Great Courses Bach

The great Bohemian-born composer Gustav Mahler once said, "A symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything." Over the course of its nearly 300-year life, the symphony has indeed embraced almost every trend to be found in Western concert music.

Professor Greenberg sets Bach in context by tracing the musical traditions and composers from whom he drew his inspiration, and explaining how Bach absorbed these influences to become the transcendent composer of the High Baroque. According to Professor Greenberg, no other composer is more representative of the period and its aesthetic of emotional extravagance and technical control.You will also learn how Bach's background—at least 42 of his relatives were professionally involved with music—and his strong German Lutheran heritage shaped his development as an artist.

Matthias Eisenberg, born in Dresden in 1956. Piano lessons and at an early age, first attempts on the organ of his home town church in Saxony; played the organ regularly at services there from the age of 9. Intermezzo in the Dresden “Kreuzchor”. Continued studies on the organ, with special emphasis on Bach's organ works.

Matthias Eisenberg, born in Dresden in 1956. Piano lessons and at an early age, first attempts on the organ of his home town church in Saxony; played the organ regularly at services there from the age of 9. Intermezzo in the Dresden “Kreuzchor”. Continued studies on the organ, with special emphasis on Bach's organ works.

Why Is Concert Music so Powerful? How can concert music—once it is understood—so move our lives? Professor Greenberg explains in his introductory lecture: "Music, the most abstract and sublime of all the arts, is capable of transmitting an unbelievable amount of expressive, historical, and even philosophical information to us, provided that our antennas are up and pointed in the right direction. A little education goes a long way to vitalizing and rendering relevant a body of music that many feel is beyond their grasp.

Great music is a language unto its own, a means of communication of unmatched beauty and genius. And it has an undeniable power to move us in ways that enrich our lives - provided it is understood.

Musically, Franz Liszt (1811–1886) is one of the most written about but least understood composers of the 19th century. As for his life—Felix Mendelssohn observed that Liszt's character was "a continual alternation between scandal and apotheosis." "Scandal and apotheosis"? What could that possibly mean? Join music professor Robert Greenberg for these lectures, and go on a fascinating journey in search of the truth about both. "Franz Liszt, Both Sides Now," you might call it.

TTC Video - The Concerto (2011) REPOST
DVD-Rip | AVI | XviD MPEG4 @ 1 Mbit/s | 640x480 | MP3 Stereo @ 256 Kbit/s 48 KHz | 18 Hours | 9.73 GB
Genre: Classical Music, Concert History, Education | Label: The Great Courses | Language: English | Subtitle: None

In this series of 24, 45-minute lectures, Professor Robert Greenberg gives you a guided tour of the concerto from its conception as a child of Renaissance ideals, through its maturation in the Classical age, its metamorphosis in the Romantic era, and its radical transformation in the 20th century. The course closes with a look into the future at concerto composers who are now in mid-career and poised to carry this vibrant musical tradition well into the 21st century. These lectures are musically rich, including selections from nearly 100 concerti representing more than 60 composers—from Gabrieli to Gershwin, from Schumann to Shostakovich.

In this series of 24, 45-minute lectures, Professor Robert Greenberg gives you a guided tour of the concerto from its conception as a child of Renaissance ideals, through its maturation in the Classical age, its metamorphosis in the Romantic era, and its radical transformation in the 20th century. The course closes with a look into the future at concerto composers who are now in mid-career and poised to carry this vibrant musical tradition well into the 21st century. These lectures are musically rich, including selections from nearly 100 concerti representing more than 60 composers—from Gabrieli to Gershwin, from Schumann to Shostakovich.