MUSC 105-003 : Elements of Music
Towson University: FALL 2011 | M & W 3:30pm – 4:45pm
Dr. Robert A. Baker

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Comment Assignment #3

A reading of excerpts from

“The Curtain: An essay in seven parts”
by Milan Kundera

DUE in class of Monday 21 November 2011.

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DIRECTIONS:

After reading the excerpt below, answer the questions that follow with one or two sentences for each.

Pleas type, print and submit your answers in class on Monday 21 November, 2011.

N.B. If you are unsure of the meaning of the following (or any other) words used in the text, be sure to
look them up in a dictionary so you are able to follow Kundera’s thoughts more carefully.

continuity; Beethoven (when did he live?); contemporary / contemporaries;
pastiche; cerebral; anachronism; incongruous; complement; amelioration

 

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FOUR QUESTIONS:
(answers need only be one or two complete sentences for each)

On the first excerpt entitled “The Consciousness of Continuity”:

1. Why did Kundera’s father say the music coming from a radio or phonograph was “Late Beethoven”?

On the second excerpt entitled “History and Value”:

2. Why does Kundera state that it would be ridiculous if a composer today were to compose a piece of music
that was in every way a replica of a sonata by Beethoven?

 

On the last excerpt, “The Multiple Meanings of the Word History”:

3. What does Kundera say is the novelist’s ambition?

4. According to Kundera, how does the history of art differ from the history of science?

TIP: It would be wise to re-read the corresponding portion of text as you consider each question
to refresh your memory and find the most appropriate answer.

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