Now you can walk tall in the world of classical music and tell your baroque from your romantic, and your Stravinsky from your Mahler.
Part of his Classical Discovery programme, this is an introduction to classical music with musician and broadcaster Sandy Burnett. Aimed at intelligent adults who are looking for a way in to the greatness of classical music, this eight-week course covers a thousand years of classical music, taking us from the Medieval and Renaissance periods through Baroque, Classical, Romantic and twentieth-century right up to the present day. The eight week course is designed to give pupils a grounding in classical music and an understanding of how each period responds and relates to the period that preceded it. However each lesson also works as a stand-alone, so you can choose them on an individual basis, which suits those pupils who have an interest in a given period of classical music.
Sandy will discuss what role music played in each era, and how composers went about the process of shaping their works. And armed with his trusty iPod and docking station, he’ll play recorded examples, and produce scores and instruments by way of illustration. This course will give you a clear understanding of the essential elements of music in each era, and will enable you to listen to classical music with fresh ears and greater understanding. A glossary of key terms will be provided, along with a suggested list of recordings to explore and events to attend.
Sandy Burnett
Sandy Burnett is a musician and broadcaster who spent over a decade as one of the best-known classical music presenters on BBC Radio 3. He has conducted many orchestras and choirs, and has masterminded a complete cycle of JS Bach’s sacred cantatas. He is in demand as a lecturer and interviewer, and is also an accomplished jazz double bassist.
“I thoroughly enjoyed the talk in the intimate setting of Idler. Had you booked say Wigmore Hall I wouldn’t have come!” Mrs E.P
“We were so impressed by Sandy’s knowledge on his subject’, ‘his passion and enthusiasm were infectious’, ‘absolutely outstanding’, ‘a very serious and learned lecturer’, ‘absolutely the best lecturer of the many fine lecturers I’ve experienced.” From a 2011 Martin Randall Travel lecture tour
WEEK 1. Medieval: Two important events kickstart our journey: music started to be written down rather than passed on by ear; and single-line melodies gave way to music for many voices at once, or polyphony. We’ll consider the remarkable figures of Hildegarde of Bingen and Guillaume de Machaut, and explore the Ars Nova, whose expressive approach to music has been compared to the invention of perspective in painting.
Medieval Eton Choirbook
WEEK 2. Renaissance: The glassy perfection of Palestrina, the mysticism of Victoria the earthy delights of the madrigal, and the sonorous blend of the viol consort all come into focus this week, as does the way John Dunstable and other English composers made their own distinctive contribution to medieval music – what our French friends called le contenance angloise.
Renaissance viols
WEEK 3. Baroque: It starts with the flamboyant opening of Monteverdi’s 1607 opera Orfeo, and ends in 1759 with the death of George Friderick Handel. The Baroque era produces music of great brilliance and emotional depth, both characteristics exemplified in the work of Johann Sebastian Bach, the greatest composer of that, and possibly any, age.
Baroque Senesino
WEEK 4. Classical: Next comes an emphasis on order, balance, clarity and beauty – four key Enlightenment values which underpin the Classical era. It reaches its high point in the music of two Viennese masters: Haydn, the father of the string quartet, and Mozart, whose music managed to be both graceful and profound.
Mozart
WEEK 5. Romanticism: This is the week in which the expressive floodgates burst open, and we brace ourselves for the iconoclasm of Beethoven, the bare-all symphonic autobiographies of Berlioz and Mahler, and the massive music dramas of Wagner – not just composers, but true artists in the Romantic sense, for whom music was meant to embrace everything about the human condition.
Hector Berlioz Caricature
WEEK 6. Early Twentieth Century: this session examines how four composers respond to both the opportunities and challenges of the times: Bartok’s reworking of Middle-European folk song; Schoenberg’s adventures in twelve-tone serialism; Shostakovitch’s perilous relationship with the Soviet authorities; and finally Copland who single-handedly creates the sound of New-Deal America.
Early C20th Shostakovitch
WEEK 7: Late Twentieth Century: hold on to your hats as the Idler Academy takes on the Darmstadt School, headed up by Stockhausen. Electronic music comes into focus this week, as do the minimalist scores of Reich, Adams and others, and the maths-inspired work of Nancarrow and Xenakis. And we consider the achievement of the great Benjamin Britten, whose 1945 opera Peter Grimes forms this era’s jumping-off point.
Late C20th Stockhausen Helicopter
WEEK 8: The Here and Now: Rounding off this course, we explore contemporary classical, a genre which has surprisingly found its own club nights in recent years, and the spirituality of composers such as John Tavener and Arvo Pärt, who have drawn inspiration from the choral music of the pre-Renaissance era – ending this course by taking us right back to where we began.
The Here and Now
Time: 7pm – 8.30pm
Date: Tuesday 13th March – Tuesday 8th May (excluding 10th April)
Price: £192 for eight weeks (20% off) or £30 per lesson.
To book please call the shop on 020 7221 5908 or CLICK HERE.
