F1014 Music and Power

One of the first things ever noted about music, already by the Greeks, is how powerful it is. Specifically, it has power over the emotions. It can excite or pacify, seduce or awe, entertain or frighten. Precisely because of its immense power it has always been coveted by the powerful. Music\'s relation to power has, therefore, two distinct aspects: the internal power of music and the external powers exerted on its use and practice. In this course we shall examine the history of western music from Antiquity to the early seventeenth century through the lens of this twofold relation between music and power. Throughout the course special attention will be given to the Italian musical and cultural scene. The course will terminate and reach its peak with the fascinating nexus of music and politics in Venice of the second half of the sixteenth century and first half of the seventeenth century.
Starting with the Greek\'s celebration of music\'s power we shall survey the medieval simultaneous fascination and fear of music and investigate the impact of both religious and secular institutions and sensibilities on the evolution of musical practices. Special attention will be given to the peculiarities of late medieval Italian music, its overt sensuality and relative independence from religious constraints. This will leads us to the rebirth of the Greek notion of powerful music, but now emphasis shift from the role of music in the formation of character to music\'s emotive impact—a transition from ethics to esthetics. In the Italian madrigals of the 16th century we will observe the unleashing of music\'s power to depict and convey emotions, as the outcome of composers\' struggle for expressive autonomy. The transformation of the madrigal into the new musical idiom of the aria will lead us to the birth of opera as the epitome of Renaissance attempts to revive the powerful music of the Greeks. We shall explore late Renaissance operas on the theme of Orpheus and uncover the struggles that they transform into art form between divine power and human power, between the power of the absolute prince and the power of his subjects. We shall end, in a sense, where we began: in Venice, one of the most interesting case studies of the entanglement of music and politics. A brief discussion of late 16th century Venetian music will be followed by a close analysis of Monteverdi\'s L\'incoronazione di Poppea – an opera whose political message is almost as scandalous today as it was when first performed.
Teaching method
Discussions, Presentations in class, group work.