Course Descriptions:
Liberal Arts

General Statement of Purpose: The goal of the liberal arts program at Curtis is to educate musicians as broadly and deeply as possible. Great musicians should be more than technically proficient; they should be greatly literate and widely informed as well. Specific objectives are the practice of rigorous and independent thinking; the pursuit of clear expression, both oral and written; the encouragement of creativity; and the mastering of learning itself. Students will study major works of literature, art, and philosophy and explore the historical contexts in which those works and ideas originated.

KEY TO COURSE LIST
	Odd-numbered courses generally meet in the fall and even-numbered courses meet in the spring.
	The designations "s.h." (semester hours) and "g.c." (graduate credits) indicate credit-hours given per term for undergraduate and graduate courses, respectively.
	Yearlong, two-semester courses are designated by hyphenated course numbers. Students must successfully complete both semesters of required yearlong courses to satisfy the graduation requirement.
	The symbol * indicates a liberal arts course that is not offered every year.

AESTHETICS/PHILOSOPHY
Aesthetics: The Nature and Experience of Art and Music
HUM 310*; 3 s.h.
Discussions of questions such as: What sorts of things are works of music, art, and literature? Can criticism in the arts be objective? Do such cultural entities answer to more than one admissible interpretation? Readings are drawn from contemporary philosophical works.

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ART HISTORY
Survey of Western Art ART 101–102*; 3 s.h./term
A two-semester survey of painting, sculpture, and architecture from ancient to modern times. Classwork includes field trips to Philadelphia museums and buildings.

Nineteenth-Century Art ART 201*; 3 s.h.
A study of the themes of leisure, work, and entertainment in
nineteenth-century art. Artists considered include J. F. Millet,
Honore Daumier, Edward Manet, Edgar Degas, Auguste Renoire,
Claude Monet, Georges Seurat, and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec,
within historical and cultural context.

Twentieth-Century Art ART 203*; 3 s.h.
A survey of major artists and movements of the twentieth century. The course explores how history, politics, and culture shape the making and meaning of art.

Italian Renaissance Art ART 231*; 3 s.h./term
A study of the emergence and development of one-point perspective and transformations in sculpture and architecture in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This course considers the major art centers of Florence, Rome, and Venice and artists such as Donatello, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Titian.

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ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
English: Intermediate to Advanced ENG 001–002; 3 hr./week
A noncredit course that concentrates on improving reading,
writing, and conversational skills, and increasing vocabulary.

English Conversation ENG 003–004; 1 hr./week
A noncredit conversation course, focusing on cultural differences
and building a vocabulary for everyday life. This course can be taken with or separately from ENG 001–002. Placement determined by interview.

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ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
Language and Literature ENG 101–102; 3 s.h./term
A course in writing, reading, and critical thinking, required of all students in the Bachelor of Music program. Students are introduced to a wide range of genres and periods of English and American literature.

Shakespeare LIT 111; 3 s.h.
An in-depth exploration of six of the plays of Shakespeare. The course includes a study of Shakespeare’s life and times.

Shakespeare and Others LIT 112*; 3 s.h.
A comparison of Shakespearean texts to those of other authors and librettists who have drawn on his work. The coursework includes attendance at a performance of a Shakespeare play or an opera based on his work, if possible.

Irish Literature LIT 117*; 3 s.h.
An in-depth study of the poetry, prose, and drama of Ireland.
Readings include Yeats, Joyce, Beckett, Ni Dhomnail, Boland,
O’Faolain, and Heaney. Several guest speakers are invited.

The Literature of War LIT 129*; 3 s.h.
A study of the fiction, poetry, and memoirs produced in the time of war. Both World Wars and the Vietnam War will be of particular interest in this course. Guest speakers are invited.

Modernism LIT 135; 3 s.h.
An exploration of canonical and noncanonical authors in the context of competing political and social paradigms at the turn of the century, with an aim to understand how modernism corresponds to changing views on mass production and mass movements, the machine, the body, and the human mind. In addition to works by James Joyce, T. S. Eliot, André Gide, and Gertrude Stein, the course will consider examples of modernist art and music, as well as the emergence of radio and cinema.

Greeks and Romans in Love LIT 164*; 3 s.h.
A yearlong introduction to classical literature and culture, focusing on the universal phenomenon of love.

Victorians Unlaced LIT 188*; 3 s.h.
The myths of the Victorian era re-examined through The Other Victorians by Steven Marcus, as well as the texts of major authors. Readings include Tennyson, Browning, George Eliot, Swinburne, Rossetti, Arnold, Hopkins, Wilde, and Walter Pater.

Ancient Drama Today LIT 222*; 3 s.h.
A study of the reception of Greek tragedy in twentieth-century
drama and film. Sets of works include plays or films by Aeschylus, Euripides, and Eugene O’Neill; Sophocles, Roman Polanski, and Kirk Browning; and Sophocles, Jean Anouilh, and Sofia Coppola.

Romanticism and the Romantic Poets LIT 225*; 3 s.h.
A study of the phenomenon called Romanticism through the poetry, theories, and biographies of Blake, the Wordsworths, Coleridge, Keats, and John Clare. The course also considers the painting, music, politics, and philosophy of the era.

Fiction Workshop LIT 301*; 3 s.h.
The writing of weekly stories in a variety of voices and forms
supplemented by reading and discussion of short fiction by such authors as Dinesen, Fitzgerald, Malamud, Conrad, Barthelme, Oates, Munro, and Carver. Guest authors speak to the class. Limited to ten students.

Drama Workshop LIT 306*; 3 s.h.
A study of the history and elements of theatrical expression
through improvisation and acting. The course also includes
playwriting and performance.

American Literature LIT 306*; 3 s.h.
A study of nineteenth-century American prose and poetry,
concentrating on Hawthorne, Melville, Dickinson, and James.

Poetry Workshop LIT 307*; 3 s.h.
A course in writing poetry and reading selections from the
finest poetry of the contemporary era.

Russian Literature in Translation LIT 323*; 3 s.h.
The rise of Russian prose and the novel in the nineteenth century during the struggle against serfdom and the transition to an urban industrial society and revolution. The course explores the texts' representations of the quest for freedom and social and moral justice. Texts include works by Pushkin, Lermontov, Turgenev, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Akhmatova.

The Rise of the Novel: British Literature of Empire
LIT 329*; 3 s.h.
A look at the development of the British novel, starting in the late eighteenth century. The course will focus on connections between the project of imperial expansion and the production of national identity through literary narratives. Readings include Behn, Defoe, Swift, Shelley, Brontë, and Conrad.

Postcolonial Perspectives: The Empire Writes Back
LIT 330*; 3 s.h.
A study of novels from former British colonies that respond to the British literary tradition. Readings include authors from Africa, South Asia, and the Caribbean.

Kierkegaard, Mozart, and Desire LIT 331*; 3 s.h.
A survey of philosophical, theological, and psychoanalytical
literature on the theme of desire/desire for the Other: human
objects of desire and the Divine Object of desire, conscious and unconscious desire, the mechanisms of desire, and desire as an index of the soul/psyche. Works included are by Kierkegaard, Plato, and Lacan.

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HISTORY
Western Civilization I HIS 101–102; 3 s.h./term
A study of the evolution of the West from remote antiquity to the end of the Middle Ages. Required of all students in the Bachelor of Music program.

Western Civilization II HIS 109–110*; 3 s.h./term
An elective course that presents a continuation of Western
Civilization I from the Italian Renaissance to the present. Europe will be emphasized but not to the exclusion of Western Civilization transplanted to areas like America, Africa, and Australia due to colonialism.

History of the United States HIS 121–122*; 3 s.h./term
A yearlong course in American history from pre-Columbian
times to the present.

American History since the Reconstruction
HIS 123–124*; 3 s.h./term
A yearlong course on American history from 1877 forward, offering an in-depth focus on the last 125 years.

America and the World since 1945 HIS 201–202*; 3 s.h./term
An examination of America, as well as world history, since the
end of World War II.

The Civil War Era HIS 321*; 3 s.h./term
A semester course on the American Civil War, including the prelude to the Civil War in the 1850s, the Reconstruction period, and an emphasis on the war years themselves, 1861 to 1865.

The World War II Era HIS 322*; 3 s.h./term
A semester course on mankind's greatest war and tragedy,
covering the prelude to the war and the war years.

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HUMANITIES
Introduction to Psychology HUM 110*; 3 s.h.
A survey of major concepts and applications of psychology in the worlds of science, human behavior, medicine, counseling, the arts, and everyday life. Students will learn how to read and critically evaluate many sources of information about psychology and gain a greater understanding of traditional and contemporary research, theory, and practice. Special attention will be given to the application of psychology to the performing artist and the creative process.

MODERN LANGUAGE
French Conversation I and II FRE 101–102; 3 s.h./term
A practical approach to learning French, stressing oral communication, the understanding of spoken French, and basic fluency in everyday situations.

German Conversation I and II GER 101–102; 3 s.h./term
Introduction to sounds, vocabulary, and structure of the language. Listening, comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing are developed simultaneously.

Italian I and II ITL 101–102*; 3 s.h./term
Lessons in how to understand, speak, read, and write the Italian language. Includes discussions of Italian culture.

French Conversation III and IV FRE 201–202*; 3 s.h./term
A thorough grammar review with a standard textbook, grammatically based conversation drills, reading, and vocabulary
building. The course also includes a brief survey of French literature, primarily poetry, plus one or two twentieth-century French novels.

German Tutorial GER 201–202; 3 s.h./term
A review of German conversation and grammar. Prerequisite
GER 101–102 or equivalent. The course emphasizes vocabulary and idiom, as well as active mastery of grammatical forms.

Italian III and IV ITL 201–202*; 3 s.h./term
A course in expanding vocabulary by reading and listening to stories, viewing films and videos, and discussing topical issues.
Placement by interview with the instructor.

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SCIENCE
Acoustics SCI 102*; 3 s.h.
An introduction to the physics of sound: auditory perception, acoustical properties of musical instruments, architectural design, tuning and temperaments, and sound production. The emphasis is on teaching students to understand the acoustics of their own instruments.

Computer Applications for Musicians SCI 301–302; 3 s.h.
Preparation in the use of Finale to create scores and parts, an
introduction to the use of Sibelius, and instruction in preparing
PowerPoint presentations. In the process, keyboarding and word-processing skills are reviewed and reinforced.

Sound Technology for Musicians SCI 316; 3 s.h./term
A look at the evolution of sound recording, from before Edison to the present; the impact of microphone selection on sound recording; the role of room acoustics on sound recording; and digital audio editing, among other topics. Each student will have a digital audio project for the term.

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