Course Details

Course offered Spring 2012

Honors 398 B: Music in Russia, Russia in Music (A&H)

Claudia Jensen (Slavic Languages and Literatures)
Phone: 206-543-6848
Email: cjensen@uw.edu

Credits: 3
Limit: 20 students

Please note: for students completing the new Honors curriculum, this course does NOT fulfill core requirements, but will instead count as elective credit. Students completing the old curriculum will receive credit toward their seminar requirement.

What is Russian about Russian music? Is there a typically Russian style or a characteristic Russian sound? Can a Russian composer write music that is not Russian?

This course will explore concepts of Russian music and formulations of musical nationalism by surveying the core repertory of the nineteenth and the first part of the twentieth century in Russia. We will focus on symphonies, operas, and ballets as we consider how composers and audiences in both Russia and in the West defined and redefined this concept. Our survey will include music by Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Musorgsky, and other members of the group known as the “The! Five” or “The Mighty Handful.” As we move into the twentieth century we will consider works by Stravinsky (especially those associated with the Ballets russes), Scriabin, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and others.

No previous musical experience required; score-reading not required. There will be listening and reading assignments, with written responses, class presentations, and discussions.