Topic for Winter 2014: Divine Love in 17th-Century Sacred Music
A seminar on musical depictions of the mystical union between the physical body and the divine body that bring madrigal-like representations of eroticism and sexuality into seventeenth-century sacred music. Primary and secondary sources will treat religion, spirituality, mysticism, art history, dance and musicology.

Topic for Spring 2014: Music in the U.S.
In this course we will focus on the history of American concert and theater music, exploring the ways that composers have sought to develop distinctly American styles and approaches. Topics will include 19th-century "Americanist" compositions, the music of Charles Ives, music of the "ultramodernists" and experimentalists of the early 20th century, the western music of Aaron Copland and Roy Harris, mid-century minimalism, and the uptown and downtown music scenes in New York City.

Topic for Spring 2014: Music and Power Under the Sun King
An examination of the relationship between music (ballet, opera, court dance, instrumental music, and sacred music) and power under Louis XIV. Primary and secondary readings will also treat other intersections of ancient régime culture and power in art, architecture, literature and modes of decorum.