MHST 520G Topics in the Classical Era: Mozart's Viennese Operas
This course will focus on the operas that Mozart composed specifically for Vienna during the last ten years of his life: Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Le nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte, and Die Zauberflöte. In the first half of the course we will survey these works. In the second half of the course, we will take a closer look at one opera (tbd) and have student presentations on approved topics.We will place these works (and others that Mozart wrote or adapted for Viennese theaters) within their wider musical and cultural contexts, and investigate some of the important operas that Mozart would have heard in Vienna, by such composers as Gluck, Salieri, Gassmann, Paisiello, Martín y Soler, and Dittersdorf. Class time will be devoted to lecture and group discussion; requirements will include readings, listening, oral presentations, a term paper, and frequent quizzes.