LITR 020. Literature and Music

(Cross-listed as CPLT 050)
Literature and music have at some times been viewed as natural allies, and at others - in philosopher Peter Kivy’s phrase - as “antithetical arts.” This course approaches the rich relationship between music and literature from a variety of angles, including aesthetics, form, style and genre, reception, and adaptation. Case studies toward the end of the semester will explore the literary legacy of Richard Wagner’s provocative music drama Tristan and Isolde as well as two very different adaptations of Tolstoy’s War and Peace: an opera by Sergei Prokofiev and an electropop musical by Dave Molloy. No prior musical training is required, though students with score-reading ability may be given alternate assignments.
Humanities.
1 credit.
Catalog chapter: Modern Languages and Literatures: Literatures in Translation
Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/modern-languages-literatures

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