Mondays, Oct. 4-18, 9:30-11 a.m.

What is it that motivates composers to write great music? Over the years, some of the most inspirational music has been written about events of history. This course is organized as a world history course, starting in ancient times and continuing to the present. Whenever we encounter an event of history about which a composer has written music, we play samples of the music. For example, for biblical times we will hear from Rossini (Moses), Saint-Saens (Samson) and Bach (the Passion masses); from the Middle Ages we will listen to Wagner (Lohengrin), Weber (Oberon) and Handel (Orlando); from Russian history we will listen to Borodin (Prince Igor); from Chinese history we will hear from Handel (Tamerlane) and Tan Dun (Marco Parlo); from Renaissance we hear from Ponchielli (Venice) and in Verdi (Genoa); for France we listen to Tchaikovsky (Joan of Arc). Well, you get the idea. This journey is too long for one course, so this is Part I, to be followed by Part II in the spring.