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Concert Masterworks
Have you ever thought about the creative process that boiled inside geniuses like Mozart, Beethoven, Dvorák, Strauss, Brahms, Mendelssohn, or Liszt - or any composer, for that matter?
What goes through a composer's mind when a musical composition is being set to paper? Are those magical weeks or months spent in an agonizing creative blur of ideas first tried and then discarded, or is it a matter of pure inspiration? Does the composer hear the music in his head before even picking up a pen, or does the music in fact begin on that blank sheet of staff paper? Most important, can lay listeners like us, untrained in music's technicalities, learn how to open our ears to a composer's creative intentions?
Happily, the answer is a resounding "yes!" And in this series of 32 lectures, a professional composer and accomplished teacher will give you a new level of sophistication as a music listener - using as his teaching tools some of the most memorable works in all of music, by geniuses whose work has not only withstood time, but transcended it.
Through listening to these lectures, you'll gain a new grasp of the intricacies of musical purpose, structure, and narrative content that you will then be able to hear in any piece of music. And though this is a demanding course, with a deeper look into musical structure than untrained listeners are likely to have experienced, it is not an intimidating one. Professor Greenberg vividly positions each composition and its composer in the social and musical fabric of its period, so you can understand the music in its proper societal and artistic context and feel its emotional power in the same way as did its original audiences.
What goes through a composer's mind when a musical composition is being set to paper? Are those magical weeks or months spent in an agonizing creative blur of ideas first tried and then discarded, or is it a matter of pure inspiration? Does the composer hear the music in his head before even picking up a pen, or does the music in fact begin on that blank sheet of staff paper? Most important, can lay listeners like us, untrained in music's technicalities, learn how to open our ears to a composer's creative intentions?
Happily, the answer is a resounding "yes!" And in this series of 32 lectures, a professional composer and accomplished teacher will give you a new level of sophistication as a music listener - using as his teaching tools some of the most memorable works in all of music, by geniuses whose work has not only withstood time, but transcended it.
Through listening to these lectures, you'll gain a new grasp of the intricacies of musical purpose, structure, and narrative content that you will then be able to hear in any piece of music. And though this is a demanding course, with a deeper look into musical structure than untrained listeners are likely to have experienced, it is not an intimidating one. Professor Greenberg vividly positions each composition and its composer in the social and musical fabric of its period, so you can understand the music in its proper societal and artistic context and feel its emotional power in the same way as did its original audiences.
- GenresMusicAudiobookNonfiction
Audible Audio
Published January 1, 1995
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About the author
Robert Greenberg
156 books217 followersRobert M. Greenberg is an American composer, pianist and musicologist. He has composed more than 50 works for a variety of instruments and voices, and has recorded a number of lecture series on music history and music appreciation for The Teaching Company.
Greenberg earned a B.A. in music, magna cum laude, from Princeton University and received a Ph.D. in music composition from the University of California, Berkeley. He has served on the faculties of UC Berkeley, Californiz State University, East Bay, and the San Franciso Conservatory of Music, where he was chairman of the Department of Music History and Literature as well as Director of the Adult Extension Division. Dr. Greenberg is currently Music Historian-in-residence with San Francisco Performances.
Greenberg earned a B.A. in music, magna cum laude, from Princeton University and received a Ph.D. in music composition from the University of California, Berkeley. He has served on the faculties of UC Berkeley, Californiz State University, East Bay, and the San Franciso Conservatory of Music, where he was chairman of the Department of Music History and Literature as well as Director of the Adult Extension Division. Dr. Greenberg is currently Music Historian-in-residence with San Francisco Performances.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 5, 2019
Robert Greenberg is an American composer, pianist and musicologist but for our purposes he is a great lecturer. He is entertaining, insightful, meticulous and humorous. He might be the Neil deGrasse Tyson of music.
I have listened to several of Greenberg’s courses and found them rewarding. This one digs deep into the composing of Mozart, Beethoven, Dvorák, Liszt, Strauss, Brahms, and Mendelssohn through their signature concerti. I learned a lot from the lectures and the course materials are excellent, particularly for those more schooled in musicology and composing.
Will you enjoy Concert Masterworks? It depends on how deep you want to go into a particular piece of music. Let me give you an analogy: Ever watch a gymnast perform on the balance beam? What if you could see her with her skin stripped away so that each muscle was observable? What if you could measure her heartbeat and see how blood is directed to certain areas of the body? What if you could hear her thoughts as she performs? I don’t want all of that for most performances. Yet, even though some of each lecture was beyond what I could absorb, I thoroughly enjoyed the series.
I have listened to several of Greenberg’s courses and found them rewarding. This one digs deep into the composing of Mozart, Beethoven, Dvorák, Liszt, Strauss, Brahms, and Mendelssohn through their signature concerti. I learned a lot from the lectures and the course materials are excellent, particularly for those more schooled in musicology and composing.
Will you enjoy Concert Masterworks? It depends on how deep you want to go into a particular piece of music. Let me give you an analogy: Ever watch a gymnast perform on the balance beam? What if you could see her with her skin stripped away so that each muscle was observable? What if you could measure her heartbeat and see how blood is directed to certain areas of the body? What if you could hear her thoughts as she performs? I don’t want all of that for most performances. Yet, even though some of each lecture was beyond what I could absorb, I thoroughly enjoyed the series.
July 21, 2020
Professor Greenberg is always fun but he really outdoes himself in this series. Whether you like classical music or not you will learn a lot and have a ball doing it. Highly recommended!
November 10, 2021
Once again, Professor Robert Greenberg, with enthusiasm, humor, and tremendous knowledge, takes lovers of classical music on a fantastic adventure! Superb!
October 24, 2022
To be fair it is probably a 3.5 to 4 overall and dips to a 2 at the mistakes. Ironically, the piece with the most mistakes was my favorite. Perhaps that's the problem, that I expected better handling of the material.
can't believe I'm leaving a negative review for a lecturer whose other courses I've enjoyed a lot.
I understand the any lecture is just one person's argument about a text. Even if it is a contentious one, as long as there is substantial engagement with the actual details to develop the idea. In this, Prof Greenberg doesn't disappoint. This isn't my first set of lectures by him and I'm used to his energetic and sometimes over the top approach. However, there's always a possibility that the musicologist reads their own opinion into the text without actual proof. Prof Greenberg is guilty of using generous hyperbole to make something seem obvious even when it is just his view. This too I can ignore as rhetorical force.
I've enjoyed his impassioned approach, but there were a few jarring moments which took me out of the lectures quite forcefully. His knowledge of midsummer nights dream is questionable. He mistakes characters names and obscures the basic tension in the plot by misnamingand confusing helena as hermia. He uses exasperated tone to gloss over his ignorance. I found it egregious as it directly impedes the flow of the argument he is making.
The worst offender, however, was
Timothy Bottom. This shows lack of basic research. A Google search suggests that he has only watched the movie and is confusing the actor Timothy Spall with the character Nick Bottom. This isn't excusable for both the prof and the great courses company.
Perhaps my criticism is too much. He's after all, a musicologist and not a literature professor. But if he is going to speak so assertively, he needs to know how verify his info with a basic Google search. Ultimately, the title professor comes with some responsibility. People who listen to him aren't always scholars who scrutinise every sentence with a critical eye and cross references. Often these are people trying to expand their knowledge willingly on their own free time. They don't deserve their intelligence insulted with misinformation. I'm particularly thrown by the fact that the misinformation isn't even deliberate, but a result of the research team not being bothered to check facts.
having said all this, this set of lectures did introduce me to some great concert works and taught me to appreciate them by being attentive to the details.
can't believe I'm leaving a negative review for a lecturer whose other courses I've enjoyed a lot.
I understand the any lecture is just one person's argument about a text. Even if it is a contentious one, as long as there is substantial engagement with the actual details to develop the idea. In this, Prof Greenberg doesn't disappoint. This isn't my first set of lectures by him and I'm used to his energetic and sometimes over the top approach. However, there's always a possibility that the musicologist reads their own opinion into the text without actual proof. Prof Greenberg is guilty of using generous hyperbole to make something seem obvious even when it is just his view. This too I can ignore as rhetorical force.
I've enjoyed his impassioned approach, but there were a few jarring moments which took me out of the lectures quite forcefully. His knowledge of midsummer nights dream is questionable. He mistakes characters names and obscures the basic tension in the plot by misnamingand confusing helena as hermia. He uses exasperated tone to gloss over his ignorance. I found it egregious as it directly impedes the flow of the argument he is making.
The worst offender, however, was
Timothy Bottom. This shows lack of basic research. A Google search suggests that he has only watched the movie and is confusing the actor Timothy Spall with the character Nick Bottom. This isn't excusable for both the prof and the great courses company.
Perhaps my criticism is too much. He's after all, a musicologist and not a literature professor. But if he is going to speak so assertively, he needs to know how verify his info with a basic Google search. Ultimately, the title professor comes with some responsibility. People who listen to him aren't always scholars who scrutinise every sentence with a critical eye and cross references. Often these are people trying to expand their knowledge willingly on their own free time. They don't deserve their intelligence insulted with misinformation. I'm particularly thrown by the fact that the misinformation isn't even deliberate, but a result of the research team not being bothered to check facts.
having said all this, this set of lectures did introduce me to some great concert works and taught me to appreciate them by being attentive to the details.
September 9, 2024
I'm giving this one a light review Compared to my other types of reviews on book series.
I'm a giant nerd, and I like learning new things. I know little to nothing about music theory or classical music. So, I decided to listen to these lectures to find out more. I have to say that this series of lectures opened my eyes to the world of concert music. I learned a lot by listening to these lectures. Also, the lecturer was very enthusiastic about his subject, and his anecdotes made me laugh for a time or two. Overall, I think this is a great series of lectures to listen to if you're interested to learn more about historical composers and why their music pieces are seen as masterworks of music.
I'm a giant nerd, and I like learning new things. I know little to nothing about music theory or classical music. So, I decided to listen to these lectures to find out more. I have to say that this series of lectures opened my eyes to the world of concert music. I learned a lot by listening to these lectures. Also, the lecturer was very enthusiastic about his subject, and his anecdotes made me laugh for a time or two. Overall, I think this is a great series of lectures to listen to if you're interested to learn more about historical composers and why their music pieces are seen as masterworks of music.
November 11, 2023
These lectures were really informative and interesting. I liked the variety of repertoire which was analysed. It would have been nice if some 20th century repertoire was discussed as well.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews