Module MUSI3551: LATE 19TH- AND EARLY 20TH-CENTURY ENGLISH SONG

Department: MUSIC

MUSI3551: LATE 19TH- AND EARLY 20TH-CENTURY ENGLISH SONG

Prerequisites

• Historical Trends and Issues in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (MUSI2591), OR 'Theory and Musicology (MUSI2561).

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To investigate the repertoire of early twentieth-century English song c.1880-1940.
• This will involve the ability to think critically about poetry and music and the development of analytical skills in order to articulate the means whereby words and music interact.

Content

• The repertoire of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century English song is a rich and largely neglected repertoire.
• This course seeks to investigate a repertoire of individual songs and song cycles ranging from: (a) the 'English Lyrics' of Hubert Parry.
• (b) Elgar's 'Sea Pictures'.
• (c) the lyrical Edwardian songs of Roger Quilter.
• (d) the war songs of Ivor Gurney.
• (e) the many settings of A.E.
• Housman by Vaughan Williams, Butterworth and John Ireland.
• (f) the Hardy songs of Gerald Finzi.
• (g) the settings of Walter de la Mare by Herbert Howells and C.
• Armstrong Gibbs.
• The means of study will be broad, embracing issues from the historical to aesthetic, and students will be expected to acquaint themselves and broad range of poetry (notably Shakespeare, Mary Coleridge, Shelley, Tennyson, Herrick, Hardy, de la mare, and Masefield) and poetical forms.
• However, the course will be essentially score-based where students will be expected to develop critical skills appropriate to the interaction of words and music.

Learning Outcomes

• At the end of the course students should know and understand the following: a) the repertoire of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century English song, and a broad knowledge of poetry favoured by composers.
• B) the key composers of the genre.
• C) analytical methods appropriate to the assessment of music in the repertoire.
• D) a context for this repertoire within British and European music of the period.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• An appreciable proportion of the course id 'knowledge-based', so it will be appropriate to have a series of 22 lectures to cover issues of repertoire, style, poetry and historical context.
• The 'hands-on' aspect of the course will be essentially analytical in which students become familiar with techniques of analysis appropriate to songs and song forms.
• To assist with this learning process, students will be given two formative assignments during the year, and three further assignments for tutorials.
• This process will provide sufficient feedback for the end-of-year project (an essay of 6,000 words), an assignment intended to expand the student's investigative and analytical acumen, and in turn prepare him or her for more advanced techniques and methods in third year.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Students will be required to submit two smaller essays of an analytical nature during terms 1 and 2, and there will also be three further formative assignments set in conjunction with the three tutorials.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University