Dates: 1 October - 19 November 2024  

Time: 7pm - 9pm

Venue: Western Gateway Building, Room G09, UCC 

Fee: €200

Closing date for registrations: 20th of September 2024.

Course Overview: 

This course begins with Stravinsky’s revolutionary Rite of Spring which heralded new directions in modern music. These directions take us to widely different musical landscapes – from Schoenberg’s atonal music to the folk influenced works of Bartok, and from the late romanticism of Rachmaninoff to Arvo Pärt’s unique blend of the modern and the medieval. The music of the USA, England, Spain, Russia and Finland will feature prominently as the course delves into works by composers such as Gershwin, Elgar, de Falla, Shostakovich and Sibelius. The course examines the role of the conductor and the varied styles of great conductors such as Toscanini, Klemperer, Karajan, Solti, Walter, etc. The course will also consider the art, literature, history and science of modern times as a backdrop to the music – Picasso, Chagall, Hopper, Lowry, Einstein, Eliot, Woolf, Beckett, Orwell, Heaney, Banville are among those artists and writers included while events such as the World Wars, the Cold War, the Spanish Civil War and Stalin’s Great Terror also feature.   

Course Content: 

1. From Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring to Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra: the birth of Modernism. 

Stravinsky’s explosive Rite of Spring heralds a new revolution in twentieth century music that subsequently took many different paths, from the atonality of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern to the neoclassicism of Hindemith, and the folk influenced music of Bartok and Kodály.  

1. Arvo Pärt and Sergei Rachmaninoff: A Contrast in Romanticism. 

Both Pärt and Rachmaninoff are composers who went against the musical trends of their times, producing different kinds of music that is equally romantic if completely different. Pärt is the most performed living composer in the world as his unique style of music has proven immensely popular. Works like Fratres, Spiegel im Spiegel and Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten for string orchestra and bell continue to enchant a wide modern audience. Rachmaninoff’s piano concertos remain at the heart of the piano repertoire. 

1. The Great Conductors:  From Toscanini to Rattle. 

The role of the conductor since the time of J S Bach and the more recent development of period instrument orchestras will be explored. In this context some conductors stand above the rest for their unique ability to take an orchestra and get it to express the very soul of a piece of music. The fiery Toscanini, the courtly Walter, the easy going, witty Beecham, the ungainly Furtwangler, the jet setting von Karajan, the emotionally charged Bernstein, the elusive Kleiber are just some of the great conductors that will be considered in this lecture.  

1. From Rhapsody in Blue to Different Trains: Music in the USA from Gershwin to Reich. 

The razzmatazz and vibrancy of American life is reflected in its music. Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Bernstein’s On the Town embody the up-tempo world of urban America while Copland’s Appalachian Spring does likewise for the American wilderness. More recently the minimalist works of Glass and Reich put music’s course on new, yet highly accessible paths. 

1. English music from Elgar to Adès. 

The great symphonies of Elgar and Vaughan Williams, Holst’s The Planets, Britten’s War Requiem and opera Peter Grimes, Tippett’s Concerto for Double String Orchestra and Adès’ Asyla reveal a rich and varied heritage of English music of the modern era. 

1. Nights in the Gardens of Spain. 

From the early twentieth century, Spain produced a series of colourful composers, from De Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain to Rodrigo’s famous Guitar Concerto. These, together with the works of other composers like Turina, Albeniz, Granados and Tarrega embody the very essence of Spain’s colour and spirit.  

1. From the lakes and forests of Finland: the music of Sibelius. 

From the outset Sibelius was an artist in full possession of his own language and style. The majestic series of his seven symphonies are his crowning achievement and these, together with his tone poems, evoke the sometime bleak, Nordic landscapes of Finland. 

1. Shostakovich and The Great Terror.   

Shostakovich lived a lot of his life under the deadly shadow of Stalin. His music is stunningly original, dramatic and above all heroic in the face of endless terrors. His fifteen symphonies, six concertos, operas and chamber music reveal a truly diverse and highly accessible world of music which demands our attention. 

Course Lecturer : 

Tony Hartnett holds a master’s degree in English literature and has taught English in many parts of the world including the UK, Ireland, the USA, Spain, Luxembourg, Belgium, Bahrain, China and Mexico. He has also taught Geography and History and has a special interest in teaching across the disciplines - linking such subjects as art, music, literature, history and science.  

Requirements: 

Applicants must be at least 18 years old at course commencement. 

Contact Details for Further Information: 

Email: shortcourses@ucc.ie  

Please note our refund policy as follows: 

100% refund if student cancels 1 week prior to course commencement, less €50 processing fee.

100% refund if student's course is cancelled due to insufficient numbers.