Jousting for Queens
or
Return to the (Music) Lists

As the morning festivities drew to a close on the final day of the CMS jousting match in Columbus last December, the author of these words entered the lists unexpectedly, fired a round of off-the-cuff verbal blasts, and promptly left town.

"Pure cowardice," snorted Sir Martin Bernstein, the tourney Adjudicator.

"It is against regulations," added Sir Robert Trotter, a formidable Western Knight, "No participant may depart before this afternoon's barbed javelin contest!"

Protestations of a shortage of time and a lengthy journey in a creaky chariot were drowned in a hail of pointed questions. There was no alternative but to slink away silently with one's Ford's tailpipe between its wheels.

Several months later, when the Historian-in-Chief of our noble Society invited the author to return to the "Battle of the Lists" via these pages, he accepted with alacrity, for: a) he desired that these chronicles record for posterity the true tale of the Queens List; and b) he hoped that if all barbed, weighted or otherwise loaded queries were answered, the valor of Queens' colors would be vindicated.

The Chronicle of the List began two decades ago during the reign of King Paul the First . . . basta! basta! . . . during the tenure of Paul Klapper, distinguished first president of Queens College. Since the Queens Music Literature List owes its creation to Dr. Klapper's philosophy, a brief historical digression is in order. Klapper held to the Ciceronian conviction that humanistic studies were essential to the proper education of the leaders of mankind. He advocated a rich liberal arts curriculum in which fully half of the courses were rigidly prescribed for all students, one full year of art and music included; the remaining half was equally divided between courses in the major subject and free electives. Furthermore, as a realistic educator, Klapper recognized that receiving passing grades in some forty college courses (no matter how well planned), did not necessarily make Jack a liberally educated boy. He insisted that before being granted the Bachelor of Arts Degree, Jack demonstrate possession of "the ability to think clearly and the capacity to retain and integrate knowledge." Klapper called this "intellectual maturity" and in order to test it, a unique set of examinations had to be devised. These examinations went beyond the boundaries of individual courses; passing them was required for graduation. The nature of these tests is such that a student can often be stimulated to higher goals of learning and at the same time, it makes it impossible for him to squeeze through to a college degree by last minute cramming in each separate course.

Before turning to the specific examination that begat our Music Literature List, a word about the other tests may be illuminating. At the completion of four semesters of prescribed courses¹ the student takes two Comprehensive Examinations, one in the Social Sciences (Contemporary Civilization) and the other in the general field of the Arts. The latter, for example, is designed to measure: "the range and quality of the knowledge the student has gained from required courses in English, his foreign language, Speech, Art and Music; the intelligence of his judgment about the arts and his ability to apply to material not treated in class the critical concepts and analytical skill he has developed in the required courses; his ability to discuss the interrelationships among the various required courses." Preparations for the Arts Comprehensive involves a general review of the work done in the required courses and the carrying out of a unified group of special assignments that may entail reading specific books, studying specific poems and speeches, listening to specific compositions, becoming familiar with specific works of art.²

As a Lower Senior, the student must pass the Foreign Language Reading Examination, testing his retention of the ability to read and comprehend material of average difficulty without the aid of a dictionary. This examination generally occurs several semesters after course-work in the language has been terminated.

One month before graduation, the [surviving] student takes his Senior Concentration Examination for which an entire day is set aside in the College calendar. "The aim is to test the student's competence in his (major) subject as a whole . . . not merely in those portions of the subject in which he has taken courses." The Music Department's Senior Concentration Examination includes subjects taught at Queens, such as Harmony, Sight-singing, Ear-Training, Analysis, History and "non-course" subjects such as performance on the major instrument, sight-reading, and music literature.

We have finally returned home. The Queens Music Literature List was born some fifteen years ago to serve as a yardstick by which a student's knowledge of the repertoire of music could be evaluated; more important, it developed as a pedagogical tool by which that knowledge could be enhanced. Revisions and additions have occurred periodically, but have left the list fundamentally the same in nature. One major change in testing procedure, instituted recently by Professor Saul Novack, Chairman of the Music Department, has immeasurably strengthened the pedagogical effectiveness of the list. Instead of a single examination as part of the Senior Concentration Examination, the list has been divided into four parts and there are now four examinations, one each year. This has resulted in less Senior frenzy and more overall learning.

At present, the list includes about 300 works (omitting, for the moment, the additional 100 from historical anthologies which are used only for period and style recognition). Within this limitation of size, we have tried to fashion as comprehensive a list of significant Western art music as possible . . . from Perotin to Dallapiccola, from madrigal to music drama, from keyboard fugue to choral symphony. Each of the four parts of the list contains the same nine broad categories: symphonies, concerti, other orchestral works, chamber music, keyboard music (organ), choral music, opera, songs and other works for voice, early music (for period and style recognition).

Before any further discussion of the makeup of the list, testing procedures employed, etc., and especially for the benefit of those readers who were not present at the Columbus symposium at which copies were distributed, here is the complete list in its latest revision (October, 1963).

 

QUEENS COLL.	BASIC MUSIC LITERATURE LIST REQUIRED LISTENING FOR MUSIC MAJORS	DEP'T OF MUSIC
	FRESHMAN YEAR
Symphonies:
Haydn: 104	Mendelssohn: 4	Franck: in d
Mozart: 40	Schumann: 4	Shostakovitch: 5
Beethoven: 5	Brahms: 4	Harris: 3
Schubert: 8	Tchaikowsky: 6
Concerti:
(Piano)	(Violin)	(Miscellaneous)
Mozart: K.466 (d)	Bach: in E	Bach: Brandenburg No. 5
Beethoven: 5	Mendelssohn	Bloch: Schelomo
Tchaikowsky: 1	Vivaldi: 4 violins and orch.	Boccherini: cello, in
Bartok: 3

Other Orchestral Works:
Beethoven: Leonore Overture No. 3	Stravinsky: Petrouchka
Smetana: Vltava	Ravel: Daphnis & Chloé Suite No. 2
Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun	Webern: Passacaglia Opus 1
Strauss: Til Eulenspiegel	Copland: Billy the Kid
Chamber Music:
Corelli: Trio Sonata op. 3:7	Schumann: Piano Quintet
Haydn: Quartet op. 20:5	Brahms: Violin Sonata in d
Mozart: Quintet in g (K.516)	Debussy: String Quartet
Beethoven: Quartet op. 18:4	Bartok: String Quartet No. 2
Beethoven: Violin Sonata in a (Kreutzer)
Keyboard Music: (Organ)
Bach: Passacaglia & Fugue, C minor
(Piano)
Bach: WTC Book I:	Chopin: Ballade op. 23:1
Prelude and Fugue in c minor	Polonaise op. 40:2
Mozart: Sonata in D (K.576)	Schumann: Fantasy Pieces
Beethoven: Sonata op. 10:3	Debussy: La cathédrale engloutie
Schubert: Impromptu in , op. 142:2	Hindemith: Sonata No. 2
Choral Music:
Bach: Mass in B Minor: Kyrie-Christe-Kyrie	Haydn: Creation, Part I
Cantata No. 4 (Christ lag in Todesbanden)	Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
Handel: Messiah	Perotin: Sederunt principes
	Palestrina: Laudate Dominum

Opera:
Mozart: Don Giovanni	Bizet: Carmen	Puccini: La Bohème
Pergolesi: Serva Padrona	Falla: Vida Breve

Songs and Other Works for Voice:
Schubert: The Erlking Gretchen am Spinnrade	Schumann: Widmung Du Bist wie eine Blume
	Mozart: Das Veilchen Abendempfindung

Early Music: (Period and Style Recognition)

Parrish-Ohl: Masterpieces of Music before 1750 (Use textbook with listening, 3 discs)

	SOPHOMORE YEAR
Symphonies:
Bach, C.P.E.: Sinfonia in e	Schumann: 3	Tchaikowsky: 5
Stamitz: Sinfonia à 8 in D (ARC-3092)	Mendelssohn: 3	Mahler: 4
Haydn: 44	Brahms: 1	Prokofieff: Classical Symphony
Mozart: 39	Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique	Hindemith: Mathis der Maler
Beethoven: 1
Beethoven: 6
Beethoven: 9
Concerti:
(Piano)	(Violin)	(Miscellaneous)
Bach, J.C.: D (Harpsichord)	Mozart: 5	Handel: Concerto Grosso op. 6:10
Schumann	Beethoven	Brahms: Double Concerto
Stravinsky: Movements for piano & orch.	Prokofieff: 2	Dvorak: Cello Concerto

Other Orchestral Works:
Beethoven: Egmont Overture	Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
Brahms: Variations on a Theme of Haydn	Copland: Music for the Theater
Smetana: Overture to the Bartered Bride	Milhaud: La Création du Monde
Debussy: Three Nocturnes	Scriabin: Poem of ecstasy
Chamber Music:
Haydn: Quartet op. 76:2	Franck: Violin Sonata
Mozart: Piano Quartet in g K.478	Ravel: String Quartet
Beethoven: Trio in (Archduke)	Hindemith: String Quartet No. 3
Schubert: Quartet in d (Death and the Maiden)	Carter: String Quartet No. 2

Keyboard Music:
Bach: French Suite No. 5	Chopin: Preludes (Complete)	Liszt: Transcendental Etude in f
WTC Book II:	Schumann: Carnaval (Complete)	Debussy: Des pas sur la neige
Prelude and Fugue in F major	Brahms: Intermezzo op. 117:2	Bartok: Improvisations opus 20
Mozart: Fantasy in D minor
Beethoven: Sonata opus 111

Choral Music:
Schütz: Christmas Oratorio	Bach: Mass in b: Credo
Binchois: De plus en plus	(through Et Ressurexit)
Dufay: Veni creator spiritus	Mendelssohn: Elijah, Part I
Landini: Gran piant agl' occhi	Poulenc: Gloria in G
Opera:
Monteverdi: Orfeo, Acts I and II	Berg: Wozzeck
Gluck: Orpheus and Euridice	Stravinsky: Rake's Progress
Verdi: Rigoletto

Songs and Other Works for Voice:

Beethoven: An die ferne Geliebte

Schubert: from "Schwanengesang":

Aufenthalt

Am Meer

Der Doppelgänger

Brahms: Die Mainacht

Wir Wandelten

Mussorgsky: from "Songs and Dances of Death":

Hopak

Death the Commander

Mahler: from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn":

Das irdische Leben

Lob des hohen Verstands

Der Schildwache Nachtlied

Antonius Fischpredigt

Ravel: Chansons Madécasses

Early Music: (Period and Style Recognition)

Parrish: A Treasury of Early Music (4 discs, textbook with listening)

 

	JUNIOR YEAR
Symphonies:
Haydn: 101	Brahms: 2	Prokofieff: 5
Mozart: 25	Tchaikowsky: 4	Piston: 4
Beethoven: 2, 3, 7	Bruckner: 7	Schuman: 6
Schubert: 5
Concerti:
(Piano)	(Violin)	(Miscellaneous)
Bach: d	Tchaikowsky	Vivaldi: Concerto Grosso op. 3:9
Mozart: C (K.467)	Chausson: Poème	Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra
Chopin: 1	Paganini: 1	Walton: Viola Concerto
Liszt: 1
Rachmaninoff: 3

Other Orchestral Works:
Mendelssohn: Hebrides Overture	Schoenberg: 5 pieces for Orchestra
Weber: Freischütz Overture	Carter: Variations
Debussy: La Mer	Varèse: Intégrales
	Ives: Unanswered Question
Chamber Music:
Couperin: Apothéose de Corelli	Schubert: Str. Quintet in C
Bach: Partita in d for solo violin	Brahms: Cello Sonata in e
Mozart: Divertimento in (K.563)	Schoenberg: Str. Quartet No. 4
String Quartet in C (K.465)	Berg: Lyric Suite
Beethoven: Str. Quartet, op. 59:3
Cello Sonata in A
Keyboard Music: (Organ)
Bach: Chorale Prelude "Durch Adams Fall"	Brahms: Rhapsody, op. 119:4
(Piano)	Liszt: Années de pèlerinage, "Italy"
Bach: WTC Book I:	Debussy: Poissons d'Or
Prelude and Fugue in min.	Ravel: Jeux d'Eau
Beethoven: Sonata op. 53	Schoenberg: Opus 33a
Schubert: Sonata in (posth.)
Chopin: Sonata in min.
Choral Music:
Byrd: Mass in 5 voices	Berlioz: Dies Irae from the Requiem
Machaut: Mass	Verdi: Libera Me from the Requiem
Josquin: Pange Lingua Mass	Dallapiccola: Canti di prigionia
Bach: Cantata No. 140, "Wachet Auf"
Mozart: Requiem
Opera:
Purcell: Dido and Aeneas	Mussorgsky: Boris Gudounov
Mozart: The Magic Flute	Strauss: Salome
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde	Ravel: L'Heure Espagnole

Songs and Other Works for Voice:

Schubert: from "Die Schöne Müllerin":

Wohin

Ungeduld

Mein

Schumann: "Dichterliebe," complete

Brahms: Der Tod das ist die kühle Nacht

Wolf: Der Gärtner

Gesang Weylas

Kennst du das Land?

Faure: Nell

Après un Rève

Berg: Altenberg Lieder

Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings

Poulenc: Je Nommerai ton Front

Tu Vois le Feu du Soir (Miroirs Brulants Nos. 1 & 2)

Scarlatti, A.: Su le Sponde del Tebro

	SENIOR YEAR

Symphonies:
Mozart: 41	Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (Song of the Earth)
Beethoven: 4, 8	Sibelius: 5
Schubert: 9	Copland: 3
Berlioz: Romeo and Juliet	Webern: Opus 21
Brahms: 3	Sessions: 2

Concerti:
(Piano)	(Violin)	(Miscellaneous)
Beethoven: 4	Berg	Mozart: Serenade in
Brahms: 2	Schönberg	for 13 wind instruments K.361
Prokofieff: 3		Poulenc: Organ, in g

Other Orchestral Works:
Strauss: Death and Transfiguration	Britten: Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes
Fauré: Pélleas and Mélisande Suite	Bartok: Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celeste
Janacek: Sinfonietta	Rathaus: Prelude for Orchestra, op. 10
Stravinsky: Agon
Chamber Music:
Bach: Sonata no. 6 for Violin and Hpschd.	Bartok: String Quartet No. 6
Mozart: Quintet in for Piano and Winds (K.452)	Hindemith: Woodwind Quintet
Beethoven: Quartet opus 131	(Kleine Kammermusik, op. 24:2)
Schubert: Trio in op. 99	Stravinsky: Octet for Winds
Brahms: Piano Quintet in f	Sessions: String Quartet No. 2
Debussy: Sonata for violin and piano	Stockhausen: Zeitmasse for five woodwinds
Ravel: Trio	Perle: Quintet
Keyboard Music:
Bach: WTC, Bk. I:	Scriabin: Sonata No. 9
Prelude and Fugue in min.	Schoenberg: Opus 11
Chopin: Scherzo, op. 20	Copland: Variations
Liszt: Sonata in b	Barber: Sonata op. 26
Debussy: Voiles	Ives: Concord Sonata
Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin
Choral Music:
Vivaldi: Gloria	Brahms: German Requiem
Bach: St. Matthew Passion, Pt. I	Honegger: King David
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis	Janequin: La Battaille
	Lassus: Matona mia cara
	O Ià, o chebon eccho
	Gesualdo: Moro lasso al mio duolo

Opera:

Handel: Julius Caesar

Rossini: Barber of Seville

Verdi: Otello

Wagner: Die Meistersinger, Prelude and Act III

Debussy: Pelleas & Melisande, Act III

Menotti: The Consul

Gershwin: Porgy and Bess

Weisgall: The Stronger

Songs and Other Works for Voice:

Monteverdi: Madrigals: Amor-Lamento della ninfa

Io mi son giovinetta

Zefiro torna

Le Lagrime d'Amante (first 2 parts)

Schubert: from "Die Winterreise":

Gute Nacht

Die Krähe

Die Post

Der Leiermann

Brahms: Four Serious Songs

Debussy: Fêtes Galantes, Pt. I, first three songs

Franz: Im Herbst; Widmung

Strauss: Zueignung

Webern: Four Songs, op. 12

Copland: Poems of Emily Dickinson (first four)

Boulez: Le marteau sans maître

Dallapiccola: Cinque Frammenti de Saffo

Stockhausen: Gesang der Jünglinge

Early Music:

Review for purposes of period and style recognition (rather than for identification of specific works):

Parrish-Ohl: Masterpieces of Music before 1750

Parrish: A Treasury of Early Music

Davison-Apel: Historical Anthology of Music

Revised: October, 1963

 

Since its public debut in Columbus, the Queens List has stirred up a gentle breeze . . . at least. Requests for copies have come from as far west as Chicago and as far South as Northern New Jersey. Several colleges have adopted and/or adapted it. Questions and comments regarding it usually fall into the following three categories:

1. What governed the choice of pieces on the list?

2. How precisely is it employed as a testing device? . . . as a pedagogical tool? How do you impress students with the importance of the tests results? Does anyone actually fail and what does failure mean?

3. Don't you find that in preparing for the examination the student wears out the first half-inch of each record? Won't the student be tempted to employ the horrendous grammar school ponemonic practice of "dittying"? ("This is the / symphony that / Schubert wrote but never / finished/ /" or "Ma-harch / Slav Ma-harch / Slav —/ —by the /Russ-ian? Tschai-cow / ski —/ /" etc.) Can the "learning" the list is supposed to engender be anything but a superficial effort at easy recognition at the expense of careful study and thorough analysis?

Makeup of the List

It may clear the air straight off to say that at Queens we maintain a proprietary interest in the principle of the list and an utterly unpossessive attitude about the individual works thereon. We try to omit no major composer, style period or type of piece. We revise the list frequently (usually when our mimeograph stock is depleted). We argue passionately about what piece belongs and what doesn't. Secretly we are all pleased to be examiner rather than examinee and at the same time, wish we had been put through a similar torture as undergraduates. The point is that the presence or absence of any particular composition is of no consequence. The list contains many an old war horse, but it is not intended to be a collection of "300 masterpieces of music." It contains numerous key works in music history, but has no pretensions of being a historical anthology. It is related to no specific music course, but embraces, and in some respects goes beyond, them all. To the question: "How could one possibly omit this Mahler symphony or that Bach cantata, or Mr. So-and-so's 16th Wind Octet?" the only possible response is that So-and-so's 14th String Septet will have to do, that Mahler and Bach are otherwise represented and that it matters not at all. The vital thing is that the list's comprehensiveness insures against serious gaps in the students' listening experience. These gaps occur through disinclination, ignorance, or pure chance. We have all met the pianist who has gone through college as a music major without ever meeting a Bartok Quartet face to face; or the bassoonist a Beethoven Trio . . . the soprano a Bach Partita . . . the violinist a Fauré song, no matter how fine the curriculum!

How the List Is Employed

Music majors are presented with the entire list as entering freshmen and are advised that they will be examined on the appropriate section thereof at the end of each school year. The examination is in two parts. Part I, Recognition, consists in playing recorded excerpts of one to two minute duration from some thirty selections on the list, which the student must identify by giving composer, work and movement, if possible. The excerpt may be chosen from any portion of any movement, but a characteristic passage is usually included and intentional obfuscation avoided. Part II, Style Recognition, consists of five excerpts not on the list or taken from historical anthologies such as Parrish-Ohl. Here the student must answer the questions: who? when? what? why do you think so?

Freshmen, Sophomores and Juniors who fail their examination must take it over the following year. Seniors need a passing grade in order to graduate; those who fail are given two reexamination opportunities and diplomas have been withheld for as much as a year and a half.

The Danger of Superficiality

The charge that this kind of list and test procedure can only lead to superficial learning is a grave one. Obviously, some students will cram for this examination as for any other and will have forgotten every note by the next morning. Other students find the process of more lasting value; to them it means many hours of purposeful listening to a varied and important group of pieces; it means developing the habit of listening; it often means discovering a great work of art for the first time. Many Freshmen will admit to hearing their first complete opera as a direct result of the list's existence. Others will describe exciting first encounters with a Perotin or a Monteverdi or Stravinsky piece that alone is worth the price of admission to any list-maker. The point here is that the Queens List is designed to acquaint the student with the literature of music and not to be a substitute for work done in analysis and music history courses. When the list and test procedure is thought of as a supplement to a rigorous music program, the charge of superficiality loses its validity.

In conclusion, we believe a) that the college music student should have a broad knowledge of the literature of music before being given the stamp of B.A. approval; b) that the best of college programs is likely to leave gaps in that knowledge; and c) that the Queens List helps bridge those gaps.

We do not insist that ours is the only or the best method of doing the job. We are constantly changing our list and procedures. While the overall effectiveness of our approach is not easily measurable, there is general agreement among students, graduates and faculty that it works, and works well. Ideally, the student welcomes the listening discipline as an essential element in his musical maturation; at worst, he passively experiences the exposure and profits from it in spite of himself.

---

¹The required curriculum has been very recently considerably liberalized.

²For example, in September, 1963, the Comprehensive Examination, Division of the Arts, included the following:

a) Literature. Read and be prepared for questions on Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, John Dryden, Alexander's Feast, J. Conrad, Allmayer's Folly and B. Brecht, The Good Woman of Setzuan.
b) Art. View and analyze thoroughly: At the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Gauguin, Ia Orana Maria; Monet, Rouen Cathedral and La Grenouillière; At the Museum of Modern Art: Rousseau, The Sleeping Gypsy and The Dream, Gauguin, The Moon and the Earth, Monet, Water Lilies. In addition, the following books should be consulted: R. Goldwater, Paul Gauguin, J. Rewald, Paul Gauguin and J. Bouret, Henri Rousseau.
c) Music. Listen to Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde and review Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. Read chapter on Mahler in Machlis' Introduction to Contemporary Music and chapter on Rimsky-Korsakov in Machlis' Enjoyment of Music.
d) Speech. Study the following: Hallsham's "The Toast of Democracy: Not a System of Government But a Principle of Action" in Vital Speeches of the Day, Vol. XXIX . . . and Hallstein's "The European Economic Community: We Have to Go Forward" in Vital Speeches, XXIX. Read Aristotle Rhetoric, Bk. I, Chs. 1 to 8 inclusive.

It should be added that this examination is graded by skilled readers of professorial rank from outside the College; their critical reports have served, on occasion, as springboards for the re-evaluation of teaching effectiveness.