The Marshall University School of Music will open the second annual MUsic Mondays Lecture Series at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 19, at the Cellar Door, 905 3rd Ave., Huntington.
The fall series, titled “Music and Ways of Telling,” investigates how the composer conveys meaning to the listener.
The first lecture, “Portraying the Hero: Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony,” will explore Beethoven’s musical portrayal of the hero and heroic characteristics. Lead presenter Dr. Vicki Stroeher, professor of music history at Marshall, said that Beethoven’s 1804 work uses the “heroic style” to communicate its ideas and can be heard as following the narrative patterns of the hero’s journey.
“Beethoven had dedicated the work to Napoleon, but after the Peace of Amiens broke down and Napoleon declared himself the Emperor of France, he scratched out the dedication so violently that it wore a hole in the manuscript,” Stroeher said. “But the work does not need a dedication to Napoleon to convey the concept of the heroic or to ‘narrate’ the heroic journey: Beethoven does all of that through the use of musical characteristics that audiences of the time would have recognized as evoking the hero.”
The MUsic Mondays fall series will continue through December, with the following lecture topics:
Oct. 17: “The Language of Class and Seduction: Mozart’s Don Giovanni”
Nov. 28: “A Conversation Among Friends: Beethoven’s Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1, no. 3”
Dec. 19: “Using England’s Musical Past: Britten’s Ceremony of Carols”
Seating is limited. Each lecture costs $10, payable at the door. Checks should be made payable to Marshall University. All proceeds will go to support the School of Music.
For more information about MUsic Mondays, call the School of Music at 304-696-3117.
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Photo: Dr. Vicki Stroeher will give the first in a fall series of lectures on “Music and Ways of Telling” Monday, Sept. 19.