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

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

By: Robert Greenberg, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Robert Greenberg
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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.

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

What listeners say about How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition

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A treat for ears and heart

Would you consider the audio edition of How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition to be better than the print version?

Yes, although this is quite a loaded question. When talking about music the ability to listen to the actual pieces being discussed is infinitely better than reading about what the notes sound like.

What was one of the most memorable moments of How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition?

Hearing Guillaume de Machaut's "Quant en moy" from the 14th century - it captivated me almost instantly and Greenberg's wonderful way of explaining it made me realise there is so much to music from previous ages I have little or no knowledge about.

Which character – as performed by Professor Robert Greenberg – was your favourite?

Not really applicable as this is no fictional "book". However, Professor Greenberg is the key to the whole course. His enthusiasm for the subject is embedded in every lecture and without him it would simply not work. Perfect mix between detail, humor and lecturing.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I might want to but at 48 lectures it is simply too long! Also, pauses are highly recommended to reflect on the various topics.

Any additional comments?

Even though 48 lectures might sound daunting at first, I would recommend this course to anyone interested in learning more about (concert) music. What makes this course work is not just the way it is structured - leading through the history of music from ancient times to the early 20th century - but most of all the enthusiastic lecturer, Robert Greenberg.

I found it a joy to listed to him and am now actively seeking out composers such as Josquin des Prez or Guillaume de Machaut. Before this course I had never heard of either of them. But also well known pieces become much more "understandable" (Beethoven's 5th, Hayden's symphonies, even Schoenberg!).

Greenberg follows the simple (sounding) principle that music is a mirror of its time; he uses this guideline to explain music throughout the ages.

It is not a cheap audiobook but this is where a credit becomes the payment of choice!

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33 people found this helpful

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Entertaining and Informative

I was slightly apprehensive about downloading this course of 48 lectures. Would I be able to complete them all? Would they be too technical for a non-musician? I needn't have worried. Robert Greenberg is a wonderfully entertaining narrator whose enthusiasm for the music he is discussing is infectious and whose humorous asides and witty anecdotes often made me laugh out loud. The course is never boring. It helps one to hear the classics with new ears - for example, I will never be able to hear Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique again without being reminded of Erectile Dysfunction - as well as introducing the listener - well, this listener, at least - to music that would not exactly be top of the concert hall charts (I'm looking at you, Arnold Schoenberg). All in all, thoroughly enjoyable and very informative. I would recommend it to anyone keen to get a greater understanding of great music.

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19 people found this helpful

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Best introduction into music

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely. I never appreciated any form of concert music (see I've already leant not to call it classical) before. I was aware of nice melodies i had heard in everyday life; in tv commercials, in the movies etc. I knew it existed, but I never understood it. I can now proudly boast to know a little bit, and it made me seek this type of music out, and enjoy it.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the chronological presentation of the history of music from the simplicity of the early days the the more complex forms that developed over time. Each period is nicely explained and accompanied with significant non-musical historical stories which I knew nothing about. So in a way you also get a bit of a history lesson.

Which character – as performed by Professor Robert Greenberg – was your favourite?

Bach and Mozart

Any additional comments?

Life-enriching. Thank you.

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12 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Impossible to listen to this lecturer

What didn’t you like about Professor Robert Greenberg’s performance?

Why does the man have to shout at me. I felt I was being harangued by an over-the-top ham actor from a bad melodrama. What he had to say (judging by the notes) was splendid; but after three lectures I could take no more . . .

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7 people found this helpful

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Only 1 chapter in and I'm adding a review!

I've only listened to 1 chapter so far and yet feel a desire to add a review already. The speaker is passionate, engaging and humorous. The content exciting and thought provoking.

Whether my review will stay the same after the next 47 chapters I don't know. I haven't listened to audio books on music before and so this was a risk. One that I'm glad I took!

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5 people found this helpful

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Outstanding Lecture Programme

Would you listen to How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition again? Why?

Truly fantastic! I have just finished to this series of lectures (almost in one sitting - that how good the course was). Professor Greenberg is incredibly knowledgeable, as you would expect, but also hugely engaging. The structure of the lectures was absolutely right for me - without treating the audience as novices, Prof Greenberg manages to tell you all the stuff that you might not know, with subtlety, as well as all the stuff that you really want to know. The production is very polished without being too obviously so. I would recommend to anyone who wants to learn more about concert music and understand it better - it certainly worked for me. I shall be investing in many more of Professor Greenberg's courses.

What was one of the most memorable moments of How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition?

Getting to understand the context in which great composers lived and worked.

Have you listened to any of Professor Robert Greenberg’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Not yet, but I certainly will be!

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

The Greatest Lecture Programme ever!

Any additional comments?

A big, big thank you to Robert Greenberg for taking the trouble to share his tremendous knowledge and experience with me in this way!

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32 hours is not enough!

Robert Greenberg goes on massive tangents at times and can get very effusive. He can also be ridiculously pedantic (getting upset with people saying concertos instead of concerti). In a 32 hour series, he says there is no time to explain the difference between a major and minor key (although he spends hours waffling on about the Italian language).

There are bound to be issues with what he misses out. We have two lectures on Beethoven's 5th, but the 9th hardly gets a mention. The whole series is heavily weighted towards the Baroque and Classical eras. He seems to rush his way through the late nineteenth century and the coverage of the twentieth century is very light (Shostakovich is barely mentioned!).

Overall though it's very good, especially for Bach and Mozart.

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4 people found this helpful

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An absolute triumph!

Words can't express how much I've enjoyed this course. Professor Green berg's enthusiasm for music is infectious.

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4 people found this helpful

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Excellent

Where does How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is one of the most interesting, engaging and compelling listens that I've had.

What did you like best about this story?

The mixture of historical context and musical theory together with audible examples.

What about Professor Robert Greenberg’s performance did you like?

Greenberg's enthusiasm for his subject together with his humour.

Any additional comments?

Audible considers the additional course literature as "unnecessary" to listening to the course. I disagree. Certainly the word scores referred to would be invaluable.

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Brilliant Lecture and Course content

This lecturer has done a fantastic job of making the course material engaging in a purely audio format. supporting material is available and helpful but I listened to the entire course and did not struggle to follow or be engaged.

As a complete novice to musical theory and just a casual listener, I feel this course gave brilliant context to the cultural impacts of European music, and impacts of culture on that music.

The lecture was enthusiastic and funny and the course followed a linear progression which for me helped tie everything together. Some audio lectures feel like the person is just reading a book, or reading a PowerPoint you can't see and you're missing out. This series is not like that and definitely one of the best I've listened to!

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3 people found this helpful