The scandal over modern music has not died--while paintings by Picasso and Pollock sell for millions of dollars, works from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring onward still send ripples of unease through audiences. Yet the influence of modern music can be felt everywhere. Avant-garde sounds populate the soundtracks of Hollywood thrillers. Minimalist music has had a huge effect on rock, pop, and dance music from the Velvet Underground onward. Music critic...

Leonard Bernstein's fame as a conductor and general cultural phenomenon has overshadowed his genius as a composer, despite the fact that at least some of his orchestral music has entered the standard repertoire and achieved a well-deserved measure of popularity. In fact, his achievement in the field of "serious" music is both larger and more significant than is usually acknowledged. It includes three symphonies, several noteworthy pieces for soloists...

"Gospel music evolved in often surprising directions during the post-Civil Rights era. Claudrena N. Harold's in-depth look at late-century gospel focuses on musicians like Yolanda Adams, Andraé Crouch, the Clark Sisters, Al Green, Take 6, and the Winans, and on the network of black record shops, churches, and businesses that nurtured the music. Harold details the creative shifts, sonic innovations, theological tensions, and political assertions that...

Discusses the influence of people and events worldwide after World War I which led to a renewal of folk and national music, neo-classicism, the popularization of jazz, and political repression of musicians under communist and fascist regimes.

Discusses the influence of people and events worldwide in the 1970s which led to developments in minimalism, modern opera and ballet, jazz-rock fusion, heavy metal, progressive rock, punk, and reggae.

In this course, the author seeks to answer two questions: What makes these works masterpieces? Why highlight these works? Professor Lependorf highlights relevant details of the lives of the great composers and aids in developing a knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of Western music.

Discusses the influence of people and events worldwide in the late twentieth century which led to crossover between musical genres, stadium rock fund-raisers, hip-hop, rap, and the rise of world music.