Modern and Postmodern Music in Twenty and Twenty-First Centuries
A.Y. 2026/2027
Learning objectives
Survey of music history in the recent past and in the world of today with in-depth analysis of select case studies.
Expected learning outcomes
Reflexions on the cultural role of music in our recent history and critical assessment of the ways in which we interpret it.
Lesson period: First semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course can be attended as a single course.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
Course Title
Modernist and Postmodern Music through the Lens of Cinema
The course examines a selection of musical compositions from the post-war period to the present through their use in cinema. To this end, nine films (three for each teaching unit) will be studied, with particular attention to the pre-existing or original music they feature and to the ways in which this music has helped shape the sonic landscape of the past several decades.
Modernist and Postmodern Music through the Lens of Cinema
The course examines a selection of musical compositions from the post-war period to the present through their use in cinema. To this end, nine films (three for each teaching unit) will be studied, with particular attention to the pre-existing or original music they feature and to the ways in which this music has helped shape the sonic landscape of the past several decades.
Prerequisites for admission
Given the strongly interdisciplinary nature of the course, a basic knowledge of music history, as well as of film and theatre history, is an important prerequisite. Students are therefore strongly advised to have completed at least two courses in the above-mentioned subject areas before enrolling in Modern and Postmodern Music in Twenty and Twenty-First Centuries.
Teaching methods
The course is based on class lectures which are integrated by bibliographic and multimedia teaching materials uploaded to the Teams platform. The classes will alternate theoretical and historical overviewes with analysis and collective discussions of the treated case studies.
Teaching Resources
### Part I (20 hours): Modernism and the Musical Avant-Garde
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1968), with particular attention to the music of György Ligeti featured in the film.
2. The Exorcist (dir. William Friedkin, 1973), with particular attention to the music of Krzysztof Penderecki featured in the film.
3. There Will Be Blood (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007), with particular attention to the score by Jonny Greenwood.
### Part II (20 hours): Musique concrète, Electronic Music, and "Organized Sound"
1. Kwaidan (dir. Masaki Kobayashi, 1964), with particular attention to the music and soundscapes created by Tōru Takemitsu.
2. Shutter Island (dir. Martin Scorsese, 2010), with particular attention to Giacinto Scelsi's Quattro pezzi per orchestra (ciascuno su una nota sola) (1959) and Uaxuctum (1966).
3. Deserts (1994) by Bill Viola, a video work conceived as a visual counterpart to Edgard Varèse's Déserts (1954).
### Part III (20 hours): Postmodernism, Minimalism, and Tintinnabuli
1. Koyaanisqatsi (dir. Godfrey Reggio, 1982), featuring Philip Glass's hypnotic minimalist score.
2. A Zed & Two Noughts (dir. Peter Greenaway, 1985), with music by Michael Nyman inspired by a mechanistic, neo-Baroque form of minimalism.
3. Gravity (dir. Alfonso Cuarón, 2013), with particular attention to the music of Arvo Pärt.
In addition to the nine films discussed during the course, students are required to study the following readings:
* Scott Lash, *Postmodernismo: verso una lettura sociologica*, in Id., *Modernismo e postmodernismo*, Rome: Armando, 2000, pp. 11-68.
* Derk B. Scott, "Postmodernism and Music," in *Musical Style and Social Meaning*, London: Routledge, 2016, pp. 3-16.
These two essays provide the conceptual framework and the theoretical and methodological issues that will underpin our discussions throughout the course. All attending students are strongly encouraged to read them as early as possible.
* Christine Lee Gengaro, "The Music of the Spheres. *2001: A Space Odyssey*," in *Listening to Stanley Kubrick. The Music in His Films*, London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2012, pp. 69-101.
In addition to studying this chapter, students are encouraged to listen to the complete versions of the György Ligeti compositions used by Stanley Kubrick in the film: Atmosphères, Requiem, Lux Aeterna, and Aventures.
* Ilaria Franciotti and Valerio Sbravatti, "Sights and Sounds of Disgusting Abjections: The Monstrous Feminine in *The Exorcist* (1973)," *Itinera*, 28 (2024), pp. 216-227 (available online).
Students should also listen to the complete version of the works featured in the film, including String Quartet No. 1 (1960) by Krzysztof Penderecki.
* Miguel Mera, "Materialising Film Music," in *The Cambridge Companion to Film Music*, ed. Mervyn Cooke and Fiona Ford, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016, pp. 157-172 (available online).
* Kyoko Koizumi, "Creative Soundtrack Expression. Tōru Takemitsu's Score for *Kwaidan*," in *Terror Tracks. Music, Sound and Horror Cinema*, London: Equinox, 2009, pp. 75-87.
* Lea Ale, "Case Study 3: *Shutter Island*," in *Tracing Experimental Textures and Timbres in Horror Cinema: A Closer Look at William Friedkin's The Exorcist, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, and Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island*, MA thesis, Arizona State University, 2021, pp. 148-199 (available online).
* Giacomo Albert and Gianfranco Vinay, "Nei deserti di Varèse e di Viola," *Chigiana*, 51 (2021), pp. 211-236.
* Taylor McClaskie, "Life Out of Balance: *Koyaanisqatsi* and Deep Ecology as Frameworks for the Self" (Chapter 3), in *Listening Deeply: Music, Sound, and Deep Ecology in 1980s North America*, PhD dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2023, pp. 63-91 (available online).
* Marco Inchingolo, "La collaborazione tra Michael Nyman e Peter Greenaway: post-minimalismo e neobarocco," *Lo Specchio Scuro. Rivista online di cinema e altre arti audiovisive* (January 2023).
* Maria Cizmic, "Transcending the Icon: Spirituality and Postmodernism in Arvo Pärt's *Tabula Rasa* and *Spiegel im Spiegel*," *Twentieth-Century Music*, 5/1 (2008), pp. 45-78 (available online).
### Additional Reading for Non-Attending Students
In addition to the material listed above, non-attending students are required to study:
* Elio Franzini, *Moderno e Postmoderno. Un bilancio*, Milan: Raffaello Cortina, 2018.
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1968), with particular attention to the music of György Ligeti featured in the film.
2. The Exorcist (dir. William Friedkin, 1973), with particular attention to the music of Krzysztof Penderecki featured in the film.
3. There Will Be Blood (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007), with particular attention to the score by Jonny Greenwood.
### Part II (20 hours): Musique concrète, Electronic Music, and "Organized Sound"
1. Kwaidan (dir. Masaki Kobayashi, 1964), with particular attention to the music and soundscapes created by Tōru Takemitsu.
2. Shutter Island (dir. Martin Scorsese, 2010), with particular attention to Giacinto Scelsi's Quattro pezzi per orchestra (ciascuno su una nota sola) (1959) and Uaxuctum (1966).
3. Deserts (1994) by Bill Viola, a video work conceived as a visual counterpart to Edgard Varèse's Déserts (1954).
### Part III (20 hours): Postmodernism, Minimalism, and Tintinnabuli
1. Koyaanisqatsi (dir. Godfrey Reggio, 1982), featuring Philip Glass's hypnotic minimalist score.
2. A Zed & Two Noughts (dir. Peter Greenaway, 1985), with music by Michael Nyman inspired by a mechanistic, neo-Baroque form of minimalism.
3. Gravity (dir. Alfonso Cuarón, 2013), with particular attention to the music of Arvo Pärt.
In addition to the nine films discussed during the course, students are required to study the following readings:
* Scott Lash, *Postmodernismo: verso una lettura sociologica*, in Id., *Modernismo e postmodernismo*, Rome: Armando, 2000, pp. 11-68.
* Derk B. Scott, "Postmodernism and Music," in *Musical Style and Social Meaning*, London: Routledge, 2016, pp. 3-16.
These two essays provide the conceptual framework and the theoretical and methodological issues that will underpin our discussions throughout the course. All attending students are strongly encouraged to read them as early as possible.
* Christine Lee Gengaro, "The Music of the Spheres. *2001: A Space Odyssey*," in *Listening to Stanley Kubrick. The Music in His Films*, London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2012, pp. 69-101.
In addition to studying this chapter, students are encouraged to listen to the complete versions of the György Ligeti compositions used by Stanley Kubrick in the film: Atmosphères, Requiem, Lux Aeterna, and Aventures.
* Ilaria Franciotti and Valerio Sbravatti, "Sights and Sounds of Disgusting Abjections: The Monstrous Feminine in *The Exorcist* (1973)," *Itinera*, 28 (2024), pp. 216-227 (available online).
Students should also listen to the complete version of the works featured in the film, including String Quartet No. 1 (1960) by Krzysztof Penderecki.
* Miguel Mera, "Materialising Film Music," in *The Cambridge Companion to Film Music*, ed. Mervyn Cooke and Fiona Ford, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016, pp. 157-172 (available online).
* Kyoko Koizumi, "Creative Soundtrack Expression. Tōru Takemitsu's Score for *Kwaidan*," in *Terror Tracks. Music, Sound and Horror Cinema*, London: Equinox, 2009, pp. 75-87.
* Lea Ale, "Case Study 3: *Shutter Island*," in *Tracing Experimental Textures and Timbres in Horror Cinema: A Closer Look at William Friedkin's The Exorcist, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, and Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island*, MA thesis, Arizona State University, 2021, pp. 148-199 (available online).
* Giacomo Albert and Gianfranco Vinay, "Nei deserti di Varèse e di Viola," *Chigiana*, 51 (2021), pp. 211-236.
* Taylor McClaskie, "Life Out of Balance: *Koyaanisqatsi* and Deep Ecology as Frameworks for the Self" (Chapter 3), in *Listening Deeply: Music, Sound, and Deep Ecology in 1980s North America*, PhD dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2023, pp. 63-91 (available online).
* Marco Inchingolo, "La collaborazione tra Michael Nyman e Peter Greenaway: post-minimalismo e neobarocco," *Lo Specchio Scuro. Rivista online di cinema e altre arti audiovisive* (January 2023).
* Maria Cizmic, "Transcending the Icon: Spirituality and Postmodernism in Arvo Pärt's *Tabula Rasa* and *Spiegel im Spiegel*," *Twentieth-Century Music*, 5/1 (2008), pp. 45-78 (available online).
### Additional Reading for Non-Attending Students
In addition to the material listed above, non-attending students are required to study:
* Elio Franzini, *Moderno e Postmoderno. Un bilancio*, Milan: Raffaello Cortina, 2018.
Assessment methods and Criteria
For both attending and non-attending students, assessment consists of an oral examination covering the topics and issues discussed during the course. Final grades are awarded on the Italian scale from 18 (the minimum passing grade) to 30.
The examination will be assessed according to the following criteria:
1. Demonstrated command of the terminology and concepts introduced during the course.
2. Ability to analyse and critically engage with the audiovisual materials and assigned readings.
3. Clarity, coherence, and academic quality of the oral presentation.
4. Capacity for independent critical interpretation.
The examination will be assessed according to the following criteria:
1. Demonstrated command of the terminology and concepts introduced during the course.
2. Ability to analyse and critically engage with the audiovisual materials and assigned readings.
3. Clarity, coherence, and academic quality of the oral presentation.
4. Capacity for independent critical interpretation.
Modules or teaching units
Part A and B
L-ART/07 - MUSICOLOGY AND HISTORY OF MUSIC - University credits: 6
Lessons: 40 hours
Part C
L-ART/07 - MUSICOLOGY AND HISTORY OF MUSIC - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor(s)