Module Catalogue 2024/25

MUS3051 : Richard Wagner and Wagnerism

MUS3051 : Richard Wagner and Wagnerism

  • Offered for Year: 2024/25
  • Module Leader(s): Dr Eric Doughney
  • Lecturer: Dr Bennett Hogg, Professor Ian Biddle
  • Owning School: Arts & Cultures
  • Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Semester 2 Credit Value: 20
ECTS Credits: 10.0
European Credit Transfer System
Pre-requisite

Modules you must have done previously to study this module

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co-Requisite

Modules you need to take at the same time

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

This module aims to introduce students to the Music Dramas and operas of Richard Wagner and their aesthetic and musical legacies (up to the present day). The module will cover a range of approaches to this topic, including (but not limited to):
The philosophical background to Wagner’s musical ideas
The historical and political contexts
Strategies for understanding the musical materials (analytical approaches)
Approaching Wagner’s musical works as a historiographical problem

Outline Of Syllabus

The syllabus will cover Wagner’s musical output and his impact on subsequent musical thinking, especially in Europe up to the present day. Themes covered may include:
- Wagner and antisemitism
- Wagner and imperialism
- Wagner and the Nazis
- Wagnerism and anti-Wagnerism
- The Ring Cycle and its legacy
- Opera and Music dramas: two distinct genres?

Learning Outcomes

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

Familiarity with Wagner’s oeuvre
Familiarity with the musical legacy of Wagner’s oeuvre
A working knowledge of late tonal and chromatic harmony
Familiarity with the historical and cultural contexts for these musical works
A working familiarity with some of the philosophical ideas played out in Wagner’s works

Intended Skill Outcomes

Analytical approaches to opera, especially narrative analysis
Intensification of analytical skills already learned in other modules

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities
Category Activity Number Length Student Hours Comment
Structured Guided LearningLecture materials122:0024:00Each lecture will last 2 hours
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesSmall group teaching121:0012:00PiP seminars. Number of seminar groups dependent upon size of cohort.
Guided Independent StudyIndependent study1164:00164:00N/A
Total200:00
Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lectures deliver core materials and seminars allow students to explore musical (and other) materials in more detail and in a more “hands on” manner.

Reading Lists

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessment
Description Semester When Set Percentage Comment
Essay2M1003,500 words
Formative Assessments

Formative Assessment is an assessment which develops your skills in being assessed, allows for you to receive feedback, and prepares you for being assessed. However, it does not count to your final mark.

Description Semester When Set Comment
Portfolio2AEssay proposal: opportunity for students to start developing their final research essay (essay)
Portfolio2Mannotated bibliography for research essay
Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The module will require students to develop two research essay (2000 and 2000 words), based on the core topics covered in the module, but exploring one of them in depth (in the second essay). In the run up to the second essay, students will be set a number of formative written assignments (see above) which will be helpful in developing ideas for the final essay.

Timetable

Past Exam Papers

General Notes

N/A

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Disclaimer

The information contained within the Module Catalogue relates to the 2024 academic year.

In accordance with University Terms and Conditions, the University makes all reasonable efforts to deliver the modules as described.

Modules may be amended on an annual basis to take account of changing staff expertise, developments in the discipline, the requirements of external bodies and partners, and student feedback. Module information for the 2025/26 entry will be published here in early-April 2025. Queries about information in the Module Catalogue should in the first instance be addressed to your School Office.