A Conversation on Polyphony with Peter Pesic
Tutor
Tutor Emeritus Peter Pesic has published his sixth book with MIT Press, and will present the work in Santa Fe’s Great Hall on January 31 at 7 p.m.
Music and the Arts
Why are people moved by music? Is there such a thing as a great work of art? Do people see a thing differently if they draw it? Is the rhythm of poetry the rhythm of music? At St. John’s students sing Palestrina in the Great Hall, sketch plants, study how text and music work together in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and derive the equation for a vibrating string. Students can also paint the landscape, join the orchestra, dance in the studio, play in a jazz band, and visit the art gallery. Whether students have been long dedicated to an artistic practice or are new to fine arts, conversations about their place in a worthy human life are an important part of a liberal education.
Books and More
Johann Sebastian Bach St. Matthew Passion
Ludwig van Beethoven Third Symphony
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Theory of Color
Joseph Haydn Quartets
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Lectures on Fine Art
Johannes Kepler Epitome IV, Inventions
Claudio Monteverdi L’Orfeo
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Don Giovanni, Operas
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Missa Papae Marcelli
Franz Schubert Songs
Igor Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms
Richard Wagner Tristan and Isolde
Leonardo da Vinci
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart The Marriage of Figaro
Rainer Maria Rilke New Poems and Letters on Cézanne
Franz Schubert Winterreise (Winter Journey)
The Films of Akira Kurosawa
The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky
The Music of Igor Stravinsky
Schopenhauer, Wagner and Nietzsche
Visual Arts: Thinking About the Experience of Learning How to Draw
What is a (Modernist) Painting?
Architecture
Art
Film
A More Beautiful World
The information presented is for illustration purposes only and may not reflect the current reading list and preceptorial and study group offerings. Works listed are studied at one or both campuses, although not always in their entirety.
When Johnnies Had ‘No Exit’
Student Group
St. John's College students in Santa Fe recently put on a stage production of 'No Exit.'
Time for Art
Johnnies
Members of the St. John’s College communities in Annapolis and Santa Fe are gearing up for year-end art exhibitions.
Pop Art for the Ages
News
Robert Indiana: Love and Hope runs through April 22 in the Mitchell Gallery at St. John's College.
Creating a Cultural Institution
Alumni
Two alumni have created a space for art, literature, music and community in northwest Chicago.
Alumni Converge on Campus for Homecoming
Alumni
Hundreds of alumni and their families descended on St. John’s in Annapolis for Homecoming weekend.
The Community Benefit of Blowing Minds
Alumni
As the COO of world-renowned arts company Meow Wolf, Sean Di Ianni (SFGI13) wants to democratize the arts experience and create a financial support structure.
Confronting Excellence
Alumni
Eric Fricke (SF14) is the principal organist at Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe.
The Fine Art of Questioning
Alumni
Jason Viseltear (SFGI96) has become well-known in the field of lutherie and recently received an Award of Merit from the St. John's Alumni Association.
Making Art Accessible
Internships
Dahye Kim (A19) completed a Hodson Internship this summer at an art institution in South Korea.
Fundraising at the Grassroots Level
Alumni
A St. John’s College alumna has started a fundraiser featuring the sale of old Reality Weekend and senior prank T-shirts to benefit student financial aid.
Life on Stage
Alumni
Theater plays a major part in the lives of students in Annapolis and Santa Fe.
Finding the Beauty in Medicine
News
A new exhibit, Hidden Beauty: Exploring the Aesthetics of Medical Science, runs through December 10 in the Mitchell Gallery.
Great Books, Great Gym
Johnnies
Santa Fe’s Student Activities Center has changed the nature of student life on campus.
Works of Renowned Artists on Display
News
About Prints: The Legacy of Stanley William Hayter and Atelier 17 runs from January 11 through February 25 in the Mitchell Gallery.
The Beauty in Art
Alumni
Representational painter Eryn Gammonley (SF17) completed a Pathways Fellowship over the summer at Watts Atelier of the Arts in Encinitas, California.
A Lasting Legacy
Johnnies
Renowned art dealer and collector Eugene Thaw (Class of 1947) died on January 3, but his legacy lives on through the Mitchell Gallery at St. John’s College in Annapolis.
Forest Woods Media Productions
Internships
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
Working for Art and Education
Alumni
Alumnus Max Dakin (A16) works at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.
Senior Essay
Seeing and Feeling in Painting
Senior Essay
Suffering in Art: The Alienation of Passion in “Musée des Beaux Arts”
Meow Wolf: Johnnies and the Art of Collaborative Inquiry
Alumni | Johnnies
Several St. John’s College alumni are working at Meow Wolf, an art collective in Santa Fe.
Pottery
Student Group
Senior Essay
The Labyrinthine Self: The Experience of Self in Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker
Contemplating Cosmic Harmonies
Tutor
Peter Pesic has been the musician-in-residence at St. John’s College in Santa Fe since 1984 and has put on more than 200 concerts on campus.
King William Players
Student Group
King William Players is a theater troupe.
Meow Wolf: A Growing Artistic Enterprise
Alumni | Johnnies
Meow Wolf, a creative company staffed by a number of St. John’s alumni, is working to expand the arts in northern New Mexico and elsewhere.
Senior Essay
When the Music is Over—An Exploration into the Purpose of Art and Music
St. John’s Chorus
Student Group
Small Chorus
Student Group
Baltimore Theatre Project
Internships
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
Senior Essay
How to Find Resolution in Death: An Exploration of the Relationship Between Death and Desire in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde
Senior Essay
The Receding Figure: Sublime Moments in Three Landscapes by Caspar David Friedrich
Senior Essay
The God Who Dies to Conquer Death: Exploring the Meaning Behind the Music and Text of the Passion Chorale in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion
Senior Essay
Ambiguity of Reality in the Translation of Worlds: Asking Van Gogh through His Paintings and Letters Why We Read
Dancing like Mr. Darcy
News
Sage Assembly, a Southwestern English Ball, brought students and community members together in the Great Hall at St. John’s College in Santa Fe.
Senior Essay
Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen: Bach’s St. Matthew Passionas an Invitation to Complex, Varied Lamentation
Senior Essay
The Music of Philosophy: An Inquiry with Plato’s Phaedo
Lecture
Music and the Idea of a World: on Plato and Schopenhauer
This lecture explores the differences between two perspectives on music: one ancient, one modern.
Shedding Light on Austin’s Art Scene
Alumni
St. John’s College graduate Jennifer Chenoweth (SF95) created the XYZ Atlas public art project in Austin, Texas.
Prized Pieces of Art
Johnnies
Journie Kirdain (A17) is the winner of the 2017 Charles Vernon Moran Prize for her work in the Mitchell Gallery’s Community Art Exhibition.
Senior Essay
Agape in the Form of Art: An Analysis of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev
Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts and McBride Gallery
Internships
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
Senior Essay
Sleeping Disciples, Sleeping Sins, and the Final Rest in Death: A Textual and Musical Thread in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion
Senior Essay
The Observer, Observed or: On the Possibility of Impossible Love in Chaplin’s City Lights
Music in the Humanities
Johnnies
While St. John’s College is known for the study of the great books, music also plays a prominent role in campus life.
Lecture
Going for Gold: Sergio Leone Reads Plato in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Linda Wiener
SITE Santa Fe
Internships
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
Film Club
Student Group
A Man for All Seasons
News
President Mark Roosevelt donated four lithographs of Frederick Douglass to St. John’s College in Santa Fe.
Lecture
Towards “A New Birth of Freedom”—Tragedy and Comedy, 1786 Schiller’s Don Carlos and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro
Lecture
The Musical Universe and Mozart’s Magic Flute
Lecture
Children of Orpheus: The Dialogue Between Ancient and Modern Music
Senior Essay
Reading the List: On Love and Revenge in Don Giovanni
Contemporary Choir
Student Group
Annapolis Shakespeare Company
Internships
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
Primum Mobile (renaissance / classical / a cappella)
Student Group
Blue Bear Films
Internships
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
Equant (pop a cappella)
Student Group
Senior Essay
Finding Home: Man’s Journey in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
Senior Essay
The Mechanics of Grace: A Schenkerian Approach to the Live Content of Bach’s First Prelude in C
Hainan Don-po Academy of Calligraphy and Painting
Internships
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
Senior Essay
Squire, Disenchanter, Governor: An Examination of Don Quixote’s Sancho Panza in Three Parts
Darkroom
Student Group
A darkroom on campus allows students to develop film and learn the fundamentals of photography.
A World-Class Artist’s Gift
News
Janet Lippincott’s time at the Santa Fe campus of St. John’s College still continues today, 10 years after her death.
Art Society
Student Group
Senior Essay
The Power of the Nonverbal in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey
Photo Club
Student Group
