Music history - Keeley Street - Online

Music History Courses in London and Online

City Lit offers an extensive programme of online music history and music appreciation courses with a focus on Western classical music, Folk, Jazz, Rock and Pop. There are new topics each year across a growing range of music styles and traditions.

To find out more about music history classes and to read our year-long selection of courses, please see the blog post Music history: your guide to our programme which lists our full programme of classes ordered by term, and by day of the week. You may then click on each title to read the full course outline.

Our staff are all professional musicians who teach, write, broadcast, lecture and perform widely. In recent years they have worked with BBC Radio 3, Gramophone magazine, Birkbeck (University of London), The Open University, Oxford and Cambridge University Press, Early Music, The Orchestra of the age of Enlightenment, The Wigmore Hall and the Aldeburgh Festival.

Many of our students learn for pleasure but some also come to enhance their careers: recent examples include board members of music charities, marketing and administration professionals from orchestras and gap-year students considering university entrance.

Feel free to browse our programme and do email us at music@citylit.ac.uk with any questions.

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  1. Great works: Stabat mater from plainchant to Pärt
    Last Few Places
    Course start date:  Thu 18 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Trish Shaw
    This course examines a core Latin Christian hymn text, Stabat mater dolorosa, which has received dozens of musical settings over eight centuries, from the 13th century to the present day. Why does this particular text hold such fascination for composers, and how has its meaning been interpreted through music?
    Full fee £39.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £39.00
  2. Exploring classical music: module 2
    Last Few Places
    Course start date:  Thu 25 Apr 2024 (and 2 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Neil Luck
    Do you want to know more about classical music history? Explore selected topics and key works in Baroque to Classical music on this highly informative 10 week course. Ideal for people with no specialist knowledge. Please note this course has a scheduled mid-term break: 30 May 2024.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00
    Rating:
    93% of 100
  3. Exploring classical music: module 3
    Course start date:  Tue 23 Apr 2024 (and 4 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Neil Luck
    Do you want to know more about classical music history? Explore selected topics and key works in Romantic and modern music on this highly informative 10 week course. Ideal for people with no specialist knowledge. Please note this course has a mid-term break: 28 May 2024.
    Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  4. Great works: Rhapsody in Blue
    Course start date:  Thu 18 Jul 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Pauline Greene
    100 years ago a 26-year-old New York songwriter realised that his name appeared on a concert poster advertising An Experiment in Modern Music, featuring a piece composed by him. He had five weeks to complete it, and the result was Rhapsody in Blue.
    Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £29.00
  5. Vibrato: a short study
    Course start date:  Thu 18 Jul 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Edward Breen
    What is vibrato and how is it used? Learn about the history of vocal vibrato and arguments surrounding its use.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £29.00
  6. Great artists: Leonard Bernstein
    Course start date:  Thu 18 Jul 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Pauline Greene
    Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) was a brilliant conductor, composer, and educator, and a sometimes controversial public figure. We explore his music in the context of the arts in America, looking especially at his effortless assimilation of popular and classical styles.
    Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £29.00
  7. Opera appreciation: an introduction
    Course start date:  Thu 25 Jul 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Pauline Greene
    What is opera? And how do you approach watching and listening to it? Explore the ostentatious, sometimes overwhelming, world of opera through study of two major works and styles.
    Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £69.00
  8. A history of piano music
    Evening
    Course start date:  Thu 19 Sep 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Maria Razumovskaya
    Trace the development of keyboard instruments and their repertoire from Bach’s Goldberg Variations to the late works of Brahms. Explore the composers and makers who shaped the keyboard into one of the most versatile and popular instruments of all time, and learn about history, style, genre and function through guided listening and score reading. Break week: 31 October 2024.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £174.00
    Rating:
    80% of 100
  9. Exploring opera 1
    Course start date:  Thu 26 Sep 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Pauline Greene
    Join us to explore the history of opera over three enjoyable terms. In this first term we’ll explore the ideas that fuelled origins of opera and the wonderful world of Baroque opera seria. NB Break week: 31 Oct 2024.
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £174.00
  10. Great composers: Arnold Schoenberg
    Course start date:  Thu 12 Dec 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Trish Shaw
    Arnold Schoenberg was born in 1874, and his career spanned the period from high Romanticism through Modernism to the post-1945 avante garde. Come and learn how this fascinating and eclectic composer was part of, and a huge influence on, Western classical music during his lifetime and beyond, and learn to appreciate his music for its own sake.
    Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £59.00 Concession £59.00
  11. Exploring opera 2
    Course start date:  Thu 16 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Pauline Greene
    Join us to explore the history of opera over three enjoyable terms. In this second term we’ll explore the innovations of Mozart, the impact of the French Revolution and the early Romantics.
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £174.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  12. Exploring opera 3
    Course start date:  Thu 25 Apr 2024 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Pauline Greene
    Join us to explore the history of opera over three enjoyable terms. In this third term we’ll explore Verdi, Wagner and the early 20th century. Break week: 30 May 2024.
    Full fee £219.00 Senior fee £175.00 Concession £142.00
    Rating:
    95% of 100
  13. Operas in production
    Course start date:  Thu 25 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Pauline Greene
    Looking at ten of the operas coming up in the 2024 season, we will discuss their composition, context, controversies and style, and then hear the story of the opera through musical examples. Break week 30th May 2024.
    Full fee £219.00 Senior fee £175.00 Concession £142.00
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