MUSI 302 Outline

THE KING'S UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

COURSE NUMBER:

MUSI 302

COURSE TITLE:

Music of Early Christianity, the Medieval Period and the Renaissance

NAME OF INSTRUCTOR:

Dr. Charles Stolte

CREDIT WEIGHT AND WEEKLY TIME DISTRIBUTION:

credits 3(hrs lect 3 - hrs sem 1 - hrs lab 0)

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

An overview of Western Classical music from early Christianity through the end of the Renaissance with weekly seminars on special topics.

Prerequisites: MUSI 216, 217, 306

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Taruskin, Richard and Gibbs, Christopher. The Oxford History of Western Music. College Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.

MARK DISTRIBUTION IN PERCENT:


Exam 1, written and listening	30%
Exam 2, written and listening	30%
Short Research Papers (2)	20%
Cumulative Essay	10%
Class/seminar participation/attendance	10%

	100%

COURSE OUTLINE:

Introduction and review

2, 7 September

Chapter 1: The First Literate Repertory in Western Music: Gregorian Chant

[Psalmody; The Mass; pitch notation development; troping; organum]

9, 14, 16, 23 September (21 September: Interdisciplinary Conference—No class)

Chapter 2: Secular and Cathedral Music in the High Middle Ages

[Troubadours and trouvères; rhythmic notation development; Notre Dame; motets]

28, 30 September, 5, 7 October

Chapter 3: The Ars Nova: Musical Developments in the Fourteenth Century

[Isorhythm; Machaut; Trecento; Dufay]

12, 14, 19, 21 October

Chapter 4: Island and Mainland: Toward a Pan-European Style

[Dunstable, Dufay and fauxbourdon style; cyclic mass; music printing]

28 October, 2, 4, 9 November (11 November: Fall Break—No class)

Chapter 5: A Perfected Art: Church Polyphony in the Late Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

[Josquin; Willaert; Palestrina]
16, 18, 23 November

Chapter 6: After Perfection: Pressures for Change

[Reformation/Counter-Reformation; Lutheran chorale; Gabrieli and polychoral style; madrigal]

25, 30 November, 2, 7 December

Required texts, assignments, and grade distributions may vary from one offering of this course to the next. Please consult the course instructor for up to date details.