MUSIC M502: MONTEVERDI

Indiana University School of Music

Fall 1999

About the Course | Schedule | Listening List | Reserves | Journal | Project

Instructor: J. Peter Burkholder
E-mail: burkhold@indiana.edu

Office hours in Sycamore Hall 239, Phone 855-7097
- Mondays 10:10-11:00 AM and 12:30-1:10 PM
- Wednesdays 12:30-1:15 PM
- Fridays 10:10-11:00 AM
Available by appointment in Bryan Hall 109 (call 855-0230 for appointment)
- Mondays 3:30-5:00 PM
- Wednesdays 2:30-5:00 PM
- Fridays 2:00-5:00 PM

About the Course | Texts | Editions | Grading

About the Course

Monteverdi was a master of madrigal, opera, and church music, and this course offers an opportunity to become better acquainted with all three of his facets. The class will be conducted as a seminar,with an emphasis on class discussion rather than lecture and with a high proportion of independent work, both in groups and as individuals. Coursework will include regular listening and reading assignments, keeping a journal, participating in class discussion, working with a team that focuses on one aspect of Monteverdi's music, making an individual class presentation, and writing a paper that makes an independent contribution to a topic related to Monteverdi and his music. There will be no examinations.

The course is organized in three parts:

In the first segment, we will survey his music, particularly major and typical works. The focus will be on the music itself, including aesthetics, compositional procedures, the various styles Monteverdi employed, and the relation of the music and the words. We will also perform some of Monteverdi's music in class. Knowledge of the music should be the foundation of all our work. Coursework in this segment will center on listening to his music, writing about it in your journal, and discussing it in class, with some readings in the secondary literature. This survey will provide an overview of a repertoire we will return to over the entire semester at ever deeper levels.
In the second segment, each student will work with a team that focuses on one aspect of Monteverdi's music or world. Each team will develop a bibliography in its area, select readings and music for the class to study, and offer group presentations or group-led discussions in class that seek to deepen our understanding of Monteverdi and his time. Here we will turn increasingly to the secondary literature and to our resident "experts" in the various teams, who will direct our focus beyond Monteverdi's music to his place in relation to other composers and the culture in which he worked.
During the third segment, each student will give a presentation in class on a specific topic (usually the topic of his or her paper) related to the area that his or her group has been investigating. This will be like a scholarly conference on Monteverdi, stretched out over two or more weeks. Here the main work will be the presentations themselves and the first and final versions of the paper.

Thus the course is designed to move from broad overviews to increasingly specialized work, as we gain familiarity with Monteverdi's music and career and experience with the issues of concern to scholars and performers. Thus the goal of the course may be summed up as gaining enough familiarity with the music of Monteverdi and with research on at least one aspect of his music or career to participate in the field of Monteverdi studies.

Texts and materials

There is no text to buy. Assigned readings are available on reserve, in the reference area, or in bound periodicals in the Music Library stacks. In addition, photocopies of the readings are in the hanging files in the reserve room.

Listening assignments are indicated in the course schedule and in a separate handout. Recordings are available in the Music Library, by using a Windows-based computer to access the online recording, or by checking out the CD on reserve and using a CD player. Photocopied translations and scores are available in the hanging files. You may also use the complete editions in the stacks (under M 3 .M78 or M 3 .M78 A7).

Laser videodiscs and videocassettes are available for the three Monteverdi operas. For these works, you should both listen to the work with the score, using the computer or CD, and watch a performance, using videodisc or videocassette. We will also try to schedule group viewings.

A note on editions

The scores in the Music Library are photocopied from the two critical editions: Tutte le opere di Claudio Monteverdi, edited by G. Francesco Malipiero and published 1926-42, and the newer and still incomplete Opera Omnia, sponsored by the Athenaeum Cremonense and published since 1970, which has released only some of the volumes. The newer edition has been used when available.

Other good editions exist for several works, and these are listed on the Listening List and on the list of Books on Reserve. The alternate scores for the dramatic works and for the 1610 Vespers are highly recommended. In addition, you may be asked to check out scores for some works from the PED Library and bring them to class with you.

Grading and course expectations

Your grade will be based on your participation in and preparation for class, including your journal (30%); your work with your group (20%); your presentation (20%); and your paper (10% on the first version, 20% on the final version). There will be no examinations.

For each class session, you are expected to do the listening and reading assignments and write about them in your journal before class. You should come to class prepared to answer and ask questions about the material for that day. Pace yourself to avoid crunches, and do not get behind. If the assignments are unreasonable, let me know. The class participation grade includes attendance; you are expected to attend regularly and on time. Expectations for other aspects of the class are described on the webpages for the journal and for the team project, presentations, and paper.

Study together

I strongly recommend that you study together. Talk with each other about issues raised in class or in the readings. Give each other hints about what to listen for in the music. Compare reading notes and class notes. Are you getting the same main points out of a class or an article? If you don't understand something, ask someone else in the class to explain it to you. If you know something well, find someone who doesn't understand it yet and teach it to them; by the time you're done, you will either know it inside out or will realize that you don't know it as well as you thought.

Remember, the goal is to gain enough familiarity with Monteverdi's music and with research on at least one aspect of his music or career to participate in the field of Monteverdi studies. Fields are fields because we learn from each other. The more you share your knowledge with others, and the more you listen to what they have to say, the more you will learn. If you don't learn more from your classmates this term than you do from me, I will be very surprised.