Graham School WINTER Saturday Seminar

Music’s Miraculous Era: Haydn’s London and Schubert’s Vienna

Sat 10:00 am—04:00 pm, April 26, 2025
Deadline to register online: April 22 at 5:00 PM CT
Location: IN PERSON at University of Chicago Gleacher Center

This course celebrates a high point in western musical culture between 1790 and 1830 in the London of Haydn's symphonies and oratorios and the Vienna of Schubert's astounding final year. Syllabus

Graham School WINTER 8-Week Classes

Note: Tuesday classes are ONLINE. Thursday classes are IN PERSON. (Reversing the trend from recent semesters.)

Wagner’s Ring

Tuesdays 10:00 am—12:30 pm, March 25-May 13, 2025
Deadline to register online: Tuesday, March 18 at 5PM CT
Location: ONLINE

This course will examine the the genesis, construction, and cultural context of the four dramas of Wagner's opera cycle, Der Ring Des Nibelungen. Syllabus

Crisis and Conscience: The Twentieth Century from Mahler to Shostakovich

Thursdays 10:00 am—12:30 pm, March 27, May 15, 2025
Deadline to register online: Tuesday, March 18 at 5PM CT
Location: IN PERSON at the Gleacher Center, Downtown Chicago

The turbulent 20th century from the years just before WW1 and culminating in the end of the Soviet era are reflected in masterworks from late Mahler through Britten’s “War Requiem” and the works of Stravinsky, Shostakovich, and his disciple, Schnittke, among others, creating a musical mirror through which a unique perspective on the epoch is recorded. There will be a multitude of recordings and videos to trace an unbroken chronicle of an always fascinating and sometimes calamitous time. Syllabus.

Spring Online Registration Deadline: Tuesday, March 18 at 5:00 PM

Too Late to Register Online? Please call 773-702-7249 to register. If space is available, you’ll be able to sign up!

Graham School COVID-19 policies:

For up-to-date guidance including vaccine requirements, please visit goforward.uchicago.edu/education-planning/.

Blog

Featured

Changing an Amazon Ad's Music Reveal's Christmas Shopping Hellscape

Picks for Beethoven's 9th

Some recordings we like, and a app.

Revealed: The 8 Operas That Changed the World

Audio: John Gibbons reveals (and defends) the operas to be covered in his next Graham School course, and discusses some of the works he cosidered, but didn't make the cut. 10-minute audio file.

Celebrating Beethoven's "Greatest Concert Ever"

“On December 22, 1808, Beethoven himself rented a hall in Vienna and promoted the concert to end all concerts: the debut, over four hours, of three of his greatest works .. And yes, it was a fiasco. But imagine: It was as if Orson Welles premiered Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, and Touch of Evil on the same night — with The Lady from Shanghai thrown in for good measure.” (Greg Mitchell)

Why "The Little Drummer Boy" Is So Annoying

That’s the subtitle, amusingly similar to a complaint I recently made to an innocent conference worker at the Chicago Hilton, of a fun, light read by Daniel J. Levitin in The Wall Street Journal.

Guest Blogger "Charley in the Box" Unveils the "Island of Misfit Scores"

“We so-called “unwanted toys” may not delight boys and girls as we would like, but we solace ourselves by looking at the majestic lights of the North, the Aurora Borealis. But how many bores can you fit in Borealis? Boring works should go to the Island of Misfit Scores!”

"Cardillac" Arrest: Hindemith's Work is the Operatic "Caligari"

A delightful development in the world of opera video has occurred. Two (!) versions of Paul Hindemith’s 1926 opus Cardillac have recently appeared. I make the assumption that even serious opera fans may not be acquainted with this fascinating piece, except in Germany.