Professor Gil Harel will give a talk about the music of John Williams on Thursday, Jan. 18, at Darien Library. — an announcement from Darien Library
Perhaps no composer in the canon of cinematic music has had a more prolific career than John Williams. Indeed, over the past seven decades, Williams’ music seems nearly ubiquitous in films spanning a veritable cornucopia of genres. What, can we surmise, is the secret to his success? Among his many gifts as a composer, John Williams is a master of the musical leitmotif – melodic cells that provide an aural reference to a character, place, object, or idea in a given story.
Professor Gil Harel will give a talk about the music of John Williams on Thursday, Jan. 18, at Darien Library. — an announcement from Darien Library
Perhaps no composer in the canon of cinematic music has had a more prolific career than John Williams. Indeed, over the past seven decades, Williams’ music seems nearly ubiquitous in films spanning a veritable cornucopia of genres. What, can we surmise, is the secret to his success? Among his many gifts as a composer, John Williams is a master of the musical leitmotif – melodic cells that provide an aural reference to a character, place, object, or idea in a given story.
Learn about Johan Sebastian Bach, one of the world’s greatest composers from Gil Harel, a musicologist and music theorist, in a series of four Tuesday night talks starting July 9 at Darien Library. — This article adapts various Darien Library announcements and information from elsewhere, as noted. Harel’s lectures, meant for the general public, cover Bach from his early years to his quest for musical perfection. Though under appreciated in his own time, later generations would come to venerate his music in a way that Bach himself surely could never have fathomed. Each lecture starts at 7 p.m.
Darien Library will make each lecture available in an online video here, as it has with has with Harel’s past lectures, including his series on Beethoven, Mozart and liturgical music.
Darien Library presents a new four-week, Tuesday lecture series on music and faith taught by Gil Harel. (Watch his previous lectures.) All lectures take place from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Community Room at Darien Library. — an announcement from Darien Library
Music, Religion, and the Modern Era: Leonard Bernstein
For many listeners, classical music of the 20th century is polarizing. Beginning with composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg, dissonance and instability began to supplant traditional approaches to melody and harmony. This new and somewhat radical style was applied to seemingly every style of music, from ballet to chamber music to concerti, as well as religious music.
Darien Library presents a new four-week, Tuesday lecture series on music and faith taught by Gil Harel. (Watch his previous lectures.) All lectures take place from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Community Room at Darien Library. — an announcement from Darien Library
From Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis to Verdi’s Requiem
Beethoven’s name does not immediately conjure up church music, and yet the composer himself was said to have considered his Missa Solemnis to be among his finest works. This “Solemn Mass” is a testament to the composer’s ambition (the work clocks in at over 80 minutes and present the performers with significant challenges), as well as his dedication to mastering the styles of the past. In Verdi’s Requiem, we have a curious example of a non-operatic work created by a composer associated almost exclusively with opera.
Darien Library presents a new four-week, Tuesday lecture series on music and faith taught by Gil Harel. (Watch his previous lectures.) All lectures take place from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Community Room at Darien Library. — an announcement from Darien Library
Liturgical Music in the Age of Enlightenment: Mozart and Haydn
European society changed dramatically in the second half of the 18th century, and as it did, so did the role of music in the church. In this era where philosophers touted the supremacy of reason over dogma, liturgical music often took on the characteristics of then-contemporary music. In this era, melody was king and simple, homophonic textures prevailed.
Darien Library presents a new four-week, Tuesday lecture series on music and faith taught by Gil Harel. (Watch his previous lectures.) All lectures take place from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Community Room at Darien Library, starting this Tuesday, Nov. 20. — an announcement from Darien Library
The Renaissance to J.S. Bach
This Tuesday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m.
The study of what scholars call “early music” is dominated by the works of composers whose faith informed and inspired their creativity.
Darien Library presents a new four-week, Tuesday lecture series on music and faith taught by Gil Harel. (Watch his previous lectures.) All lectures take place from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Community Room at Darien Library, starting this Tuesday, Nov. 20. — announcements from Darien Library
The Renaissance to J.S. Bach
This Tuesday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m.
The study of what scholars call “early music” is dominated by the works of composers whose faith informed and inspired their creativity.
Darien Library presents the first of four one-hour lectures on Beethoven. The series continues on Wednesday nights in July through Aug. 1. The presenter, musicologist Gil Harel, has won awards for his college teaching. — an announcement from Darien Library
The lectures are from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Community Room of Darien Library on the four Wednesdays from July 11 to Aug.
Join Darien Library for a this four-week series on Beethoven by Gil Harel, a musicologist and award-winning educator who has taught at CUNY Baruch College and Naguatuck Valley Community College. Each presentation takes place from 7 to 8 p.m. on a Wednesday in July. — from Darien Library announcements
About the Presenter
Gil Harel (PhD, Brandeis University) is a musicologist and music theorist whose interests include styles ranging from classical repertoire to jazz and popular music, as gwell as opera, medieval, and renaissance music. Previously, he has served on the faculty at CUNY Baruch College, where he was awarded the prestigious “Presidential Excellence Award for Distinguished Teaching”, as well as the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in Chengdu, China. Currently, he teaches at Naugatuck Valley Community College, where he was recently presented with the coveted “Merit Award for Exemplary Service to the College.”
