Modern Music: 1900-1960
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this survey of Western concert music from 1900 to 1960, tracing continuity and change across the first six decades of the twentieth century. The course listens closely to major works of the period while asking harder questions about reception and historiography: why music written closer to our own time can feel more foreign than Mozart or Beethoven, and whether serious concert music of this era connects to popular music or stands apart from it. Topics include serialism and aleatory technique, followed past 1960 where relevant, while minimalism and computer music are left to a companion course. Materials include listening assignments, lecture notes, and readings drawn from MIT's actual syllabus, free to access with no certificate offered. Suited to students who already have some grounding in music history or theory.