Duration
30h SEM
Number of credits
| Master in history of art and archaeology : musicology, research focus | 5 crédits | |||
| Master in history of art and archaeology : musicology (60 ECTS) | 5 crédits |
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
Description of the teaching unit
The status of music as both science and art has undergone many changes, from the texts of Greek antiquity to the most recent work in the digital humanities and cognitive sciences. Theoretical texts are the key to understanding this rich and complex history. The aim is to provide the fundamental elements, with a more detailed look at a specific aspect (notation, modality, tonality, contrpoint, forms, etc.). This approach will be based essentially on theoretical texts, and will be complemented by a confrontation with the musical works themselves.
This course approaches the history of music theory through the analysis of musical form. Its premise is straightforward: as Carl Dahlhaus observed, every Formenlehre is also, inseparably, a theory of genre. The forms we shall study are therefore not pre-existing moulds to which composers conformed, but types abstracted after the fact by theorists from a body of works - a retrospective construction whose historicity is precisely our object of enquiry. In the opening session we will agree together on a set of forms and genres (for instance: motet, madrigal, dance suite, fugue, sonata form, overture, lied, symphonic poem), which will then be explored in detail. Each case will be examined along two axes: on the one hand the realities of compositional practice and its repertoires, on the other the ways in which successive treatises - from Koch to Marx and Lobe, then from Riemann and Leichtentritt to contemporary approaches - named, described, ranked and normalised them . Particular attention will be paid to the moment when the forms of Classical instrumental music hardened into ideal types in the nineteenth century and were subsequently projected onto repertoires foreign to their genesis (the Renaissance, the twentieth century, non-European musics), often at the cost of an implicit value judgement. The enquiry will move from elementary syntactic units (motive, phrase, theme) towards large-scale architectures, while questioning the validity of this cumulative trajectory inherited from the tradition . Score-based and aural analysis of works will alternate with the close reading of treatise extracts in the original languages (translations supplied). Assessment will consist of an individual analytical essay devoted to one of the forms selected collectively, set against at least one historical theoretical source.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
At the end of this course, students will be able to understand the fundamental issues of Western music theory. They will also acquire the ability to tackle a specific problem in music theory between the 6th and 21st centuries (questions of writing, notation, form, etc.), through specific cases defined each year according to individual profiles or current research.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Foundations of the current theory of music. Ability to "read" music. Knowledge of the main lines of human history.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Each course includes a lecture and a tutorial section, with case studies based on documents (treatise extracts). Each student will be invited to give a presentation on a topic identified at the beginning of the course.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Course materials and recommended or required readings
Platform(s) used for course materials:
- MyULiège
Further information:
Claude ABROMONT, Guide de la theorie musicale, Paris, Fayard-Lemoine, 2001, 608 p.
The necessary educational documents will be made available to students.
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
written exam ( multiple-choice questionnaire, open-ended questions )
Continuous assessment
Other : Student presentation during a course
Additional information:
Three scoring methods are used:
1. Continuous assessment based on active participation in class discussions
2. A presentation made during the course
3. A written exam combining factual knowledge and case analysis
Work placement(s)
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
Classes with reading assignement
Contacts
pvendrix@uliege.be