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Freshman Seminar: “Recycling Music: from Classical to Broadway, Film, and Pop”
UA 319 - Fall 2013 – Rena Charnin Mueller
Thursday 2.00 – 4.30 p.m., 218 Silver
SYLLABUS (tentative)
WEEK 1
INTRODUCTION: Concept of Musical Borrowing and Parody in Music / Diagetic
and Non-Diagetic Music
Chronology: Medieval/Renaissance/Baroque/Classical/Romantic/20th and 21st-Century
Gregorian Chant: Dies Irae (Mass for the Dead)
The Omen; The Exorcist; Sleeping With the Enemy; Groundhog Day
a. Original monophonic version
b. Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique /v
c. Liszt: Totentanz
d. Rachmaninoff, Isle of the Dead; Rhapsody on a Theme of
Fantasia
Paganini
J.S. Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565
a. Original keyboard (organ) version
b. Orchestral transcription by Leopold Stokowski
c. “Optical Poetry”: Oskar Fischinger and animation for Disney et
alia
WEEK 2
EARLY FILM
a. Silent Film:
b. Early Talking Film:
SYMPHONY:
Fantasia
Death in Venice
A Clockwork Orange
“Never gonna’ fall in love
again” (Eric Carmen)
CONCERTO:
Op. 18
Elvira Madigan
Brief Encounter
The Seven Year Itch
Groundhog Day
Full Moon and Empty Arms
“All By Myself”
D.W. Griffith, The Birth of a Nation
Fritz Lang, Der Ring des Nibelungen
The Black Cat (Karloff)
The Great Dictator (Chaplin)
Beethoven
Symphony VI
Mahler Symphony V/iv (Adagietto)
Beethoven
Symphony IX/ii
Rachmaninoff Symphony II/ii
Mozart Piano Concerto in C Major K. 467/ii
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto in C Minor,
(Frank Sinatra)
(Eric Carmen)
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WEEK 3 - 4
SYMPHONIC POEM/OVERTURE/SUITE/OTHER SYMPHONIC IDIOMS:
Fantasia
Mussorgsky Night on Bald Mountain
Dukas
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Tchaikovsky Casse-Noisette [Nutcracker], Op. 71
Stravinsky
Le Sacre du printemps [Rite of
Spring]
2001: A Space OdysseyStrauss, J.
An der schönen, blauen Donau (The
Blue Danube Waltz), Op. 314
Strauss, R.
Tod und Verklärung [Death and
Transfiguration
Atmospheres, Lux Aeterna,
Requiem
William Tell Overture
Bolero
Adagio for Strings, Op. 11
Ligeti
Ten
Platoon
Rossini
Ravel
Barber
WEEK 5
BALLET:
2001: A Space Odyssey
Paris Dances Diaghilev
[Afternoon
Khatchaturian Gayneh – Adagio
Debussy
L’Après-midi d’un Faune
Of A Faun]
WEEK 6
SONATA/OTHER KEYBOARD
Alicia Keys
Beethoven
Les Sylphides
Songs in A Minor
Piano Sonata Op. 27/2 (“Moonlight”)
Chopin – various piano music
CHAMBER MUSIC:
Barry Lyndon
The Black Cat
Schubert
Schumann
Trio D. 929/ii
Piano Quintet, Op. 44
WEEK 7
ART SONG:
The Lady of the Lake (poem)
Winterreise (Ian Bostridge video)
The Year of Living Dangerously
Sir Walter Scott
Schubert
Schubert
Strauss
WEEK 8
MIDTERM: Thursday, 24 October, 2.00 p.m. (half class)
Ellen’s Song No. 3
Ave Maria, D. 839
Winterreise, D. 911
Vier letzte Lieder
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OPERA: INSTRUMENTAL AND VOCAL MUSIC
A Clockwork Orange
Rossini
La gazza ladra - Overture
Apocalypse Now
Wagner
Die Walküre III/i – Walkürenritt
Excalibur
Wagner
Götterdämmerung III/iii –
Siegfried’s Funeral March
Pretty Woman
Verdi
La Traviata (“Addio del passato”)
Priscilla, Queen of the
Desert
Wall Street
Chasing Liberty
Moonstruck
Diva
Foul Play
Verdi
Verdi
Puccini
Puccini
Catalani
La Traviata (“Sempre libera”)
Rigoletto (“Questa o quella”)
Turandot (“Nessun dorma”)
La Bohème (“Che gelida manina”)
Le Wally II – “Ebben? Ne andrò
Gilbert &
Sullivan
The Mikado (various) – diagetic/
lontana”
non-diagetic music
WEEK 9
OPERA (conclusion)
ORIENTALISM & EXOTICISM (1)
Edward Said
Culture and Imperialism: “The Empire at Work:
Verdi’s Aida”
Giuseppe Verdi
Aida
Elton John
Elton John’s Aida
WEEK 10
ORIENTALISM & EXOTICISM (2)
Said, Edward
Orientalism; Culture and Imperialism (various
sections)
Lean, David
Lawrence of Arabia
Tennyson, Alfred Lord
The Charge of the Light Brigade (poem)
Richardson, Tony
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968 film)
Knoblock, Edward
Kismet (Play; Films)
George ForrestRobert Wright
Kismet (Musical; Film; TV Adaptation;
other casts)
Borodin
Prince Igor, On the Steppes of Central Asia,
Symphony II, String Quartet No. 2 in D Minor
Rachmaninoff
(selections)
“Ne me chant plus, ma belle devant moi” [“O,
sing me no more the songs of Georgia” –
Pushkin], Op. 4/4
WEEK 11
ORIENTALISM & EXOTICISM (3)
Henri Murger
Scènes de la vie de Bohème
Puccini
La Bohème
Jonathan Larsen
Rent
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WEEK 12
“Optical Poetry”
CARTOONS:
Oskar Fischinger revisited
Tom and Jerry (William Hanna and Joseph Barbera)
Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers characters
Mickey Mouse (Walt Disney), etc. If you have favorites to
suggest for discussion, please email me. Who are the
composers one finds most in cartoons, and why?
WEEK 13
CARTOONS – Continued
ADVERTISEMENTS
WEEK 14
COMPOSERS, CONDUCTOR/COMPOSERS, AND ARRANGER/
COMPOSERS/CONDUCTORS: Kurt Weill, George Gershwin, Leopold Stokowski,
Leonard Bernstein, André Previn, Bernard Herrmann, Rodgers & Hammerstein,
Cole Porter, Henry Mancini, Leonard Rosenman, Stephen Sondheim, Dmitri
Tiomkin, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice
CONCLUSIONS
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REQUIREMENTS
BOOKS (required reading)
Said, Edward
Strunk & White
Orientalism (paperback)
Culture and Imperialism (paperback)
The Elements of Style (paperback)
Available bibliographical materials for this subject are heavily weighted toward the
use of classical music in Film alone. Because our subject will go well beyond Film into the
recycling of music on Broadway and in Pop, much information will be disseminated in
handouts and through lecture. There will be an individual assignment printed for each class,
with biographical and subject readings assigned weekly--for example, questions concerning
symphonic composers [Beethoven, Liszt, Berlioz, Mahler], concerto composers [Mozart,
Rachmaninoff], various genre studies [Symphony, Sonata, Lied], etc.
* Students will prepare TWO 4-6 page reports on classical and popular works and
ancillary topics chosen from a separate list throughout the semester. THESE TWO
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE IN CLASS ON THE FOLLOWING SCHEDULE:
26 September
31 October, and the FINAL PROJECT IS DUE ON THE LAST DAY
OF CLASS, 12 December
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* THE MIDTERM IS SCHEDULED FOR 24 OCTOBER, 2.00 P.M., devoted
exclusively to materials from the listening and reading assignments. It will take up only half
the class time.
* THE FINAL PROJECT IS IN LIEU OF A FINAL EXAMINATION; IT IS DUE
ON THE LAST DAY OF CLASS, 12 DECEMBER.
All listening materials will be streamed through VARIATIONS, and will also be
available for use in the Library. All reading materials on reserve are in the Avery Fisher
Listening Center in Bobst Library, 2nd floor. Films cannot be streamed, so they will only be
available in the Library. Please be prepared to spend an adequate amount of time in the
Library for your assignments. As a general rule, you should allow a minimum of 2-3 hours of
preparation time per week for viewing films and listening to assignments. You will find
similar materials in the Library and Museum of the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center,
which houses a lending library for books, music, cds, dvds, and videos (Plaza level), and a
Research Division (3rd floor) where collections of Music, Theater, and Dance are located.
The Research Division is a treasure-house of materials dating back centuries, and you will
find it useful to familiarize yourself with its collections. Many public libraries in New York
and the outer boroughs and environs have similar listening and printed collections from
which you can borrow as well.
Apart from The New Grove and any on-line sites given over the course of the semester,
OTHER ON-LINE REFERENCE TOOLS ARE USED AT YOUR OWN PERIL, save
such as The Catholic Encyclopedia, THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, the Gilbert &
Sullivan Archive, the Encyclopedia Britannica, and a very few others. WIKIPEDIA is offlimits and can never be cited: I am a firm believer in BOOKS and use of the Library as your
primary reference location, not on-line sources. All the papers will be graded on CONTENT
and PRESENTATION, and web-based materials will need to be cleared with me before you
use them as sources.
Office Hours: By Appointment, 24 Waverly Place, Room 268D
Telephone:
212/998-8309
Email: rcm1@nyu.edu. I would like to hear in advance from ANYONE who anticipates
missing class.
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GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCE
(other readings will be given in connection with specific assignments)
Adorno, Theodor and Hanns Eisler. Composing for the Films. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1947. New Introduction by Graham McCann. London: The
Athlone Press, 1994.
Altman, Rick. Silent Film Sound. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
Anderson, Gillian B. and H. Stephen Wright. Film Music Bibliography I.
Hollywood: Society for the Preservation of Film Music, 1995.
Barrios, Richard. A Song in the Dark. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Brown, Royal S. Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1994.
Burt, George. The Art of Film Music. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1994.
Chion, Michel. Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen. Foreword by Walter Murch. Ed.
and transl. by Claudia Gorbman. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994.
Copland, Aaron. “The Aim of Music for Films.” The New York Times: 10 March
1940.
The Journal of Film Music, ed. William Rosar. Claremont: The International Film
Music Society, 2002 - . This relatively new journal is the first publication devoted
exclusively to the subject.
Goldmark, Daniel. Tunes for “Toons.” Music and the Hollywood Cartoon. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2005.
Karlin, Fred. Listening to Movies. The Film Lover’s Guide to Film Music. New
York: Schirmer Books, 1994.
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edition, ed. Stanley Sadie and
JohnTyrrell. London: Macmillan and Company, 2001. Grove is accessible on line at
www.grovemusic.com from any NYU-based computer. You will find it useful for
definitions of musical terms, biographical information on composers and genres, and
other major topics like “Film Music.” Grove has gone through seven editions, and it
should be noted that earlier editions are also valuable for materials that reflect the
times in which they were published--for instance, the monumental 1954 post-World
War II 5th Edition, and the 1980 “New” Grove, 6th Edition. But some may find
items of interest in the editions of pre-World War II as well, especially with regard to
composers and performers of the time. There are Grove dictionaries on a number of
subjects, for instance, Art, which you may find useful as well.
Prendergast, Roy. Film Music. A Neglected Art, 2nd edition. New York: W.W.
Norton, 1992.
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Randel, Don. The New Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1986. A single volume useful for musical definitions. A paperback
version was published by Washington Square Press and may still be available in the
NYU Bookstore or at Strand Bookstores (Broadway and 12th Street).
Sabaneev, Leonid. Music for the Films, transl. by S.W. Pring. London: Sir Isaac
Pitman & Sons, Ltd., 1935.
Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism. New York: Vintage Books, 1994. Required
reading.
. . . . . . . Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1978. This has just been reissued in a
Vintage paperback for a 25th-anniversary edition. Required reading.
Sternfeld, Frederick W. “Music and the Feature Films.” The Musical Quarterly
XXXIII/4 (October 1947), 517-32.
Thompson, Kristin and David Bordwell. Film History. An Introduction, 2nd edition. New
York: McGraw-Hill, 2003.