TELEVISION

Music as a Mirror of History

Series: Great Courses
4.6
(49)
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Episodes
24
Rating
TVPG
Year
2016
Language
English
Publisher
The Great Courses

About

Uncover the fascinating and surprising connections between famous music and historical events, led by celebrated composer and music historian Professor Robert Greenberg. In Music as a Mirror of History, music lovers and history enthusiasts alike will be enthralled by this exploration of how momentous compositions have responded to-and inspired-pivotal points in the history of the world.

Related Subjects

Episodes

1 to 3 of 24

1. Music and History, Madrigals and Maps

45m

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Grasp how Thomas Morley's madrigals in praise of Queen Elizabeth I engaged with English national self-perception and myth, and how Leon Janáček and Frédéric Chopin responded to political events in key works. Take account of how magnified emotions stirred by human conflicts feed artistic creation, and how artists have managed to convert the most terrible of human experiences into transcendent art.

2. Handel: Water Music (1714)

45m

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Trace the extraordinary circumstances in which the German prince George Ludwig of Brunswick-Lüneberg became King George I of England. Then discover how music and history intersected in the remarkable career of George Frederick Handel and how it led to the creation of numerous musical masterpieces, including the composer's iconic Water Music, written for a state procession in 1717.

3. Mozart: The Abduction from the Harem (1782)

45m

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Learn how political events in Europe shaped Mozart's music and personal circumstances. Investigate the threat posed to Europe by the Ottoman Empire and observe the paradoxical Turkish vogue in European art and fashion. Study the Turkish elements of Mozart's opera The Abduction from the Harem, and see how the fallout from Austria's war with the Ottomans contributed to Mozart's decline and death.

4. Haydn: Mass in the Time of War (1797)

45m

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See how events that began in revolutionary Paris inspired the expressive content of Haydn's Mass in the Time of War. Delve into the dramatic unfolding of the French Revolution, the subsequent rise of Napoleon, and the impending threat his war machine posed to Vienna. Hear the dramatic, martial character of Haydn's mass as a triumphant musical exhortation to victory against Napoleon's army.

5. Beethoven: The Farewell Sonata (1810)

45m

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Learn how Beethoven identified, almost mystically, with the figure of Napoleon. Witness the military clashes after the French Revolution between Napoleon and the Austrian Habsburg empire. Grasp the highly personal meanings in Beethoven's Farewell Sonata, which depicts the departure and absence of the composer's aristocratic patron in the face of Napoleon's 1809 march on Vienna.

6. Beethoven: Wellington's Victory (1813)

45m

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Trace Beethoven's increasing animosity toward the French, and observe the unfolding debacle of Napoleon's Peninsular War against Portugal and Spain. Learn how Beethoven came to compose Wellington's Victory, celebrating the British commander's triumph over the French at Vitoria, which was both a phenomenal success for Beethoven and a major aberration in his musical output.

Extended Details

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