Text book required:
Forney, Kristine and Joseph Machlis. The Enjoyment of Music: Essential Listening Edition, 2nd Edition. Norton, 2013. ISBN: 978-0-393-91255-5
Discussion 1:
Listen to Haydn’s Emperor string quartet, second movement, and Beethoven’s “Moonlight” piano sonata in C# minor.
These are discussed on pp. 146 and 165; the music is on the website.
1) What role does the form or overall organization of the music play in helping to unify these two pieces?
2) Can you identify other music from your listening experience that relies on form to create a sense of coherence?
Discussion 2:
Let’s consider two pieces of music for voice next: part of Mozart’s Requiem and Schubert’s Lied or art song, “Erlking.”
The text describes these on pp. 185 and 199. The music is on the CD-ROM and the audio CD package.
In the Classical period form was an important concern for composers and listeners alike. These two pieces approach formal design very differently.
1) Are the forms of these pieces as described in the text easy to hear with practice?
2) Both of these pieces are very dramatic in nature—how do their individual approaches to structural design (form) reinforce the drama that you hear?