Leonard Bernstein
Director
The Unanswered Question - Six Talks at Harvard by Leonard Bernstein (1976)
Season 1
The 1973 Norton Lectures by Leonard Bernstein, presented at his alma mater Harvard University, explores all types of music, including: folk music, pop songs, symphonies, tonal and atonal works; all taught by legendary master composer and conductor, Leonard Bernstein.
Released Jan. 11, 1976
Episode 793 min
None+
Country: United States
Languages:
English
S1E1 - Musical Phonology
Phonology is the linguistic study of sounds, or phonemes. Bernstein's application of this term to music results in what he calls "musical phonology."
Jan. 11, 1976, midnight
S1E2 - Musical Syntax
Syntax refers to the study of the structural organization of a sentence, or as Bernstein summarizes, "the actual structures that arise from that phonological stuff" (p. 9). In addition to syntax, lecture 2 relies on Chomsky's theory of universal grammar, which states that innate mental processes take place to transform sounds and words into meaningful structures.
Jan. 18, 1976, midnight
S1E3 - Musical Semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning in language, and Bernstein's third lecture, "musical semantics", accordingly, is Bernstein's first attempt to explain meaning in music. Although Bernstein defines musical semantics as "meaning, both musical and extramusical" (p. 9) this lecture focuses exclusively on the "musical" version of meaning.
Jan. 25, 1976, midnight
S1E4 - The Delights and Dangers of Ambiguity
Bernstein provides two distinct meanings of the term ambiguity.
Feb. 1, 1976, midnight
S1E5 - The Twentieth Century Crisis
Lecture 5 picks up at the early twentieth century with an oncoming crisis in Western Music. As these lectures have traced the gradual increase and oversaturation of ambiguity, Bernstein now designates a point in history that took ambiguity too far. Twelve-tone music emerges as one potential solution to the crisis, but Bernstein considers this idiom so ambiguous that it destroys the all-important balance between clarity and ambiguity.
Feb. 8, 1976, midnight
S1E6 - The Poetry of Earth
This lecture takes its name from a line in John Keats' poem, "On the Grasshopper and Cricket". Bernstein does not discuss Keats' poem directly in this chapter, but he provides his own definition of the poetry of earth, which is tonality. Tonality is the poetry of earth because of the phonological universals discussed in lecture 1. This lecture discusses predominantly Stravinsky, whom Bernstein considers the poet of earth.
Feb. 15, 1976, midnight
Episode Runtime: 793 min.
Season Runtime: 793 min.
Released: Jan. 11, 1976
Last Air Date: Feb. 15, 1976, midnight
Status: Ended
Certification: NR
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