Department of Music
MUSC 55, Topics in the History and Culture of Music (spring 1999)

Music 55 has been added recently to the Music Department's sequence of history courses required of music majors. The specific topic of the course changes from year to year; in the spring 1999 semester the course topic is:

Baroque Music

This course will offer a broader examination of Baroque music than is provided in the newly streamlined sequence of history surveys for music majors (MUSC 51, 52, and 54). MUSC 55 will examine European vocal and instrumental music of the period 1600 to 1750. Among the composers whose works will be studied are Purcell, Handel, and J.S. Bach. We will also study earlier music, including Carissimi's oratorio Jephte (performed last fall by the UNC Chamber Singers) and works by Gabrieli, Schütz, and Lully. Alongside these famous, so-called "canonical" works, the course will also examine less familiar compositions, including music by such women composers as Barbara Strozzi and Elizabeth Jacquet. In addition to analyzing each of these works and their historical relationships, we will also consider issues that arise in the performance of Baroque music.

The course is intended primarily for junior and senior music majors, but others may take it with the permission of the instructor. All music majors in their third and fourth years are especially welcome, regardless of what other history courses they may have taken.

The textbook for the course will be a coursepack and anthology prepared by the instructor. Below is a list of the works to be studied.


Caccini: Sfogava con le stelle
Monteverdi: Orfeo (selections), Il combattimento,
  Poppea (selections)
Cavalli: Giasone (selections)
Lully: Armide (selections)
Strozzi: Ardo in tacito foco
A. Scarlatti: Correa nel seno amato
Purcell: From Rosy Bowers
G. Gabrieli: In ecclesiis
Schütz: Herr, neige deine Himmel and Saul
Carissimi: Jephte (selections
Charpentier: Christmas oratorio
J.S. Bach: Cantata 127
Handel: Jephtha (selections)
Rameau: Les indes galantes
Handel: Orlando (selections)
Frescobaldi: Toccata IX (Bk. 1)
Froberger and Jacquet: Suites for harpsichord
F. Couperin: La reine des coeurs and La Couperin
J.S. Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier, Bk. I: Prelude and Fugue in G
Corelli: Trio Sonata in D minor, Op. 2, No. 1; Solo Sonata in C, Op. 5, No. 3
Corelli: Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op. 6. No. 8
Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in E, Op. 3, No. 12
J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2
Telemann: Nouveau quatuor No. 6
C.P.E. Bach: Concerto in D minor, W. 23 (H. 427)
Last update: 10/11/1998