MU30M3

Essay Questions - Autumn 2019

Do ONE of the following

1. Is post-war serialism purely the manifestation in music of Cold War politics?

Discuss, analyse and evaluate with reference to key commentators.

2. What is integral serialism? Explain this phenomenon in relation to key composers

and musical works, incorporating the rationale for this development, discussing key
works and identifying strengths and drawbacks. Why was it such a transitory
development?

3. Discuss and evaluate the importance of Messiaen’s class at the Paris Conservatoire
for the development of post-war European music.

4. To what extent did the ‘Darmstadt School’ ever truly exist? Discuss, analyse and
evaluate with reference to key composers and compositions.

5. Discuss and evaluate the impact of electronic music upon the non-electronic
composition of any ONE OR TWO of the following composers: Stockhausen, Berio,
Ligeti, Grisey, Lachenmann.

6. Discuss and evaluate the rise and fall of aleatoricism in post-war European music
with reference to key composers, compositions and theoretical texts.

7. Explore and evaluate the importance of mathematical OR/AND scientific models in

the work of composers working since 1945.

8. Explore and evaluate the novel exploitation of performance spaces in European art
music since 1945.

9. Discuss and evaluate the importance of Spectral Music.

10. Consider and evaluate developments in musical notation in the work of any of the
following composers. It will be necessary that the discussion includes the thinking
behind the notation as well as the notation itself.

György Kurtág
Helmut Lachenmann
Brian Ferneyhough

11. Discuss and evaluate the specific approach to composition employed by Sir Peter
Maxwell Davies.

12. Discuss and evaluate aspects of the compositional techniques used by Sir Harrison
Birtwistle with reference to key works.

13. James MacMillan stated the following in 1995: ‘I don’t feel hemmed in by any
ideological position. I’m free to move wherever I like. I know that is one of the

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reasons people criticize me…they seem to think I must be indisciplined [sic.]. But I
genuinely enjoy a pluralistic position. I have a universal curiosity about the music
that’s going on around me.’ (Johnson, Stephen, ‘Harnessing Extremes’, The
Gramophone, May 1995).

In what ways is James MacMillan’s work ‘pluralistic’? Look specifically at the works
from 1988-1997.

14. Discuss and evaluate the influence of Scottish folk tradition on the music of Judith
Weir.

NOTES
Please refer to the Music Student Handbook for information about the preparation and
submission of written coursework.

Assessment Proportion Week Date due Feedback

of overall due
mark
Essay 1 100% 19 Friday 6th December 2017 CAS mark
The essay should be Annotations to script
submitted through Feedback form
Turnitin. No paper copies
are necessary.

Essay length
The essay should be c. 3000 words

Bibliography
This is a level 3 course with level 3 expectations in terms of reading. Your lecturer
will be giving guidance regarding reading during the course itself. This will take the
form of books, scholarly articles and music scores. It is important for your essay that,
in addition to completing all of the class reading, you also read independently.
Students hoping to gain the highest grades need to show evidence of independent
working as well as having simply understood what was covered in class. The
bibliography should be laid out according to departmental guidelines as in the student
handbook. An extensive bibliography should be appended at the end of the essay.
Essays without a bibliography may not pass and essays with a poor bibliography (few
items, insufficiently scholarly items) will not be considered for the upper bands.
Please consult sections 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the music student handbook for information
on writing essays, producing a bibliography, producing references and all aspects of
submission.

Footnotes
The essay should contain properly formulated footnotes in line with music department
guidelines as laid out in the student handbook. It is expected that in year 3 a good
essay will have a large number of footnotes acknowledging scrupulously not only the

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source of all quotations but also where material has been drawn upon - from a book,
article or other source, even where you have not cited the material explicitly i.e.
where you are using your own words. It is understood that it is at times a matter of
personal judgement where exactly a footnote is necessary.