COURSE INFORMATION
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In the 1830s, at the dawn of French romanticism, Beethoven’s symphonies premiered in Paris to mixed reviews. In this course, we explore how the young composer–critic Hector Berlioz swayed the public to embrace Beethoven in the romantic image of Poet—as a Titan who broke the “rules” to create unprecedented levels of expression and multisensory aesthetic effects. Berlioz describes these expressive effects by using a range of vivid imagery, notably analogy: with the high drama of Shakespeare and Goethe to describe the Fifth and Seventh Symphonies; with the famous landscape art of Michelangelo and Poussin to describe the Pastoral Symphony; and with the new literary ideas of Victor Hugo to promote Beethoven’s controversial Ninth Symphony. As such, we discover Beethoven's symphonies as "poems" that supersede the expressive ability of all other arts.
Musical knowledge is helpful, but not necessary to enjoy and benefit from this course.
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