NINETEENTH-CENTURY MUSIC - 2025/6

Module Overview

This module enables students to build upon their knowledge of the history, aesthetics and style of a range of nineteenth-century music and associated repertories, combining discussions of identified composers and historical and cultural issues with exploration of specific set works. It draws on analytical skills acquired in previous modules and consolidates the students’ experience of nineteenth-century music encountered elsewhere on the programme, as well as complementing their studies of other areas of music history and culture.

Module provider

Music & Media

Module Leader

WILEY Christopher (Music & Med)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None for Music/CMT/Tonmeister students

Module content

Indicative content includes:

Lectures will introduce topics in nineteenth-century music history, aesthetics and musical style by focussing on a series of case studies. These case studies may be drawn from, but are not restricted to, the list of composers indicated below:

• Beethoven


• Rossini 


• Schubert


• Berlioz


• Mendelssohn


• Chopin


• Schumann


• Liszt


• Wagner


• Verdi 


• Brahms


• Tchaikovsky


• Grieg


• Smyth

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

None

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate knowledge of the wider context of nineteenth-century music with in-depth study of specific works through the coursework, which may be an oral presentation rather than a written essay. This assessment will enable students to demonstrate their understanding of music history and culture, as well as music-analytical skills, further developing their familiarity with musicological approaches and essay-writing skills acquired elsewhere on the programme.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• Coursework: an essay of not more than 3,000 words, alternatively, an oral presentation of not more than 30 minutes, plus questions (addresses LOs 1-4)

Formative assessment

Formative assessment in this module may include in-class tasks and formative submission of a coursework plan.

Feedback

Feedback will be delivered through a range of methods including verbal feedback in lecture discussions and individual tutorials, feedback given on formative work, and formal feedback from the coursework assessment.

Module aims

• Develop detailed knowledge of nineteenth-century music and associated repertories
• Develop an understanding of nineteenth-century musical styles
• Develop an understanding of nineteenth-century aesthetics
• Develop an appreciation of nineteenth-century culture within and beyond music

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

Explore a series of identified set works through music analysis and through examination of historical, critical and cultural issues, thereby relating to historical, cultural, contextual and analytical studies encountered elsewhere on the programme. Each lecture will take the form of an exposition of the topic by the lecturer. This may lead to class discussion. Close listening to musical works will inform both the lectures and students’ individual learning. Students will gain further depth of knowledge in relation to specific aspects of nineteenth-century music through the coursework assignment.

The learning and teaching methods include:

• Lectures, incorporating student discussions


• Individual and/or small group tutorials


• Guided reading and listening


• Use of online learning environment


• Formative assessment (coursework plan) 


• Coursework and feedback 

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MUS2057

Other information

The Department of Music and Media is committed to developing graduates with attributes encompassing employability, digital skills, global and culture awareness, sustainability as it relates to music and the wider arts and, finally, resourcefulness and resilience.

This module provides opportunities to engage with these attributes in myriad ways including:

Cultural and global capabilities: developing an appreciation of nineteenth-century music, which has been foundational in shaping the canon of classical music as well as modes of musical thinking and to which global culture remains deeply indebted today.

Digital capabilities: these may include conducting research using digital resources (text, score-based and audio), preparation of digital documents (e.g. word processing) and specialist music software (e.g. notation software) to create digital artefacts.

Resourcefulness and resilience: independence of practice, developing skills and work for assessment, maximising available resources, finding creative ways to address assessments and exercising resilience in doing so, overcoming difficulties and other challenges in undertaking a wider range of pursuits.

Employability: developing a general awareness of nineteenth-century music, culture and society suited to many careers in the diverse arts industries, as well as transferable skills appropriate to all graduate destinations.

These values are embedded within the module's learning outcomes and educational aims, and throughout the programme.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.