- CMIST
Edge Hill University
Ormskirk
L39 4QP - 01695-584374
Richard Witts
Edge Hill University, Media, Emeritus
- Sociology of Music, Sound studies, Donald Francis Tovey (1875-1940), Music in Britain 1940-present, Music and Institutions, Popular Music, and 9 moreMusicology, BBC music policy, Space and Music, Music and Politics, Modern' Music, Early Music, Philosophy of music (Philosophy), Metamodernism, and Musical Theatreedit
- I have written three monographs, and a fourth has been pubkished vy Eyewear of the lyrics i wrote. An interview with me in the journal Punkedit
this short chapter examines the period 1978-1980 in North West England (principally the Liverpool-Manchester-Sheffield axis) when analogue recording equipment was used alongside experimental digital 'toys'. This haphazard bricolage... more
this short chapter examines the period 1978-1980 in North West England (principally the Liverpool-Manchester-Sheffield axis) when analogue recording equipment was used alongside experimental digital 'toys'. This haphazard bricolage created a special aural result that contributed strongly to the 'post-punk' aesthetic.
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Though The Velvet Underground existed for less than three years with its original members, it is considered to be not just the 'ultimate New York band' but also the most influential group ever. Artists who have acknowledged such influence... more
Though The Velvet Underground existed for less than three years with its original members, it is considered to be not just the 'ultimate New York band' but also the most influential group ever. Artists who have acknowledged such influence include David Bowie,The Sex Pistols, Patti Smith, Joy Division and Nirvana.
Witts places the band and its genesis in the cultural context of Manhattan's beatnik bohemianism, its radical artistic environment, and the city's negative reaction to California's 'Hippie' counterculture. The radical nature of the group's Warhol-period performances are examined, together with those aspects related to the issues of gender, sexuality and drugs culture by which the Warhol Factory scene was identified, and contemplated in Reed's songs.
Witts examines the musical influences of the Velvets on punk, post-punk and subsequent rock movements, culminating in the band's reunion of 1993. He also indexes the variety of media constructions that the group endured through the years and how these affected Cale, Nico and Reed and their attempts to establish solo careers.
Witts places the band and its genesis in the cultural context of Manhattan's beatnik bohemianism, its radical artistic environment, and the city's negative reaction to California's 'Hippie' counterculture. The radical nature of the group's Warhol-period performances are examined, together with those aspects related to the issues of gender, sexuality and drugs culture by which the Warhol Factory scene was identified, and contemplated in Reed's songs.
Witts examines the musical influences of the Velvets on punk, post-punk and subsequent rock movements, culminating in the band's reunion of 1993. He also indexes the variety of media constructions that the group endured through the years and how these affected Cale, Nico and Reed and their attempts to establish solo careers.
Research Interests: Music, Musicology, Popular Music, New York Downtown Writing, New York history, and 20 moreDrugs and drug culture, Sociology of Music, Beat Studies, Film History, Rock Documentaries, Punk, American music, California History, Experimental Film, Punk Studies, Queer Cinema, Post-punk, The Beat Generation, Film Festivals, Andy Warhol, Music and psychedelic drugs, Underground Film, Mix Festival, New York Film Festivals, and Stephen Kent Jusick
The story of The Fall helps us to understand the post-war history of Manchester where the story of Factory falls short of it. Yet in the five years between 2002 and 2007 there has been a concerted attempt to fix a stiff narrative frame... more
The story of The Fall helps us to understand the post-war history of Manchester where the story of Factory falls short of it. Yet in the five years between 2002 and 2007 there has been a concerted attempt to fix a stiff narrative frame around that city’s musical life. It has been applied by a cartel associated with Factory and keen to raise their ‘heritage’ status in the city’s cultural profile.
They have done so in order to delimit general sequences of events around the specificities of Factory Records. By constructing and advancing a received post-punk narrative they have swept bands like The Fall out of that history. Yet the stories provided by practitioners and resources such as The Fall provide much richer accounts of impacts, scenes, activities, realisations and conflicts than the monochrome frame tightly set around Factory.
This chapter examines films, books and statements that construct a particular narrative, one which disregards the modernist project by which postwar Manchester set its mark. In doing so it traduces the experimentation and radicalism epitomised by The Fall.
They have done so in order to delimit general sequences of events around the specificities of Factory Records. By constructing and advancing a received post-punk narrative they have swept bands like The Fall out of that history. Yet the stories provided by practitioners and resources such as The Fall provide much richer accounts of impacts, scenes, activities, realisations and conflicts than the monochrome frame tightly set around Factory.
This chapter examines films, books and statements that construct a particular narrative, one which disregards the modernist project by which postwar Manchester set its mark. In doing so it traduces the experimentation and radicalism epitomised by The Fall.
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... | Ayuda. How to make a saint. Autores: Richard Witts; Localización: Early music, ISSN 0306-1078, Vol. 26, Nº 3, 1998 , pags. 479-485. © 2001-2010 Universidad de La Rioja · Todos los derechos reservados. XHTML 1.0; UTF‑8.
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"The story of The Fall helps us to understand the post-war history of Manchester where the story of Factory falls short of it. Yet in the five years between... more
"The story of The Fall helps us to understand the post-war history of Manchester where the story of Factory falls short of it. Yet in the five years between 2002 and 2007 there has been a concerted attempt to fix a stiff narrative frame around that city’s musical life. It has been applied by a cartel associated with Factory and keen to raise their ‘heritage’ status in the city’s cultural profile. They have done so in order to delimit general sequences of events around the specificities of Factory Records. By constructing and advancing a received post-punk narrative they have swept bands like The Fall out of that history. Yet the stories provided by practitioners and resources such as The Fall provide much richer accounts of impacts, scenes, activities, realisations and conflicts than the monochrome frame tightly set around Factory. This chapter examines films, books and statements that construct a particular narrative, one which disregards the modernist project by which postwar Manchester set its mark. In doing so it traduces the experimentation and radicalism epitomised by The Fall. "
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Since 2015 Liverpool has been designated a UNESCO ‘City of Music’. Not so its neighbour Manchester, which has nonetheless been hailed in the press as the ‘capital city of music’. They remain globally valued as two of the chief cities... more
Since 2015 Liverpool has been designated a UNESCO ‘City of Music’. Not so its neighbour Manchester, which has nonetheless been hailed in the press as the ‘capital city of music’.
They remain globally valued as two of the chief cities identified with the development of popular music in the second half of the twentieth century. As de-industrialised centres seeking new engines of growth, they have invested in these cultural reputations in order to attract for themselves tourists, university students, the conference trade and foreign business. Yet across the past decade numerous claims have been made in a range of journalistic outputs that Liverpool and Manchester are cultural rivals. These claims appear to be predicated principally on sport and music, key meeting points of commerce and leisure.
There are certainly differences between the two conurbations – the industrial site of Manchester grew at the interstices of three rivers while Liverpool evolved as an Atlantic port. Yet the major transport initiatives in the area (the 1830 Manchester-Liverpool Railway, the 1894 Manchester Ship Canal, the 1934 East Lancs Road, the 1976 M62) were constructed in order to accelerate connections between the two cities. Most recently urban strategists such as Andreas Schulz-Baing have fused the diarchy by describing them as a potential polynuclear metropolitan zone, a megalopolis. From this the businessman Lord O’Neill has popularized the union as ‘Manpool’. Taking this as its cue to correct the music history of the ‘adversary’ cities, this chapter examines three diverse examples of musical figures associated with one city who played in vital, but forgotten, part in life of the other. Firstly, Tony Wilson (1950-2007) who was associated with Factory Records and the building of the Haçienda nightclub in Manchester, but started his career in Liverpool (the 1979 festival ‘Zoo Meets Factory Halfway’ will be referred to). Secondly, Roger Eagle (1942-99) who was associated with Liverpool post-punk club Eric’s but also Manchester’s Twisted Wheel (1960s) and The International (1980s); Eagle played a leading role in converting post-punk Frantic Elevators into soul-based Simply Red. Thirdly, the Griffiths brothers (The Real People, Liverpool, 1988–), the Gallagher brothers (Oasis, Manchester, 1992-2001), and the formation of 1990s ‘laddism’. Other cases are cited. A critique is made of contemporary and historical literature on the music scenes of the region. Examples of co-operation, reciprocation and solidarity remain hidden when ethnographic assumptions about separate ‘scenes’ are not tested by examining the common patterns of behaviour between sites of activity. Actors and events that are vital to the stories of both cities get consigned to one. Where the cohesive factor is music, there is a tendency to underestimate the extent of the patterns of interactions. The problem is that of the spatial relations between the administrative frame and the functional terrain of flows and exchanges. This chapter challenges that ethnography which cannot see the wood for the trees.
They remain globally valued as two of the chief cities identified with the development of popular music in the second half of the twentieth century. As de-industrialised centres seeking new engines of growth, they have invested in these cultural reputations in order to attract for themselves tourists, university students, the conference trade and foreign business. Yet across the past decade numerous claims have been made in a range of journalistic outputs that Liverpool and Manchester are cultural rivals. These claims appear to be predicated principally on sport and music, key meeting points of commerce and leisure.
There are certainly differences between the two conurbations – the industrial site of Manchester grew at the interstices of three rivers while Liverpool evolved as an Atlantic port. Yet the major transport initiatives in the area (the 1830 Manchester-Liverpool Railway, the 1894 Manchester Ship Canal, the 1934 East Lancs Road, the 1976 M62) were constructed in order to accelerate connections between the two cities. Most recently urban strategists such as Andreas Schulz-Baing have fused the diarchy by describing them as a potential polynuclear metropolitan zone, a megalopolis. From this the businessman Lord O’Neill has popularized the union as ‘Manpool’. Taking this as its cue to correct the music history of the ‘adversary’ cities, this chapter examines three diverse examples of musical figures associated with one city who played in vital, but forgotten, part in life of the other. Firstly, Tony Wilson (1950-2007) who was associated with Factory Records and the building of the Haçienda nightclub in Manchester, but started his career in Liverpool (the 1979 festival ‘Zoo Meets Factory Halfway’ will be referred to). Secondly, Roger Eagle (1942-99) who was associated with Liverpool post-punk club Eric’s but also Manchester’s Twisted Wheel (1960s) and The International (1980s); Eagle played a leading role in converting post-punk Frantic Elevators into soul-based Simply Red. Thirdly, the Griffiths brothers (The Real People, Liverpool, 1988–), the Gallagher brothers (Oasis, Manchester, 1992-2001), and the formation of 1990s ‘laddism’. Other cases are cited. A critique is made of contemporary and historical literature on the music scenes of the region. Examples of co-operation, reciprocation and solidarity remain hidden when ethnographic assumptions about separate ‘scenes’ are not tested by examining the common patterns of behaviour between sites of activity. Actors and events that are vital to the stories of both cities get consigned to one. Where the cohesive factor is music, there is a tendency to underestimate the extent of the patterns of interactions. The problem is that of the spatial relations between the administrative frame and the functional terrain of flows and exchanges. This chapter challenges that ethnography which cannot see the wood for the trees.
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It remains a remarkable fact that during World War Two a civic entertainments manager in the Cotswolds planned a festival of modern music. The Tory Council supported his idea. The 1945 Cheltenham Festival of Modern British Music was... more
It remains a remarkable fact that during World War Two a civic entertainments manager in the Cotswolds planned a festival of modern music. The Tory Council supported his idea. The 1945 Cheltenham Festival of Modern British Music was staged five weeks after Victory in Europe Day, and its successor remains a fixture in the British festival diary. This article explores the ideological origins and development of the annual festival, arguing that it was a key part of an economic strategy to promote the town as an elitist enclave. Also examined is cause of the so-called 'Cheltenham Symphony', of which it may be claimed that there are 24, alongside 29 'Cheltenham Concertos'.
Research Interests: Music, Music History, Cultural Heritage, British History, Benjamin Britten, and 14 moreModern British History, British Music, Gustav Holst, BBC music policy, British Modernism, Music festivals, Arts Council, British Cultural History, Elisabeth Lutyens, History of the BBC, Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Event Tourism Inclusive Festivals (Music, Cotswolds, and Alan Rawsthorne
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Research Interests: Sociology, Musicology, Anthropology, Popular Music, Ethnomusicology, and 16 moreHistorical Ethnomusicology, Urban Regeneration, Liverpool and Merseyside, History of Popular Music, Live Music, Manchester, City, Liverpool, Oasis, History of Communities in North West England, North West England, Liverpool History, Factory Records, Hillsborough Disaster, UK Inner Cities, and Industrial Urbanism
Research Interests: Music, Music History, 20th century France, Contemporary Dance, Fin de siècle Paris, and 15 moreIntellectual Culture of Paris, 1900-1945, Ballets Russes, Debussy, Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, Modern Dance, Diaghilev and the ballets Russes 1909-1929, Erik Satie, Igor Stravinsky, Stravinsky's music for the theatre, Saint-Saens, Gabriel Fauré, Dance Esthetics, Arts Theories, and Arts Philosophy
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This paper, a contribution to the conference 'Diva - an interdisciplinary conference' (Hope University, Liverpool, July 2011) examines the current state of 'divahood' with regard to the current high number of female singers competing in... more
This paper, a contribution to the conference 'Diva - an interdisciplinary conference' (Hope University, Liverpool, July 2011) examines the current state of 'divahood' with regard to the current high number of female singers competing in the popular music market, such as Britney Spears, Beyonce, Rihanna, Janelle Monae, Kesha and Lady Gaga. It takes as its starting point Linda Lister's paper of 2001, 'Divafication', and considers how helpful that term may be to explain the present scene.
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In 1952 the London Philharmonic Orchestra sacked its highly admired and successful orchestra manager, Thomas Russell, because of his openly communist connections. Boult's role in this scandal is examined, using public documents together... more
In 1952 the London Philharmonic Orchestra sacked its highly admired and successful orchestra manager, Thomas Russell, because of his openly communist connections. Boult's role in this scandal is examined, using public documents together with an aural account made by Frederick Riddle, principal viola and deputy chairman of the orchestra at the time.
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An explanation of Nico's repertory in 1983: 'The choice of songs on the two CDs reflects her concern to promote herself as a songwriter (the immense complications of her publishing deals can be noted from the range of publishing credits... more
An explanation of Nico's repertory in 1983: 'The choice of songs on the two CDs reflects her concern to promote herself as a songwriter (the immense complications of her publishing deals can be noted from the range of publishing credits on this CD). Seven songs appear at some point here just once. Of these, Closing The Door, Purple Lips, Tananore and My Heart Is Empty had not appeared on recordings before (the latter two would eventually appear in 1985 on Camera Obscura). Genghis Khan, and Orly Flight came from a fraught French-produced album project from 1981 called Drama of Exile, and so they were fresh in her mind.'
Research Interests: Music, Musicology, Popular Music Studies, Popular Music, Popular Culture, and 10 morePerformance Studies (Music), History of Popular Music, German Literature and Culture, Lyrics, 20th Century German, Manchester, Goth (Culture), Goth subculture, Representation of Women in Music Lyrics and Videos, and Andy Warhol
I take his main argument to be that we need rock’s disposability, its meretriciousness and its morbidity, as part of the moral metamorphosis we have the chance to undertake in our growth from grubby caterpillars to divine butterflies. The... more
I take his main argument to be that we need rock’s disposability, its meretriciousness and its morbidity, as part of the moral metamorphosis we have the chance to undertake in our growth from grubby caterpillars to divine butterflies. The best rock, he believes, ‘simultaneously achieves a synthesis of evanescent junk and lasting beauty and sets up a conflict between them’ (p.36).
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Stockhausen comments on the work of four sound artists (Aphex Twin, Plastikman, Scanner, Daniel Pemberton) who have claimed to be influenced by him. In turn, three of them offer their responses to his critiques.
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Contextual history to set against encyclopaedia entries on Smyth, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Holst, Britten, and Tippett.
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FROM 1888 A NEW KAISER, WILHELM II, ORDERED A VAST EXPANSION OF GERMANY’S ARMED MIGHT AND GLOBAL AMBITIONS. HE HAD LITTLE TIME FOR THE VIGILANT DIPLOMACIES OF HIS CHANCELLOR, BISMARK, AND DUMPED HIM IN 1890. FROM THEN ON, GERMANY AND... more
FROM 1888 A NEW KAISER, WILHELM II, ORDERED A VAST EXPANSION OF GERMANY’S ARMED MIGHT AND GLOBAL AMBITIONS. HE HAD LITTLE TIME FOR THE VIGILANT DIPLOMACIES OF HIS CHANCELLOR, BISMARK, AND DUMPED HIM IN 1890. FROM THEN ON, GERMANY AND AUSTRIA-HUNGARY’S TACTICAL ALLIANCES AND LINKS BEGAN TO UNRAVEL, LEADING TO WORLD WAR ONE, THE GRINDING DEFEAT OF THE TWO NATIONS, AND FRESH – BUT TOXIC – STARTS AS DEMOCRATIC STATES.
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Richard Strauss 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949. STRAUSS – NOT AT ALL RELATED TO THE VIENNESE ‘WALTZ KING’ FAMILY – WAS GERMANY’S LEADING COMPOSER AFTER WAGNER AND BRAHMS. DRAWING ON THE HUMOUR THAT OFTEN MARKED HIS MUSIC, HE NEVERTHELESS... more
Richard Strauss 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949.
STRAUSS – NOT AT ALL RELATED TO THE VIENNESE ‘WALTZ KING’ FAMILY – WAS GERMANY’S LEADING COMPOSER AFTER WAGNER AND BRAHMS. DRAWING ON THE HUMOUR THAT OFTEN MARKED HIS MUSIC, HE NEVERTHELESS CALLED HIMSELF ‘A FIRST-CLASS SECOND-RATE COMPOSER’. STRAUSS EXCELLED IN A RANGE OF GENRES – 15 OPERAS, 10 SYMPHONIC POEMS, OVER 200 SONGS, CHAMBER MUSIC – FROM THE PANACHE OF HIS DON JUAN PORTRAIT (1888) TO THE PENUMBRAL FOUR LAST SONGS SIX DECADES LATER.
STRAUSS – NOT AT ALL RELATED TO THE VIENNESE ‘WALTZ KING’ FAMILY – WAS GERMANY’S LEADING COMPOSER AFTER WAGNER AND BRAHMS. DRAWING ON THE HUMOUR THAT OFTEN MARKED HIS MUSIC, HE NEVERTHELESS CALLED HIMSELF ‘A FIRST-CLASS SECOND-RATE COMPOSER’. STRAUSS EXCELLED IN A RANGE OF GENRES – 15 OPERAS, 10 SYMPHONIC POEMS, OVER 200 SONGS, CHAMBER MUSIC – FROM THE PANACHE OF HIS DON JUAN PORTRAIT (1888) TO THE PENUMBRAL FOUR LAST SONGS SIX DECADES LATER.
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Michael Tippett 2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998 THE COMPOSERS BRITTEN AND TIPPETT HAVE OFTEN BEEN MENTIONED IN THE SAME BREATH. YET, WHILE BRITTEN WAS CONSIDERED ‘CLEVER’ AND SKILLED, TIPPETT WAS JUDGED CLUMSY AND NAïVE. AND ALTHOUGH... more
Michael Tippett 2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998
THE COMPOSERS BRITTEN AND TIPPETT HAVE OFTEN BEEN MENTIONED IN THE SAME BREATH. YET, WHILE BRITTEN WAS CONSIDERED ‘CLEVER’ AND SKILLED, TIPPETT WAS JUDGED CLUMSY AND NAïVE. AND ALTHOUGH TIPPETT WAS OLDER THAN BRITTEN, HE ALWAYS SEEMED MUCH YOUNGER, WITH A ZEST FOR MODERN LIFE EMBODIED IN HIS SPIRITED SOUNDWORLD. TIPPETT’S MUSIC IS OFTEN WILD, THORNY, SPLASHY AND OPULENT.
THE COMPOSERS BRITTEN AND TIPPETT HAVE OFTEN BEEN MENTIONED IN THE SAME BREATH. YET, WHILE BRITTEN WAS CONSIDERED ‘CLEVER’ AND SKILLED, TIPPETT WAS JUDGED CLUMSY AND NAïVE. AND ALTHOUGH TIPPETT WAS OLDER THAN BRITTEN, HE ALWAYS SEEMED MUCH YOUNGER, WITH A ZEST FOR MODERN LIFE EMBODIED IN HIS SPIRITED SOUNDWORLD. TIPPETT’S MUSIC IS OFTEN WILD, THORNY, SPLASHY AND OPULENT.
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Ralph Vaughan Williams 12 October 1872 – 26 August 1958. HE WROTE FILM MUSIC AND HYMN BOOKS, MUSIC FOR SCHOOLS AND NINE SYMPHONIES. IN ATTEMPTING TO GRASP WHAT IT WAS TO BE AN ENGLISH COMPOSER, HE STUDIED WITH BRUCH IN GERMANY AND RAVEL... more
Ralph Vaughan Williams 12 October 1872 – 26 August 1958.
HE WROTE FILM MUSIC AND HYMN BOOKS, MUSIC FOR SCHOOLS AND NINE SYMPHONIES. IN ATTEMPTING TO GRASP WHAT IT WAS TO BE AN ENGLISH COMPOSER, HE STUDIED WITH BRUCH IN GERMANY AND RAVEL IN FRANCE. YET VAUGHAN WILLIAMS BUILT HIS STYLE OUT OF NATIVE FOLK SONG, A REVERENCE FOR BRITAIN’S TUDOR COMPOSERS, AND A NEED TO CONFRONT MODERN ANXIETIES.
HE WROTE FILM MUSIC AND HYMN BOOKS, MUSIC FOR SCHOOLS AND NINE SYMPHONIES. IN ATTEMPTING TO GRASP WHAT IT WAS TO BE AN ENGLISH COMPOSER, HE STUDIED WITH BRUCH IN GERMANY AND RAVEL IN FRANCE. YET VAUGHAN WILLIAMS BUILT HIS STYLE OUT OF NATIVE FOLK SONG, A REVERENCE FOR BRITAIN’S TUDOR COMPOSERS, AND A NEED TO CONFRONT MODERN ANXIETIES.
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Benjamin Britten 22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976. CRITICS HAVE WRITTEN OF BRITTEN AS THE FIRST ‘NATURAL’ COMPOSER BORN IN ENGLAND SINCE PURCELL OVER TWO CENTURIES EARLIER. THEY MEAN BY THIS THAT HE HAD A CREATIVE EASE, FLUENCY AND... more
Benjamin Britten 22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976. CRITICS HAVE WRITTEN OF BRITTEN AS THE FIRST ‘NATURAL’ COMPOSER BORN IN ENGLAND SINCE PURCELL OVER TWO CENTURIES EARLIER. THEY MEAN BY THIS THAT HE HAD A CREATIVE EASE, FLUENCY AND MASTERY IN WRITING FOR INSTRUMENTS AND FOR SETTING WORDS.
BRITTEN WAS CERTAINLY THE FIRST BRITISH COMPOSER TO WRITE OPERAS – SUCH AS PETER GRIMES AND BILLY BUDD – THAT HAVE BEEN STAGED INTERNATIONALLY AND HELD THEIR PLACE IN THE REPERTORY. HE WAS ALSO CANNY IN THE CAREFUL WAY HE ORGANIZED HIS CAREER AS A FULL-TIME COMPOSER.
BRITTEN WAS CERTAINLY THE FIRST BRITISH COMPOSER TO WRITE OPERAS – SUCH AS PETER GRIMES AND BILLY BUDD – THAT HAVE BEEN STAGED INTERNATIONALLY AND HELD THEIR PLACE IN THE REPERTORY. HE WAS ALSO CANNY IN THE CAREFUL WAY HE ORGANIZED HIS CAREER AS A FULL-TIME COMPOSER.
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EDWARD ELGAR 2 June1857 – 23 February 1934 ELGAR WAS THE FIRST MODERN BRITISH COMPOSER TO EMERGE WITH AN INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION. HE DID SO BEING SELF-TAUGHT. HE GAINED KNOW-HOW AS AN ACTIVE MUSICIAN IN PROVINCIAL ENGLAND, TRAVELLING FAR... more
EDWARD ELGAR 2 June1857 – 23 February 1934
ELGAR WAS THE FIRST MODERN BRITISH COMPOSER TO EMERGE WITH AN INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION. HE DID SO BEING SELF-TAUGHT. HE GAINED KNOW-HOW AS AN ACTIVE MUSICIAN IN PROVINCIAL ENGLAND, TRAVELLING FAR TO HEAR THE LATEST WORKS BY CONTINENTAL COMPOSERS. THE NATIONAL APPEAL THAT HIS MUSIC ATTRACTED IS ONE OF THE PARADOXES SURROUNDING ELGAR’S CHARACTER AND OUTPUT.
ELGAR WAS THE FIRST MODERN BRITISH COMPOSER TO EMERGE WITH AN INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION. HE DID SO BEING SELF-TAUGHT. HE GAINED KNOW-HOW AS AN ACTIVE MUSICIAN IN PROVINCIAL ENGLAND, TRAVELLING FAR TO HEAR THE LATEST WORKS BY CONTINENTAL COMPOSERS. THE NATIONAL APPEAL THAT HIS MUSIC ATTRACTED IS ONE OF THE PARADOXES SURROUNDING ELGAR’S CHARACTER AND OUTPUT.
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Gustav Holst 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934 RARELY HAS SUCH A GAP EXISTED BETWEEN A COMPOSER AND HIS MUSIC. THE MENACING MARCH OF ‘MARS’ FROM THE PLANETS HAS INFLUENCED MANY STRIDENT HOLLYWOOD FILM SCORES, YET ITS CREATOR WAS A MEEK AND... more
Gustav Holst 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934
RARELY HAS SUCH A GAP EXISTED BETWEEN A COMPOSER AND HIS MUSIC. THE MENACING MARCH OF ‘MARS’ FROM THE PLANETS HAS INFLUENCED MANY STRIDENT HOLLYWOOD FILM SCORES, YET ITS CREATOR WAS A MEEK AND MELANCHOLY SCHOOL TEACHER WHO TAUGHT HIMSELF ANCIENT GREEK AND SANSKRIT.
RARELY HAS SUCH A GAP EXISTED BETWEEN A COMPOSER AND HIS MUSIC. THE MENACING MARCH OF ‘MARS’ FROM THE PLANETS HAS INFLUENCED MANY STRIDENT HOLLYWOOD FILM SCORES, YET ITS CREATOR WAS A MEEK AND MELANCHOLY SCHOOL TEACHER WHO TAUGHT HIMSELF ANCIENT GREEK AND SANSKRIT.
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ETHEL SMYTH 22 April 1858 – 8 May 1944. A PIONEERING FEMALE COMPOSER WHO WROTE LARGE-SCALE WORKS ADMIRED IN THEIR TIME, SMYTH CONFRONTED PREJUDICE IN HER ATTEMPTS TO ADVANCE HER CAREER. ALTHOUGH MUSICALLY INFLUENCED BY BRAHMS – WHOM SHE... more
ETHEL SMYTH 22 April 1858 – 8 May 1944.
A PIONEERING FEMALE COMPOSER WHO WROTE LARGE-SCALE WORKS ADMIRED IN THEIR TIME, SMYTH CONFRONTED PREJUDICE IN HER ATTEMPTS TO ADVANCE HER CAREER. ALTHOUGH MUSICALLY INFLUENCED BY BRAHMS – WHOM SHE KNEW AS A FRIEND – SMYTH TOOK MORE INTEREST THAN HE DID IN THE STAGE, WRITING FIVE OPERAS AND A BALLET.
A PIONEERING FEMALE COMPOSER WHO WROTE LARGE-SCALE WORKS ADMIRED IN THEIR TIME, SMYTH CONFRONTED PREJUDICE IN HER ATTEMPTS TO ADVANCE HER CAREER. ALTHOUGH MUSICALLY INFLUENCED BY BRAHMS – WHOM SHE KNEW AS A FRIEND – SMYTH TOOK MORE INTEREST THAN HE DID IN THE STAGE, WRITING FIVE OPERAS AND A BALLET.
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Psychoanalysis, Comparative Literature, Music, Music History, and 14 moreMusicology, Queer Studies, Anthropology, Literature, Gender, Post-Colonialism, British Music, Feminism, Memory Studies, Sociology of Literature, Cinema, Turkish Literature, Modern Political Philosophy, and Nation-State
b Glasgow, Scotland, 13 March 1965. British composer, producer and arranger. His place of birth misleads, for at the age of two months his family moved to the south of England. LeGassick has said that he considers there to be two strands... more
b Glasgow, Scotland, 13 March 1965. British composer, producer and arranger. His place of birth misleads, for at the age of two months his family moved to the south of England. LeGassick has said that he considers there to be two strands to his career, one of which - that of a composer of scored, rhythmically elaborate, pieces – he began in the early 1980s. His other vocation concerns the production of commercial popular music. What links the two fields is his ability to shift with ease between styles, sometimes within the same work.
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John Cale (b Garnant, South Glamorgan, 9 March 1942). Welsh composer, singer-songwriter, producer and arranger. A member of the Fluxus movement, Cale moved to New York and joined the experimental band of La Monte Young. In late 1965 he... more
John Cale (b Garnant, South Glamorgan, 9 March 1942). Welsh composer, singer-songwriter, producer and arranger. A member of the Fluxus movement, Cale moved to New York and joined the experimental band of La Monte Young. In late 1965 he formed The Velvet Underground with Lou Reed. He later became a distinguished record producer and solo song-writer.
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Kraftwerk first toured Britain in 1975. Considered 'a Krautrock novelty act', the group was initially placed in the context of the progressive and folk rock scenes, so that the twenty minutes of 'Autobahn' was appreciated as a typical... more
Kraftwerk first toured Britain in 1975. Considered 'a Krautrock novelty act', the group was initially placed in the context of the progressive and folk rock scenes, so that the twenty minutes of 'Autobahn' was appreciated as a typical 'mood piece' of the period. Yet a year later, journalists wrote of the Germans negatively in terms of Nazism, following David Bowie's fascist posturing and espousal of the band. There were indeed Nazi allusions in the work of Kraftwerk, but the subtleties and ironies of the position it took were lost in a Britain fixated with the second world war. This chapter examines these misunderstandings and the ensuing issues around the musical and ideological influences of Kraftwerk on post-punk bands such as New Order (Manchester) and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (Liverpool).
Research Interests: Cultural History, Cultural Studies, Music, Musicology, Media Studies, and 9 morePopular Music Studies, Popular Music, Modern British History, Sociology of Music, History of Popular Music, German History after 1945, Post-War History of British Pop Music, Electronic Dance Music, and German popular music
There is no evidence that the constructed figure that we call Hildegard of Bingen wrote any of the 77 songs in her name, or wrote them for her nuns to sing at daily service. This music, too, appears capricious and uncontrolled, especially... more
There is no evidence that the constructed figure that we call Hildegard of Bingen wrote any of the 77 songs in her name, or wrote them for her nuns to sing at daily service. This music, too, appears capricious and uncontrolled, especially in its word setting. Unsettling, too, is the failure of various Hildegard biographers to place the abbess in a clear ecclesiastical or political context. This papers questions the modern cult for Hildegard in the context of recordings by nine ensembles of 'her' work.
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Why do bands keep audiences waiting? This question is one among several by which to delimit the phenomenon of the public performance experience. This essay is a contribution to the examination of the proposition that a concert is a... more
Why do bands keep audiences waiting? This question is one among several by which to delimit the phenomenon of the public performance experience. This essay is a contribution to the examination of the proposition that a concert is a sequence of rituals where it is the observance of each component that decides the success of the occasion.
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This essay attempts to show how, in Britain between 1967 and 1997, subsidy has been eroded for composers rather than for the institutions that engaged them. It examines the close yet awkward relationship between professional composers and... more
This essay attempts to show how, in Britain between 1967 and 1997, subsidy has been eroded for composers rather than for the institutions that engaged them. It examines the close yet awkward relationship between professional composers and the Arts Council of Great Britain.
Research Interests:
Starting with Colin Matthews' addition of 'Pluto' to Holst's The Planets, Payne's 'elaboration of Elgar's 'Third' Symphony, and Maxwell Davies's reflection on Vaughan Wiliams' Sinfonia antartica, this essay considers the vogue of British... more
Starting with Colin Matthews' addition of 'Pluto' to Holst's The Planets, Payne's 'elaboration of Elgar's 'Third' Symphony, and Maxwell Davies's reflection on Vaughan Wiliams' Sinfonia antartica, this essay considers the vogue of British composers for forming ostentatious contact with their national 'old master' inheritance, in an attempt to renew their visibility and gain the distinctions afforded those to whom they allude.
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While his three years spent with The Velvet Underground established his reputation (1965-8), in the subsequent thirty years John Cale has attained cult success as a composer, songwriter and producer.
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The 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act – which is still being used by British police - incorporates government policy on music, in that it employs that sense of the word ‘policy’ held in ‘policing’. This is a Middle French root... more
The 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act – which is still being used by British police - incorporates government policy on music, in that it employs that sense of the word ‘policy’ held in ‘policing’. This is a Middle French root referring to the regulation of public order or social conduct. Policy affecting the production, provision and circulation of music derives chiefly from administrative operations leading to legislation, schemes, regulation and promotions from six ministerial government departments. The two most conspicuously connected to music are the DCSF (which deals with nursery, primary and secondary music education) and the DCMS (which deals with aspects of the music industries and with arts subsidy, including the Lottery). There’s another sense of policy I wish to use, from the Latin politia, that is, related to the advocacy of socially responsible citizenship in the sense of civil order and the enhancement of social conditions. Policy as a managed course of action exists to legitimate the retaining or the raising or the protection or the promotion of the value of an entity (such as a product) or a system of classification or an intellectual formulation.
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Donald Francis Tovey (1875-1940) is best known today for his Essays in Musical Analysis, an influential survey of the classical canon in which he applied his method of experiential analysis. Acknowledged as a pianist of international... more
Donald Francis Tovey (1875-1940) is best known today for his Essays in Musical Analysis, an influential survey of the classical canon in which he applied his method of experiential analysis. Acknowledged as a pianist of international stature, his 1930s BBC talks on music gave him a national following, which was capitalized on by Oxford University Press in publishing the Essays.
They were not ‘essays’ at all but programme notes that Tovey wrote for his orchestral concerts in Edinburgh, which he organized, conducted and performed as soloist on Thursday and Sunday nights for twenty-two years until 1939. Richard Witts is cataloguing the Tovey Archive at Edinburgh University and his account of these concerts – together with recordings of Tovey talking and conducting – will throw fresh light on Tovey’s work as an animateur in an age before arts subsidy.
They were not ‘essays’ at all but programme notes that Tovey wrote for his orchestral concerts in Edinburgh, which he organized, conducted and performed as soloist on Thursday and Sunday nights for twenty-two years until 1939. Richard Witts is cataloguing the Tovey Archive at Edinburgh University and his account of these concerts – together with recordings of Tovey talking and conducting – will throw fresh light on Tovey’s work as an animateur in an age before arts subsidy.
An examination of the origin and development of Britain's first self-consciously annual festival of contemporary music, the Cheltenham Festival of Contemporary Music, established in 1945.
While it has often been assumed that BBC radio has consistently broadcast each Prom season in its entirety, 1966 was the first year that it did so. Even then many concerts were switched between stations at their intervals, and it was only... more
While it has often been assumed that BBC radio has consistently broadcast each Prom season in its entirety, 1966 was the first year that it did so. Even then many concerts were switched between stations at their intervals, and it was only from 1970 that the series was transmitted throughout on Radio 3, excepting the Last Night. While parts of some concerts were televised from 1947 onwards, the attempt from 1964 to build a new visual presence on the new BBC1 and BBC2 stations was soon 'left to dry'.
The allocation of the Proms among stations between 1942 and 1970 reveals the tensions within shifting BBC policies on the presence of classical music on the major BBC stations, in particular the crisis of 1955 when, due to the birth of ITV, the BBC was internally exposed to market-force ideology in its promotion of music genres. Internal memos expose arguments about the Proms as a brand as opposed a broadcastable entity. This paper recounts and explores these issues.
The allocation of the Proms among stations between 1942 and 1970 reveals the tensions within shifting BBC policies on the presence of classical music on the major BBC stations, in particular the crisis of 1955 when, due to the birth of ITV, the BBC was internally exposed to market-force ideology in its promotion of music genres. Internal memos expose arguments about the Proms as a brand as opposed a broadcastable entity. This paper recounts and explores these issues.
A reflection on the overall direction of BBC music policy.
Lip-synching, an oral form of mime, has long been connected to the masking of technical problems in the performance of song, from the ’playback’ systems of Bollywood and Hollywood, or Marni Nixon-style ’ghost singers’, to a Beyoncé dance... more
Lip-synching, an oral form of mime, has long been connected to the masking of technical problems in the performance of song, from the ’playback’ systems of Bollywood and Hollywood, or Marni Nixon-style ’ghost singers’, to a Beyoncé dance routine. Through the lips of drag queens and drag kings, however, synching has been analysed by scholars such as Judith Butler as an act disclosing the audience’s own performative acts of identity in an operation where the adroit competence of lip-synching animates the camp, parodic incompetence of drag. This paper examines this paradox through interviews with lip-synching specialists such as Dicky Beau, who turns audio recordings of camp celebrities into digital scripts.