Unit information: Promoting the Avant Garde 1930-1980 in 2011/12

Unit name	Promoting the Avant Garde 1930-1980
Unit code	MUSI39013
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Professor. Hornby
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Music
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

‘Promoting the Avant Garde, 1930-1980’ The post-war world of new classical music in Western Europe and America was increasingly dominated by the self-proclaimed Avant-Garde, represented by Americans such as Cage and Babbitt, Europeans such as Boulez, Berio and Stockhausen, and British composers such as Maxwell Davies and Birtwistle. Yet avant-garde music was routinely spurned by mainstream audiences, while composers of more traditional, tonal music complained of neglect at the hands of broadcasters and concert organisers. Why did this happen? The answers emerge from a consideration of politics, governments, conflicting musical ideologies, trade unions, money and much more. We will take a tour through the archives of the BBC and the Arts Council, consider the cultural arm of the CIA, explore the legacy of totalitarian governments and examine the policies of the Soviet Union. What changed between 1930 and 1980? We find out as we move from a world of commerce and private patronage to one of state broadcasting, public subvention and awkward economics, examining some fascinating and squeaky music along the way.

This unit aims:

• to give students an opportunity to expand the breadth of their historical knowledge through the study of optional subjects
• to expand their knowledge of the associated musical repertoire and to be able to comment accurately and perceptively on matters of style and structure
• to develop their ability to assemble and assimilate information from a wide variety of sources
• to engage in critical evaluation of texts about music
• to develop effective and detailed arguments, both aurally and in writing
• to display competence in the practices, processes, techniques and methodologies that underpin musicological practice

Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of the module, students are expected to (1) have a good knowledge of the historical context of the musical avant-garde 1930-1980 (2) describe with confidence the techniques and procedures employed in compositions of this style (3) write critically and perceptively about the musical avant-garde, using appropriate language and terminology And additionally (specific to Level H) to: (4) display to a high level skills in evaluating, synthesising and (where relevant) challenging scholarly thinking on this topic, including evidence of a high level of bibliographical control (5) engage critically with the ideologies and political programmes underpinning the musical avant garde 1930-1980

Teaching Information

10x2 hour classes

Assessment Information

Level H: 1x3,000-word essay (50%); 1x 2-hour exam (50%). Both the essay and the exam will demonstrate (1) and (2) through (3), The essay will further demonstrate (4), and the exam will include a compulsory question designed as an opportunity for the students to demonstrate (5).

Reading and References

Blake, Andrew, The Land Without Music: Music, Culture and Society in Twentieth-Century Britain (Manchester University Press, 1997) Born, Georgina, Rationalizing Culture; IRCAM, Boulez, and the Institutionalization of the Musical Avant-Garde (University of California Press, 1995) Crisell, Andrew, An Introductory History of British Broadcasting, Second Edition (Routledge 2002). Fosler-Lussier, Danielle, Music Divided, Bartók’s Legacy in Cold War Culture (University of California Press, 2007) Kildea, Paul, Selling Britten (Oxford University Press, 2002) Peacock, Alan and Weir, Ronald, The Composer in the Market Place (Faber Music Ltd, 1975)