| Unit name | Composers as Film Figures |
|---|---|
| Unit code | MUSI30083 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Heldt |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
none |
| Co-requisites |
none |
| School/department | Department of Music |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Composer biopics - films about composers - are a core source for musical reception history, a source which musical scholarship has not even begun to exploit. But such films have not only shaped the popular images of composers and given us fascinating filmic performances of musical performances of the composers' works; they are also intriguing film music laboratories: they have to visualise the process of musical composition; they have to adapt pre-existing works to serve as film music; they often use music to transcend the boundaries between diegetic ('source') and nondiegetic ('background') music. The unit will explore such phenomena through composer biopics from the 1920s to recent years, on composers such as Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Grieg, Sullivan, Delius, Richard Rodgers and Cole Porter.
Aims:
This unit aims to introduce students to the representation of composers in film. It will explore composer biopics from the 1920s to recent years and also take some sideways glances at other filmic depictions of musical creativity (in jazz and pop films). The main work will consist in watching and listening to the films and in discussing and thinking about them in class, though excursions into film genre theory and into the historical circumstances of film production and reception will be necessary.
Biopics pose special film-musical problems. If they want to show composers composing, they have to visualize (and musicalize) a normally invisible, mental process, which has led to manifold attempts to represent compositional creativity as a performative act. And of course the films have to transform their composers' music into film music, have to use pre-existing music for film-musical purposes. This adds layers of meaning, and it leads to experiments with the transitions between diegetic ('source') and extra-diegetic ('background') music. These and other particular interdisciplinary problematics will be investigated in this unit.
On successful completion of this unit, students will:
1) have the ability to demonstrate advanced knowledge of the history of the composer biopic from the 1930s to recent years, and of its historical and critical literature;
2) have developed a critical understanding of the complex relationship between fact and fiction in such films;
3) have gained a sophisticated understanding of the relationship between composer biopics and filmic genre frameworks and plot templates;
4) have the ability to discuss individual films in their historical and political contexts competently;
5) have the ability to analyse and discuss critically the use of music in composer biopics;
6) have the ability to construct and present a coherent argument in different forms of writing as appropriate to Level H.
7) have the ability to show a consistently strong grasp of detail with respect to content;
8) display to a high level skills in selecting, organising, interpreting and applying information, including evidence of a high level of bibliographical control;
9) be able to evaluate critically current scholarly thinking;
10) be able to situate material within relevant contexts (invoking interdisciplinary contexts where appropriate).
Weekly 2-hour seminars for the whole cohort of level I and H students.
1) Literature discussion: critical discussion of an item of literature on composer biopics (1,000 words) (20%) (ILOs 1-6, 9)
2) Film review portfolio: two 800-word critical reviews of individual composer biopics, aimed at a general film audience. Students write three 800-word reviews over the course of the teaching block, get formative feedback on them and select two for submission at the end of the unit for summative assessment (30%) (ILOs 1-6, 10)
3) Coursework essay: 3,000 words (50%) (ILOs 1-6, 7-10)
