Music Appreciation and History Classes Music... · PDF fileMusic Appreciation and History Classes Winter and Spring 2015 Course Calendar Registration: Online: rcmusic.ca/MusicAppreciation

Music Appreciation and History Classes

Winter and Spring 2015

Course Calendar

Registration:

Online: rcmusic.ca/MusicAppreciation

By phone: 416-408-2825

In person: 273 Bloor St. West

Online: rcmusic.ca/MusicAppreciation

Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music

Opera in the City

Instructor: Eric Domville

Tuesdays, 1:00-3:00 January 13 to February 3 (4 weeks) $195

Calling all opera lovers! Whether youre a seasoned opera-goer or new to this timeless art form,

before you take your seat in the theatre for another highly anticipated season of opera in the city, join

University of Toronto Professor Emeritus Eric Domville for an illuminating journey into operatic history

and enhance your experience of the following two operas scheduled to be performed in Toronto this

winter:

Mozarts darkly comedic Don Giovanni (COC; opens January 24)

Wagners epic Die Walkre (COC; opens January 31)

Immerse yourself in the music, the plot, and the characters; hear arias sung by students of the Glenn

Gould School; and study excerpts from the libretto (English translations provided). Well explore the

place of each opera within the composers artistic output and its position within both the history of

opera and the socio-political context of the time. Questions and discussion will be encouraged as an

essential component of a communal introduction to these enduring works.

Eric Domville is a Professor Emeritus in English literature at the University of Toronto, where he

taught at all levels for 30 years. Since his retirement, he has concentrated on the relationship between

words and music in song and opera. He has given many pre-performance talks for the Canadian

Opera Company and Opera Atelier, and delivered lectures to opera guilds across Ontario. For the past

20 years, Eric has acted as commentator for the Music and Poetry series at the Faculty of Music,

University of Toronto. Currently, in addition to presenting opera courses at various institutions, he

appears as a guest presenter of programmes on classical music on the University of Torontos radio

station at 89.5 FM. Many of his articles on operas have appeared in the programme books of the

Canadian Opera Company.

Notes:

A spring session of this course will cover Berlioz's Orpheus and Eurydice, Rossini's Barber of Seville,

Bartk's Bluebeard's Castle, and Schoenberg's Erwartung (Tuesdays 1-3, March 24 to April 28). See

below for course details.

Students may purchase 2 tickets to The Glenn Gould School spring opera, Offenbachs La Belle Hlne

conducted by Uri Mayer (Koerner Hall; Wednesday, March 18, 2015 at 7:30 pm OR Friday, March 20,

2015 at 7:30 pm) at 10% off, while quantities last. Call (416)408-0208 or visit the Weston Family Box

Office after registering.

https://ca.apm.activecommunities.com/theroyalconservatory/Activity_Search/999http://performance.rcmusic.ca/event/ggs_opera_spring_1

Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music

How Music Works: A Practical Primer

Instructor: James Stager

Wednesdays, 10:0012:00 January 21 to March 11 (8 weeks) $395

If youve always wanted to understand how music works, this practical course combining guided

listening and active participation in basic musicianship exercises is for you. Explore the building blocks

of music and how they create the magic of the music you love! Well deconstruct selections from

classical, folk, and popular repertoiresincluding Mozarts Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Pachelbels

Canon, Handels Hallelujah Chorus, Bachs cello suites, and pieces by Bernstein, the Beatles, B.B.

King, and Gershwin, among many othersand unlock the secrets of melody, rhythm, harmony,

texture, form, genre, and more. Along the way, well cover topics such as basic staff notation, scales,

intervals, time signatures, note and rest values, meters, chords, and cadences. In the final class, well

put all the pieces together and apply our cumulative learning to an enlightening study of Beethovens

monumental Symphony No. 5. Participants will emerge from this course with a deeper understanding

of the music they experience.

James Stager is a sought-after trombonist, pianist, and educator. He teaches music theory, music

history, low brass, and jazz improvisation at The Royal Conservatory as well as at several of Torontos

performing arts schools, and music theory at York University. He is frequently heard in concert halls,

festivals, and nightclubs in a wide variety of musical settings including symphony orchestras (Toronto

Philharmonia), musical theatre (Shaw Festival and Soulpepper Theatre), world music (Moda Eterna,

Cach), and jazz groups (Big Rude Jake, Red Hot Ramble). In addition to his teaching and performing

career, as a member of The Conservatorys College of Examiners, James adjudicates woodwind,

brass, and percussion examinations throughout Canada and the United States, and evaluates written

examinations in music theory and history.

Notes:

Students may purchase 2 tickets to Sir Roger Norrington Conducts the Royal Conservatory Orchestra

(Koerner Hall; Friday, April 10, 2015 at 8pm), featuring Beethovens Symphony No. 5, at 50% off, while

quantities last. Call (416)408-0208 or visit the Weston Family Box Office after registering.

https://ca.apm.activecommunities.com/theroyalconservatory/Activity_Search/1000http://performance.rcmusic.ca/event/roger_norrington

Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music

Schuberts Song Cycles: Love, Longing, and Despair

Instructor: Robert Loewen

Wednesdays, 1:30-3:00 January 28 to February 18 (4 weeks) $150

I came here a stranger, as a stranger I depart

This four-week course illuminates the song cycles of Franz Schubert, considered the father of

German lieder and the most prolific of all German art song composers. Working in the early 19th

century, Schubert wrote more than 600 songs for piano and voice in which the poetry of contemporary

Romantic poets such as Goethe and Mller is set to music. The song cycle --- a grouping of songs

that comprise a narrative, or that are united by a common theme or idea --- was among the most

important musical genres of the 19th century. Through these intimate works, narratives unfold,

existential questions arise, and complex psychological and emotional states are explored.

Schubert took the song cycle to previously unknown --- and, many argue, unsurpassed --- heights. Die

schne Mllerin, which Schubert composed in 1823, traces the trajectory of young love from optimism

to its tragic conclusion, while Winterreise, the proofs for which Schubert was correcting at the time of

his early death in 1827, follows the flight of a romantic hero from unrequired love. When Winterreise

was published in 1828, an Austrian journal remarked of the songs that none can sing or hear them

without being touched to the heart.

Discover the beauty of these works and contemplate their enduring themes through lecture, legendary

recordings, and live performances. The German mezzo-soprano Elena Gerhardt said of Winterreise,

You have to be haunted by this cycle to be able to sing it. On February, 26, hear the outstanding

German baritone Christian Gerhaher perform Winterreise live in Koerner Hall.

Dr. Robert Loewen teaches voice to a wide range of singers including high school and college

students, young professionals, and avocational mature individuals. His students have been accepted

into leading music programs, including The Curtis Institute, and are working in the profession. He has

also taught the choral scholars of Trinity College at the University of Toronto; served as presenter and

clinician for the Royal Conservatory Music Development Program; given presentations for Royal

Conservatory Examinations; and served as an adjudicator across Canada. Dr. Loewen is on the Voice

Faculty of the Royal Conservatory School, the Academic Faculty of the Glenn Gould School, and is a

Senior Voice Examiner for Royal Conservatory Examinations and Royal Conservatory Music

Development Program.

Notes:

Students may purchase 2 tickets to Christian Gerhaher & Gerold Huber (Koerner Hall; Thursday,

February 26, 2015 at 8pm), at 10% off, while quantities last. Call (416)408-0208 or visit the Weston

Family Box Office after registering.

https://ca.apm.activecommunities.com/theroyalconservatory/Activity_Search/998http://performance.rcmusic.ca/event/gerhaher_huber

Music Appreciation and History The Royal Conservatory of Music

The Intimate World of Chamber Music

Instructor: Rick Phillips

Thursdays, 10:00-12:00 February 5 to March 12 (6 weeks) $295

This course provides an introduction to and survey of chamber music, one of the most personal and

intimate forms of musical expression. Composed for small groups of instruments with one performer to

each part, chamber music is characterized by the expression and conversation among ensemble

members rather than by a focus on the virtuosity of a soloist or unity under a conductors baton. The

larger forms of opera, symphony, concerto, and oratorio all have an irresistible, inspirational grandeur

and majesty, but chamber music should never be overlooked for its ability to communicate ideas and