London is the home to some of the greatest art museums in the world. The National Gallery and Tate will be our primary destinations in our study of Western art. Through a colleague of Dr. Wren's, we hope to visit the studios of contemporary artists and the galleries focussing on avant-garde art. Similarly, some of the greatest opera houses and concert halls are also in London. We shall attend an opera at the Covent Garden and a performance of the world-famous London Philharmonic. We want to experience also that which is truly British: we hope to attend an operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan. Through connections of Dr. McKay we hope to visit the Royal Academy of Music.
Paris offers an unparalleled richness of art and music. Medieval monuments of art and architecture on our itinerary include the cathedrals of Notre-Dame and Chartres and the small church structure of Sainte-Chapelle. The Louvre Museum exposes us to the overall history of Western Art, while the Museé d'Orsay, the Centre Pompidou, and the Picasso Museum permit us to focus on 19th and 20th century artists such as Renoir, Monet, Van Gough, and Picasso. In Paris, we shall attend a performance at the Opera Bastille, hopefully of a work by one of the greatest French Masters.
Our stay in Vienna permits us to explore many avenues of creativity. We increase our understanding of the art not only by seeing the urban museums, but also by exploring the Danube Valley and by visiting the architectural jewel, the Abbey of Melk. We study one of Europe's finest museums of art at the Kunsthistorisches. We amble through the city streets and buildings. We explore the city's vistas, monuments, and museums. Our trips outside the city limits of Praugue allow us to see the Czech Republic both past and present. On one trip we visit the Nazi Concentration camp where we see the children's art that commemorates the suffering of the Facists' victims. On another trip, we visit a recently restored castle in which a private art collection has been installed. We tour the Jewish ghetto, a ghetto that was walled as late as 19th century. and that today contains a functioning medieval synagogue and a Holocaust museum. Past and present are not only visible but audible to us as we attend musical performances. Czech composers including Dvorak and Smetana intertwine the folk melodies of the countryside into their novel compositions.
Throughout our trip, we seek to understand the creative bonds common to art and music. We learn that artists and composers shared essential ideas, themes and styles, and we encounter art forms of many types that are testimony to the amazing creativity of the human spirit. Visits to museums and attendance at musical performances are the core of this course. Lectures and class discussion provide us with opportunities to learn about historical periods of art and music and to share our responses to our experiences.
PREREQUISITES: None
REQUIRED READINGS:
-Henry Vyberg,
The Living Tradition: Art, Music and the Ideas in the Western
World.
EVALUATION:
Evaluation is based
upon full participation museum and site visits; concerts and musical performances;
lectures and class disscussions; and upon a series of short response papers
to the art works and the musical performances which we experience.
GRADING:
Letter grade or
Pass/Fail
THE COMPREHENSIVE
FEE:
This trip includes
all air and surface travel, hotel accomodations, continental breakfast
daily, museum admissions, four group dinners, six musical performances,
one theatre performance and guided tours to Melk, Chartres, and Versailles,
and sites surrounding Prague.
