ID:
501375
Duration (hours):
36
CFU:
6
SSD:
MUSICOLOGIA E STORIA DELLA MUSICA
Located in:
CREMONA
Year:
2025
Overview
Date/time interval
Secondo Semestre (02/03/2026 - 12/06/2026)
Syllabus
Course Objectives
The course aims at the acquisition of notions related to the study of creative processes in music and skills useful for the restitution of anomalous textuality such as that of sketches. At the end of the course, participants will know how to orient themselves among the various materials that testify to such processes and will be able to relate critically to genetic studies, critical-genetic and sketch editions.
Course Prerequisites
It is assumed that the student possesses the basic concepts of Textual criticism, obtained through taking courses in music philology or one or more literary philologies, or through personal readings. Knowledge of paleography and codicology is also helpful for course attendance. Preliminary or concurrent attendance of the 'Musical Philology 2' course is strongly recommended.
Teaching Methods
On a teaching level, the course will be divided into two sections. The first consists of lessons from the teacher. The second is based on the principle of "cooperative learning", during which group and/or individual exercises, presentations and seminars will alternate.
Assessment Methods
The exam consists of an oral interview. It will be based: 1) for attending students (who have attended at least 4/5 of the lessons) on the discussion of the work done in class and on the commentary on the materials handed out in class; 2) for non-attending students on the recommended bibliography and on the commentary on the materials handed out in class. Any papers that may be required must be submitted at least one week before the oral interview.
Texts
The following list is only a starting point of recommended readings for exam preparation. Additions and any changes will be communicated during class:
APPEL, BERNHARD R.: Zum Textstatus von Kompositions-Skizzen und -Entwürfen, «Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Instituts für Musikforschung-Preußischer Kulturbesitz», 1999, pp. 177-210.
COOPER, BARRY: Beethoven and the Creative Process. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1990.
DELLA SETA, FABRIZIO: Problemi editoriali degli schizzi e criteri di trascrizione, Giuseppe Verdi. La traviata. Schizzi e abbozzi autografi/Autograph Sketches and Drafts, Istituto nazionale di Studi verdiani, Parma. Introduzione ripubblicata in: Maria Caraci Vela, La filologia musicale. Istituzioni, storia, strumenti critici, vol. 3, LIM (2013), pp. 441-482;
LOCKWOOD, LEWIS: On Beethoven’s Sketches and Autographs: Some Problems of Definition and Interpretation. In «Acta Musicologica» 42, 1970, pp. 32-47. Ripubblicato in Lewis Lockwood: Beethoven. Studies in the Creative Process. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992, pp. 5-16.
SALLIS, FRIEDEMANN: Music Sketches, Cambridge University Press. Cambridge Introductions to Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
APPEL, BERNHARD R.: Zum Textstatus von Kompositions-Skizzen und -Entwürfen, «Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Instituts für Musikforschung-Preußischer Kulturbesitz», 1999, pp. 177-210.
COOPER, BARRY: Beethoven and the Creative Process. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1990.
DELLA SETA, FABRIZIO: Problemi editoriali degli schizzi e criteri di trascrizione, Giuseppe Verdi. La traviata. Schizzi e abbozzi autografi/Autograph Sketches and Drafts, Istituto nazionale di Studi verdiani, Parma. Introduzione ripubblicata in: Maria Caraci Vela, La filologia musicale. Istituzioni, storia, strumenti critici, vol. 3, LIM (2013), pp. 441-482;
LOCKWOOD, LEWIS: On Beethoven’s Sketches and Autographs: Some Problems of Definition and Interpretation. In «Acta Musicologica» 42, 1970, pp. 32-47. Ripubblicato in Lewis Lockwood: Beethoven. Studies in the Creative Process. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992, pp. 5-16.
SALLIS, FRIEDEMANN: Music Sketches, Cambridge University Press. Cambridge Introductions to Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Contents
Genetic criticism beyond the 'Beethoven model’
Research on the creative process in music has developed in a particularly fragmented manner. Nowadays there is a prevailing feeling that new studies are gradually adding up--not always integrating--to existing ones as in a great "critical-genetic Babel." The consequence of this way of proceeding is often measured at the terminological level and hinders effective scientific communication. The few investigations conducted in the opposite direction - one thinks in particular of Friedemann Sallis's monograph (Music Sketches) - show in contrast how a comparative approach could provide an opportunity for the deepening of questions of music historiography, as well as purely philological ones. The aim of the course is to analyze the causes of this state of specialized studies from the examination of four aspects: (1) the role played by national philological traditions (particularly those that have arisen in the literary sphere in Italy, Germany, France and English-speaking countries) (2) the position occupied by the ‘Beethoven model'; (3) the prevalence of an approach oriented according to the model of so-called case studies, i.e., focused on the practices of individual composers; and (4) the ontological status of the materials privileged objects of study of the discipline, which, as witnesses to a process that does not provide a stable textual level, are difficult to classify. Particular attention will be paid to what is generally defined as 'sketch,' that is, the study of materials attesting to the initial stages of the creative process and their possible classification.
Research on the creative process in music has developed in a particularly fragmented manner. Nowadays there is a prevailing feeling that new studies are gradually adding up--not always integrating--to existing ones as in a great "critical-genetic Babel." The consequence of this way of proceeding is often measured at the terminological level and hinders effective scientific communication. The few investigations conducted in the opposite direction - one thinks in particular of Friedemann Sallis's monograph (Music Sketches) - show in contrast how a comparative approach could provide an opportunity for the deepening of questions of music historiography, as well as purely philological ones. The aim of the course is to analyze the causes of this state of specialized studies from the examination of four aspects: (1) the role played by national philological traditions (particularly those that have arisen in the literary sphere in Italy, Germany, France and English-speaking countries) (2) the position occupied by the ‘Beethoven model'; (3) the prevalence of an approach oriented according to the model of so-called case studies, i.e., focused on the practices of individual composers; and (4) the ontological status of the materials privileged objects of study of the discipline, which, as witnesses to a process that does not provide a stable textual level, are difficult to classify. Particular attention will be paid to what is generally defined as 'sketch,' that is, the study of materials attesting to the initial stages of the creative process and their possible classification.
Course Language
Italian
More information
Students admitted to the 'inclusive teaching' program are requested to contact the professor as soon as possible to arrange any additions.
Degrees
Degrees (2)
MUSICOLOGY
Master’s Degree
2 years
MUSICOLOGY
Master’s Degree
2 years
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