Western Music and Culture I

Recommended Prerequisites

Not applicable.

Teaching Methods

- Theoretical presentation by the teacher

- Analysis of musical and bibliographical examples

- Debate in the classroom.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the semester, the students should be competent to: understand the historical evolution of western music between the 12th and 18th centuries; tell apart the individual styles of the most important composers within the time-span of the period on which the syllabus is focused; recognize visually and aurally the main instruments used in Renaissance and Baroque music; understand the aesthetic concepts that underlie Renaissance and Baroque music.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

The course aims to offer the student a panorama of Western Music, from medieval Plain Song to the death of Bach (1750). Among the subjects addressed the following will be found: religious and profane vocal music in the Middle Ages, instrumental music in the medieval and Renaissance periods, 16th cent. polyphony, instrumental music and opera in the baroque era. A connection will be drawn between these musical subjects and contemporary events in painting and architecture.

Head Lecturer(s)

João Rebelo Dias de Figueiredo

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Exam: 100.0%

Bibliography

CARDOSO, José Maria Pedrosa, História Breve da Música Ocidental, Coimbra, Imprensa da Universidade, 2010.

GRIFFITHS, Paul, História Concisa da Música Ocidental, Lisboa, Bizâncio, 2007.

GROUT, Donald J, & PALISCA, Claude V., História da Música Ocidental, Lisboa, Gradiva, 1994. [revisão técnica de Adriana Latino].

TARUSKIN, Richard, The Oxford History of Western Music. Vol. I: Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century, Oxford University Press, 2005.

TARUSKIN, Richard, The Oxford History of Western Music. Vol. II: Music in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, Oxford, 2005.