51��������

Course Description

Summary

In this seven-week seminar we will make a study of selected musical works by Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), including his Violin Sonata, West Side Story, Symphony No. 2 (“Age of Anxiety”), Chichester Psalms, and the opera “A Quiet Place”. Class time will be divided between music analysis and an attempt to contextualize these works within Bernstein’s musical times and in terms of his developing musical philosophy. However, the emphasis will be on study of the scores themselves. Students must be able to read notation fluently and have a good working knowledge of harmony. Readings will include excerpts from Bernstein’s undergraduate thesis and his 1973 Norton Lectures at Harvard.