Fall 2020, CairoShort Course
Romanticism in Philosophy and Music: Beethoven, AbdelWahab and Pink Floyd
Course details
- Cycle
- Fall 2020, Cairo
- Starts
- Sunday, Sep 27
- Meets
- Sunday, 17:00–19:00
- Length
- 7 weeks
- Format
- Online / In person
- Taught in
- English
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About the course
The course aims at exploring the relation between philosophy and music through Romanticism - the movement that appeared roughly by the beginning of the 19th century in Europe and exerted considerable influence on all aspects of art, literature, and thought until the beginning of the 20th century. Together we are going to take a look at what constitutes Romanticism, its philosophical roots and elaborations, and Romantic music as was given birth to by the late works of Mozart and Haydn as well as the works of Beethoven and Schubert, reaching its end at the beginning of the 20th century with the works of Strauss and Mahler. We then move to take a closer look at the influence of Western Romantic on modern Arabic music, taking the works of Mohamed Abdel Wahab as a trajectory from which to listen to how Romanticism influenced his approach fusing Arabic and Western musical elements. From there we tune into mid-sixties art and progressive rock represented by the early works of Pink Floyd - the most popular band of progressive rock - and will see how Romanticism impacted their music and approach. In addition to the online classes, participants (residing in Cairo) are invited to listening sessions of the musical works we are going to discuss on CILAS' rooftop.
Who teaches it
Hazem Massoud obtained a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from Cairo University and an MA in Political Philosophy from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. He is currently writing his PhD thesis in the Humanities with Pompeu Fabra University focusing on the political ontology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty. His research interests include phenomenology, hermeneutics, ontology, film theory, political philosophy, psychology, and music theory. Outside of academia, he is passionate about photography and filmmaking, having worked on independent small-scale film projects, and is a self-taught musician.
From the fellow Course Flow: The course’s readings will mainly focus on the works of Andrew Bowie; Music, Philosophy and Modernity, Aesthetics and Subjectivity. Together we will critically engage with readings as well as moving back and forth between the themes we discuss, experimenting with some of them - as infusing two distinct themes through discussion and listening - in order to widen our perspectives regarding the reciprocal relation between philosophy and music.
As discussions would unfold through the course, more suggestions than the ones stated below would be welcomed.
Course flow
September 2020
- Music, Philosophy and ModernityAndrew Bowie. Introduction.
- Aesthetics and SubjectivityAndrew Bowie. Introduction and Chapter one.
- Music as ThoughtMark Evan Bonds. Chapter one.
- Oxford History of Western Music, Vol. IIOptional. Chapter 31.
October 2020
- Music, Philosophy and ModernityAndrew Bowie. Chapters one and two.
- Aesthetics and SubjectivityAndrew Bowie. Chapter Two.
- Music as ThoughtMark Evan Bonds. Chapter two.
- On Symbol and AllegoryOptional. Gunnar Berefelt.
- Music, Philosophy, and ModernityAndrew Bowie. Chapter three.
- Aesthetics and SubjectivityAndrew Bowie. Chapters three and four.
- Music as ThoughtMark Evan Bonds. Chapter three.
- Romanticism, Aesthetics and NationalismDavid Aram Kaiser. Introduction and Chapter two.
- Oxford History of Western Music, Vol. IIIOptional. Chapter 35.
- Music, Philosophy, ModernityAndrew Bowie. Chapters four and five.
- Aesthetics and subjectivityAndrew Bowie. Chapter five.
- Haydn’s Sunrise, Beethoven’s ShadowDeirdre Loughridge. Introduction and Chapter one.
- Metaphor and Musical ThoughtAdditional reading. Michael Spitzer. Introduction.
- Music, Philosophy, ModernityAndrew Bowie. Chapter six.
- Aesthetics and SubjectivityAndrew Bowie. Chapters six and seven.
- Beyond and BeforeHegarty and Halliwell. Chapter one.
- Metaphor and Musical ThoughtAdditional reading. Michael Spitzer. Chapter six.
November 2020
- Music, Philosophy, ModernityAndrew Bowie. Chapters Seven and Eight.
- Aesthetics and SubjectivityAndrew Bowie. Chapter Eight.
- Beyond and BeforeHegarty and Halliwell. Chapter four.
- Noise: The Political Economy of MusicAdditional reading. Jacques Attali. Chapter One.
- Experiencing Progressive RockRobert Burns. Chapters one and two.
- Beyond and BeforeHegarty and Halliwell. Chapter five.
- Haydn’s sunrise, Beethoven’s shadowDeirdre Loughridge. Chapter five.
- Platonism, Music, and the Listener’s ShareAdditional reading. Christopher Norris. Introduction.
Course reading list
- Beethoven’s Symphonies: Nine Approaches to Art and IdeasGeck, Martin. Translated by Stewart Spencer, University of Chicago Press, 2017.
- The Oxford History of Western Music Vol. II: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth CenturiesTaruskin, Richard. Oxford University Press, USA, 2005.
- The Oxford History of Western Music Vol III: The Nineteenth CenturyTaruskin, Richard. Oxford University Press, USA, 2005.
- Beethoven’s Fifth SymphonySuggested audio.
- Beethoven’s Ninth SymphonySuggested audio.
- Piano Sonata no. 14 (widely known as the moonlight sonata)Beethoven. Suggested audio.
- The Magic FluteMozart. Suggested audio.
- SerenadeSchubert. Suggested audio.
- Faust, and Tannhauser (overture)Wagner. Suggested audio.
- Thus Spoke ZarathustraRichard Strauss. Suggested audio.
- Fifth Symphony and Eighth SymphonyGustav Mahler. Suggested audio.
- The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Atom Heart Mother, Echoes, The Dark Side of the MoonPink Floyd. Suggested audio.
- Al-Gondol, Al-Karnak, Cleopatra, and Al-Nahr Al-KhalidMohamed AbdelWahab. Suggested audio.
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