RENAISSANCE INSTITUTE AT NOTRE DAME : TUESDAYS AT 9:15, SEPTEMBER 9 TO OCTOBER 14, 2025

Syllabus (one-sided)       Syllabus (two-sided)       Four poems about music

 
Poetry is music in words, and music has always aspired to poetry. More than a history of text-setting over the past millennium, this class will look at some of the ways in which poetry has informed music over the ages: religious texts, in chant and later in measured polyphony; the development of the madrigal from stand-alone song to miniature music drama; the use of folksongs in both vocal and instrumental music; the explosion of art song in the 19th century, setting the works of great poets in their own right; instrumental forms such as the Ballade and Song Without Words that bring the aesthetic of poetry into pure music, and verse that imitates musical forms; texts written for declamation against music; lyricists of the 20th and 21st centuries, writing texts intended from the start for musical setting.

You can get a sense of the scope of the course by reading the four short poems about music above. Like many of the poems I shall mention, they come from the marvelous collection The Music Lover’s Poetry Anthology, edited by Helen Handley Houghton and Maureen McCarthy Draper. It is expensive to buy new, but can be obtained used from Amazon.

The syllabi above and all class handouts come in two forms; use the two-sided version if you have a two-sided printer; it comes out as a handy booklet. When handouts for individual classes become available, the border on the image below will turn gold; click on it to reach the resources page for that class, plus texts and bios. Directly after each class is over, I will add links to the videos played, plus a gallery of the main images shown. rb.

William Blake		1. The Sound of Words September 9 A kaleidoscopic spectrum of the ways in which poetry and music interrelate, from Gregorian chant to American rap. An audio-visual menu of many of the topics to be examined later in more detail.
2. The Sacred in Text and Song September 16 A return to the roots of vocal music in the simple declamation of text. Chant in church and temple. Verse that enshrines a faith (not necessarily Christian) and the music that enfolds it.				Gregorian chant
Jan Brueghel		3. Songs of the People September 23 Popular songs and dances through the centuries, and their influence on classical music. Folk materials in opera and musicals. Modern folksong settings.
4. Songs of the Poets September 30 What happens when a great composer encounters the work of an equally great poet? We shall consider Shakespeare settings through the ages, Schubert’s encounters with Goethe, and the extraordinary poetic sensibility of Benjamin Britten.				William Blake
Maurice Denis		5. Conversations Between the Arts October 7 The marriage of poetry and music in ways other than straight text-setting. Music that takes on the forms of poetry. Poetry that addresses music. Dance inspired by both.
6. Words for Performance October 14 Words written from the start for musical setting. The Gershwin brothers, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Stephen Sondheim, Hamilton, and even modern rap.				Hamilton
• Four poems about music	• About the Instructor