Module MUSI3741: Music and Politics in France, 1789-1814

Department: Music

MUSI3741: Music and Politics in France, 1789-1814

Prerequisites

• A-Level Music

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• This module will explore the transformation of musical life, as well as changes in musical forms and styles, during the cataclysmic period of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire. Module lectures and readings will invite wider reflection on issues of music and politics, propaganda and ideology, and on the relationship between aesthetic theories of the time and their historical setting. Students will also be encouraged to connect large historical events to existing narratives of music history, and to integrate musical and historical details from the period in their wider context.

Content

• The module is structured around musical thought and practice as much as specific works. It will begin with an introduction to political uses of music in the ancien régime – such as monarchical representation at the opera – and will provide a background in eighteenth-century thought on music, including the theories of Rousseau, Diderot, Chabanon and others. The French Revolution and its impact on music-making will then be investigated in detail, taking in French revolutionary song; 'official' cultural policy, ceremony and festivals; the reform of music education and the founding of the Paris conservatoire; revolutionary opera by composers including Grétry, Méhul and Cherubini; the growth of popular music drama, in particular melodrama; and theories of spectatorship. Napoleon's reign in turn provides the opportunity to consider the perpetuation of the ancien régime in a variety of ways, not least in the form of 'propaganda' operas, and theatrical regulation.
• Though the module is centred on France, it will also explore some wider continental ramifications of French developments, including the export of French opera and its influence (taking in Beethoven’s Fidelio), and the growth of the German tradition of communal singing. The module will also offer ways to reconsider larger narratives such as the beginnings of musical modernity, the nature of musical romanticism, and the emergence of musical nationalism.
• The module will include a performance workshop on the role of music in melodrama.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the module students will have gained a familiarity with the range of French musical styles and genres in this period, and be able to compare and relate them to contemporary developments elsewhere. They will also have gained critical, historically informed perspectives on the study of ‘high’ and ‘low’ musical culture, and on the politics of music-making, and engaged with the large historical narratives associated with the period.

• The module will further develop students' capacity to connect historically informed score-based analytical study with some of the larger historical claims surrounding the period in question.

• The development of a range of appropriate analytical and research skills together with the ability to articulate ideas in writing, 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

• Whole group lecture/seminars, both including class discussion to ensure the active participation of students.
• Individual and group oral presentations within tutorials.
• Directed reading.
• Performance-based research, which enables students to imaginatively engage with the practical and aesthetic implications of unfamiliar genres (in this case, melodrama).
• The assessments address creative, practical, and critical modes of engagement, leading students to develop original research questions, and honing their capacity for logical argument and written eloquence.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

In preparation of summative assignments, students will be asked to prepare a short written outline of their essay and bibliography. Together with a 15-minute presentation, this will form the basis of two out of the three tutorials. The remaining tutorial will involve presentations on a set work or extract.

■ 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