More About Music

While I have been absent from this blog I was packing, moving and unpacking. Thankfully, that is all over now and life can get back to (ab)normal. :-)

Now...on to some specifics about music history. I intend to teach this class to all my 1st - 6th graders at once. We will cycle through 6 years of lessons (1 per week), so every student will eventually learn all of the composers in the series. We will learn biographical information for each composer, as well as learning to identify, by sound, several of the composer's works. We will start the lesson by reading or listening to biographies of the composer or drilling biographical information. The readings will be taken from Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers by Patrick Kavanaugh, The Gift of Music by Jane Stuart Smith and Betty Carlson, the Vox CDs of great composers, and other sources that I will mention later. Then we will listen to the piece for the week (or a portion of it, if it is really long). Throughout the weeks that we are studying a composer we will listen to his music during homework time and other times.

Here is my list of composers to study (and pieces) for the first year (36 weeks):

1. - 3. Heinrich Schutz: I had never heard of this composer before reading The Gift of Music. He was one who took church music from monastic chanting into the kinds of harmonies we are familiar with today. His music is all choral settings of Biblical texts. I have chose Psalm
100, Seven Last Words From the Cross, and Deutches Magnificat (Mary's song of praise).

4. - 6. Archangelo Corelli: This baroque composer wrote many Concerti Grossi, early versions of the symphony that had less instruments than our modern symphony. I have chosen to highlight Concerto Grosso in F Major, Op. 6, No. 9; Concerto Grosso Op. 6, No. 8 the
"Christmas Concerto", and Sonata de Chiesa, Op. 3, No. 5.

7. - 10. Antonio Vivaldi: We all know Vivaldi's Four Seasons, but he also wrote concertos for many different instruments and even some choral music. The first piece the student will learn, will of course be the Four Seasons. Since it is such a long work, we will listen to it in the evening, or on a Saturday, in order to be able to hear it all at once. Other pieces to study are: Gloria in D, Bassoon Concerto in E Minor, and Concerto for Piccolo in C Major.

11. - 20. Johann Sebastian Bach: Bach was a devout Christian man and made some of the best music ever, to the glory of God. The most difficult thing about studying Bach is choosing which of his many masterpieces to focus on. These are my choices: Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor (S 1043), St. Matthew's Passion, Mass in B Minor, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, Cantata No. 80, Well-Tempered Clavier No. 1, Magnificat, BrandenburgConcerto No. 2., and Musical Offering. For studying Bach, in addition to the sources cited above, I plan on reading them Sebastian Bach: The Boy from Thuringia by Opal Wheeler and Sybill Duecher.

21. - 26. George Frederic Handel:
It is reported that Handel openly wept while working on his famous Hallelujah Chorus, a song in praise of Christ. Here again is another composer who dedicated his work to the glory of God. Water Music, Messiah, Largo from Xerxes, Organ Concerto in B-flat Major, Op. 7, No. 6; Concerto for Harp in B-flat Major, and Music for Royal Fireworks. In addition to the sources cited above, I plan on reading Handel at the Court of Kings by Opal Wheeler.

26. - 32. Joseph Haydn: Cello Concerto in D Major, No. 2; The Creation; Symphony No. 45; Mass No. 9 in D Minor, "The Lord Nelson Mass"; Symphony No. 104, "London"; Trumpet Concerto in E-flat Major; String Quartet in C "Emporer". In addition to the sources cited above, I plan on reading Joseph Haydn: the Merry Little Peasant by Opal Wheeler and Sybil Duecher.

33. - 36. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: I really don't need to say anything about Mozart's worth as a composer. I was heartened to learn through Christian authors that Mozart was not the hedonist that he was portrayed as in the movie "Amadeus". He was a bit of a reckless teenager (which is what they base their slander on) and not the wisest of money managers, but he showed in many letters to family and friends his faith in God and desire to please Him. We will continue with many more pieces by Mozart in the second year of Music History. The three for this year will be: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Requiem, and Clarinet Concerto in A Major.

I will continue with the schedule for the second year later.