Love, Drugs, and War: The Obsessions of History’s Great Composers

A Music History Course with Prof. Stephen Schultz

Exploring musical compositions related to love, drugs, and war, Carnegie Mellon Professor, Stephen Schultz, views how some of the world’s great composers address these themes in their work. Through this class, Schultz guides students to gain a deeper understanding of how these themes have been interpreted and expressed through music, and how they have influenced the creation of musical masterpieces.

In each class, Professor Schultz focuses on specific musical characteristics of the countries and regions where the composers lived, covering the instrumentation and harmonic and melodic characteristics of each symphony. Most importantly, Professor Schultz will guide students on a deep dive into the programmatic and emotional content of the music created by these masters.

Featuring the music of Berlioz, Mahler, Strauss, Shostakovich, Penderecki, Gorecki, Lennon and McCartney, Chavez and Ginastera