What is a symphony? Why did composers start writing them? How did the symphony become the central proving ground of greatness in instrumental composition? This course tackles all these questions and more through the close study of five seminal works in the symphonic literature: Beethoven’s Fifth and Ninth, Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique, Brahms’ Fourth, and Mahler’s Third. Biographical and historical readings and listening assignments will precede each meeting, allowing us to understand the world each of these symphonies inhabited, and the ways in which they changed that world.

Participants in this course should love music and have the perseverance to listen and relisten to discover its many layers, but a formal musical education is not assumed. The course will offer all the context necessary to greatly deepen your appreciation of these epochal works and the minds that wrote them.

This course will combine lecture with class discussions.