Unit name | Music and the Holocaust |
---|---|
Unit code | MUSI30114 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Dr. Scheding |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of Music |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
The Holocaust remains one of the most atrocious crimes committed in human history. Perhaps disturbingly, music played its part in the Holocaust, and it did so on all sides. It was instrumentalised and institutionalised in the Nazi state, and yet it also accompanied the victims. In the first half of this course, we will explore how music functioned in the Nazi state as a tool for cultural exclusion in institutions such as the Jüdischer Kulturbund; how a variety of musics were branded “degenerate”; and how music was used as torture but also as vocal resistance in ghettos and concentration camps. The second half of the course will shift our focus towards the musico-cultural legacies of the Holocaust. We will begin by discussing the works of Holocaust survivors such as Aleksander Kulisiewicz and György Ligety, and finally turn our attention to memorial works and to what has become known as the “Holocaust Industry”.
This unit’s aims are:
At the end of the unit, a successful student will:
1) Have extensive knowledge of the political history of music during the Third Reich.
2) Be familiar with the various forms, places, and functions of music in the sites of the Holocaust.
3) Have substantial knowledge of the literature and the archival resources available, and the scholarly discourses, methodologies, and terminologies of Holocaust Studies.
4) Be able to write critically and perceptively about cultural as well as musical legacies of the Holocaust since 1945.
5) Argue effectively and at length about the connections between ideology, politics and music relevant for the topic (including the ability to cope with methodological complexity).
6) Describe, evaluate and/or challenge current scholarly thinking about politics and music in the context of the Holocaust
weekly two-hour seminar
All the assessment is summative:
1 x 3,000-word essay (50%)
1 x 2-hour exam (50%)
Both the essay and the exam will demonstrate the intended learning outcomes 1-3, with the essay in particular providing an opportunity for the students to demonstrate ILOs 4-6