As a student who was initially skeptical about the subject of this course being confined within 10 years of music history in a single city, it’s quite an understatement to say that I was proven wrong in these worries. There has been so much to unpack from Music in Paris in the 1920s. from the neoclassicism of Stravinsky’s Octet, to the gender expression of Les Biches, to the negrophilic craze of Josephine Baker, this class has covered it all.
The aspect of this class that I am the most proud of is the 3 papers that we have written throughout the semester, and I found that through research and writing for these papers, my knowledge about the 1920s Paris has compounded on top of itself. For example, my first paper is written on Francis Poulenc, and argues that he is a poseur who copies the music of other composers. I used Francis Poulenc’s Concert Champêtre to argue this point, and then I went on to write my third essay on that same exact piece, which argued the opposite point!
That being said, the most common course concept that wallows within these essays is that of nationalism. The nationalistic lens found its way into my essays because it makes the most sense to me. I am able to craft convincing and well flowing arguments, apparently on both sides on coin.
On that note, I like the fact that I went quite far into the nationalistic lens and not far into the other course themes for these essays. In my opinion, it has been more beneficial for my learning and my writing skills to have been focused on one course concept, and feel like I’ve knocked it out of the park, than to have half-complete knowledge of multiple course concepts (not that I don’t know anything about gender, race, class, etc… I just didn’t delve as deep into those for my essays)
One aspect of class that I wish I had taken more advantage of is the listenings that were assigned along with readings. I would often play these pieces in the background while I was reading, or I would just listen to a small amount of the piece. Retrospectively, the listenings that we did in class were always beneficial to my understandings, and it was always really neat to hear a primary source.
My three papers, for reference or if you are interested 🙂