Dr Charlotte de Mille and Benedict Collins Rice
5 pre-recorded lectures and 3 live Zoom seminars at 14:00, and where necessary, also at 16:00 [London time], on Monday 15, Wednesday 17 and Thursday 18 April 2024
£195
Course description
“To continue in one path is to go backward”– Igor Stravinsky
What is ‘modernism’ and how does it manifest itself in art and music? An art historian and a musician join forces to gain a more varied perspective of the cultural transformations produced during the turbulent period from the European revolutions of 1848-1849 to the aftermath of the Second World War. This course looks outward at the plurality of ways in which artists and composers responded to and reflected this shared context of artistic and socio-political upheaval. What was Wagner’s musical ‘revolution’ and how did it draw on, and affect, the visual arts? What ‘subjective’ novel forms of art and music did Vienna and its new psychology produce around the turn of the twentieth century? Are there musical equivalents to Cubist and Abstract art? What role do spontaneity and chance play in the paintings of Piet Mondrian and in John Cage’s musical compositions?
Over the course of five pre-recorded lectures and three live seminars, we shall encounter exciting and challenging images and sounds from this dynamic period. Our live discussions will address the relationships between creator and audience, the role of the artist in a post-patronage society, and the perceived austerity and elitism of modern art and music. The course will feature contributions from The Facade Ensemble – a group founded to perform the repertoire of musical modernism, challenge its reputation as ‘difficult’, delight in its thrilling sound worlds, and promote it to a wider audience.