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There appears to be a specifically British tradition of British musical humour. In this seminar, we are going to look at the emergence and developments of this tradition. We shall study (and listen to) seventeenth-century songs, the Beggar’s Opera (by Gay and Pepusch) and similar eighteenth-century works, The Pirates of Penzance, Ruddigore and The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan, music hall songs of the 19th century and material of much more recent origin. You will meet any number of funny singing pirates, Japanese princesses, ghosts, sorcerers, men and women from London’s East End … and of course a not altogether serious character called Brian singing about looking on the bright side of life while being executed.
A reader with material from the seventeenth century to the Victorian era will be made available well in advance of the semester (available from the usual place in Reckhammerweg).
Requirements: regular attendance, reading the assigned texts, active participation, and written work according to your particular Studienordnung. As always: read, think, enjoy (!!), annotate (!) and look things up if necessary. |
