Note to students: This is the syllabus for spring 2013, and will probably change a little bit for
this spring 2014 semester. The textbook (see below) and the overall structure of the course
will be the same, though.
Music since 1900
Music 314
MWF 11:00-11:50
Location: Music Building, Room 320
Prerequisites: Music 211, 212, 307 and 4 semesters of music theory (or equivalent) -- or
graduate status
Taught by: Judith Kuhn
Office: Room 109, Music Building
Phone: 414-335-6722 (please use with discretion)
E-mail (more efficient): kuhn@uwm.edu
Office hours: 12:30-1:30 MWF, and by appointment (feel free to make appointments!)
Required Text: Alex Ross, The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century (2007) (either
clothbound or paperback version is okay)
Just a note on textbooks: there really is no good textbook on twentieth-century music.
Research in the area of twentieth-century music has exploded in recent years, and so any
textbook written now is out of date almost by the time it’s published. I’ve chosen to use Alex
Ross’s The Rest is Noise which, although it isn’t a textbook, is fun and provocative, with a good
grasp of historical and political issues. I think you’ll enjoy it. Ross is the music critic for the New
Yorker, and he’s a fine writer who’s not afraid of controversy. He is an impeccable researcher,
and this is the best writing I know of about twentieth-century music.
One of the really fun things about Alex’s book is that you can listen to almost all of the little
snippets of music he talks about. He has an audio website (also linked on our D2L page) at
http://www.therestisnoise.com/2007/01/book-audiofiles.html .
Course goals
We will examine topics in art music of the twentieth century, in the context of the cultural and
historical forces that shaped it. It is not a survey of twentieth-century music. The Department
offers two courses (Music 307, Music 704) that survey twentieth-century music, so we will not
duplicate them here. Instead, we will use the course to look at some current controversies and
areas of emerging research, and to look at some works or composers in greater depth than
would be possible in a survey course. If you successfully complete the course, you will be able
to:
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 Identify about fifty works of twentieth-century music, and place them in historical and
chronological context;
 Outline important twentieth-century historical events and describe how they may
have shaped stylistic developments in music
 Read, summarize and discuss emerging scholarship and other current writings about
twentieth–century music;
 Discuss examples of music that have been affected by issues of gender, sexuality, race,
or political or nationalistic ideology;
 Plan, research and write a paper of about ten pages on a twentieth–century
musicological topic, incorporating thorough research in relevant databases,
demonstrating a critical evaluation of the sources you use and good grammatical
usage;
 Correctly refer to sources in your text, footnotes and bibliography according to
conventions outlined in “humanities” (footnotes and bibliography) format from The
Chicago Manual of Style, and
 Graduate students will also have demonstrated their ability to read and discuss
challenging and controversial scholarly sources.
As we will see this semester, the twentieth century, particularly its first half, was a time of war,
devastation and disillusionment. The music engages with that history and the questions it
raises. Twentieth-century music – and the vehement discussions that surrounded it – bring us
face-to-face with some of the most basic philosophical and aesthetic questions about music and
human existence. During the semester, I hope that you will allow yourself to examine (and reexamine!) some of your own ideas about some of these questions.
 Must music be beautiful? Or is beauty (or consonance, or resolution, or
balance) somehow a “papering over” of social realities, a kind of lie that
benefits those in power?
 Should music instead be “honest” and “challenging” – reflecting the “truth”
about the ruptures and contradictions in the world around us?
 To what extent should music be accessible to popular taste and understanding?
Is music somehow “corrupted” if it is popular and accessible? If it is marketdriven? Is it somehow more vulnerable to political appropriation if it is
accessible?
 Should music be optimistic and uplifting? Or is “truth” more important? Is
optimism a dishonesty that only serves those in power?
 Should music be abstract (“autonomous”)? To what extent should music
communicate non-musical imagery and narratives?
 Should music be emotionally expressive? Or emotionally disengaged?
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 How important is innovation? How does music interact with convention and
cultural training? Can music ever be understood except through the
conventions of the culture it lives in?
 To what extent should music reflect upon social and political issues? Can music
ever separate itself from these issues?
 How much do political ideology, cultural training and other preconceptions
shape our perception of music?
 To what extent have issues of racial, sexual and national identity shaped our
musical values?
We’ll also look at several composers in some depth: Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Webern and
Britten.
Reading and listening assignments
Online links for listening selections have been prepared for you by the music library staff (bless
them!), and are posted on Panthercat e-reserve. On the Libraries Home Page or the Music
History Library page, click on “course reserve”, and this will take you to the E-reserve page.
Here, you should find my name under the “Instructor” list, and click on it. This will take you to
the e-reserve sites for Music 314. If they aren’t yet posted, they will be in a day or two.
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Scores are also available on e-reserve. You should be able to open the score online and
follow it while you are listening to the musical excerpt.
Assigned readings not included in Ross are also on e-reserve.
For more help on E–reserve access from campus computers, see
http://www.uwm.edu/Libraries/guides/cclereshandout.pdf
For help on access from off-campus computers, see
http://www.uwm.edu/Libraries/guides/offcamp.pdf
For any technical problems about the course, call the UWM help desk: 229-4040, or fill in a
tech request form at https://www4.uwm.edu/technology/help/campus/gettechhelp.cfm.
Term paper project
Your term paper for this class will be a ten-page paper (approximately 2500 words, including
footnotes) that investigates a musicological question critically and thoroughly, surveying the
academic work that has already been done on the topic. Over the first few weeks of the class,
you will select a general area of research and gradually focus your research on a specific
question within that general area.
Plan ahead for these important deadlines for your final project:
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Proposed paper topic due (heads up!!) February 6!!
List of sources (bibliography) due March 6
Term paper due April 15
Attach a list of sources (bibliography) to your paper, using proper bibliographic conventions as
outlined in the Chicago Manual of Style “humanities” style of citation (footnotes and a
bibliography). Your bibliography is not included in your word count. Your papers must show the
source for every fact or idea that is not common knowledge, using footnotes that follow the
conventions for footnotes from the Chicago Manual of Style Online (now available in full text
through the Library’s “Resources A-Z” link). For most common citation questions, it is easy to
check the Chicago Manual’s “Quick Guide” online at:
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html and click on “notes and
bibliography (or just search online for “Chicago Manual of Style”)
The musicology area has also provided a booklet, Guidelines for Writing Papers in Music
History and Literature Classes, which provides many other tips on academic writing, and a very
handy and clear guide to citing Grove Music sources. A copy is on the class website under
“Help for Writing Your Papers.”
Plagiarism alert! Failure to give credit for someone else’s research or thinking is plagiarism.
When in doubt, footnote! University policy defines plagiarism to include:
 Directly quoting the words of others without using quotation marks or indented format to
identify them; or
 Using sources of information (published or unpublished) without identifying them; or,
 Paraphrasing materials or ideas of others without identifying the sources of that material.
Plagiarism is academic misconduct, will result in an automatic F on your paper, and may result in
further action against you that could affect your professional career in the long run. No paper at
all is better than a plagiarized paper.
HELP is at hand!
You are responsible for correct grammar and usage in your submissions for this class. If you are
at all unsure of your writing or just want to polish your style, make use of UWM’s Writing
Center (http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/English/wcenter/ ), a terrific, free and friendly resource
that will help you build confidence in your writing at any level. The Writing Center opens on
February 4. Take advantage of the writing assignments in this class (including exam essay
questions) to improve your writing – it is a life skill that will serve you well, whatever career
path you take. Create a draft or partial draft of your assignment, and make an appointment
online to meet with one of the Center’s staff members. If you wait until later in the term,
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you’ll have more difficulty seeing someone, as the Center is very busy during the last few weeks
of the term.
You will find it helpful to read (if you haven’t done so recently) William Strunk and E.B. White,
Elements of Style, 4th edition, a pithy little book that has become the classic text on grammar
and style. Chapter II (“Elementary Principles of Composition”) outlines the style I ask you to
use in this class, and will help you to anticipate many common problems typically encountered
by upper-level music students. For example, one very handy section (“Omit needless words”)
includes a list of verbose phrases that should be edited out of every good essay. Please pay
special attention to this chapter, which is included on the class website.
Please feel free to chat with me at any time if you would like help on your term paper (or
anything else with the class!). I am determined to challenge you, but I also want to provide all
the help I can, so please feel free to come and talk to me.
Year of the Arts events for this semester
This semester, as part of UWM’s Year of the Arts, we are privileged to have two special Year of the Arts
events for this class.
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On February 7, in conjunction with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s all-Russian
concerts the following weekend, Laurel Fay, the award-winning biographer of Dmitry
Shostakovich, will speak on “Shostakovich and the Subversion of Soviet Music” in the
library, Room E-281. Keep an eye out for special ticket offers for UWM students for the
weekend’s MSO concerts.
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On March 7, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Beyond the Score program will come to
Milwaukee for a presentation at the Marcus Center in a partnership between the Peck
School of the Arts and the Milwaukee Symphony. Complimentary tickets to this evening
event will be available for all UWM faculty and students in early February. Gerard
McBurney, the creator of Beyond the Score, will speak about it at convo on March 8. I’ll
tell you more as we get closer to the event, but you can check it out at Beyondthescore.org.
Attendance and participation
Attendance in music history and literature courses is mandatory. Absences are excused by the
instructor on an individual basis. Attendance is worth 10% of the final grade and is graded on a
pro-rata basis. Excused absences are granted for illness, family emergency or personal
exigencies. You are responsible for all assignments and material, whether or not you are
present for the class. I expect to see you in class unless I excuse you.
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Special note for this semester: There is a possibility that our class may be significantly disrupted
by the flu. Please exercise vigilance in your personal health care, and keep me advised as to the
cause of your absence. If you feel ill, please stay home, especially at the beginning of the
disease, to avoid infecting others. If you must miss significant class time because of flu illness, I
will make every reasonable effort to find ways to help you keep current in the course. If the
format or content of the course needs to be changed because of significant absences, you will
be notified by means of a syllabus change or a message on the class website.
Absences for performances, concerts or requirements for other courses: You should not
generally be required by other teachers to miss class in Music 710; it puts you in a difficult spot
(between two instructors) and disrupts our class. We have a specific faculty procedure when
other instructors want you to miss class (to attend recitals, perform in concerts, etc.). It is
designed to prevent this put-the-student-in-the-middle problem:
Any time a faculty member, ensemble or program wishes to request consideration for a student
excuse to attend or participate in an event that potentially interferes with scheduled course
attendance, that request must be submitted to the Chair (preferably electronically) at least one
(1) month before the event request. The request must be completed with the day(s), time(s)
and event(s) information, along with a complete list of student names associated with the
request. This request will then be circulated to the entire faculty body for notice. Requests of
less than a month will be subject to denial without submission of extenuating circumstances.
Let me know of any possible conflicting demands, and I will work it out with the other
instructor. It should not be your problem.
Late policy
Late assignments will be penalized 1 percentage point for each day they are late. Assignments
will not be accepted more than two weeks after the due date (the drop-box will be closed).
Take-home essays for examinations and quizzes must be submitted in hard copy with the
examination on the day of the exam.
Exams and quizzes
Final Examination: 10:00-12:00 Noon, Monday, May 13 in Room 320. There will also be a midterm exam (March 13), as well as two scheduled quizzes (February 13 and April 22). Each will
have listening and may have score identification or short-answer components. The mid-term
and final exams will also have essays, and the final exam will include a time-line chronology
exercise. Graduate students are assigned additional challenging readings during the semester,
and will be asked to incorporate these readings in their take-home essays for the mid-term and
the final.
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Listening (and score ID) questions on exams and quizzes will require you to identify excerpts
that will be played for you during the exam. Most students have found it useful to use the
Listening Notes Form attached to the end of this syllabus while listening to assigned excerpts.
Remember that you are responsible for the entire excerpt; I can “drop the needle” at any
significant point in the excerpt. You will be asked to specify:
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The composer of the excerpt;
Its correct title (enough to identify the work);
What, if any, larger piece it is a part of and how it fits into that piece (i.e, it is Act I,
scene 1 of Wozzeck, the first movement of Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5);
Its genre;
The approximate date of its composition; and
Its historical significance and distinctive stylistic features.
Requests to take quizzes or exams at times other than those scheduled will generally be
denied, except in extreme circumstances. If you must be absent on the day of a quiz or exam,
you must notify me by e–mail by the end of that day of an exam in order to be considered for
a make–up quiz or exam. Make-up quizzes and exams will be more difficult than those given to
the class, and may be oral.
Grading
Class attendance and participation (including quick quizzes):
Scheduled quizzes:
Term Paper (including topic and bibliography submissions):
Mid-term exam:
Final exam:
10%
20%
30%
20%
20%
Course website
The online course management system used at UW-Milwaukee is Desire to Learn, usually called
D2L, available at https://uwm.courses.wisconsin.edu/ or from the D2L link on the UWM home
page.
Need Help? Any problems with access to D2L, please contact the UWM technology help desk,
(414) 229-4040 or via their help request form at
http://www4.uwm.edu/technology/help/campus/gettechhelp.cfm. The Help Desk can help
you with your technical issues with the class. For a handout on using D2L, check the content
section of the class website under “Basic course documents.”
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Information on university policies
If you need accommodation to complete the requirements of this course, please see me as
soon as possible, and I'll be glad to work out accommodations required by law. For links to
more information on university policies and procedures on academic misconduct, grades,
discrimination, incompletes, and accommodation because of disability, military service,
religious preference, or other reasons, see http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/SyllabusLinks.pdf
Class schedule
W1- part of W3 (January 23, 28, February 4): Expressionism and psychological introspection
in Viennese arts at the turn of the century
Term paper proposals due February 6
Reading:
Ross, Ch. 1, pp. 3-32 (pb: 3-35); and Ch. 2, pp. 33-39, 45-73 (pb: 36-43, 49-79);
Leon Botstein. “Gustav Mahler's Vienna.” In The Mahler Companion, ed.
Donald Mitchell and Andrew Nicholson. Oxford and New York: Oxford
University Press, 1999, pp. 6-38.
Grad reading: Adorno, Essays on Music, ed. Richard Leppert. Berkeley:
University of Chicago Press, 2002.
 Richard Leppert, “Commentary,” pp. 92–95 (covering the assigned essay
shown below); begin with “Adorno, from his teens...” on p. 92.
 Adorno, “Why is the New Art So Hard to Understand?” pp. 127–134.
Listening:
Mahler, Der Abschied, finale from Das Lied von der Erde (1909): orchestral
song cycle
Strauss, Salome (1905), Scene 1: opera (sorry the e-reserve score doesn’t
have an English translation, but we will view a DVD in class with subtitles);
Berg, Wozzeck (1922), Act 1, Scene 4: opera
Week 3, cont. (February 4): Webern the Romantic? a look at his early and middle-period
works
Listening:
Webern, Im Sommerwind (1904), orchestral tone poem
Webern, Five Orchestral Pieces (1913): orchestral work
Webern, Vier Lieder, op. 12 (1917)
 No. 1: Der Tag ist vergangen (The Day is gone)
 No. 2: Die geheimnisvolle Flöte (The mysterious Flute)
Weeks 4-5 (February 11, 18): The Emergence of the American voice and its “other”: Ives;
blues, ragtime, jazz and their reception in the United States
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Quiz, February 13;
Reading:
Ross, Ch.4, pp. 120-156 (pb: 130-170)
Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History, ed. Robert Walzer (New York and Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 41-54. Listening:
Ives, Orchestral Set No. 1, (Three Places in New England ), first movement: “The
‘St. Gaudens’ in Boston Common (Col.Shaw and his Colored Regiment)” (1921?),
orchestral set.
Clarence Williams, Chris Smith and Henry Troy, “Cake Walkin’ Babies from Home”
(recorded 1925), jazz.
Joplin Piano Rags: Elite Syncopations (1902), piano rag (score and recording on
e-reserve)
Blues: Robert Johnson, Walking Blues, blues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2-EL6Pk2L0 (recorded 1936; date of
composition not known) (note: score link not on e-reserve!)
Weeks 5 (cont.)-6 (Feb 18, Feb 25): “Othering” (or not?) in Europe
Reading:
Bartók’s changing views of gypsies: Benjamin Suchoff, ed. Béla Bartók:
Essays. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1976.
 “On Hungarian Music” (1911): pp. 301-303
 “Observations on Rumanian Folk Music” (1914): pp. 195-200
 “Race Purity in Music” (1942): pp. 29-32
GRADUATE READING: Lawrence Kramer. “Powers of Blackness: Africanist
Discourse in Modern Concert Music.” Black Music Research Journal 16, No. 1
(Spring 1996): 53-70; on JSTOR.
Listening
Debussy, Golliwog’s Cakewalk, No. 6 from Children’s Corner (1910) :
movement from piano suite
Ravel, Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano (1927), second movement: “Blues”
(begins on p. 13 of score); violin sonata
Bartók, Quartet No. 4 (1928), movements 3-5: string quartet; (notice that the
e-reserve link will begin to play the first movement, which is not assigned; you
will need to click on the third movement).
Week 7-8 (March 4, 11): More music after WWI: Stravinsky the neo-classicist, serialism and
other music in Weimar Germany
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List of sources (bibliography) due March 6
Mid-term exam March 13
Reading:
Weiss and Taruskin, Music in the Western World on e-reserve
 No. 134: “The New Objectivity,” pp. 458–460;
 No. 135: “Anti–Romantic Polemics,” pp. 460–65; and
Taruskin, Oxford History of Western Music, vol. 4, ch. 54 (“Pathos is banned”),
pp. 447-456 (to “Cracking Jokes...”), 467--491 (skim the analysis of the Octet,
478-488) and footnotes. Note: page 491 isn’t the end of the chapter, but the
rest is analysis of the Rondelles.
Ross, chapter 3, pp. 93-119, 194-212 (pb: 101-129 and Ch. 6 from section on
“Twelve-tone Music” through the rest of the chapter)
Listening
Stravinsky, Symphonie de psaumes (1930, rev. 1948): choral symphony
 Second movement: Expectans expectavi Dominum (Psalm 40, 1-3) and
 Finale: Alleluia. Laudate Dominum (Psalm 150))
 Notice that the e-reserve link begins to play the first movement, not
assigned; click on the second movement. Score is fine.
Stravinsky, Octet (1923): wind octet
 Tema con variaziones
 Finale.
Berg, Violin Concerto (1935), first movement
NO CLASS WEEK OF March 18! Spring break!
Week 9 (March 25): Three interesting Fifths:
Reading
Ross, Chapter 5, pp. 157-177 (pb: 171-193)
Listening:
Sibelius, Symphony No. 5 (1915, rev. 1916, 1919), finale: symphony
Nielsen, Symphony No. 5 (1922), First movement
Prokofiev, Symphony No. 5 (1944); first movement
Week 10 (April 1): Socialist Realism, Shostakovich, and the String Quartet
Reading:
Kuhn, Shostakovich in Dialogue: Form, Imagery and Ideas in Quartets 1-7,
Surrey and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2010, ch. 1, available at
http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754664062
Listening:
Shostakovich, Quartet No. 3 (1946), movements 1, 4, and 5 Note that the
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score for the entire quartet is on e-reserve; the fourth movement begins on p.
55.
Week 11-12 (April 8, 15): Music and the Cold War:
Term paper due April 15
Reading:
Ross, Ch. 11, pp. 355-99 (pb: 386-434)
Milton Babbitt,“Who Cares if You Listen?” High Fidelity 8, No. 2 (Feb. 1958):
38–40. Repr. Source Readings in Music History, rev. ed., ed Oliver Strunk. pp.
1305-11.
Listening:
Copland, Piano Quartet (1950), 1st movement, Adagio serio
Stravinsky, Agon (1957): ballet
 (Opening) Pas de quatre
 Second Pas de trois (Bransle simple, Bransle gay, Bransle double, Interlude
only)
Weeks 13-14 (April 22, 29): Britten, war and sexuality
Quiz, April 22
Reading
Ross: Chapter 12
Listening:
Britten, Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings (1943), Prologue, Nocturne,
Elegy, Dirge Note that e-reserve recording plays all of the Serenade. Only
tracks 1, 3, 4 and 5 are assigned (but it’s all lovely!).
Britten, War Requiem (1962): “Requiem aeternat” and “Kyrie eleison”
Week 15 (May 6): Minimalism and its progeny
Readings:
Allen Kozinn, “Glass’s Satyagraha,” Opus (February 1986), repr. in Writings on
Glass: Essays, Interviews, Criticism, ed. Richard Kostelanetz (New York:
Schirmer Books, 1997): 176-188.
Ross, Ch. 14, beginning with the section on “West Coast minimalism” and
continuing to the end of the chapter.
Listening:
Glass, Satyagraha, Act I, scene 1 (1980): opera
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Listening notes form
1. Composer name: __________________________________________________________
2. Title of work or movement: _________________________________________________
3. Part of a larger work? Title of larger work:
____________________________________
4. Where does it fit into that larger work? (second movement? second act?) _____________
5. Date of completion? __________________________________
6. Genre? (symphony? opera? string quartet?) ___________________________________
7. Scored for what performing forces (orchestra? voice and piano?) ________________________
8. What musical features distinguish this piece? (what helps you to recognize it? What’s
unusual about it?)
9. Why is this music significant historically?
10. What is important about this work’s historical context?
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