämtliche Schriften zur
Musik, 2 vols., Vienna: Böhlau, 1996.
Mattheson, Johann. Das Neu-Eröffnete Orchestre. Hamburg:
Benjamin Schillers Wittwe, 1713. Microfilm 55-ML436
-----. Vollkommener Capellmeister. Hamburg: Christian Herold,
1739. Facs. ed. Margarethe Reimann. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1954.
MT6.M44 V6 1739a
----. Ibid. Trans. Ernest C. Harris as Johann Mattheson's Der
vollkommene Capellmester: A Revised Translation With Critical
Commentary. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1981. MT6.M44 V63
1981
Scheibe, Johann Adolph. Critischer Musikus. Neue, vermehrte
und verbesserte Auflage. Leipzig: Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf,
1745; facs., Hildesheim: Olms, 1970. Microcard 780.5 S318c. Hard copy
at Duke Music Lib.: 780.821 S318c
Walther, Johann Gottfried. Musicalisches Lexicon oder musicalische
Bibliothec. Leipzig: Wolffgang Deer, 1732. Facs. ed. Richard
Schaal. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1953. Music Reference ML100.W21
1953
CONTEMPORARY MUSIC HISTORY
Butler, Gregory G. "J. S. Bach's Reception of Tomaso Albinoni's Mature
Concertos." In Bach Studies 2, 20-46. Ed. Daniel R. Melamed.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. ML410.B13 B18 1995
Dahlhaus, Carl. "Bachs konzertante Fugen." Bach-Jahrbuch 41
(1955): 45-72. ML410.B1 A6 v.41
Dreyfus, Laurence. "J. S. Bach and the Status of Genre: Problems of
Style in the G-Minor Sonata BWV 1029." Journal of Musicology 5
(1987): 57-64. Subsequently incorporated into idem, Bach and the
Patterns of Invention (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
1996), 103ff. ML410.B1 D63 1996
Dürr, Alfred. "Zur Form der Präludien in Bachs Englischen
Suiten." In Beiträge zum Konzertschaffen Johann Sebastian
Bachs (Bach-Studien, 6), 101-8. Ed. Peter Ansehl et al. Leipzig:
Breitkopf und Härtel, 1981. Reprinted in Alfred Dürr, Im
Mittelpunkt Bach: Ausgewählte Aufsätze und Vorträge.
Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1988. ML410.B1 D82 1988
Fischer, Wilhelm. "Zur Entwicklungsgeschichte des Wiener klassischen
Stils." Studien zur Musikwissenschaft 3 (1915): 24-84.
PER
Marissen, Michael. "A Critical Reappraisal of J. S. Bach's A-Major
Flute Sonata." Journal of Musicology 6 (1988): 367-86.
PER
Swack, Jeanne, "On the Origins of the Sonate auf Concertenart.
Journal of the American Musicological Society, 46 (1993):
369-414. PER
Williams, Peter. The Organ Music of J. S. Bach. 3 vols.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980-4. MT145.B14 W53
1980
SCORES
Albinoni: Concertos Op. 7
--M1142.A36 op.7, no.1
--M1122.A43 op.7, no.2
--M1123.A42 op.7, no.3
--M1142.A36 op.7, no.4
--M1123.A42 op.7, no.5
--M1122.A43 op.7, no.6 1982
--M1142.A36 op.7,no.7
--M1122.A43 op.7, no.8 1982
--M1122.A43 op.7, no.9 1980
--M1142.A36 op.7, no.10
--M1122.A43 op. 7, no.11 1981
--M1122.A43 op.7, no.12 1980
Albinoni: Concertos Op. 9
--M1113.A4 op.9, no.1 K6
--M1122.A43 op.9, no.2
--M1123.A42 op.9, no.3 K6
--M1122.A43 op.9, no.9
Vivaldi: Concertos Op. 3. M3.V69 v.406-417
Vivaldi: Cantatas
--M2.R238 v.32-33
--M1612.V5 F6 1964
--780.8T V945 (UNC-CH M.A. thesis by C. D. von Busch, 1964)
Telemann: quartet sonatas and concertos. M3.T4 v.28
Telemann: Suites et Concerts. M3.T4 v.10-11
J. S. Bach: Cantata 120. M3.B1133 v.1/32.2
--: Cantata 172. M3.B1133 v.1/13
--: Cantata 207. M3.B1133 v.1/38
--: Cantata 207a. M3.B1133 v.1/37
--: Brandenburg Concertos. M3.B1133 v.7/2
--: English Suites. M3.B1133 v.5/7
--: Sonatas for flute and keyboard. M3.B1133 v.6/3
--: Sonatas for gamba and keyboard. M3.B1133 v.6/4
--: Violin Concertos. M3.B1133 v.7/3
--: Allein Gott (Clavierübung). M3.B1133 v.4/4
--: Allein Gott ("18 Chorales"). M3.B1133 v.4/2
--: Prelude and Fugue in E minor, "Wedge," BWV 548. M3.B1133 v.4/5
--: Prelude and Fugue in C, BWV 546. M3.B1133 v.4/5
--: Organ concertos. M3.B1133 v.4/8
Last updated 1/17/99.