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Contact Information:
(651) 690-6708
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SOCI/HIST 299: Syllabus
Music, Culture, Genocide
SOCI/HIST 299, Spring 07
Dr. Brian Fogarty
Dept. of Sociology
Course Objectives:
Music, Culture, Genocide is about the connection between culture (specifically, but not only, the arts) and politics. We explore this connection by studying the role played by German music (called by Richard Wagner the “most German of the arts”) in the rise of fascism in 20th-century Germany. Most importantly, we’ll use the German experience to ask questions about American culture and political life.
By way of specific learning goals, we hope that at the end of this course students will:
· see music—and the arts generally—as a force that shapes and is shaped by cultural beliefs and values
· see the influence of cultural beliefs and values on politics
· understand how music affects human perceptions and emotion
· understand the origins of National Socialism, the war, and the holocaust
· compare the American culture and historical experience with the that of the Germans
Texts:
We have only one written text: a coursepack which includes readings from quite a wide variety of sources, including several chapters from my book in progress. This is available from the bookstore.
There will be many audio and video texts, including excerpts from operas and other musical forms, as well as documentary and feature films.
Finally, we will use some of the musical resources of the Twin Cities as texts. This will include required attendance at an opera performance, which we’ll see as a group.
Methods:
· Your main “product” in the course will be a written analysis of the prospects for fascism in the United States. This will also be presented orally in a panel discussion at the end of the semester. The analysis will be done in stages, in which you’ll address a piece of the question at a time. This will constitute 35% of your grade.
· You will also be given a journal assignment each week. This will consist of informal writing about the week’s readings, videos, musical selections, or other experiences. Each of these will be graded on a 2-point scale (“good,” “lame,” and “not submitted”), and altogether will constitute 35% of the total grade. Note: I won’t be accepting any of these late, because they will form the basis for the evening’s discussion. Also: they must be typed.
· Short analyses/reviews of various musical, theatrical, or cinematic texts. 10% of grade.
· Occasional small quizzes. 10% of grade.
· Attendance/engagement with the class. 10% of grade.
Agenda
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| 1 | Introduction
Course objectives and rationale
Why Germany? Why music? Why Opera?
Readings: Strains and Oppositions in German Culture (ref.)
Germany History and Music Timelines (ref.)
Holocaust Timeline (ref.)
Discussion: expressive potential of various art forms
Third Reich overview
Music: Theory introduction (elements of sound) |
| 2 | Germany to 1848
Readings: Craig, from The Germans
Kamien, “Elements of opera”
Fogarty, “How opera ‘works’”
German essences: religion, philosophy, community
Strains and oppositions in German culture
Music: motive, phrase, theme. How opera “works” |
| 3 | Enlightenment
Readings: Manning, “The Politics of Culture”
Fogarty, “Romanticism,” pt. 1
Discussion: the Enlightenment’s values
Discussion: Finding the Enlightenment today
Music: opera genres; Singspiel, Mozart
Video: Don Giovanni excerpts |
| 4 | Romanticism
Readings: Kamien, “Sonata Form”
Kamien, “The Classical Symphony”
Fogarty, “Romanticism,” pt. 2
Romanticism as organizing principle/concept
Birth of Romantic movement in literature, music, art, philosophy
Music: Sonata form, Beethoven’s innovations |
| 5 | Romanticism (cont.)
Readings: Kamien, Beethoven Symphony No. 5
Video: “Hitler’s search for the grail”
Music: Beethoven, Verdi, Puccini
Opera: La Boheme excerpts |
| 6 | Nationalism
Readings: Weiss, “From the Writings of Wagner”
Magee, from The Tristan Chord
Teachout, “I Don’t Do Wagner”
Birth of modern Germany: Franco-Prussian War; unification (1871)
Intro to Wagner
Music: the end of convention
Music: Tristan und Isolde excerpts |
| 7 | Spring Break |
| 8 | Populism
Readings: Marx & Engels, “The Communist Manifesto”
Fogarty, “Populism”
Industrialization, empire, and the Great War
The sociology of Marx
Intro to Der Ring des Nibelungen
Opera: Das Rheingold excerpts |
| 9 | The Weimar Republic
Treaty of Versailles and Weimar
Birth of the National Socialist party
The Munich Putsch
The sociology of Weber
Music: atonality and modernism
Video: “Degenerate Art” |
| 10 | Racism
Readings: Goldhagen, from Hitler’s Willing Executioners
Horowitz, “The Specter of Hitler in the Music of Wagner”
The rise of National Socialism
Video: “The Eternal Jew”
Opera: Siegfried excerpts |
| 11 | The Third Reich
Readings: Browning, from Ordinary Men
“Nazi Party Rally, Nuremberg”
Susan’s Story: Nuremberg, 1938
The Nazis consolidate power
Film: Triumph of the Will |
| 12 | Götterdämmerung: Germany is destroyed
Readings: Dachau Liberation
Opera: Götterdämmerung excerpts |
| TBA | Performance at Minnesota Opera |
Imbedded Study Abroad
The course concludes with 10 days in Germany, departing from Twin Cities on May 20:
Munich
Hofbräuhaus: birthplace of Nazi party
Site of Munich putsch
Gluck, Orfeo and Euridice at Bayerische Staatsoper
Day trip to Dachau concentration camp
Day trip to Neuschwanstein Castle
Nuremberg
Nazi Party Rally Grounds and Museum
City tour: Romantic/Gothic Germany
Day trip to Bayreuth
Berlin
City tour
Berlin: seat of Third Reich, destruction, partition, reunification
Ballet: "Ring um den Ring" at Deutsch Oper Berlin
Verdi, Don Carlo at Berliner Staatsoper unter den linden. |
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