• These works share, for the most part, a common language, and were all composed to be listened to in the concert hall.
• The works have stood the test of time—they remain popular and can be found annually on concert programs.
• These works are loved not only by audiences, but have served as quintessential models for other composers as well.
• These works stand up to repeated listenings—in fact, the more we study them, the more they seem to yield. In addition, the course highlights relevant details of the lives of the great composers and aids in developing a knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of Western music.

Jeffrey Lependorf has been teaching the Masterpieces of Western Music course at Columbia University, where he received his Ph.D. in music composition. Dr. Lependorf's musical works, which include operas, chamber music, film scores, and a new repertoire of music for the shakuhachi (an ancient Japanese bamboo flute on which he is a certified master), have been performed in the United States, Italy, Ireland, Japan, and even in outer space, when a recording of his work "Night Pond" was played aboard the Russian space station Mir.