Module MUSI3651: Britten's Chamber Operas

Department: Music

MUSI3651: Britten's Chamber Operas

Prerequisites

• (MUSI2591 Historical Trends and Issues of the 19th and 20th Centuries) OR (MUSI2xx1 Historical Studies 2: The Long Nineteenth Century)

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To investigate Britten’s individual approach to opera, and to the more specialised idiom of ‘chamber opera’, through a detailed study of Britten’s libretti and diverse musical techniques. This research-based course aims to introduce a specialised repertoire of a musical and literary idiom in which Britten excelled. The module aims to develop the ability to think critically about the interaction of drama, words and music, of the historical and literary context, of dramaturgical theory and the kinds of techniques Britten developed to give his operatic canvases distinction and life. In this sense students will be expected to develop a confidence to articulate their ideas from score-based study and research-based enquiry and to develop appropriate analytical tools to assess the idiom of opera. Students will also be expected to acquaint themselves with principal tenets of dramaturgical theory as in, for example, Aristotle’s Poetics, Terence Cave’s Recognitions: A Study in Poetics and Joseph Kerman’s Opera as Drama. Furthermore, from lectures which focus on distinct parts of the scores, students will be expected harness the skills used to focus on other parts of the work independently in seminars and tutorials.

Content

• The course seeks to investigate Britten’s three chamber operas, The Rape of Lucretia (1946) and Albert Herring (1947), written directly after the Second World War for the English Opera Group, and The Turn of the Screw written in 1954. In The Rape of Lucretia, a study of Ronald Duncan’s libretto will be compared with literary sources of Livy, Shakespeare and others, together with Britten’s own interpretation of the tragedy. For Albert Herring, Crozier’s libretto will be the initial source of inquiry for Britten’s approach to comedy and parody. The inherent problems of Henry James’s short story will form the basis of a discussion of Myfanwy Piper’s libretto, her collaboration with Britten, and the interpretation of the tale. In addition study will centre round Britten’s adaptation of serialism and the detailed structure of the opera.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the course students should know and understand the following: (a) Britten’s three chamber operas, The Rape of Lucretia, Albert Herring and The Turn of the Screw; (b) those essential components of Britten’s approach to opera; (c) a context for this repertoire within British and European opera of the period; (d) a broader understanding of analytical theories relevant to opera and drama.

• In addition students will have developed the capacity to articulate ideas from research-based enquiry of Britten’s operatic output, from score-based analytical study and the ability to apply numerous analytical methods to the operas under scrutiny. A broader outcome should also be the ability to bring a critical acumen to operatic forms in general forms, whether of a chamber or large-scale design.

• The development of a range of appropriate analytical and research-orientated skills together with the ability to articulate ideas in written form, whether in precis or essay form. Students will also be expected to develop presentational skills by working in groups for tutorials.

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

• enter text as appropriate for the module

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Students will be required to complete two formative assignments for the purposes of interactive seminars. Three assignments will be set for tutorials which will involve detailed investigation and analysis of smaller sections of the opera. Feedback from these formative assignments will be essential to the development of student’s choice and completion of the summative assignment.

■ 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