Musicology
music.northwestern.edu/academics/areas-of-study/musicology
Encompassing much more than music history, the musicology major approaches music as a social activity shaped by aesthetic movements and intellectual theories – in essence, the humanistic study of music in culture.
MUSICOL 313-0 World Music Cultures (1 Unit)
Introduction to both the world's musical variety and common issues related to music cultures worldwide.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts Distro SoC Individual and Social Behavior DistroMUSICOL 323-0 Topics in Ethnomusicology (1 Unit)
Ethnomusicology history, bibliographical resources, methods, and theories.
SOC Additional DistroMUSICOL 324-0 Fieldwork Methods (1 Unit)
SOC Additional DistroMUSICOL 326-0 Topics in World Music: Asia (1 Unit)
The musical traditions of South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. Topics include characteristics of instruments and instrumental ensembles, sound structures, theatrical traditions, and vocal performance.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts Distro SoC Individual and Social Behavior DistroMUSICOL 329-0 Topics in Middle Eastern Music (1 Unit)
History, basic tenets, and aesthetic of Islam; the musics of Islamic cultures from North Africa, Spain, the Middle East, central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. Methods of contextualizing musical cultures and critical methodology related to gender, postcolonial theory, and religion.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts Distro SoC Individual and Social Behavior DistroMUSICOL 330-0 Russian Fairy Tale Opera (1 Unit)
Russian cultural and national identity studied through folk tales and their musical counterparts in Russian opera. Current critical theory, the portrayal of women, the interplay of nationalism and gender, and the East-West dichotomy.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts Distro SoC Individual and Social Behavior DistroMUSICOL 331-0 Orientalism and Music (1 Unit)
The imagery of the East in the music of the West expressed in musical genres of various historical periods; focus on romantic opera and contemporary musical culture. Orientalism as formulated by Edward Said, developed by John MacKenzie, and clarified through references in literature and the visual arts.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts Distro SoC Individual and Social Behavior DistroMUSICOL 332-0 Music and Gypsies (1 Unit)
Romany music from Hungary, Spain, the Balkans, Turkey, the Middle East, and India; Andalucian flamenco; 19thcentury opera and operetta (Bizet's Carmen , Verdi's La Traviata ); instrumental works by Haydn, Liszt, Brahms, and others; and more recent "world" music phenomena.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts Distro SoC Individual and Social Behavior DistroMUSICOL 333-0 Topics in Popular Music (1 Unit)
Topics vary; announced before registration. May be repeated.
SOC Additional DistroMUSICOL 334-0 Russian Modernism (1 Unit)
Russian music after Tchaikovsky, notably Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts DistroMUSICOL 335-0 Selected Topics (1 Unit)
Topics vary; announced before registration. May be repeated.
SOC Additional DistroMUSICOL 335-SA Selected Topics (1 Unit) Topics vary; announced before registration. May be repeated. SOC Additional Distro
MUSICOL 336-0 Music Revivals (1 Unit)
The course considers ways in which originality and tradition work together in select nineteenth- twentieth, and twenty-first century revivals of music that had been dropped from continuous performance, including historical Western art-music, folk music, and musical theater from previous years, decades, and even centuries.
Prerequisites: Must be 3rd year and above to enroll.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts Distro SoC Individual and Social Behavior DistroMUSICOL 338-0 Expressionism (1 Unit)
The interaction of music (Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Weill, Hindemith, et al.) with painting (Kandinsky et al.), poetry (Stefan George et al.), theater (Wedekind, Brecht, et al.), and dance (Kurt Jooss et al.) in early-20thcentury Germany and Austria.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts Distro SoC Individual and Social Behavior DistroMUSICOL 339-0 Music and Gender (1 Unit)
The many intersections between music and ideas of gender; focus on composition, characterization, patronage, and performance. Elite and popular Western musical forms from the Middle Ages to 2000 in relation to gender issues in other cultures' musics.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts Distro SoC Individual and Social Behavior DistroMUSICOL 341-0 Music and the Visual Arts (1 Unit)
The many ways in which the senses of sight and hearing interact in Western images of music and music making as well as in select musical works inspired by concurrent ideas or movements in the visual arts.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts Distro SoC Individual and Social Behavior DistroMUSICOL 342-0 Authenticity (1 Unit)
Authenticity in music at the turn of the 21st century, focusing on three music genres most closely associated with that idea's cultural and philosophical considerations: early music, country music, and world or ethnic music.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts Distro SoC Individual and Social Behavior DistroMUSICOL 343-0 Music and Shakespeare (1 Unit)
An exploration of some of the many intersections between Shakespearean drama and music from the late 16th through early 21st centuries, including study of plays, opera, ballet, film, musical theater, art song, popular music, and the symphony.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts DistroMUSICOL 344-0 Music and Film (1 Unit)
Theory and practice of music as a part of the processes of making and viewing films, from the beginning of the sound era to the present. Topic varies but typically focuses on a specific film genre's musical traditions, techniques, personalities, and problems.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts DistroMUSICOL 345-0 From Literature to Opera to Film (1 Unit)
Selected operas, based on literary or theatrical works, that in turn inspired films. Examination of the literary or theatrical inspiration, the opera as written for stage, and film and video adaptations.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts DistroMUSICOL 346-0 Composer Topics (1 Unit)
Topics vary; announced before registration. May be repeated.
SOC Additional DistroMUSICOL 347-0 The Lied (1 Unit)
Survey of voice-piano settings of German poems, from Mozart through Richard Strauss.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts DistroMUSICOL 348-0 Bel Canto Opera (1 Unit)
Italian opera in the early-to- mid-19th century. The relations of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini to the operatic culture of their time.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts DistroMUSICOL 350-0 Topics in Medieval Music (1 Unit)
Gregorian and medieval chant, secular monophony, and the development of polyphony from the earliest records through the music of Ockeghem and Busnois.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts DistroMUSICOL 351-0 Topics in 16th Century Music (1 Unit)
Middle and late renaissance and early manifestations of the baroque, from Josquin through the Gabrielis.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts DistroMUSICOL 352-0 Topics in 17th Century Music (1 Unit)
The baroque from Monteverdi through Bach and Handel.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts DistroMUSICOL 353-0 Topics in 18th Century Music (1 Unit)
Representative works and critical studies of European art music from the Arcadian reform of opera through the Napoleonic era.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts DistroMUSICOL 354-0 Topics in 19th Century Music (1 Unit)
Representative works and critical studies of European art music from the Congress of Vienna to the death of Mahler.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts DistroMUSICOL 355-0 Topics in 20th Century Music (1 Unit)
Representative works and critical studies of art music from Debussy to the late 20th century.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts DistroMUSICOL 356-0 Topics in Contemporary Music (1 Unit)
Representative works and critical studies of art music from 2000 to the present.
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts DistroMUSICOL 385-0 Senior Project (1 Unit)
MUSICOL 390-0 Musicology Colloquium (0 Unit)
MUSICOL 399-0 Independent Study (1 Unit) SOC Additional Distro