About the Course
Gain a deeper appreciation of four major composers of the early Romantic era, and see how great literature can inspire musical masterpieces. In the process, you will attain a broader understanding of the connection between these two life-enhancing art forms.
Composers of the Romantic era often drew upon literary subjects to expand the coloristic and expressive range of their music. In this series we will explore how Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Hector Berlioz, and Franz Liszt transformed the writings of their favorite authors—including Shakespeare, Goethe, Byron, and Hugo—into exciting and innovative musical works.
Among the pieces we will discuss are Mendelssohn’s music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Schumann’s Manfred and Scenes from Faust, Berlioz’s Harold in Italy and Romeo and Juliet, and Liszt’s Faust Symphony.
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How This Course Works
How the Course Works
This course is interactive and discussion-driven, so enrollment is limited. Register early to secure your spot.
The course is held live on a video conferencing app called Zoom, which you can download for free here. Sessions are video recorded, so if you miss a session (or want to review), you can watch the recording.
The course is 6 hours long, consisting of 4 sessions of 1.5 hours each. Homework assignments are optional. Doing them may require an additional hour or more per week but will greatly enhance what you learn in this course.
Course handouts and supplementary materials are delivered via email. Course participants are invited to an exclusive OSI Courses group on Facebook, where they can post questions and engage in discussions with the instructor and other participants.
Have a question that wasn’t answered here? Read our FAQ or email us at [email protected].
Frequently Asked Questions
OSI courses are live, interactive, and discussion-driven, so enrollment is limited. Register early to secure your spot.
Courses are held on Zoom, and sessions are recorded, so if you miss a session (or want to review), you can watch the recording. You can download Zoom for free here.
Courses vary in length. And some involve homework. Please see the specific course pages for details.
Course handouts and supplementary materials are delivered via email (please register with an active email address). Participants have access to an exclusive OSI Courses group on Facebook.
Zoom is a free video-conferencing app that we use to conduct our courses. You can download it here.
Sessions are video recorded, so if you miss a session (or want to review), you can watch the recording. That said, we highly recommend attending each live session so that you can ask questions and engage with your instructor(s) and other participants.
If you do miss a session, we recommend that you watch the recording before attending the next session.
Anyone aged 29 or younger may apply for an OSI scholarship to cover the full cost of a course. For information on how the scholarships work, please visit our Scholarships page.
You can see all current and past courses here.
If you have a question that isn’t answered in the FAQ or course description, please email us at [email protected].
