The Symphony Audiobook By Robert Greenberg, The Great Courses cover art

The Symphony

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Symphony

By: Robert Greenberg, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Robert Greenberg
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $41.95

Buy for $41.95

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

From its humble beginnings in the 17th-century Italian opera overture and the Baroque ripieno concerto, the symphony has evolved into one of the longest lived, and perhaps the most expressively inclusive, genres of instrumental music. Along the way, it has embraced nearly every trend to be found in Western concert music.

In this series of twenty-four 45-minute lectures, Professor Greenberg guides you on a survey of the symphony. You'll listen to selections from the greatest symphonies by many of the greatest composers of the past 300 years. You'll also hear selections from some overlooked works that, undeservedly, have been forgotten by contemporary audiences.

Your tour of the symphony includes

  • an examination of how the simultaneous development of the orchestra and the opera were crucial to the birth of the symphony as a genre;
  • a look at the earliest true symphonies that were exponents of the galant style that emerged in the period between the High Baroque and Viennese Classicism;
  • an exploration of Haydn and Mozart, the titans of the Classical age;
  • the sublime and iconoclastic Beethoven and his Fifth Symphony;
  • a study of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, which combined the extreme emotions and drama of the opera house with an explicit, intimately autobiographical narrative; and
  • national developments in France, Russia, Vienna, Bohemia, Scandinavia, America, and Great Britain.

The course concludes with an investigation of Dmitri Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony, which became, in Professor Greenberg's words, "a model for what the new, post-Stalin Soviet music might aspire to be-a more personally expressive, less explicitly programmatic work, one that both engaged and challenged its listeners."

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2004 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2004 The Great Courses
Music Opera France
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about The Symphony

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    323
  • 4 Stars
    73
  • 3 Stars
    14
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    5
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    300
  • 4 Stars
    44
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    277
  • 4 Stars
    54
  • 3 Stars
    15
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent!

Excellent and very interesting information! Fun, enthusiastic lecturer! Now to listen again and try to memorize it all!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Course

Another great course by Greenberg, second only to the 3rd Edition of How to Listen to and Understand Great Music!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Super Survey of Symphonies

Greenberg is a superb lecturer who presents the symphony across the centuries in an electrifying and edifying manner. He brings each composer and his work to life. There are composers of whom I had never heard and I am better off now. But for even the familiar ones I have a deeper appreciation.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent overview course

Professor Greenberg doesn't excellent job of surveying the symphony over a three century arc. At times, he is a bit over-the-top, but this also keeps it interesting.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

love it.

simply an amazing take on the history of the symphony. just wish there was time to cover more!!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

another brilliant performance

this course focuses basically on symphonies so a lot of other relevant authors are not covered however Dr Greenberg is able to make every lecture interesting and enjoyable very much worth any music lovers time

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I love Professor Greenberg's teaching style

this is my third music appreciation course with Professor Greenberg, and I always learn a ton. I highly recommend this course and I feel like I've really learned how to deepen my appreciation of the symphony.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

fantastic survey of classical composers

Narrator was engaging and lively. Discovered some new composers through the presentation. Great surface analysis of the players in classical composition, as well as the component parts of compositions and the evolution of classical music.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Listening vs interpretation

I've always enjoyed listening to classical music. I honestly never knew the underlying meaning or intent on the composer. Although I still don't know much about the composer nor the world in which he lived in I certainly will listen differently. Thank you for the insights!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful, as always.

Professor Greenberg teaches us wonderfully about the best symphonies and symphonists of the history of music.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful