Graham School WINTER Saturday Seminar
Late Romantics
Sat 10:00 am—04:00 pm, January 25, 2025
Deadline to register online: December 27 at 5:00 PM CT
Location: IN PERSON at University of Chicago Gleacher Center
The period from 1840 (Tchaikovsky’s birth) to World War I saw a seismic shift in the agendas and techniques of Romantic composers. Syllabus
Graham School WINTER 8-Week Classes
Note: Tuesday classes are ONLINE. Thursday classes are IN PERSON. (Reversing the trend from recent semesters.)
Shostakovich
Tuesdays 10:00 am—12:30 pm, January 7-February 25, 2025
Deadline to register online: Friday, December 27 at 5PM CT
Location: ONLINE
A remarkable prodigy who astonished the musical world with his First Symphony at age 19, Dmitri Shostakovich lived and composed in the Soviet Union under Stalin—a time of political tumult and danger. He developed a paradoxical style characterized by searing emotional intensity combined with overt and covert political content. Today, critics and audiences increasingly recognize Shostakovich as the greatest existential composer of the twentieth century. This class will place his music in context through analysis and listening and survey relevant personal, literary, and journalistic sources. Syllabus
The Poet Speaks: Chamber Music in the Romantic Era
Thursdays 10:00 am—12:30 pm, January 9-February 27, 2025
Deadline to register online: December 27, 2024 at 5PM CT
Location: IN PERSON at the Gleacher Center, Downtown Chicago
From Beethoven's "Distant Beloved" to the Debussy’s String Quartet the romantic era offers a luxurious array of musical riches. This course offers listening, live performance, and in-class analysis. Syllabus
Coming in Spring 2025 - Graham School Classes
Wagner’s Ring
Tuesday mornings, ONLINE, starts March 25. (Deadline to register online: February 18.)
Crisis and Conscience: The Twentieth Century from Mahler to Shostakovich Thursday mornings, IN PERSON in downtown Chicago, starts March 27. (Deadline to register online: February 18.)
Music’s Miraculous Era: Haydn’s London and Schubert’s Vienna
1-day Saturday class, IN PERSON in downtown Chicago, April 26. (Deadline to register online: April 22.)
Winter Online Registration Deadline: Friday, Decenber 27 at 5:00 PM
Too Late to Register Online? Please call 773-702-7249 to register. If space is available, you’ll be able to sign up!
Graham School COVID-19 policies:
For up-to-date guidance including vaccine requirements, please visit goforward.uchicago.edu/education-planning/.
Blog
“On December 22, 1808, Beethoven himself rented a hall in Vienna and promoted the concert to end all concerts: the debut, over four hours, of three of his greatest works .. And yes, it was a fiasco. But imagine: It was as if Orson Welles premiered Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, and Touch of Evil on the same night — with The Lady from Shanghai thrown in for good measure.” (Greg Mitchell)