| Unit name | Composers as Film Figures |
|---|---|
| Unit code | MUSI20077 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Heldt |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
none for single honours but joint honours must normally have takens Issues in History I or II at Level C |
| 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. The scarcity of secondary literature means that the unit will be research-led - watching, listening to and thinking about the films will be more important than reading through reams of books and articles.
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). Since secondary literature is scarce, 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 be able to:
Seminars (NB. taught together with Year 3).
One coursework essay of c.3000 words (50%); 2-hr examination (50%).
