Courses Offered in Fall 2026 (115AY 1S)

Course Overview and Objectives:
This graduate seminar offers a critical assessment of music in relationship to the supernatural, with case studies ranging from the late eighteenth- to the early twentieth century, often known as the “long nineteenth century,” in European culture. We will explore how standard repertoire in this period ties to the developments in science and technology, including staging technology, Gothic literature, and the aesthetics of ethereal sounds and music instruments. We will also examine how the emphasis on reason in the Enlightenment influenced the reading of the supernatural in this period, and how it linked with the perception and depiction of spirits, as well as the changing image of magician in mass media and cultural industry.
Whereas the attachment of the supernatural to music is common in this period, only a small number of scholars have undergone in-depth discussion of what it meant to appear and to sound supernatural in the given cultural context. Furthermore, it is oftentimes taken for granted in scholarly discolors that the supernatural plot and characters served as a pretext for the composers to exploit innovative music techniques, timbre, and instrumentation. Whether there need to be a match between the two remains a topic that falls under the radar. Our primary agenda is to view music intertwined with the larger cultural context of the time, which will lead to a broader understanding of what is written in the score and open up questions that may help us go beyond the score.
English will be the primary language for this course. Explanation of more complex ideas and discussion of the course materials can be conducted bilingually or in Mandarine.