This course provides an overview of the seminal composers and classical music repertory of the Baroque and Classical periods. Select musical works will be approached from various historical stances that trace the development of musical form, genre, style and technique from the middle of the seventeenth century to the end of the eighteenth century.

Students will study the work of notable composers and thinkers such as Monteverdi, Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, and the Viennese School of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Class lectures, discussions and readings will further examine the relationship of music to the sociocultural environment in which it was created. This course proceeds chronologically and thematically, taking care to address those pivotal moments in music that parallel important artistic and intellectual trends in history.

MUS 311 is not open to students who have taken MUS 211.