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| Module Availability |
| Semester 2 |
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| Assessment Pattern |
One essay of not more than 3,000 words - 50%
A two-hour examination - 50%
You will need to achieve a weighted aggregate mark of 40% |
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| Module Overview |
| The purpose of this module is to enable you to develop analytical, music-historiographical, and critical skills in relation to a delimited repertory – English music from Elgar to Britten. To this extent the module builds on HE2 Musicology A. |
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| Prerequisites/Co-requisites |
| A pass in one of the HE2 20th/21st-Century Studies modules. |
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| Module Aims |
• To explore the development of English music in the context of 20th-century compositional developments in general.
• To foster an understanding of the role of social and political forces in the shaping of English composers’ stylistic outlooks.
• To explore the stylistic characteristics of a number of major English 20th-century composers.
• To foster a technical understanding of a number of representative works.
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| Learning Outcomes |
Upon completion of this module you should be able to:
• Describe the stylistic traits and characteristic structural procedures of the works examined.
• Describe in some detail the stylistic development of the composers investigated.
• Critique the major secondary literature on the composers studied.
• Assess critically the significance of the composers studied within the context of early- and mid-20th-century musical developments in general.
• Assess the significance of socio-political factors in the aesthetic stances of the composers investigated.
Transferable skills:
• Critical thinking.
• Cogent written argumentation.
• Cogent contributions to class discussion.
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| Module Content |
• Introduction: English music at the end of the 19th century; module aims and themes.
• Elgar: the influence of Brahms and Wagner; his approach to form and tonality; the topics of public v. private and melancholy; Englishness; patriotism; the institution of the symphony.
• Vaughan Williams: stylistic elements (folk song, French influence, English Renaissance music); nationalism; his approach to symphonic writing.
• Holst: modality; his relationship with modernism; melancholy.
• Britten: eclecticism; brilliance and professionalism; recurring dramatic and poetic topics; homosexuality.
• Tippett: music and metaphor; engaging modernism – mosaic form.
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| Methods of Teaching/Learning |
• Lectures.
• Tutorials as required.
• Guided reading.
• Producing a researched essay.
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| Selected Texts/Journals |
Recommended Reading:
Evans, Peter, 1995: The Music of Benjamin Britten. 3rd ed. (London: Dent)
Greene, Richard, 1995: Holst: The Planets (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Grimley, Dan and Rushton, Julian, eds, 2004: The Cambridge Companion to Elgar (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Kennedy, Michael, 2004: The Life of Elgar (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Whittall, Arnold, 1990: The Music of Britten and Tippett: Studies in Themes and Techniques, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
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| Last Updated |
| CM 11:16 29 Oct 2010 |
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