GRMUS 621H — From Classical to Romantic: Music and Society around 1800

This course undertakes a new approach to the momentous transition between classicism and romanticism using iconic works by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven as case studies. The course will also explore the era’s socio-historical context and consider the careers of influential figures who have been sidelined in the traditional narratives of Western art music. Known as the “Age of Revolutions,” the decades between 1770 and 1830 witnessed a series of cataclysmic events—including the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic wars—that reconfigured Western culture and society. How did these intertwined transformations reshape listening practices and musical discourses, ultimately making instrumental music “the most romantic of all arts”? How did the careers of contemporary composers of African ancestry, such as Joseph Bologne (Chevalier de Saint-Georges) and George Bridgetower, balance political engagement with artistic practice amid debates around race, rank, and identity? Case studies will include symphonies, piano concertos, piano sonatas, string quartets, and operas representative of each composer. Discussions will aim to examine the “master narratives” of Western art music, expanding the conventions of style periods and broadening the “great works” historiographical approach associated with them.