MUSC 31109 - Music & Culture in Fin-De-Siecle Vienna

Course Credit: 1
MUSIC AND CULTURE IN THE FIN-DE-SIECLE VIENNA In the years around 1900, a period commonly called the fin de siècle (Fr., end-of-century), Vienna was home to a remarkable concentration of great artists, thinkers, and composers. Their direct interaction, together with the city’s unique socio-political climate, generated a maelstrom of cultural activity that strongly shaped modernist culture in the twentieth century and continues to fascinate scholars and students of arts and letters today. This course will study the music of fin-de-siècle Vienna in relation to its broader social, political, and cultural context. It is also a writing-intensive course that fulfills in part the writing requirement for graduation. It will be conducted as an informal seminar. Class meetings will combine lecture, discussion, and occasional student presentations.