Music of the Baroque

(4 Credits)

The course examines one of the most important periods of Western Art Music: the Baroque, or music composed and performed between 1600-1750. In addition to exploring the key genres (opera, court music, domestic music, church music) and topics of the period (patronage, religion, the age of discovery, gender and sexuality) we will also examine the key assumptions about the periodization of the Baroque into a unified style-category. With music as our primary source-text, students will explore how music has been a means to communicate the historical, cultural, and critical issues of the Baroque. Prerequisite: WAI Fulfillment: Humanities Introductory course.