How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition

By: Robert Greenberg, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Robert Greenberg

Length: 36 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Great music is a language unto its own, a means of communication of unmatched beauty and genius. And it has an undeniable power to move us in ways that enrich our lives - provided it is understood.

If you have ever longed to appreciate great concert music, to learn its glorious language and share in its sublime pleasures, the way is now open to you, through this series of 48 wonderful lectures designed to make music accessible to everyone who yearns to know it, regardless of prior training or knowledge. It's a lecture series that will enable you to first grasp music's forms, techniques, and terms - the grammatical elements that make you fluent in its language - and then use that newfound fluency to finally hear and understand what the greatest composers in history are actually saying to us.

And as you learn the gifts given us by nearly every major composer, you'll come to know there is one we share with each of them - a common humanity that lets us finally understand that these were simply people speaking to us, sharing their passion and wanting desperately to be heard. Using digitally recorded musical passages to illustrate his points, Professor Greenberg will take you inside magnificent compositions by Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Verdi, Wagner, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, and more. Even if you have listened to many of these illustrative pieces throughout your life - as so many of us have - you will never hear them the same way again after experiencing these lectures.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2006 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2006 The Great Courses

It Doesn't Get Any Better!

I've spent the last four weeks immersed in this Great Course. I feel like I am coming away a changed, better person--enlightened, with my interest in classical music rekindled. I took an elective course in college many years ago, music listening, but I haven't experienced this type of music since then, with very few exceptions. This course changed all that.

Professor Greenberg is simply amazing. I feel really privileged to have the chance to listen to his 48 lectures. He is sharp as a tack--brilliant, actually. And he brings to it such enthusiasm and such a love of music! Add to this a sharp sense of humor that is ever-present and which gave me so many little bursts of laughter through out this marathon listen.

To add to the enjoyment of listening to great music excerpts, Professor Greenberg tells anecdotes of the individual composers' lives. This made them come alive for me--they were not just names to associate with music but actual people struggling with life like all of us. Very colorful people, indeed. How can I ever forget the story of Hector Berlioz' lusting romance with his "Henriette?" How can I not want to listen to the music of Liszt after learning his story?

Greenberg has succeeded here. I strongly recommended this audiobook if you want to reignite your interest in great music. It is educational but also pure fun!

One of the best Great Courses out there!

I have over 50 Teaching Company courses and this course is one the best. I'd rank it in the top 5 of all the TeachCo courses I have taken. Both educational and entertaining (frequently, downright funny), the course offers a broad survey of Western music starting in the Middle Ages up through the early 20th century.

I had listened to several of Professor Greenberg's other courses prior this one, and all of them are good. As a speaker, he has an engaging and accessible style, yet he is still able to deliver the pedagogic goods via inventive analogies and repetition, as needed, without making it feel dull or like you're in a classroom. (Or, if you are in classroom, it's like your favorite teacher of all-time.)

If you are interested in music and haven't experienced one of Professor Greenberg's courses, this is be a good one to start with because it will give you an idea of where you might like to dive deeper. I did it backwards, listening to some specific courses first (as an aside, the course on Bach is fantastic!) and then trying this survey course, but wish I had started with this one. Even as a survey, it is expansive - (48) 45-minute lectures - and greatly furthered my understanding of music.

This is just fantastic

Audio is the perfect format for this learning experience, and Greenberg is the perfect instructor. If you have any interest in Classical music, or desire to learn more about it, this is a very entertaining and enlightening listen.
I’ve listened to more than 600 Audible titles over the years, and I’m usually too lazy to bother to rate them, let alone write a review, but this one deserves special praise.

Outstanding. 3rd times' a charm!

Greenberg is brilliant, and I'm looking forward to his other programs in the series (of which there are many). Five stars - a full house - across the board.

Loved the narration

Had a lot of enjoyment listening to this rather long course. Although I have studied music academically before, I was able to see the history of music in a more broad way, taking into account the influences of language, culture, and even sociology on individual composers and their contemporaries. Listening to this gave me a new way of listening to concert music, and I am eager to learn more about my favorite compositions. I also have more insight into why I like my favorites, and why certain works seem to miss the mark, imho. I still don’t know how to objectively determine the aesthetic quality of a musical composition, but I guess that is a specialized course.

Engaging, Funny, Understandable for anyone

A very personable and definitely listenable speaker puts music in historical context. Super interesting, great teacher.

The course could not be better

I feel like I am a better human being for having listened to this course. I will keep and study the material, I will raise myself to better heights, I have a profoundly deeper understanding of everything now. And I was already pretty deep. No string of adjectives can do it justice.

Fabulous

Excellent overview of the evolution of Western music. I have such a greater understanding and appreciation for classical music.

Life-Changing Course

It is not an exaggeration to call this a life-changing course, at least for me. Before the course, I enjoyed classical music (concert music, excuse me), but I didn’t understand it or have an appreciation for the forms and history of it. Now I am equipped to enjoy this great music as a life-long fan to a higher degree than I could have before the course.

I stumbled upon the course when I thought “hey, Audible would be perfect for a music appreciation course.” I’m so glad I found it. Robert Greenberg is an outstanding instructor whose enthusiasm is contagious. I was sad that the course ended, but I’m excited to see that more courses from him are available, and I’m going to start one as soon as I finish writing this. I’m grateful for this course and for Robert Greenberg’s instruction.

For the love of all things holy, listen at 1.0x speed. Don’t rush it. Go to Spotify and listen to the complete pieces that were discussed in the lectures.

If you already are quite knowledgeable about concert music, this survey course may not be useful to you. But if you have an appreciation for it, without an understanding, this course is for you.

Whets the appetite for more

This survey course whets the appetite for more. A great starting point for anyone who wants to enjoy the greats but isn't sure where to begin, "How to Listen and Understand Great Music" leaves one with a budding understanding of composers, periods, and pieces and a desire to explore further.

I especially appreciated the history portions which gave a contextual background for understanding the composers and their works.

Robert Greenberg made the content appealling and approachable I will be listening to more courses from him in the future