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Studies in Music History
The first half of this course explores four topics in the history of Western music: France during the era of Louis XIV, London and its environs in the early eighteenth century, Paris and Vienna in the wake of the French Revolution, and the growth of the Austro-German tradition in the second half of the nineteenth century. Students will be introduced to a variety of approaches to the study of musicology, including perspectives from cultural and social history, scholarly editing and use of primary sources, and musical analysis.In the second half of the course, students will work on an individual research project supervised by the course lecturer.Course ContentTopics covered in this course are:Topic one: Versailles in the era of Louis XIV.Music, power and prestige. The role of music and dance at the French court. The Vingt-quatre violons and the birth of the orchestra. Historical performance practices and the French baroque. The Paris Opéra as a social and cultural focus. Liturgical music in Versailles and Paris. Topic Two: London and its environs in the early eighteenth century.The English operatic heritage. Italian opera in England. English Oratorio. Handel as an English composer? Catch and glee clubs and a native “English” music. Music in church: the Cathedral and the West Gallery tradition.Topic Three: Revolution, displacement, and the classical style.The French revolution, the nobility, and musicians. Music of the revolution, revolutionary music. Vienna and Paris: a tale of two cities? Classical form and style. Eighteenth-century “topics” in opera and instrumental music. The supremacy of instrumental music.Topic Four: Towards the imaginary museum of musical works: the rise of the German concert culture.Concert-hall culture, and a “canon” in Western Art Music. The growth of the orchestra. The War of the Romantics. Programme music. Nineteenth-century nationalism and the Austro-German tradition.
Students who pass this course will: Be able to describe specific developments in Western Art Music, and contextualise them in wider European history and culture. Be able to critically evaluate primary source documents relevant to musicological research. Be able to demonstrate skills in scholarly editing. Possess sophisticated skills using library and information resources related to musicology, including library databases, bibliographic tools, scholarly editions, and electronic resources. Be able to demonstrate high-level oral and written communication skills, including language appropriate for digital publishing and scholarly communication. Demonstrate research skills appropriate to an honours-level musicology course.WORKLOADStudent workload (300 hours) will be allocated to: 22 hours attending lectures; 11 hours attending tutorials; 40 hours completing assigned readings and listening excerpts; 30 hours preparing and writing blog posts; 30 hours researching and preparing essay or creative project; 17 hours preparing for listening test; 150 hours researching and writing final project.
(1) One of MUSI351, MUSI352. MUSI342-345; (2) subject to approval of Programme Coordinator
MUSI412, MUSI602
Francis Yapp
Blog:You are expected to maintain a blog that reflects criticism of the assigned readings and listening excerpts. You are encouraged to express yourself through the blog and to create a positive web presence. You may use either a public blogging site such as Wordpress or Blogger, or use the blogging tool in Learn. In either case, your blog should be accessible to other students in the course. You should include images and audio and video examples in your blog, and link to relevant content on the web as appropriate. All MUSI457 students are expected to facilitate one discussion session related to the blogs during a Monday tutorial in semester 1.Due dates for blog posts: 28 February, 6 March, 13, 20, 27 April, 3 May. All blog posts are due at midnight.Essay or creative project:EITHER an essay of 2500 words OR a creative project,as follows: Propose a creative project (such as a lecture recital with extensive and focused program notes, lesson plan, website or other multi-media project, or scholarly edition) that relates to topics covered in the course. Your project must involve research and writing, and it may employ a variety of methodologies. All creative projects must be agreed with the course co-ordinator by the start of Term 2.Listening test:The listening test will take place in the usual lecture time (10 am) on Wednesday, 4 June in A7.You will be given a list of 15 extracts from works covered in the course. Ten of the extracts will be played in the test. You will need to identify each extract and answer a series of short-answer questions related to it.Research Project:Students will work on an individual research topic related to the course content.
Library portal
Use of TechnologyThis course assumes that you have sufficient IT skills to use a computer confidently to access material for your course. Your written work should be submitted typed. You will be required to access Learn. Learn provides easily-accessible information about the course and assessments, topics and deadlines, and supports the learning you will gain from attending all lectures and tutorials.
The following shows how to translate grades to numerical scores:A+ 90–100; A 85–89; A- 80–84; B+ 75–79; B 70–74; B- 65–69; C+ 60–64; C 55–59; C- 50–54; D 40–49; E 0–39
Domestic fee $1,763.00
International Postgraduate fees
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
For further information see Humanities .