A wide shot of a ceramics studio, featuring students working with pottery wheels and other tools.

Katarzyna Grochowska

Assistant Professor, Adjunct

Bio

BA, 1988, Zielona Gora State Music School, Poland; MA, 1994, Catholic University of Lublin, Poland; Ph.D., 2013, University of Chicago. Publications: Polish Musicological Journal, European Meetings in Ethnomusicology, Proceedings of International Musicology Conference, Cracow. Awards: The Kosciuszko Foundation Fellowship; Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Fellowship, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Institute Fellowship, Wadmond fellowship, University of Chicago; First Prize in the Wilk Essay Contest, University of Southern California.

Current Interests

My lifelong passion is medieval culture, in particular its music, arts, architecture, monasticism, liturgy, and Biblical studies. In my research I focus on 13th-century musical practices extracting evidence from manuscripts, which I explore as unique pieces of art with both visual and audible aspects interlocked.

I am listening to music for coherent concept and unexpected use of elements such as colors, rhythm, harmony, etc. Thus, composers who catch my imagination come from all historical periods and backgrounds: Handel, Scarlatti, Beethoven, Villa-Lobos, Sofia Gubaidulina, Gloria Coates, Arvo Part. The music I am never tired of is that of J.S. Bach. I am also excited about the new trend of discovering and reviving composers and repertories completely unknown (for example, Pancrace Royer, Giovanni Kapsberger, Alonso Mudarra). I incorporate these new discoveries into the fabric of my lectures.

Courses

Title Department Catalog Term

Description

This course surveys over 2,000 years of music in Western civilization. Historical, cultural, and social contexts are studied as they pertain to the music. After an introduction to the Greeks (8th century BCE), music such as medieval chants, motets, Renaissance masses, madrigals, Baroque concertos, operas, and Classical symphonies (ca. up to 1800) are studied. Lectures trace the changes from vocal to instrumental practices with closer looks at some representative period instruments. Biographies are used to demonstrate social, educational and geo-political changes, which shaped the final results of composers' creativity: music. European musical centers -- Paris, Venice, and Vienna -- and their musical establishments receive special attention. Students learn a macro-level music vocabulary and are encouraged to use it in their discourse. Each lecture is structured around a composition that exemplifies the most salient features of a particular period. Listening and reading is required before each lecture. Students are assigned two short essays (6 pages each) as well as a midterm and a final exam that focus on listening skills and understanding/usage of music vocabulary.

Class Number

1644

Credits

3

Description

This course is a survey of Western music from Beethoven to Mahler with emphasis on musical style, form, and nationalistic tendencies in historical, cultural, and social contexts. Each lecture focuses on a particular composition, composer, or genre. The intrinsic form of the Romantic era sonata--allegro is examined through the lens of a symphony, sonata, concerto, and string quartet. This course addresses issues such as the role of the opera; connections/influences between composers, writers, poets, painters and their impact on music history; small-scale home music making; and the developments of the 19th-century symphony. Students learn how to listen analytically to 19th-century music and are encouraged to use a macro-level music vocabulary in their discourse. Composers include Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Paganini, Mussorgsky, Bizet, Berlioz, Smetana, Rimsky-Korsakov, Verdi, Wagner, Brahms, and Mahler. Prior to lectures, students will watch documentaries and read short articles. This course also places a strong emphasis on listening to music and describing it. Two exams, a midterm and a final, focus on listening skills. Two short essays (6 page each) allow students to talk about music experiences and to use their acquired music vocabulary.

Class Number

1552

Credits

3

Description

Standard textbooks of European music have long emphasized their commitment towards studying the Western part of the continent. When it comes to the eastern region of the mainland, no such textbook exists. The scholarly marginalization of Eastern Europe�s cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity contributes to negligence and underappreciation of the region. The purpose of this course is to examine the history and arts at several sites in this region and to listen to its music. Through this approach, we will examine cultural identities such as Greek, Byzantine, Slavic, Eastern Orthodox, Russian, Jewish, Ottoman, and Romani. We will visit historical and contemporary sites such as Kaliningrad, Kiev, Cracow, Prague, Budapest, Istanbul, Zagreb, and Ljubljana. We will also listen to �classical� music of Romanians, Poles, Russians, and Hungarians as well as to �folk� music from Transylvania, the Balkans, and the Baltic states. The music repertoire of this course spans from medieval Polish and Hungarian manuscripts to the late 20th-century Estonian (Arvo Part) and Russian (Sofia Gubaidulina) composers.

Class Number

1505

Credits

3