SYLLABUS FOR MUS 103, INTRODUCTION TO ITALIAN OPERA
Fall SEMESTER 2005, Prof. L.
Peterson, Office: AED 319, 831-8134
peterson@udel.edu
or http://amy.music.udel.edu/faculty/peterson/
1) Explore
the genre of Italian opera
2) Develop a
vocabulary and skills to communicate about opera.
3)
Experience an opera in a live performance setting.
4) Understand Verismo, Opera Seria and Opera buffa
1) J. M.
Knapp, The Magic of Opera, (K plus chapter or page numbers
below)
2) H. W. Simon, 100 Great Operas;
3) L. W.
Peterson, Reading and Discussion
Materials to accompany Introduction to Opera: I and II (indicated as booklet below)
(This has the discussion questions for each class period plus terms that you need to know for exams, a sample exam, information about the final exam, a guide to the use of the multimedia lessons, the Powerpoint slides for the final lecture, articles to read, and Prof. Peterson’s notes for each opera.)
4) L. W.
Peterson, La Boheme (online via WebCT link).
5) Megan Jenkins, Otello (online via WebCT link).
6) Emily Wimberley, Le Nozze di Figaro (online
via WebCT link).
.7) 2 CD SETS: A) Night At
the Opera (Erato 39842 64992), B) The #1 Opera Album (Decca 289 457
632-2). At the UD bookstore you
must request these CDs at the desk because CD’s are not put on the textbook
shelves. You probably can order these 2
CD sets online at Amazon.com or elsewhere.
RULES and POLICIES
______________________________________________________________
1. ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY FOR THIS COURSE, WHICH INCLUDES ALL CLASS
PERIODS. Your course grade is lowered
if there is more than 2 unexcused absences. Informing the
instructor that you will miss a particular class does not automatically assure
approval to be absent. Each absence,
after the second one, lowers your course grade 5 points. This policy includes the Wednesday before
Thanksgiving so you need to plan ahead for days that you will miss. Each semester some students have their
course grade lowered because of too many absences. There are no extra-credit options to remove absences. Excused absences for illness and interviews
do not impact your grade.
2. You are required to attend
a live performance of an opera during this semester, which will require
payment. To fulfill this requirement,
you may attend any opera in full production. This semester Rigoletto by Verdi will
be produced by Opera Delaware at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington on Oct 29,
Nov 3, 5, and 6. You have to provide your own transportation. Cost of the
ticket is $10 for students. You are
welcome to bring friends with you but they must be a student since these are
group student rates. Tickets to
OperaDelaware performances sell out very quickly so it is imperative that you arrange
for your tickets immediately. Prof. Peterson will arrange for the tickets
if you get the request form to him by 19 September.
You are welcome to attend opera performances in Philadelphia,
Baltimore, Washington DC or New York.
Check my home page (see url above).
In the left (green) margin area—click on “opera links” and you can see
the schedules of the various opera houses between New York City and Washington
DC. Performances by the UD opera
workshop cannot be used to fulfill this course requirement. YOU
MUST SUBMIT A TYPED REPORT FOR THE LIVE OPERA PERFORMANCE DURING THE WEEK THAT
COMES IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE PERFORMANCE YOU ATTENDED. FAILURE TO DO SO MAY CAUSE YOUR COURSE GRADE TO BE LOWERED ONE
LETTER GRADE. In your review do not tell me the story of
the opera but rather indicate your reactions to the performance: the singers,
the acting, the lighting, the orchestra, the diction. This report is not graded.
3. Please be prompt to
class. If you are often tardy, your
course grade may be lowered. Regarding
your behavior in class, we replicate the atmosphere within an opera house so
there should be no talking during the viewing of an opera so that you do not
disturb others. Although we all value
personal and academic freedom, we have the responsibility to promote an
atmosphere of civility in which the free exchange of ideas and opinions can
flourish and in the case of this opera class, the atmosphere includes not
disturbing others when a quiet atmosphere is expected.
4. Exams will not be made up
unless approved in advance. If
approved, it must be made up before the next class meeting after the exam if
possible. All exams have required
listening examples. See the Listening
List towards the end of the syllabus.
The Final Exam will be ____ December at _____________. in AED 207. In the Lecture Notes booklet--page 19--you
will find what to expect on the final exam with some modifications noted at the
end of the syllabus.
5. Course grades will be
determined as follows: Each of the 4 exams—the final exam is the 4th--count
as 25 %. Your course grade may be lowered for any of the following: 1) tardiness
to class, 2) failure to participate satisfactorily in discussions, 3) failure
to attend a live opera, 4) failure to submit a typed reviews of the opera you viewed live, or 5) too many absences from class.
Letter grades are awarded as
follows: A (91-100) A- (90) B+ (89)
B (81-88) B- (80) C+
(79) C (71-78) C- (79)
D+ (69) D (66-68…note the short
span) D- (65) F (0-64)
Class, it is too late to
contact me after the final exam to express concern about your course
grade. I do not provide extra credit
opportunitites to improve your grade.
Nor will I change my mind about the number of unexcused absences. You receive the course grade that you
earn. A syllabus is a legal
contract. The policies herein are
final.
6. Before we begin each opera
unit you need to read before the first
class the story of the opera in the Simon text. Via email, class members will be assigned questions to be
answered also via email for each opera/unit we study. Your answers need to be sent to Prof. Peterson in a timely matter
so that he can quickly prepare a master list of answers to send the whole class
towards the beginning of our study of each opera. You need to check your email daily for the assigned questions and
the responses for each unit to appreciate fully what you are viewing in
class. For Otello, La Boheme, and Le
Nozze di Figaro you will have multimedia lessons that you need to
explore early in our study of these operas.
The Le Nozze lesson is the only one without any video or audio
examples embedded within it. You will
see those examples in class. With the
other multimedia lessons—Vocal Timbre I, Ensembles/Embellishment, Otello,
and La Boheme—you will have both video and audio examples. Any of these examples may appear on the
listening portions of the exams.
The assigned questions will
be the major source of written questions on the exams. So check your email. Discussion items with (ALL) beside them indicate topics that
all groups should be ready to discuss them.
If you know the answers to the discussion items, you will be prepared
for the exams. Your group should be
prepared to indicate where you found the answer (page number and citation in
Knapp, Simon, multimedia lesson, or Lecture Notes booklet). If a question is assigned to PETERSON
then Prof. Peterson will answer this question.
7. Even though his office hours are limited, Prof. Peterson does wish to interact with you. Please feel free to contact him by phone or e-mail to ask questions or set a time for an appointment. Also, please feel free to ask questions in class, after class, or via e-mail. Please don’t ask questions BEFORE class because that time is needed to set up the projection equipment and laserdisc/CD-ROM/DVD players.
8. All students
must be honest and forthright in their academic studies. To falsify the results of ones research, to
steal the words or ideas of another, to cheat on an assignment, or to allow or
assist another to commit these acts corrupts the educational process. Students
are expected to do their own work and neither give nor receive unauthorized
assistance. Any violation of this standard must be reported to the Office of
Judicial Affairs:
(http://www.udel.edu/stuguide/03-04/code.html#hones
MEETINGS and ASSIGNMENTS
_______________________________________________________________
UNIT 1:
OVERVIEW OF OPERA
31 Aug; 2 & 5 Sept. Opera conventions and terms; vocal timbre categories;
presentation of examples of embellishment..
Read: booklet UNIT 1 for terms and discussion topics
and K 1, 2, 6. Before 7 September, read Simon's story of La Traviata (The Wandering One). Check email for question assignments and for
correct answers for them.
UNIT 2:
VERDI'S LA TRAVIATA
7, 9, 12, 14, 16, 19 Sept Verdi's La Traviata. (discussion topics in BOOKLET pp.
10-12) K 4 and 5 See Listening list below for 2 exceprts in
your CD Set.
You must have your check/cash
turned in by 19 September if Prof. Peterson is to get your OperaDelaware
tickets. Check email for question
assignments and for correct answers for them.
For Listening on Exam I that is related to Verdi, see Listening
List at the end of the syllabus. Before
21 September, read Simon's story
for Verdi’s Otello and the course booklet, pp. 167-204 plus
K 3 and 11 and complete the
multimedia lesson in AED 109 or within WebCT for Otello.
21, 23, 26, 28, 30 Sept
and 3 Oct. Verdi's Otello. Read booklet pp. 169-203 plus K 3 and 11. Check email for
question assignments and for correct answers for them. For Listening on Exam I that is related to
Verdi, see Listening List at the end of the syllabus
27 Sept EXAM I.
(See Listening List
below. Before next class read in
booklet and Simon about La Boheme and please complete the multimedia
lesson in AED 109 or on WebCT on La Boheme as soon as possible.
9
Oct. EXAM II.
(See Listening List below. Before next class, read Simon's story of Mozart’s Le
Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro.)
UNIT 5:
MOZART'S THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO
21, 24, 26 Oct and after Fall
Break 31Oct, 2, 4, 7, 9 Nov. Le
Nozze di Figaro (Booklet, pp. 135-158) (Also read Paul Robinson
article, pp. 23-47), Knapp, chapter 10. Check
email for question assignments and for correct answers for them. For Listening on Exam III that is related to
Mozart see Listening List at the end of syllabus. You will need to compare the 5 different productions that you
view in class: 1) Ponnelle movie, 2) Glyndebourne, 3) Berlin, 4) Paris, and 5)
Drotningholm. Before 11 November, read: Simon's story of Rossini's The Barber of Seville and booklet, pp.
49-58 and re-read Paul Robinson’s article
pp. 23-47.
28 Oct. Fall Break,
no class
UNIT 6: ROSSINI'S THE BARBER OF SEVILLE
11, 14, 16, 18, 21, 23
Nov. Rossini's Il barbière di Siviglia Re-read the Paul Robinson
article, pp. 21-48), booklet pp. 49-58 as well as Knapp, chapter 11. Check email for assignments and
answers for them. For Listening on Exam
III that is related to Rossini, see Listening List at end of syllabus
UNIT 7: WHAT IS
OPERA?
30
Nov. EXAM III. Covers both Mozart and
Rossini operas. See Listening List
below.
7 Dec. Review for Final Exam
Dec _______________. FINAL EXAM
In
Spring 2006, the other opera course--Music 104--will be offered. In Music 104 Introduction to Italian,
French, and German Opera we study a variety of opera styles: opera comique and grand opera (French), singspiel, operetta, and music drama
(German), and the following Italian styles: baroque opera seria, opera giacosa,
and two verismo operas. The specific
operas that we usually study are Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci, Mozart's Don Giovanni; Mozart's Die Zauberflöte; Puccini's Tosca;
Bizet's Carmen; and Strauss, Jr.’s Die
Fledermaus (German operetta), and Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet.. Like Music
103, it fulfills a Group A requirement. If you enroll for Musc 104 and are denied
access because the course is full, contact Prof. Peterson to gain entrance.
(sometimes you have listening examples from operas we are not studying. The reason is that we are limited by what is on the 2 CD sets. Some of your listening examples from by the composer under study but from other operas.)
Exam I
(5 October)
1. Vocal timbre examples on
multimedia lesson “Vocal Timbre I.”
2. Examples
of embellishment on multimedia lesson “Ensembles/Embellishment.”
3. All examples from Verdi’s Otello
on the multimedia lesson (not the examples from Shakespeare’s Othello
but the examples from the opera. Some
of these examples are motives.)
4. 4 examples to identify by
composer, title of opera, title of excerpt either in Italian or English that
are on the CD sets you purchased for the class: 1) The #1 Opera Album,
CD 1, tk 2 (Brindisi, La Traviata), 2) tk 9 (La donna é mobile, Rigoletto);
3) CD 2, tk 14 (Di quella pira, Il Trovatore), 4) from Night at the
Opera, CD 2, tk 6 (caro nome, Rigoletto, there is a recitative
opening to this aria that appears first on the track. You are responsible for the aria not the recitative.
Exam II
(9 October) (20 examples total)
1. Leitmotivs and special
orchestral effects in the La Boheme multimedia lesson: 16 total examples
of leitmotivs and orchestral effects.
2. From the La Boheme
multimedia lesson, the march in Act II.
3. From your CD Sets,
identify numbers by composer, title of opera, title of excerpt in Italian or
English: 1) from Night at the Opera SET, you need to know CD 2, tk 1 (O soave fanciulla); 2) from The
#1 Opera Album set, you need to recognize CD 1, tk 3 (Che gelida manina)
and 3) CD 2, tk 20 (Si, Mi chiamano Mimi).
Exam III
(30 November) (5 examples)
1. From your CD sets, for
Mozart know: 1) Night at the Opera set, CD 2, tk 3 (Voi che sapete) and
2) from The #1 Opera Album set, know CD 1, tk 8 (Dove sono).
Ignore the information listed in your course booklet p. 13 for the listening portion of this exam. That information was prepared in 2000 and is no longer relevant for the listening section of the final exam. Also, ignore items 8, 9, 10 on p. 13. For listening portion, identify vocal examples from Vocal Timbre I lesson used for Exam I.