Music reception

In this module you will explore a series of path-breaking Western works through the lens of reception, examining the ways in which composers and their works have been received in their own time and in subsequent periods.

We investigate the causes of controversy, endeavours to condition the works' receptions and the reasoning that underpinned them, and how these examples inform our wider understanding of Western music history.

Case studies include the Monteverdi-Artusi debate, Gluck's Orfeo and Orphée, Handel's operas and oratorios, Mozart's Così Fan Tutte, Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, the 'War of the Romantics', Bizet's Carmen, women composers, Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, and Shostakovich's symphonies.