Course Details in 2025/26 Session

Module Title	LH Vienna: Study of a Musical City
School	Lan, Cult, Art Hist & Music
Department	Music
Module Code	10 37659
Module Lead	Nicholas Attfield
Level	Honours Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 1
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Exclusions
Description	This module places the city of Vienna at its heart of its enquiry. It aims to understand the construction of Vienna’s civic identity as Musikstadt (‘musical city’) from c.1780 to the present day, and the ways that this musical life animates its political, social, and institutional histories, as well as its national and international reputations. Beginning in the late eighteenth century, the module will consider a series of loosely chronological topics drawn from the following: the project of Enlightenment in Vienna and its ‘others’ as represented in stage works; private musical circles and public music criticism; the growth of popular song and operetta; key moments in Viennese modernism; and the ‘Austrofascism’ of the 1930s, in which the Austrian regime shaped national culture against the examples of its fascist neighbours. While there are many scholarly books and articles on these topics, the module is also interested in how media of the past seventy years have presented Vienna. So we will also refer to novels, films, and ‘virtual walking tours’ (both official and unofficial), and address the ways in which they draw on and, in many cases, mythologise these music-historical identities to manage and defuse the tensions of the central European present.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Propose and develop meaningful and sophisticated connections between Vienna’s musical history and the social, cultural, and political histories of Austria, central Europe, and the wider world, including the contemporary moment. Demonstrate a critical understanding of Vienna’s place in broader cultural and aesthetic debates of the European eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. Discuss key Viennese works (or passages from works) from analytical and/or aesthetic standpoints with critical insight and detailed examples.
Assessment	37659-01 : Essay 1 : Coursework (50%) 37659-02 : Essay II / Powerpoint : Coursework (50%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Essay I (2500 words): 50% Essay II (2500 words) OR Powerpoint presentation with recorded narration, up to 20 minutes in duration (plus audio and/or video examples as appropriate up to an additional 10 minutes): 50% Reassessment: Re-submit failed component
Other
Reading List