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
Phone: 414-335-6722 (my cell phone; 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 (Farrar, Straus, Geroux) or paperback (Picador) 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textbook written now is almost out of date almost by the time it’s published.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, even though this is now seven years old, it is still the best writing I know 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 several
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 of this time 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 re-examine!) some of your own ideas about some of these questions.
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To what extent does music take part in the “cultural discourse” of society? Is it
possible for music to be “autonomous” and independent of its culture?
To what extent have issues of racial, sexual and national identity shaped our
musical values?
How, if at all, can music communicate philosophical or political ideas?
How, if at all, did twentieth-century politics and ideologies shape composers’
answers to these questions:
o Does music instead have an obligation to be “honest” and “challenging” –
reflecting the “truth” about the ruptures and contradictions in the world
around us?
o 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 market-driven? Is it somehow more vulnerable to
political appropriation if it is accessible?
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o Should music be optimistic and uplifting? Or is “truth” more important? Is
optimism a dishonesty that only serves those in power?
o Should music be abstract (“autonomous”)? To what extent should music
communicate non-musical imagery and narratives?
o Should music be emotionally expressive? Or emotionally disengaged?
o How important is innovation? How does innovative music interact with
our cultural training and conventions? Can music ever be understood
except through the conventions of the culture it lives in?
o To what extent should music reflect upon social, political and ethical
issues? Can music ever separate itself from these issues?
We’ll also look at several composers in some depth, specifically: Stravinsky, Shostakovich,
Webern and Britten.
Reading and listening assignments
Reading selections not included in The Rest is Noise will be posted on the D2L website content
page.
Listening selections and their scores have been prepared for you by the music library staff
(bless them!), and posted online. To access listening excerpts, navigate to
http://uwm.edu/libraries/music/electronic-listening-reserves/ (this link will also be on the D2L
content page under “handy links” and it appears as “music reserve” on the black banner of the
Music Library home page), where you will see a list of classes with online listening excerpts.
Click on “Music 314” to go to the listening for this class. You will be prompted for your epanther id and password. You’ll see a list of assigned listening excerpts, with links to the audio
excerpts and scores for each. You should be able to open the score online and follow it while
you are listening to the musical excerpt.
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
your footnotes, but not including your bibliography) that investigates a musicological question
critically and thoroughly, surveying the academic work that has already been done on the topic.
Over the first couple 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.
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Plan ahead for these important deadlines for your final project:
Proposed paper topic due (heads up!!) February 6!!
List of sources (bibliography) due March 4
Term paper due April 8
Attach your final 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).
Citations: 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”); this link is also on our class
webpage.
The complete Chicago Manual of Style is online through the Library’s “Resources A-Z” link.
Chapter 14 focuses on “humanities-style” footnotes and bibliography citations.
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 the words as quoted; or
 Using sources of information (published or unpublished) without identifying them; or
 Paraphrasing materials or ideas of others without identifying their sources
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.
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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://www4.uwm.edu/writingcenter/ ), a terrific, free and friendly resource that will
help you build confidence in your writing at any level. The Writing Center opens in early
February. 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, 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 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.
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.
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.
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Additional Requirements for Graduate Students
Graduate students will have three challenging reading assignments that are not assigned to
undergraduate students. You will be expected to read these carefully and critically, to discuss
them intelligently in class sessions devoted to them and to incorporate information and ideas
from these readings in your essays on the mid-term and final examinations. Standards will also
be higher for graduate students on the final papers for this class, and these are reflected in a
separate graduate-student rubric for that assignment (rubrics are posted on the class website
under “help for writing your papers”).
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 11 in Room 320. There will also be a midterm exam (March 11), as well as two scheduled quizzes (February 16 and April 15). Each will
have listening and may have score identification or short-answer components. The mid-term
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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.
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.
I may also include some non-assigned excerpts on the quiz and ask questions about them to
improve your listening skills.
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:
Scheduled quizzes:
Term Paper (including topic and bibliography submissions):
Mid-term exam:
Final exam:
10%
20%
30%
20%
20%
Course website
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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. I have tried to make our class website into a kind of library of resources for you as you
work through the class, especially as you’re writing your paper. Take a good look at the
website, and make use of whatever tools are useful to you.
Need Help?
Any problems with access to D2L or other technical problems, 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.”
Budget Your Time!
You can expect to spend 2-3 hours of study and work time outside of class for each class credit
hour. Plan on at least 6-9 hours per week in outside work for the class; and remember to
budget time each week for work on your final paper.
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
Preserving your hearing
The Peck School of the Arts has asked us to provide a link to a NEW booklet explaining ways
that musicians can preserve their hearing over years of playing and listening. You can find a
copy at http://www4.uwm.edu/psoa/music/upload/NASM_PAMA-Student-HearingProtection_Guide.pdf .
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Class schedule (approximate)
W1- part of W3 (January 26, February 2, February 9): 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 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 9): Webern the Romantic? a look at some 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 16, 23): The Emergence of the American voice and its “other:” Ives;
blues, ragtime, jazz and their reception in the United States
Quiz 1, February 16;
Reading:
Ross, Ch.4, pp. 120-156 (pb: 130-170)
Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History, ed. Robert Walzer (New York and Oxford:
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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)” (1917?),
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 (
Blues: Robert Johnson, Walking Blues, blues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2-EL6Pk2L0 (recorded 1936; date of
composition not known) (note: no score link)
Weeks 5 (cont.)-6 (Feb 23, Mar 2): “Othering” (or Not?) in Europe
List of sources (bibliography) due March 4
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 (1908) :
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
listening 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 9, 23): More music after WWI: Stravinsky the neo-classicist, serialism and
other music in Weimar Germany
Mid-term exam March 11
Reading:
Weiss and Taruskin, Music in the Western World
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 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): choral symphony
 Second movement: Expectans expectavi Dominum (Psalm 40, 1-3) and
 Finale: Alleluia. Laudate Dominum (Psalm 150))
 Notice that the listening 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 16! Spring break!
Week 9 (March 30): 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, leading into…
Week 10 (April 6): Socialist Realism, Shostakovich, and the String Quartet
Term paper due April 8
Reading:
Kuhn, Shostakovich in Dialogue: Form, Imagery and Ideas in Quartets 1-7,
Surrey and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2010, ch. 1, available on D2L website
Listening:
Shostakovich, Quartet No. 3 (1946), movements 1, 4, and 5 Note that the
score for the entire quartet is on the library’s listening link; the fourth
movement begins on p. 55.
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Week 11-12 (April 13, 20): Music and the Cold War:
Quiz, 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.
Graduate reading to be announced
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)
Week 13 (April 27): Britten, war and sexuality
Reading
Ross: Chapter 12
Listening:
Britten, Billy Budd (1951, 2-act revision, 1961), opera: excerpts from Act II (of
the revised version), scene 2 (instrumental intro for the revised version is
slightly shorter in the score than on the recording, which is the original 1951
version).
Britten, Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings (1943); serenade for soloists
and strings, Prologue, Nocturne, Elegy, Dirge Note that 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 mass (or a comment on one)
“Requiem aeternat” and “Kyrie eleison.”
Week 14 (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:
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Glass, Satyagraha, Act I, scene 1 (1980): opera
The final exam for this class will be Monday, May 12, 10 a.m. to noon in Music 320
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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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