discussion paper

PRELIMINARIES: Our discussion this week has two parts–the first related to chapter 31 and the second one related to chapters 33-34.
Do both parts. There is also the usual EXPLORE list under the topic.
Be sure to use that instead of any random googling for answers–you are
required to use the class text each week and at least one of the
EXPLORE-listed websites. HINT:
The Explore list normally suggests what page numbers to focus on.
ANOTHER HINT: If using the eBook purchased via our bookstore, when you
just click on the on-screen page, the page number appears on the lower
left of the screen. Jot it

TOPIC: Please respond to both of the following subjects, using the class text and sources under the Explore heading as the basis of your response:

• SUBJECT
  ONE: Determine whether you prefer a work by Debussy or Mahler after
  listening to works by each at the Websites below or in this week’s Music
  Folder and after reading about them in our class text. Be sure
  to read how one of the composers was inspired by poetry and the other by
  philosophy. Explain the reasons for your preference of the work. Would your choice also inspire more productivity by workers in the workplace? Describe the types of things that inspire you to creativity.
• SUBJECT TWO: Describe one painting (select one from one of these folks: Van Gogh, Seurat, Cezanne, Gauguin, Munch, Picasso, Braque, and Matisse ); try to select one different from classmates. KEY: You are to choose a painting that you believe represents the following quote by Kandinsky on the subject of color in art. Justify your response. From Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Kandinsky said: “If
  you let your eye stray over a palette of colors, you experience two
  things. In the first place you receive a purely physical effect, namely
  the eye itself is enchanted by the beauty and other qualities of color.
  […] These are physical sensations, limited in duration. They are
  superficial, too, and leave no lasting impression behind if the soul
  remains closed. And so we come to the second result of looking at
  colors: their psychological effect. They produce a correspondent
  spiritual vibration, and it is only as a step towards this spiritual
  vibration that the physical impression is of importance. … Generally
  speaking, color directly influences the soul.” – Wassily Kandinsky. Discuss
  these ideas for the use of color and its impact in our own times, such
  as color’s effect for advertising and sales, or its impact in the
  workplace and home—or place of business, like a hotel or office complex.

Explore:

Debussy and Mahler

• Chapter 33 (p. 1092-4), Debussy; (pp. 1104-1105), Mahler; review the Week 7 “Music Folder”
• “Approaching Mahler and Debussy” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYZ1mUupG7k
• Musical selections for Mahler – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RONBzkthUjM (Symphony No. 2, Finale; Resurrection Symphony) or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbRyttzUzjI (Symphony No. 1, 3rd Movement).
• Musical selection for Debussy – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvnRC7tSX50 (Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune)

Kandinsky on Color

• Chapters 33 and 34, works by Van Gogh, Seurat, Cezanne, Gauguin, Munch, Picasso, Braque, and Matisse
• New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Search names listed above at http://www.moma.org/collection/artist_index.php?start_initial=A&end_initial=A&unparsed_search=2