Unit name | Aesthetics and Criticism |
---|---|
Unit code | MUSI30029 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Professor. Fairclough |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
This unit is normally only available to students registered on a Single or Joint Honours Music programme |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of Music |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit introduces certain central concepts within music aesthetics through close reading of selected texts. These concepts will include theories of imitation (mimesis), expression and form, concepts of musical time, classifications of art and the phenomenology of musical works. Both topical and historical perspectives will be invoked. The texts will be drawn mainly from classical thought (Aristotle, Plato), 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy (Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer), and 20th-century critical theory (Adorno, Barthes).
Aims:
This unit aims to introduce students to the sometimes complex aesthetic contexts within which music was situated during the later eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It will focus on key problematics such as the concept of an art-work in music, formation of judgements, the nature and status of instrumental music, the emergence of romanticism, usage of music, authorship and readership, and the role of the creative artist in society.
Successful completion of this unit will enable students to:
Teaching will be delivered through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous sessions, including lectures and self-directed exercises.
Five 500-word blogposts corresponding to specific classes, of which three are self-selected for marking (50%, ILOs1-5) and one 2500-word individual project on an approved topic (50%; ILOs 1-5).