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Nordic National Romanticism:
Upper-level Survey Course Fall 2010
Instructor: Associate Professor Cynthia M. Grund
Links to:
Course Description
The core period for the philosophical and idea-historical movement in Western thought known as Romanticism is characteristically dated from the late 18th century through the mid 19th century. Its influence, however, reaches far beyond this historical period and may still be keenly felt in contemporary culture.
The article entry for "Romanticism" in the current online Encyclopedia Britannica provides the following succinct overview:
Among the characteristic attitudes of Romanticism were the following: a deepened appreciation of the beauties of nature; a general exaltation of emotion over reason and of the senses over intellect; a turning in upon the self and a heightened examination of human personality and its moods and mental potentialities; a preoccupation with the genius, the hero, and the exceptional figure in general, and a focus on his passions and inner struggles; a new view of the artist as a supremely individual creator, whose creative spirit is more important than strict adherence to formal rules and traditional procedures; an emphasis upon imagination as a gateway to transcendent experience and spiritual truth; an obsessive interest in folk culture, national and ethnic cultural origins, and the medieval era; and a predilection for the exotic, the remote, the mysterious, the weird, the occult, the monstrous, the diseased, and even the satanic.
This upper-level multi-disciplinary course will focus on the way Romanticism came to be manifested in Nordic contexts, particularly in the form commonly known as Nordic National Romanticism. The comparison and contrast of the way this movement has impacted on the intellectual climate, cultural life and self-understanding of each of the five Nordic countries yields important historical and contemporary insights into specific characteristics which often are nearly taken for granted as being typically Nordic, even to this day. Reflection on the role still played by Nordic National Romanticism in contemporary Nordic culture provides an important exercise in conceptual analysis, cross-discliplinary research and understanding of the interplay between local, culture-internal self-understanding and global, external interpretation of what it is that delineates the Nordic area as a region with a unique cultural profile.
The course will commence with a general overview of Romanticism, moving on to National Romanticism as exemplifed in Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and Icelandic contexts. Although the focus of this course will be on the manner in which Nordic National Romanticism came to be manifested in philosophy and music, we will make use of the rich supply of online multimedia resources in order not to lose sight of the impact of Nordic National Romanticism on art, literature, architecture, theatre and politics. When possible, exemplification through live musical performance will be integrated as part of the course.
The course will be conducted in English.
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Institute of Philosophy,
Education and the Study
of Religions
Research Director for
The Aesthetics of
Music and Sound:
and
Editor and Webmaster for
www.soundmusicresearch.org:
Cynthia M. Grund
cmgrund@ifpr.sdu.dk
Updates
June 30, 2010: NordForsk awards a grant of 571,239 Norwegian kroner to NNIMIPA for 2010-2013.
The Nordic Network for the Integration of Music Informatics, Performance and Aesthetics (NNIMIPA - www.nnimipa.org) becomes a research network under NordForsk (www.nordforsk.org) on September 1, 2010. Nordforsk contacted chief applicant Cynthia M. Grund on June 30 to announce the award of 571,239 Norwegian kroner (ca. 535,000 Danish kroner/88,000 US dollars) for 2010-2013. The decision was made by the director of NordForsk following an evaluation carried out by a panel of independent experts.
June 23,2010: Summary report chronicling William Westney's tenure as HCA-Academy Guest Professor at SDU now available on the menu tab "HCA Professor 2009-10" here on this site. As the summary report indicates, William Westney's presence as HCA-Academy Guest Professor has put its very exciting imprimatur on many of the acitivities within The Aesthetics of Music and Sound this year, and a heartfelt "thank you" goes to Professor Westney for all he has done to enrich the program. To see all that has transpired - also those activities and events without direct relation to the guest professorship - please see the calendar available on the "Events/Calendar" menu tab on this site (on the calendar itself, click the leftward-pointing arrow next to "Today.")
Now the summer university break is soon upon us, but please keep an eye out for upcoming events and activities within The Aesthetics of Music and Sound on both the "Preview" and "Events/Calendar" menu tabs.
The Aesthetics of Music and Sound wishes everyone a happy, healthy summer filled with wonderful music and sounds!
June 13, 2010: Preview tab added to the site's menu bar in order to inform about upcoming events, also those for which a date has yet to be fixed.
For all that has gone on in May 2010 and previously, please see "Archive for 'Updates' " below and the calendar available on the menu tab "Events/Calendar."
May 31, 2010: For details on the June 2, 2010 Seminar on meaning formation in music from the perspectives of multi-modality and functional linguistics at SDU with William Westney and Cynthia M. Grund, please see here.
Archive
for "Updates": Click here.
(Includes the description of the SDU-IFPR research program The Aesthetics of Music and Sound which initially appeared online in Danish as Musikkens og Lydens Aestetik during the fall of 2006.)
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