Schedule of Daily Readings For Humanities II (Spring 2008)

Go here for the Top 40’s for Unit #6

Go here for the final essay topics

Any announced changes in class will supersede this schedule. Note: For each of the major units, students should read all of the appropriate text volume; pages listed below are for your convenience in preparing for a particular day's lecture.

Of very special importance to students are the guiding questions for each class: these provide direction for your reading and our class discussions.

A new feature of this syllabus, one that will be developing as the year (and years) go on, is the electronic archiving of lecture notes and "handouts." Click on the highlighted items below in the syllabus to use these resources. 

Date	Topic	Text	Music Examples (on webct)
Jan 15	Introduction to the Arts of the 17^th and 18^th Centuries What are some of the new complexities facing the arts—and our understanding of them—as we move our study into the early modern world? What are some significant differences between the Renaissance and Baroque spirit in the arts?
17	Mannerism; Catholic Baroque Art How did the Mannerist and Baroque styles advance the agenda of the Catholic Counter-Reformation? How did artists like Caravaggio and Bernini meet the requirements for the new religious art?	4: 1-22	1
22	French Baroque Art (and the Aristocratic Style Beyond Europe); French Baroque music; new Baroque style in Italy; the rise of Opera What is “Baroque classicism” and how did it serve as the perfect vehicle for the absolutist ideology of the French aristocracy? How does the French aristocratic style compare and contrast with non-western aristocratic art and architecture? How did the ideals of Classical antiquity influence the development of the Baroque musical style? What were the main features of this new style? What is opera, and what influences did ideas from Classical antiquity and 17^th-century aristocratic culture have on its origins?	22-24; 25-39; 45-59 (note: we will study Molière under the topic of satire on Feb. 1)	2
24	Vivaldi, Bach, and Handel What are similarities and differences between 17^th-century Baroque musical style and 18^th-century Baroque musical style? How did their respective cultures affect the musical production of Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, and George Frederic Handel? How did Bach’s reputation change from the 18^th century to the present and what accounts for those changes?	71-73	3-7
29	The “Baroque”(?) in Literature; Baroque Protestant Art How does the Baroque art of Northern Europe differ from the Catholic Baroque? Although not normally used as a term describing literature, can you see features in the writings of such authors as Donne and Milton that share affinities with the “Baroque” styles in art and music?	60-70
31	Scientific Revolution; Ideals of the Enlightenment. What is the Scientific Revolution and how did it lead to the period we call the Age of Reason or the Enlightenment? How did the ideas of Descartes, Bacon, Locke, and the philosophes call into question traditional understandings of religion and the humanities? What might be some of the political and gender implications of these new theories of human learning? What was the impact of the Scientific Revolution on the arts (Northern Baroque painting)? Go here for the quiz due Jan. 31	75-90; 95-113; also page 39: Maxims
5	Classic Instrumental Music Why did the music of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and their contemporaries come to be regarded as “classic” by later generations? How did 18^th-century instrumental compositions reflect a concern for classical balance? How did the new “classical” style in music reflect new roles that music began to play in society in the 18^th century?	162-167	9-10
7	Satire What is satire and what are its two distinct forms? Why is satire a characteristic expression of the Enlightenment? How is the satiric spirit reflected in works of art?	39-45; 114-139; also 4.5 (Moliere)
12	18^th Century Art; Enlightenment Ideals in Opera What are some of the key differences between the courtly Rococo and the Neoclassicism and what accounts for these differences? How do Mozart’s operas reflect the ideals of the Enlightenment?	140-167	11
14	Exam #1: Unit 4. Go here for the essay topics for the first exam.
19	Romanticism in Nature How does Romanticism represent a breaking away from the ideals of (Neo)classicism? Why does the reverence for nature figure so largely in the poetics and art of Romanticism? Why and how does landscape painting emerge as such an important art form?	5: 1-28	12
21	The Romantic Hero in Art and Literature What new values come to be associated with the Romantic hero? In what ways do we today still share Romantic values—or have we reacted against them? What cultural and political forces gave rise to this new definition of heroism? How does painting, especially the art of portraiture, manifest these new heroic values?	29-59
26	The Romantic Hero in Music How do Beethoven’s life and music reflect the idea of the Romantic hero? What are the ways in which Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony represents a turn toward a completely new direction in music?	59-69	13
28	Virtuosos in Music What is a virtuoso? Why was the cult of the virtuoso so popular during the early 19^th century? How was early 19th-century music influenced by the "cult" of the composer-performer?  Describe differences between the culture of the concert hall/opera hall and the culture of the salon and the musical styles associated with each of them.	59-69	14-18
March 4	Realism in Art What is “Realism”? How is this movement in the arts a reaction against Romanticism? What shifts in subject matter occur in the visual arts after about 1848, and why? How did artists like Courbet, Daumier, Millet, and Manet approach the ordinary man? How is this different from earlier art we've looked at in this class?	93-105
March 6	Realism in Literature What are some of the major features of the realist style in literature? What new subjects and ideas become introduced by realist writers? How do these affect the notion of the “High” arts?	71-92
March 11	The Art for Art’s sake Movement; Realism and Symbolism in Music How is the art for art’s sake movement related to the spiritual crisis characterizing much late 19^th C. thought? [“Preface” to Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray as manifesto of l’art pour l’art] How do changes in musical style after 1850 relate to the move toward realism seen in the visual arts and literature?    How was Debussy's style influenced by non-Western music? Why was Claude Debussy’s musical style so revolutionary?	109-113	19-22
March 13	Impressionism and Symbolism in Art How did the Impressionist painters approach the technique of painting? What effects were they after? What kind of scenes did they choose? In contrast to the Impressionists, Symbolist painters rejected the optical world and turned to an inner world of fantasy and sensation. What did they hope to accomplish by this?	113-127
25	Post-Impressionism / Review Renoir, himself an Impressionist painter, declared that Impressionism after 1883 was becoming a "blind alley." How did European painters after Impressionism approach form and color? What did they hope to accomplish by this?	132-138
27	Exam 2: Unit 5. Go here for the essay topics for the second exam
April 1	The Advent of Modernism; Cubism and Abstraction; Early 20^th C. Architecture What are some basic premises of modernism? How do they challenge the traditional ideologies of Romanticism and Realism? See Modernist Poetry Although radically different from each other in their approach to form and color, Cubism and Fauvism shared a common artistic goal in many respects. What did Picasso and Matisse have to offer the modern age? What kind of living spaces did early modern architects and designers hope to create?	1-22
3	Modernist Trends in Early 20th-Century Music: Primitivism, Neoclassicism, and Dodecaphonic Music How was Schoenberg's 12-tone style a break from past tradition? Describe Stravinsky's musical innovations in The Rite of Spring.  Why did some people hail this work as a milestone, while others found it to be grossly offensive? How is neoclassicism as a stylistic term used differently in music than it is in art and literature?  What are the characteristic features of musical neoclassicism?	1-3; 23-25	24-26
April 8	Freud; Surrealism; Dada How is Freud modernist? How do his theories challenge traditional understandings of humanism? How does art and literature give expression to these new views of the human mind and psyche? How, specifically, do Surrealism and Dada delve into the subconscious realm?	26-48
April 10	The War Years: Art and Social Conscience What kinds of problems did the Wars present to artists? How did they respond to these challenges? [Go here for a chilling tally of people killed during wars of the 20^th century]	49-68	27
15	Literature at Mid-century: Existentialism What is existentialism? How does it represent a stark challenge to traditional affirmations of humanism? Does existentialism manifest itself in any meaningful ways in the visual language of the arts? What are some new developments and challenges to the arts at mid-century?	69-87
17	Using New Sounds and Sound Sources in Music at Mid-Century; The Development of Jazz Styles Describe ways in which new sound sources and new ways of using traditional sound sources influenced 20th-century music How does music technology affect composers, performers, and listeners in the 20th and 21st centuries? How does jazz borrow features from various world cultures?   What are the main jazz styles?	88-89; 106-09	28-32
22	Literature and Philosophy in the Post-Modern Era. How was literature revitalized by the contributions of women and ethnic minorities? What new demands are made of the arts? What is multiculturalism and how has it changed our understanding of the arts? How has literature responded to the challenge of the Information Age and the new technology?	91-140
24	Visual Art and Architecture in the Post-Modern Era How does Post-Modern architecture both borrow from and "subvert" architectural forms from the past? How have post-modern artists used and redefined the relationships between image and text?	141-162
29	Music in the Post-Modern Era How has technology fostered the post-modern style in music? Describe characteristic features of post-modern style in the musical selections assigned for today’s listening. Why is postmodernism so strongly influenced by the historical past and by present-day social concerns?	166-169