Discussion : "Classical Music; Early Abolitionist Art and Literature"

Respond to one of the following, using sources under the Explore heading as the basis of your response:

• Listen to one composition (for a symphony) by Haydn or Mozart, either at the Websites below or in this week's Music Folder. Identify the work that you have chosen, and describe the way in which the composition expresses the specific qualities of the Classical music style. Use the key terms from the textbook that are related to that particular music style, and explain what you like or admire about the work. Compare it to a specific modern musical work for which you might use the term "classic" or "classical".

• Explain whether you think an autobiographical or fictional account by a slave (such as Phillis Wheatley and Olaudah Equiano) is more persuasive than a biographical or fictional account by a white author (such as John Gabriel Stedman or AphraBehn). Explain whether you believe the representations of slavery in the visual arts (such as William Blake's illustrations, William Hackwood's cameo, or John Singleton Copley's painting) were more compelling and convincing of the injustices of slavery than the literary representations already mentioned. In your explanations, use specific examples and consider both audience and the content and nature of the work. Identify the literary or art form in modern times that you think is most effective at depicting injustice.

Explore:

Classical Music

• Chapter 25 (pp. 826-832), classical style described; examples; review the Week 3 "Music Folder"
• Haydn at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JESXMWrwzVQ
• Mozart at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hywOY9BS9tQ

Early Abolitionist Art & Literature

• Chapter 26 (pp. 870-2): Equiano, Stedman, Wheatley, Behn; Chapter 26 (pp. 877-879): Equiano and Behn
• Chapter 26 (pp. 870-873): Blake, Hackwood, Copley.