METROPOLITAN OPERA: “Marriage of FIgaro,” Monday evening Nov. 23, 8:00
Since you all have tickets, we will meet at our seats, not outside the theater. The Metropolitan Opera House is at Lincoln Center, 65th Street and Columbus Avenue, Manhattan. #1 train to 66th St.; A,B,C,D to Columbus Circle (59th St.), and walk north on Broadway.
For the “subtitles” on the back of your seat, press the orange button when the performance starts. You’ll know when to settle down, because the chandeliers all around the auditorium will start rising up the ceiling (so as not to block anyone’s view), dimming as they go. After that, don’t talk, and keep phones off.
Dress advisory: As mentioned in class, Monday night is “formal night” at the Met, and some people will be in evening dress, mainly in the orchestra and first balcony (“box seats”). We are sitting in the rear of the orchestra. You don’t need to wear a tuxedo or an evening gown, but of all the venues we have visited, this one is the most formal and elegant, so you might enjoy the opportunity to dres up a bit. At a minimum, don’t wear jeans, T-shirts, sweatshirts, or other casual street clothes.
There are drink and snack bars outside the rear of the orchestra level, and also one level up on the large balcony that serves as the main lobby during intermissions. (up the curving staircase). Check out the audience — usually a varied and interesting crowd.
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HONORS 125 Fall 2009 : The Arts in New York City: Form, Content, Context
In this seminar, students will learn about the experience, purposes, and techniques of the visual and performing arts, through a mix of direct visits to cultural events, readings of primary and secondary texts, class demonstrations and discussion, writing assignments, and group research projects. We will also examine the interrelation of these art forms with each other, and with the wider culture. You will learn to analyze the arts and deepen your experience of artistic creativity, by studying the vocabulary and concepts of critical processes appropriate to the various art forms, and writing in a variety of formats about both your personal reactions and more objective investigation. The course will concentrate on the richness of art experiences available here in our own city, which has long been a preeminent cultural and creative center both nationally and internationally. Your understanding of how art is affected by, and contributes to, its broader social-economic context will be deepened through the case study of this familiar environment. Students will demonstrate their grasp of the course goals both in individual writing and through group projects, which will involve presentations to the class as well as a web-based format.
Learning objectives for this seminar: Students will become able to:
- Demonstrate their undertanding of the interrelation of the arts, and the arts with culture in the broader sense, through research and writing involving several different texts, as well as an artistic text and its cultural/historical context, and a cultural organization.
- Utilize appropriate evaluative or critical terms and concepts to analyze their own experience of the arts, including of artistic creation.
All readings and assignments are designed to promote your mastery of these goals, as well as to assess how well you are grasping them. If at any point you are unsure how the course material is related to the goals of the course, or what you should be getting out of a particular topic, please ask in class, or see the instructor during office hours.
