Music

From Opera to Film (E)

Module code: W3088
Level 5
15 credits in autumn semester
Teaching method: Seminar, Lecture
Assessment modes: Coursework

This module, split into two five-week units, examines the history of musical narrative from classical opera through to film music.

You'll focus on the audio-visual study of musical 'texts,' exploring how music creates metaphors of linear plot and development. While the emphasis is on opera and film, some 'abstract' instrumental music, such as the symphonic poem, are also considered.

Key figures and topics covered include:

• Richard Strauss, who bridges late romantic opera and 20th-century film music
• Eric Korngold, whose operas influenced his film scores of the 1930s and 1940s
• post-war film scores where music plays a more complex role than simply mirroring visual action
• the psychological motifs in Bernard Herrmann's scores for Hitchcock’s Psycho and Vertigo
• connections between Herrmann’s music and the irrational music of Schoenberg’s Erwartung and Berg’s Lulu.

Essay work is complemented by regular aural analysis of opera and film music. No previous technical knowledge or ability to read music is required. The focus is on audio-visual content rather than written scores.

Module learning outcomes

• Articulate (both in critical writing and in response to visual-aural examples) the differing approaches to continuity in a variety of musical-narrative styles in both opera and film genres
• Identify parallels and precedents for early Hollywood film music in opera and late nineteenth-century symphonic repertoire
• Demonstrate an understanding and critical awareness both of music's inner workings and its cultural/social roles and functions
• Demonstrate an understanding of the social, cultural economic and aesthetic importance of contemporary media