Students will pick a composer active in the first half of the long nineteenth century (ca. 1780–1848) and write a contextual and analytical description of one of that composer’s compositions. The audience for this contextual and analytical description will be a talented amateur. Consequently, you can assume basic musical and theoretical knowledge, but you must explain any music theory terminology in detail (with citation) that you use in your discussion. In your discussion, you will want to answer the following questions:
Using information found in the Musical Festivals Database, students will pick a performer active in the long nineteenth century (ca. 1780–1914) and create an annotated concert program based on that performer’s typical repertoire lasting approximately 45–75 minutes in length (not including intermission). Your planned program is a recreation: you will design the program as if it will be performed at the end of this semester by performers alive today, not during the lifetime of the performer. The performer might be a singer, instrumentalist, or conductor. You may not choose the singers Maria Malibran or Angelica Catalani. Students will use contemporary resources as well as secondary literature to research the life of their performer.
Your program will contain the following elements: