Spring ‘25 Analysis Seminar
The Major Works of Maurice Ravel
March 10-April 14 ‘25, Mondays 6-7:15 pm ET
Celebrating Ravel’s 150th birthday this year, we tackle six of his major works. Topics include his unique harmonic style, his love of Early Music, his contrapuntal rigor, and his breakthroughs in both timbre and orchestration. Level up your enjoyment of this unique composer!
3/10 Tombeau de Couperin
3/17 Trio
3/24 String Quartet
3/31 Daphnis et Chloe
4/7 L’enfant et les sortileges
4/14 La valse
Past Analysis Seminars - Available for purchase
Winter ‘25 Seminar Modality
(as mid 19th-Century composers reconsidered it)
It’s 1850. Classicism has faded away and the Romantic Era is now firmly established. A new field of scholarship is on the rise: Music History. Composers acquaint themselves with Medieval and Renaissance music for the first time in hundreds of years. Meanwhile, the globe is expanding. Composers from Eastern and Northern Europe flock to Paris and Vienna bringing with them sounds yet unknown to the French and the Germans. Into this milieu, a rush of new ideas and harmonic systems flourish as these myriad forces are set to collide.
In this six-week course, I will show you how to utilize modality as a compositional weapon; a means of expanding your own style and sound world. We ‘ll do so by studying the music of three great mid-19th Century composers: Faure, Brahms, and Rachmaninoff.
1/13 Faure Poemes d’un jour, Op. 21
1/20 Faure Requiem, Op. 48
1/27 Brahms Zwei Gesange, Op. 91
2/3 Brahms Intermezzo, Op. 118, No. 2
2/10 Rachmaninoff Second Suite, Op. 17
2/17 Rachmaninoff Second Piano Concerto, Op. 18
May ‘24 Analysis Seminar
Sonata-Allegro
In 1918, Debussy completed his penultimate work : the Cello Sonata.; clocking in at a tidy 11 minutes. The same exact year, Vaughn Williams completed his Second Symphony which needs about 45 minutes to experience. Both of these pieces have the exact same form.
What is it about the Sonata that is so enduring? How can it be so stretched by some composers and condensed by others? In four short lectures we will walk through the evolution of the Sonata from it’s origins in the Baroque through to its 20th Century descendants.
Classes meet via Zoom each Tuesday at 7:30 pm ET. All courses are recorded and available for a-synchronous watching or repeat viewings. Some students will wish to interact during the session, others will watch at their own time and pace. Everyone is welcome!
Episode List
Ep, 1 The Monolith: Bach WTC Book 2 F Major Prelude
Ep. 2 The Temple: Mozart Keyboard Sonata K.332
Ep. 3 The Skyscraper: Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 8 ‘Pathetique’
Ep. 4 The Spaceship: Debussy Violin Sonata
Spring ‘24 Analysis Seminar
Chopin Nocturnes
Chopin didn’t invent the Nocturne, but he placed it front and center into our consciousness.
This Spring 2024, Dr. Boyle offered a 12 week immersive study of 12 of the 18 Chopin Nocturnes published in his lifetime. Topics covered included: formal design, modality, melodic construction, hyper-metricity, contrapuntal analysis, harmonic modeling, and the general manipulation of time. The seminar is designed for the professional-level Composer, Pianist, or Chopin Enthusiast!
Episode List
Ep, 1 Op. 9 No. 1 Bb minor
Ep. 2 Op. 9 No. 2 Eb Major
Ep. 3 Op. 9 No. 3 B Major
Ep. 4 Op. 15 No. 3 G Major
Ep. 5 Op. 27 No. 1 C# minor
Ep. 6 Op. 27 No. 2 Db Major
Ep. 7 Op. 48 No. 1 C minor
Ep. 8 Op. 48 No. 2 F# minor
Ep. 9 Op. 55 No. 1 F minor
Ep. 10 Op. 55 No. 2 Eb Major
Ep. 11 Op. 62 No. 1 B Major
Ep. 12 Op. 62 No. 2 E Major
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