Great Courses

Narrated by Robert Greenberg

The 20th century was a hotbed of musical exploration, innovation, and transformation unlike any other epoch in history. Ranging across the century in its entirety, these 24 lectures present a musical cornucopia of astounding dimensions-a major presentation and exploration of the incredible brilliance and diversity of musical art across a turbulent century. Using a chronological approach, you'll explore the fascinating gamut of 20th-century musical "isms," from impressionism and fauvism to serialism, stochasticism, ultraserialism, neo-classicism, neo-tonalism, and minimalism, as well as the inclusivity and synthesis within concert music that embraced Western historical styles, folk and popular music, jazz, rock, Asian, Latin American, and other influences in the service of heightened musical expression. Through the panoramic view of the course, you'll discover the genius of composers such as Debussy, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Webern, Bart̤k, Ligeti, Riley, Ad̈s, and many others. Far more than simply a series of lectures, the program comprises a huge and many-sided resource for discovering the endless riches of 20th-century concert music across the globe. The phenomenal range of genres and composers covered and the wealth of suggestions for specific works make this a reference that could easily inspire years of musical exploration and glorious listening. This remarkable inquiry opens the doors to an extraordinary spectrum of contemporary masterpieces that await discovery and deep listening. Within these unique and riveting lectures, Professor Greenberg offers you the keys to understanding and deep enjoyment of a revolutionary, visionary, and magnificent era in music. In Great Music of the 20th Century, you'll experience the living, evolving, and superlative musical art that so vividly and unforgettably speaks to the life of our times. All Lectures: 1. 20th-Century Music: Be Afraid No Longer! 2. Setting the Table and Parsing Out Blame 3. Debussy and le franȧis in Musical Action 4. Russia and Igor Stravinsky 5. Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring 6. The Paradox of Arnold Schoenberg 7. The Emancipation of Melody! 8. The Second Viennese School 9. The "New" Classicism 10. Schoenberg and the 12-Tone Method 11. Synthesis and Nationalism: Bľa Bart̤k 12. America's Musical Gift 13. American Iconoclasts 14. The World Turned Upside Down 15. Electronic Music and European Ultraserialism 16. Schoenberg in Exile 17. Stravinsky in America 18. For Every Action an Equal Reaction 19. The California Avant-Garde 20. Rock around the Clock 21. East Meets West; South Meets North 22. Postmodernism: New Tonality and Eclecticism 23. The New Pluralism 24. Among Friends

Mode of access: World Wide Web