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The Chamber Music of Mozart
(16 lectures, 45 minutes/lecture)
- A Blessing of Inconceivable Richness
- "The Hunt"
- "The Hunt," Part 2
- The Flute Quartet in D Major
- Vienna
- Haydn and Inspiration
- Exclusively For His Friends
- Duos For Violin and Viola
- Not Just a Pretty Face
- Blowin in the Winds
- The Piano Trios
- The Piano Quartets
- String Quartet in A Major, K. 464
- The String Quintets
- DissonanceMusical and Financial
- Basset Horns and Harmonicas
- A Blessing of Inconceivable Richness
- "The Hunt"
- "The Hunt," Part 2
- The Flute Quartet in D Major
- Vienna
- Haydn and Inspiration
- Exclusively For His Friends
- Duos For Violin and Viola
- Not Just a Pretty Face
- Blowin in the Winds
- The Piano Trios
- The Piano Quartets
- String Quartet in A Major, K. 464
- The String Quintets
- DissonanceMusical and Financial
- Basset Horns and Harmonicas
13 pages, Audible Audio
Published July 8, 2013
3 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
About the author
Robert Greenberg
157 books216 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 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 30, 2018
I am not a musician. I have no special “ear” for music. My son consoles me, saying: “That’s okay, you appreciate music. Sometimes musical talent skips a generation.”
I know I like Mozart. I enjoy chamber music with its separate roles for each instrument. I wanted to know more about what I was listening to. Then, I found this series of lectures.
Greenberg has a boisterous lecture style full of his enthusiasms. He gives us just enough music theory to understand what is going on. In addition, we get:
An understanding of this period in Europe;
Some discussion of the instruments and how they have evolved;
The significance of chamber music;
Mozart’s life and how it related to his music;
How his music was or wasn’t accepted in his times;
What makes his compositional skills unique;
How he related to his friends and family; and,
Why his music has endured.
Greenberg is very entertaining (as good lecturers should be). He is not adverse to having fun with his subject matter. His use of metaphors and analogies enhances our understanding. His insights range from noting the reasons why a sonata was written in a particular key, to why Mozart was the Tupac Shakur of his day.
I have no regrets about sitting through these lectures.
I know I like Mozart. I enjoy chamber music with its separate roles for each instrument. I wanted to know more about what I was listening to. Then, I found this series of lectures.
Greenberg has a boisterous lecture style full of his enthusiasms. He gives us just enough music theory to understand what is going on. In addition, we get:
An understanding of this period in Europe;
Some discussion of the instruments and how they have evolved;
The significance of chamber music;
Mozart’s life and how it related to his music;
How his music was or wasn’t accepted in his times;
What makes his compositional skills unique;
How he related to his friends and family; and,
Why his music has endured.
Greenberg is very entertaining (as good lecturers should be). He is not adverse to having fun with his subject matter. His use of metaphors and analogies enhances our understanding. His insights range from noting the reasons why a sonata was written in a particular key, to why Mozart was the Tupac Shakur of his day.
I have no regrets about sitting through these lectures.
August 2, 2018
To nostagically retrieve a saying my Dad might have used, listening to Robert Greenberg's Great Courses lectures on music is more fun than a barrel of monkeys. I have always been a huge Mozart fan, and I enjoyed this Chamber Music course on a long drive to Virginia and back last week.
There are countless, sumptuous portions of Mozart's chamber music (string quartets, piano trios, string quintets, and much more) to listen to, along with Greenberg's very knowledgeable analysis of the musical structures and themes involved. Woven through the entire course is also a history of Mozart's life, and how the events of his life connected to the music he was writing.
Greenberg knows his stuff, and is never for one second boring. He is funny, energetic, dynamic and over the top passionate about music. This was an incredibly enjoyable and informative experience, and I'll be listening to many more of his courses.
There are countless, sumptuous portions of Mozart's chamber music (string quartets, piano trios, string quintets, and much more) to listen to, along with Greenberg's very knowledgeable analysis of the musical structures and themes involved. Woven through the entire course is also a history of Mozart's life, and how the events of his life connected to the music he was writing.
Greenberg knows his stuff, and is never for one second boring. He is funny, energetic, dynamic and over the top passionate about music. This was an incredibly enjoyable and informative experience, and I'll be listening to many more of his courses.
August 20, 2018
Most people think of Mozart as primarily a composer of operas, and in fact he did compose some of the best operas ever penned. (*koffMarriageofFigarokoff*) but his output was enormous for a man who lived only 35 years, and included a good deal of chamber music. To be clear here, chamber music can be defined as instrumental music played by a small ensemble, with one player to a part; think quartets, trios, quintets, and the like.
One group of chamber pieces is known collectively as the Haydn Quartets, a set of six string quartets dedicated to Joseph Haydn, Mozart's dear friend and champion, is discussed at length by Professor Greenberg, who puts them into the context of the era, and the musical milieu of Vienna. He also explains that in spite of the fact that you can almost never say that such-and-such a composer invented such-and-such a form, Mozart did indeed invent the string quintet. Above and beyond the analysis of the actual music, it's information like that which makes Greenberg's lectures so interesting. He has a comprehensive knowledge of music, true, but his grasp of musical history, and history in general, is awesome.
The course itself is short, sixteen lectures, but with so much information packed into it that it felt like a semester's worth of music theory, history, and more. It's true that the good Professor can sometimes be a little much, but once I settle into the course I usually forget everything but the course itself. Over all the courses I've listened to, I've grown used to him, and find his humor endearing, if it does sometimes annoy me.
If you love music, Professor Greenberg is your guy. His explanations are clear and concise, and he has a gift for contextualizing the music he's teaching us, making the pieces, the composer, and the musical era much easier to comprehend, and to enjoy.
One group of chamber pieces is known collectively as the Haydn Quartets, a set of six string quartets dedicated to Joseph Haydn, Mozart's dear friend and champion, is discussed at length by Professor Greenberg, who puts them into the context of the era, and the musical milieu of Vienna. He also explains that in spite of the fact that you can almost never say that such-and-such a composer invented such-and-such a form, Mozart did indeed invent the string quintet. Above and beyond the analysis of the actual music, it's information like that which makes Greenberg's lectures so interesting. He has a comprehensive knowledge of music, true, but his grasp of musical history, and history in general, is awesome.
The course itself is short, sixteen lectures, but with so much information packed into it that it felt like a semester's worth of music theory, history, and more. It's true that the good Professor can sometimes be a little much, but once I settle into the course I usually forget everything but the course itself. Over all the courses I've listened to, I've grown used to him, and find his humor endearing, if it does sometimes annoy me.
If you love music, Professor Greenberg is your guy. His explanations are clear and concise, and he has a gift for contextualizing the music he's teaching us, making the pieces, the composer, and the musical era much easier to comprehend, and to enjoy.
May 10, 2020
The only reason I'm not going the full five stars on this course is that the sound mixing wasn't as good as with the more recent GCs, so I had to keep fiddling with the volume whenever Greenberg switched from talking to playing samples or demonstrating a concept on the piano. Seems like a small matter, but when the whole point of the sample is to focus on a specific instrument's part and there are so, so many (great) samples, it's a distraction. I'd love to see this remade with the quality of audio used in GC's most recent offerings.
This series was a good balance of biography, history, music theory, background on both the piece and the instruments used, and just good ol' Bobby Greenberg humor. Admittedly, I've never paid much attention to Mozart or his chamber music before, but now I am going to have to acquire recordings of some of these works.
This series was a good balance of biography, history, music theory, background on both the piece and the instruments used, and just good ol' Bobby Greenberg humor. Admittedly, I've never paid much attention to Mozart or his chamber music before, but now I am going to have to acquire recordings of some of these works.
May 2, 2025
Super great, I love this series and the narrators are so animated and passionate, it is so fun. This one rocked with all the history and the fun facts, but also the music! Only issue was I couldn’t listen to it on 1.5x because it made the music really weird, but still worth the listen.
December 4, 2021
Robert Greenberg’s exposition of Mozart’s chamber music and life as intertwined with the music is inspiring. One feels one has learned something stunningly good about the capacities of humankind.
July 28, 2017
Chamber music is for the connoisseur. There are very few resources available to amateur music lovers to study it, so this is priceless. Mozart's repertoire in the genre is unparalleled and Prof Greenberg does justice to it, by covering most of the major works that can be considered representative.
Of course, the Haydn quartets stand out as the crowning jewels, and their analysis forms the meat of this course, and it's as sumptuous and fulfilling as Mozart's music itself. Highly, highly recommended for students of classical music.
Of course, the Haydn quartets stand out as the crowning jewels, and their analysis forms the meat of this course, and it's as sumptuous and fulfilling as Mozart's music itself. Highly, highly recommended for students of classical music.
December 28, 2024
Audiobook/ lecture series with music synopses (is that the plural???) F'ing amazing. I mean he has good material to work with .... but.... Makes me want to start a string quartet. Can even do the piano trios. I can play the piano or viola part. Anyone with me? So .... so .... So many of his lecture does are dropping out of Audible plus at end of 2024 so I'm power listening to as many as i can. I'm crossing my fingers that they are cycling some of his others back in and not phasing them out altogether. That would be tragic. Have to use a credit?? I do have quite a few to spend so it wouldn't be the end of the world.
April 6, 2020
(NOTE: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book or a B. 3 stars means a very good book or a B+. 4 stars means an outstanding book or an A {only about 5% of the books I read merit 4 stars}. 5 stars means an all time favorite or an A+ {Only one of 400 or 500 books rates this!).
The great news is that I can listen to a book a day at work. The bad news is that I can’t keep up with decent reviews. So I’m going to give up for now and just rate them. I hope to come back to some of the most significant things I listen to and read them and then post a review.
The great news is that I can listen to a book a day at work. The bad news is that I can’t keep up with decent reviews. So I’m going to give up for now and just rate them. I hope to come back to some of the most significant things I listen to and read them and then post a review.
November 26, 2020
The 2004 Teacher Company Prof. Robert Greenberg 16 lectures on “Mozart’s Chamber Music” is exceptional. Robert’s enthusiasm, creative humor, and presentation insights are also captivating. The lectures dramatically increased my understanding of how to listen to classical music genres and how to better understand the power of compositional constructions such as instrumental introductions, bridges, themes, response, and codas to mention a few. These lectures are wonderful. (P)
July 24, 2023
Great lecture series. I guess it's in here as part of the word score outline that is published with each one of his lectures.
February 4, 2017
Negatives: This course was about 5 lectures too long. And--I really don't love Chamber Music all that much. The last 8 lectures were simply not on a par with the first 8.
On the plus side, I am sure no better lectures exist on the topic. There were many wonderful anecdotes about Mozart. Greenberg is always excellent. The course did inspire to download a lot of Mozart--some string quartets and some symphonies and an opera. Some of the first 10 lectures are great enough to listen to multiple times. I feel that I now have a better understanding, at least, of Chamber Music.
Although, if I never hear the word "recapitulation" spoken aloud again...I could live with that.
On the plus side, I am sure no better lectures exist on the topic. There were many wonderful anecdotes about Mozart. Greenberg is always excellent. The course did inspire to download a lot of Mozart--some string quartets and some symphonies and an opera. Some of the first 10 lectures are great enough to listen to multiple times. I feel that I now have a better understanding, at least, of Chamber Music.
Although, if I never hear the word "recapitulation" spoken aloud again...I could live with that.
August 13, 2015
Bravissimo!!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews