The scandal over modern music has not died--while paintings by Picasso and Pollock sell for millions of dollars, works from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring onward still send ripples of unease through audiences. Yet the influence of modern music can be felt everywhere. Avant-garde sounds populate the soundtracks of Hollywood thrillers. Minimalist music has had a huge effect on rock, pop, and dance music from the Velvet Underground onward. Music critic...

Presents lectures delivered by Bart D. Ehrman on the "man behind the myth," Jeus of Nazereth. Includes an analysis of his life and times from a historical perspective.

Gulliver's strange adventures in some of the most unusual lands ever imagined have made this one of the rare classics with an enduring and wide-ranging appeal to all ages. Gulliver's bad luck at sea not only gets him shipwrecked and castaway, but repeatedly throws him into strange societies of even stranger people. Readers are likely aware of Gulliver's experiences in Lilliput, where he meets a kingdom of six-inch-tall people with a set of prejudices...

24 lectures exploring the range and history of the concerto from its beginnings in the late 1600s through the twentieth century.

In this course, Wheaton College professor Michael D.C. Drout examines the roots of fantasy and the works that have defined the genre, providing insight into beloved works and a better understanding of why fantasy is such a pervasive force in modern culture.

An edition of Shakespeare's play, including discussion of its plot, characters, themes, language, production, and author. The Cambridge School Shakespeare series arises out of the research and development work of Shakespeare and School Project. Each play in the series has been carefully edited to enable students to inhabit Shakespeare's imaginative world in accessible and creative ways.

Arguably William Shakespeare's most influential play, Hamlet portrays a young Prince's dilemma in choosing between moral integrity and the need for revenge following the murder of his father. Dealing with themes of love, death and revenge, Hamlet is a rich and complex tragedy that continues to entertain audiences around the world today.

Presents a collection of twenty poems written in tribute to well-known poets from around the world. Newbery Medalist and a Caldecott Honoree offer a glorious, lyrical ode to poets who have sparked a sense of wonder. Out of gratitude for the poet's art form, Newbery Award-winning author and poet Kwame Alexander, along with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth, present original poems that pay homage to twenty famed poets who have made the authors'...

Presents an overview of jazz, its elements, and its history. Includes performances by various jazz artists.

Rather than a chronological survey of musical history, this course focuses on the development of listening skills. Examines the fundamentals of sound, line, time and texture, as well as, formal schemes such as theme and variation, rondo, sonata, and fugue.