A BRIEF HISTORY OF HARMONY, THE UNIVERSE, AND EVERYTHING

Grant McLachlan, composer   

This course, which covers a thousand years of classical music, is designed for the classical music lover and concert-goer. It will give participants an understanding of the extraordinary journey that harmony has gone through as it developed over the centuries, and how it has arrived at the musical language we understand and love today.

 The first lecture-performance covers medieval plainsong up to the age of discovery and the glorious flowering of harmony after 1500. The second lecture-performance explores ways in which music is designed from the early eighteenth century to keep the attention of a concert audience. The chamber music ensemble is led by Becky Steltzner. The final evening looks at how harmony and dissonance interact to affect our emotions. The baroque orchestra will be led by Lucia di Blassio Scott with Nic De Jager as counter tenor.

LECTURE TITLES

1. Medieval to Renaissance: plainsong and music by Abelard, Dufay and Tallis with choral music performed by Vox Cape Town
2. The age of the concert: Mozart, Chopin, Debussy and Messiaen
3. The Baroque period: Gibbons to Bach: Monteverdi, Gibbons, Purcell, Vivaldi, Bach