The Phenomenology of Love in Music

Love is everywhere—it has been the key concept literally in all religious and philosophical doctrines from the ancient times until nowadays. The bond between god and human (according to Plato) is a genuine reason for the coming of Christ, and love has analogously been the essence and the core in music works of all times, wrapped in different philosophies, faiths, political, social and cultural contexts, reflecting on the Weltanschauung music creators and commissionaires. The compositions of Handel and Monteverdi, Gluck and Beethoven, Schubert and Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Scriabin, or Jimmy Hendrix and the Beatles represent wide-ranging visions of love implanted in their individual music styles and aesthetics — from Enlightenment and Romanticism to post-humanism and hippy (they are studied by methodology of evolutionary musicology). The course therefore constructs a survey accomplishing the many phenomenological faces of love in music, enabling students to discuss and write papers on the topic within the chosen area of interest and specialization. The course does not require close specialization in music and is open to everyone interested in music and its representation of love.