3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

Few –isms have caused more disagreement and general confusion than “postmodernism.” Pervasively discussed (at least in some quarters) from the 1970s through the mid-1990s, the term has been considerably less dominant in recent years. Yet music students continue to encounter it in textbooks and survey courses as something like the “official” style of the late twentieth century. It is worth asking, then, just what we are talking about when we talk about postmodernism. This course explores the history of the idea in architecture, literary theory, and historiography, among other fields. Our particular emphasis, however, will be on the notion of postmodernism in music. In addition to reading many of the classics of postmodern theory, we will study a wide range of composers and musicians including George Rochberg, Pamela Z, Mauricio Kagel, DJ Spooky, Alfred Schnittke, Laurie Anderson, George Lewis, The Velvet Underground, Helmut Lachenmann, Arthur Russell, and Marina Rosenfeld among others.