Selected Topics in Music Theory (335-0-2)

Topic

BACH

Instructors

Vasili Byros
847/467-2032
v-byros@northwestern.edu
Vasili Byros received his PhD in music theory from Yale University in 2009. He researches the compositional, listening, and pedagogical practices of the long 18th century from a holistic perspective that combines schema theory, Formenlehre, topic theory, and historical pedagogies, in order to reconstruct “insider” perspectives on music of the period. In 2017 he was awarded the Outstanding Publication Award from the Society for Music Theory and the Charles Deering McCormick Professorship from Northwestern. He is currently working on a book project on period composition from technical, aesthetic, and philosophical positions, through the lens of his own historical compositions.

Meeting Info

RCMA 1-168: Mon 2:00PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

This class will investigate how J. S. Bach the man became "BACH" the idea. The central theme of the class will be Bach's triangulation of musical structure (reason, rationality), expression (moving the emotions, extramusical meaning), and God (theology), and how style sits at the center of it all—the schemata of Bach's day, the syntax and semantics of the musical language of the 18th century.

Class Materials (Required)

All materials provided by the instructor