Course description and requirements
This block, the first in a three-unit series designed to initiate the beginning undergraduate to a variety of humanistic disciplines and methods, will address the historical and cultural background and development of Renaissance Europe. Its central vehicle will be the theme of love in Western civilization--the ways in which major thinkers and artists have understood their representation of love to illumine human beings' mutual relationships as well as their relationships with nature and the divine. The instructors for this block are faculty in History and Music, respectively, and although the central works we treat will be from the hands of leaders in intellectual history and musical theory and composition, all will be seen in the context of visual arts and social circumstances. Class discussion will take a broad view of the development of Renaissance culture.
Each student will be required to prepare actively for each day's discussion, contribute thoughtfully in class, and to complete two papers and a take-home-essay. Several special events involving extraordinary scheduling and distinguished visitors have been arranged for this group. Students will be expected to participate in all special events noted in the schedule below, as well as in regular sessions.
Although students will receive a separate grade for each block of Renaissance Culture, the grade for Block 1 will not be determined until the end of Block 3, when material relevant to Block 1 will form part of the final three-block examination.
Books required for purchase
The following works are available for purchase in the Colorado College Bookstore. If you wish to purchase your books elsewhere, please make sure you find the same translations as the instructors have ordered, so that all members of the class will be working from the same text and pagination.
Plato, Symposium Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy
Marie de France, Lais
Castiglione, Book of the Courtier
Photocopied packets of supplementary readings will be distributed in class, and are noted on the schedule of assignments below.
Schedule of class discussions and assignmentsCLASS WILL MEET AT 9 AM IN PACKARD 20 UNLESS NOTED WITH AN ASTERISK.
Week 1 (9/2-9/6) Monday
INTRODUCTION TO STUDYING THE RENAISSANCE
Tuesday
THE CLASSICAL MODEL, I
GUEST DISCUSSANT: Dean Timothy Fuller
Plato, Symposium, and photocopied materials
Wednesday
THE CLASSICAL MODEL, II
Plato
Thursday
FROM CLASSICAL MODELS TO MEDIEVAL CULTURE-- PLAINCHANT
Boethius, De institutione musica (photocopy); Kerman, Listen 69-79 (photocopy); Hildegard of Bingen readings packet (photocopy)
1 PM FILM: WHITE GARMENT OF CHURCHES (Palmer 223)
Friday
MEDIEVAL THOUGHT AND ARTS, I
Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy, Books 1-2
Week 2 (9/9-9/13)Monday
MEDIEVAL THOUGHT AND ARTS, II
Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy, Books 3-5
Tuesday
MEDIEVAL MUSIC AND THE ARS NOVA
Jacques de LiPge and others (photocopy)
*1 PM FILM: Brother Sun, Sister Moon (Palmer 223)
Wednesday
THE MEDIEVAL LITERATURE OF LOVE
Marie de France, "Prologue," "Guigemar," "Le Fresne," "Bisclavret," "Yonec," and "Eliduc"
Thursday
HUMANISM AND RENAISSANCE THOUGHT
Petrarch, "Ascent of Mont Ventoux"; Pico, "Oration on the Dignity of Man" (photocopies)
Friday
HUMANISM AND MUSIC: DUNSTABLE AND DUFAY
Tinctoris, preface to Book on Counterpoint (photocopy); Kerman 107-119 (photocopy)
Paper due: Does love ennoble the lover, according to Marie de France?
Week 3 (9/16-9/22)Monday
THE RENAISSANCE IDEAL
Castiglione, Courtier, Book 1
Tuesday
THE HIGH RENAISSANCE IN MUSIC:JOSQUIN DES PRES
*GUEST LECTURE: Marilyn Lavin (Princeton University)
"The Song of Solomon: Cimabue at Assisi" 8:15 PM, Packard Hall
Wednesday
Revisions of Marie de France papers due noon, History Office
*GUEST LECTURE: Irving Lavin (Princeton University)
"Liturgy of Love: Michelangelo's Medici Madonna"
8:15 PM, Packard Hall
Thursday
*GUEST DISCUSSANTS: Irving and Marilyn Lavin
Friday
MANNERISM IN MUSIC
Selected Petrarchan sonnets (photocopy)
*SUNDAY 9/22--BRUNCH WITH RENAISSANCE CULTURE FACULTY
Carol Neel's home, 1620 North Nevada, 10:30 AM
Week 4 (9/23-9/25)Monday
*INDIVIDUAL CONFERENCES WITH FACULTY
Madrigal paper due noon, Music Office
Tuesday
OPERA AND THE EARLY MODERN WORLD:MONTEVERDI'S L'ORFEO
Libretto of L'Orfeo (photocopy)
Wednesday
TAKE-HOME EXAM DUE NOON, MUSIC OFFICE