The Human Condition through Classical Masterpieces

A Course in Classical Music Appreciation
Lectures by Jonathan FIELDS, musician and composer

Monday, June 7: Bach and the search for a new musical universe

Tuesday, June 15: Mozart and Beethoven: absolute music

Monday, June 21: Music of Memory: Chopin, Schubert, Dvorak, Rachmaninov

Monday, June 28: Music of the 20th and 21st Century:
Music for changing times - from Ives to Part and beyond

Presented by Crossroads Cultural Center

The focus of this series of talks is not just musicology or musical history in a strict technical sense. Rather, the emphasis is on discovering the very foundation of music, viewed as the most sincere and moving expression of human experience, of the universal human desire and expectation for beauty, for happiness, for a mysterious Other who will fulfill the promises of the heart. In this sense, the work of the great composers represents a prophecy of the ultimate meaning of human existence and history. The late Msgr. Luigi Giussani, speaking of the role that music played in his life and in his pedagogical method, once said: "In music, in nature's landscape, in a nocturnal dream, ...what man pays homage to is something else, something he is waiting for: he is waiting for it. His enthusiasm is for something that music, or whatever is beautiful in the world, has awakened inside him. When man "fore-sees" this, he immediately bends his soul to wait for the other thing: even in front of what he can grasp, he awaits something else: he grasps what he can grasp, but he waits for another thing."

About this Event

Dates: Every Monday or Tuesday
from June 7 to June 28, 2010
Time: 7:30 - 9:00 pm
Location: Turtle Bay Music School
244 East 52nd St., between 2nd and 3rd Ave.
New York, NY 10022
click here for map

About the Speaker

Jonathan Fields
Composer

Invitation

Download the Invitation here

Classical Music Listening Lists

Download the lists

Transcripts

Bach and the Search for a New Musical Universe - Read the transcript

Mozart and Beethoven: Absolute Music - Read the transcript

Music of Memory: Chopin, Schubert, Dvorak, Rachmaninov - Read the transcript

Music of the 20th and 21st Century - Read the transcript

Photos: click on image below