ASECS Innovative Course Design 2009
Kathryn Lowerre
Music in London during the ‘long’ eighteenth century, 1660–1814
In the following pages I provide an overview of my course and ideas for using some of its
materials in other courses (based on my presentation at the Richmond ASECS), a sample
syllabus, and a sample assignment.
My seminar explores the variety of music and musical life in London during
what has come to be called ‘the long eighteenth century’ (1660–1814).1 Musicians active
during this period include many of the most famous ‘native’ and ‘foreign’ composers to
work in London, from Henry Purcell to George Frederic Handel to Franz Joseph Haydn.
In the typical sequence of music history courses, these composers and their music are
separated by century or period divisions: Baroque versus Classical or seventeenthcentury versus eighteenth-century. Yet Handel and Purcell remained significant factors
in London’s musical life long after their deaths. Their works were studied by thousands
of professional and amateur musicians, held up as points of reference (and national
pride), while their music continued to be featured in the ever-expanding number of
public concerts to which London audiences flocked. The choice of London as the urban
focus also has its practical aspects: both the language of the original texts and the
majority of scholarship about them is in English.
The course structure includes multiple units focusing on sites of musical
performance ranging from the royal court and Chapel Royal to music in the theaters
(opera, ballad opera, and oratorio), music for concerts, and music for ‘social occasions’
For scheduling reasons, including other required courses I teach, this course could only be taught
during the spring semester.
1
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(an admittedly elastic category). In each area, students will be listening to substantial
excerpts from the works listed in the syllabus and reading both contemporary comment
(such as John Dennis’s virulent attack on opera, or Charles Avison’s pronouncements on
musical expression) and recent research related to them.
Several of the units I include in the syllabus have the potential to be of use or
benefit to instructors who are not teaching in schools of music. Several thematic units are
capable of being integrated into a variety of courses. The Beggar’s Opera illustrates the
discrepancy between most music and other eighteenth-century liberal arts courses: it is
often incorporated into classes with no other musical component, but is usually
completely new to music students, even at the graduate level. I do want to make the
case, however, that it is important, with so many Handel operas newly recorded and
available on video, to include some experience of the beauty (or at least, the virtuosity)
of eighteenth-century opera.2
Some eighteenth-century theme or topic-based units which could include
musical components from my syllabus include
 Aesthetics & Criticism: John Dennis & Opera
 Gender & Medical Discourse: Castrati & Opera
 ‘Taste’ & Style: Roger North, Geminiani and ‘Scotch’ tunes, or Haydn string
quartets
 Images of Royalty and Government: Court Odes
2
I would particularly recommend Handel’s Rodelinda, for its music, the dramatic narrative, and a very
stylish Glyndebourne production.
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 Patriotism & Nationalism: Arne’s Masque of Alfred
 Authorship and Copyright: Handel & Walsh3
 Canon Development: The Concerts of Antient [sic] Music (see below)
In order to understand the music of this period in context, I ask students to
consider the social, economic, and cultural reasons that London attracted (and often
kept) so many musicians and composers from elsewhere in Britain and the European
Continent. General cultural or social history is a field which is often less familiar to
students at the College of Music than it would be for those completing a liberal arts
degree. Thus I have put considerable emphasis on working through Roy Porter’s lively
overview, English Society in the Eighteenth Century. I have chosen to assign discussion
questions as a way of getting students thinking and writing about what they are
reading and, of course, to provide a tangible incentive to keep up with the material. I
have found that questions rather than reading responses work best to engender
classroom discussion while still providing sufficient material for me to identify where
students are in their ability to read, reflect, and write.
The two in-class presentations are also designed to get students into the research
process. The first presentation asks students to select a composer active in London
during the period from a list I provide (the ‘less-well-known than Handel’ but still
easily researched). These include composers who are known for different types of music
(operas, string quartets, concertos), regularly performed on different instruments
3
There is also scholarship on J.C. Bach and the development of musical copyright law later in the
century.
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(organ, bassoon, double bass), and came from a variety of backgrounds, both within
and beyond the British Isles. They also met with varied success, both artistically and
financially. This first presentation is designed to make sure students are comfortable
using standard musical references (Grove Music Online, etc.) as well as giving early
structure and encouragement for quieter students to participate. Some questions for
them to consider:
 Did your composer seem to belong to any particular ensemble, group, or
circle?
 Who did they perform with? Who performed their music?
 Did they have any significant patrons or students?
 Did they write about music, as well as composing and performing?
For the second presentation, students work in small groups, using MSU’s subscription
to Eighteenth-Century Collection Online to find and download original programs from
the Concerts of Antient [sic] Music, one of the most famous and influential concert
series in eighteenth-century London.4 In addition to finding out about the music
programmed during a specific season (one per group), students will also be testing
some of the assertions historian William Weber makes about the concert series as a
whole in his The Rise of Musical Classics in Eighteenth-Century England (assigned reading
in week 7).
Concert programs for the Concerts of Antient Music were issued annually for each
series of twelve concerts. These collected programs include lists of subscribers to the
concert season, performers, and lists of works for each concert, followed by texts for the
vocal music being performed (90–100 pages). Students will be asked to consider:
4
I have also used a version of this assignment in a course for performers enrolled at the graduate level.
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 What kind of repertoire was programmed? Which composers and works
were apparent eighteenth-century favorites? Also note programming
decisions: what starts or ends sections of the concert––or the concert season?
How much time is given to different kinds of music?
 Who were the performers? How large an instrumental and vocal roster did
the concerts feature? Were there any stars?
 Does this season confirm Weber’s statements about the concerts as a whole,
regarding repertoire (recent versus pre-1700, vocal and instrumental
selections), patronage, etc.? Does the season demonstrate some of Weber’s
theories but not others?
Students in the College of Music are very aware of programming issues for the concerts
in which they participate. These kinds of questions are intended to help them see the
ways in which the ‘London model’ of concert programming is still with us, and the
ways in which these concerts were different (for instance, the favorite Handel selections
of 1790 were not the same as favorite Handel selections of 1990, or 2008). Discussions
about repertories and canonic works, as well as the fascinatingly slippery concept of
musical taste are intended to build on their concert program work.
The final research paper topic will be chosen individually, in consultation with
me. One of my goals for this final paper is to encourage students to go beyond the
“history of my instrument” approach they often take when choosing paper topics. It is
understandable that students like the comfort of the familiar (even if they know little
about French baroque music, for example, they know something about the oboe) or
succumb to the lure of the flatly practical (“If I learn something about a composer who
wrote for oboe, I can play his/her pieces or talk about them when I’m teaching oboe
lessons”). However, the range of readings and discussion in this course will inspire
them to tackle broader topics, or, if still writing about an oboist, to do it with an
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awareness of the factors which played into their subject’s composing, concertizing, and
professional reputation, then and now.
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Music in London during the ‘long’ eighteenth century, 1660–1814
MUS XXX––Spring 20XX
Dr. Kathryn Lowerre
315 Music Practice Building
Telephone: 353-8784
E-mail: lowerre@msu.edu
Office Hours: M XXX am, W XXX pm, or by appointment
“The Italians exalt music; the French enliven it; the Germans strive after it; the English pay for it well”–––
–Johann Mattheson, Neu-eröffnetes Orchester
“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.”–––Samuel Johnson
Overview
This seminar focuses on the variety of music and musical life in eighteenth-century London, from Purcell
to Haydn, during what has come to be called ‘the long eighteenth century’ (1660–1814). We will be using
contemporary 18th-century sources as well as recent scholarship, and of course listening to a variety of
music.
In order to understand the music of this period in context, we will also be looking at the social and cultural
reasons that London attracted (and often kept) so many musicians and composers from elsewhere in
Britain and continental Europe.
Schedule
Week
1
Date
Topics & Readings, Listening
Assignment
Introduction
Roy Porter, English Society in the 18thc, chp. 1
“Contrasts”
Discussion Questions
Peter Holman, “Eighteenth-Century English Music:
Past, Present, Future” from Music in 18thc Britain,
ed. David Wyn Jones
2
No class––MLK Day
Court and Chapel
DQ
R. O. Bucholz, The Augustan Court, chp. 1
“Introduction and Background”
Purcell, anthem for the coronation of James II and
Mary of Modena (1687): “My heart is inditing”
Purcell, birthday ode for Mary II “Celebrate this
Festival”
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Week
3
Date
Topics & Readings, Listening
Assignment
William Croft, Burial Service**
Roger North on types of music and musical tastes
(two excerpts)
Harold E. Samuel, “A German Musician comes to
London in 1704” MT 122 (1981): 591–3
Individual Presentations
4
Music in the Theater I
Handel, Rodelinda [Italian opera]
Dean & Knapp, Handel’s Operas, 1704–1726,
“Handel as Opera Composer,” & “Rodelinda”
(excerpts)
Deutsch, Handel: A Documentary Biography, entries
for January–May 1725
Rodelinda, con’t
DQ
Porter, chp. 2 “The Social Order”
John Dennis, “Essay on operas after the Italian
Manner” (1708)
5
Individual presentations
John Gay/Johann Pepusch, The Beggar’s Opera
[ballad opera]
Roger Fiske, English Theatre Music in the Eighteenth
Century, chp. 3 “Ballad opera” [excerpt]
6
Beggar’s Opera, con’t.
DQ
Porter, chp. 3 “Power, Politics, and the Law”
Handel, Saul [oratorio]
Porter, chp. 4 “Keeping Life Going”
7
Saul, con’t.
DQ
Ruth Smith, Handel's Oratorios and EighteenthCentury Thought, chps. 1, 3 & 13
Music Publishers
DQ
David Hunter, “Handel as Victim: ComposerPublisher Relations and the Discourse of
Musicology”
8
Music for Concerts I
DQ
Simon McVeigh, introduction to Concert Life in
Eighteenth-Century Britain
William Weber, The Rise of Musical Classics in
Eighteenth-Century England, chps. 5 & 6
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Week
Date
Topics & Readings, Listening
Assignment
Porter, chp. 5 (pp. 185–93, remainder of chp.
recommended) and chp. 6 “Having and Enjoying”
Discussion of research topics
9
10
SPRING BREAK
Francesco Geminiani, A Treatise of Good Taste in the
Art of Musick (excerpts)
Geminiani concertos, op. 2 & 3
J.C. Bach ‘Scotch’ songs, Francesco Barsanti’s
Scotch tunes*
DQ
Fiske, Scotland in Music, chp. 1
11
Group Presentations (3)
Group Presentations (3)
12
Theater II
Thomas Arne’s Alfred [masque]
Michael Burden, Garrick, Arne and the Masque of
Alfred (excerpts)
Thomas Linley, Jr. Music for The Tempest**
Shakespeare, The Tempest [18thc version]
Annotated
bibliographies due
Charles Avison, An Essay on Musical Expression
13
Concerts II: Public and Private patrons
DQ
Ian Woodfield, “New Light on the Mozarts’
London Visit” M&L 75 (1995): 187–205
McVeigh, Concert Life in London, chp. 11 “Life as a
professional musician”
Muzio Clementi, Sonatas Op. 25, 40
Haydn’s arrival in London
DQ
H.C. Robbins Landon, Haydn in London (vol. 5)
14
Haydn’s string quartets Op. 71 & 74
DQ
Meredith McFarlane & McVeigh, “The String
Quartet in London Concert Life, 1769–1799” from
Concert Life in Eighteenth-Century Britain
Haydn’s London symphonies
[specific symphonies TBA]
H.C. Robbins Landon, excerpts
15
London symphonies, con’t.
David Schroeder, Haydn and the Enlightenment: The
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Week
Date
Topics & Readings, Listening
Late Symphonies and Their Audience
Assignment
Social Music: Pleasure Gardens, Glees, Dancing
Porter, chp. 7 “Changing Experiences”
Playford’s The Dancing Master
16
Emanuel Rubin, The English Glee in the Reign of
George III, chps. 1–2
Wrap-up
Research papers due
There will be no final exam
Texts and Recordings
The required text, Roy Porter’s English Society in the Eighteenth Century (revised edition, 1990) is available
in paperback (used) at bookstores or through online retailers. There is also a coursepack available at
Koehler’s Printing (514 Michigan Ave, immediately off-campus opposite the Beal Street entrance, phone
#332-7171). Please call ahead to be sure they have copies ready and bring cash as payment.
A complete list of texts and recordings on reserve for this course can be accessed on the MSU library web
site under “Resources”: Course Reserves. Make sure you know what you want to see when you visit the
4th floor, and of course let me know promptly if there are problems with reserves. No score is available for
works marked with asterisks (**).
Reserve items include sources for the readings as well as several other texts of importance. Scores and
recordings of pieces to be studied for class will be placed on reserve as well as scores and recordings likely
to be used by multiple groups (for example, Handel oratorio and opera scores which will be needed for
group presentations).
Some useful resources available at MSU Library but not on reserve: ECCO [Eighteenth-Century
Collections Online] with downloadable pdfs of 18th-century texts [including polemics about music and
librettos for operas, masques and oratorios] and some music [eg, an edition of The Dancing Master], Van
Lennep, Avery, Scouten, Stone The London Stage, 1660–1800 [several volumes listing by date all known intheater performances for the period, many with music, and some concerts], Highfill, Burnim & Langhans,
A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in
London, 1660–1800 [again, many volumes with information about performers of all types, including ones
not mentioned in musical references like the New Grove Dictionary]. Other useful research tools include
“British History Online” and “London’s Past Online: A Bibliography of London History” available
online via the MSU library site, and listed under “Electronic Resources: History.”
Course Requirements
Students in this course are expected to attend class regularly and do the assigned readings and listening
each week. Although we will be discussing excerpts, you are encouraged to listen to the entire recording
of any major work (particularly operas and oratorios) being discussed in class. At a minimum, you should
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read an overview or synopsis of the work (from the liner notes or Grove Online) and listen to the scenes to
be discussed (announced during previous class).
Discussion questions should be prepared for each class where a “DQ” is listed. These are 5–8 discussion
questions related to the reading(s) for the day. Please print them out and bring them to class, ready to read
from if called upon and ready to turn in to me at the end of class.
Things to keep in mind while preparing discussion questions:
 What are the key ideas/issues/points of information in the reading?
 What are their implications?
 Are there possible (& plausible) alternative interpretations of the evidence presented?
 Does anything seem to be missing, or is there anything it would be useful to know more about?
When we are discussing readings that are not specifically about music or musicians, consider:
 What are the implications for professional and/or amateur musicians?
 Who can afford to hear/hire/purchase music and musicians? What do they want to play/hear?
 What is important context for the composers, institutions, and work we’re studying?
In-class presentations (additional details forthcoming for individual and group presentations) should
include a handout with key information, any long quotations or text excerpts, and a short bibliography of
sources consulted in preparing the presentation. Short illustrative musical excerpts can be played (and are
encouraged), but should total no more than 25–30% of the presentation as a whole.
The annotated bibliography assignment is intended to allow you to read broadly in an area of interest
and locate the best available materials for writing an original research paper on the topic of your choice.
The bibliography is expected to include a minimum of 25 sources. If you are not familiar with using the
library's online research tools for journal articles and dissertations (RILM, Music Index, etc.) please make
an appointment with me or with Mary Black Junttonen, music reference librarian, to get up to date. Note
that many useful sources are already on reserve (or lurking in footnotes).
Students are expected to meet with me when considering topics for the annotated bibliography and final
research paper/project (during weeks 6–7) and at appropriate times thereafter. Submission of an outline or
draft of the final paper [DATE] for comment is strongly recommended. Be prepared to share your plans
for research with your colleagues on discussion day, [DATE].
Expectations: All discussions questions and other written work are due at class time, all presentations will
be given on the days scheduled. Exceptions will be made only for documented emergencies (ie, medical
emergencies, with an Olin Health Center excuse) or if an alternative has been arranged with me in
advance (ie, to enable a student to attend religious services). If you foresee having to miss class for
performances, please make an appointment to talk with me as soon as you are aware of the conflict, not the
day before you leave. It is your responsibility to get any information you missed from a classmate. Two
unexcused absences will not affect your grade, further absences will have an impact.
To make up coursework missed in order to participate in a required activity for another course or
university event, you must provide both advance notice and authorization from the
faculty/administration member responsible for the other course/activity.
Grading
Grades will be earned based on the following division.
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30%
10%
Class attendance and active participation
Discussion questions for readings
25%
10%
Final research paper
Annotated bibliography
10%
Individual research presentation on a London-based composer not on our syllabus in the
context of London musical life (15 minutes)
15%
Group presentation on a season of Antient Concerts, using original sources from ECCO
(25 minutes)
Other Important Information
Students are expected to follow MSU's policies on academic honesty (see your graduate student
handbook). You should note that plagiarism (submission of work as your own which is not your own or
improper use of prose–––phrases, sentences, or paragraphs–––or ideas within your work without giving
credit to the original author and source) is not acceptable. Plagiarism will result in a 0 for the assignment
in which it is detected and may result in a grade of 0 for the course.
The on-campus Writing Center is a free resource that can help with writing techniques and editing and
proofreading your work.
Students with disabilities will need to contact the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities (353-9642)
and work with me to arrange any needed accommodations, per the Center's certification.
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Group Presentations
The Concerts of Antient Music
For this assignment you will be working in teams, using facsimiles of original materials from EighteenthCentury Collections Online (ECCO) to investigate one of the most famous and influential concert series in
eighteenth-century London. You will also be testing some of the assertions historian William Weber
makes about the concert series in his book The Rise of Musical Classics in Eighteenth-Century England.
For the Concerts of Antient Music, programs were issued annually for each series of twelve concerts.
These collected programs include lists of subscribers to the concert season, some performers, and lists of
works for each concert, followed by texts. Downloadable from the MSU library site as pdfs, each is 90–110
pages long.
On [date], each team will have 30 minutes to present their findings.
Your team’s presentation should address the following topics:
 What kind of repertoire was programmed? Which composers and works were apparent 18thcentury favorites? Also note programming decisions: what starts or ends sections of the concert––
or the concert season? How much time is given to different kinds of music?
 What do we know about the performers? How large an instrumental and vocal roster did the
concerts employ? Were there any stars? They were certainly important to eighteenth-century
audiences (and us) but get relatively little attention from Weber.
 Does your year confirm Weber’s statements about the concerts as a whole, regarding repertoire
(recent versus pre-1700, vocal and instrumental selections), patronage, etc.? Does your season
demonstrate some of Weber’s theories but not others?
There are many different ways your presentations might be organized. As in your previous presentation,
use of short (live or recorded) musical examples is encouraged. Every member of the team should speak
at least once. A handout with a general outline and selected visual information for your audience (lists,
scores) is required for each team. Exercise moderation in your selection of handout items: A table may be
helpful, but don’t try to match Weber’s 12!
Resources: While the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians will have entries for some performers
and many composers featured in the Concerts of Antient Music, there will be many who are absent from
it.
 Philip Highfill et al.’s Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers &
Other Stage Personnel is a good work to consult (in library collections, not on reserve).
 Don’t forget it may be helpful to look for composers and performers in the indexes of the
histories of music written in the 1770s by Charles Burney and John Hawkins (on reserve).
 The Dictionary of National Biography can also be useful, especially for patrons (and some noted
composer-musicians), but your primary focus should be on the music and musicians.
Other books on reserve for our seminar may also be of use. When tracking down music, don’t forget to
check the CDs and scores on reserve for our course (I have placed several often-programmed Handel
works there).
Be sure to include a list of resources used at the bottom of your handout. Please consult with me if you
have questions.
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Teams, their assigned seasons (1784, 1792 and 1798), and presentation dates
will be chosen by lottery5
5
In situations like this, I have students draw names from two or three different cups (having divided the
names by instrument/area). In addition to being very 18th-century, it ensures that groups are mixed (not
all singers, or pianists, or brass players).
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