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COURSE DESCRIPTION This course explores 19th-century aesthetic writings that deal with formalism generally, and musical formalism in particular. We begin with Kant, the "father" of formalism in modern aesthetics (Kritik der Urteilskraft, Critique of Judgment), and continue with various authors whose work derives from, and departs from, Kant in various ways. Other writers we will study are Hegel, J.G. Herder, F.T. Vischer, Robert Vischer, Robert Zimmermann, Eduard Hanslick, Karl Köstlin, Johannes Volkelt, and Theodor Lipps. All of the primary sources are in German; some, but not all, have been translated. All class members, sometimes in pairs, will do presentations of assigned material. There will be no midterm or final exam. The chief course requirements are the preparation of weekly readings for class discussion, the aforementioned presentations, and a final paper, due one week after the last seminar meeting. |