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.
- Great Jazz composersCourse start date: Sun 8 Oct 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sara DhillonExplore five famous Jazz composers and learn to identify key features of their style. This short course will help you refresh and expand your listening.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information. - Great works: White ChristmasCourse start date: Mon 4 Dec 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Pauline GreeneHow did we all become so obsessed with snow in December? From Irving Berlin’s song to its use in several films and on stage, we look at the huge impact of this little ditty which has become the defining image of Christmas for many.Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £29.00 - Great artists: Sir Charles Mackerras and Czech musicCourse start date: Mon 4 Dec 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Sir Charles Mackerras was one of most significant and influential artists of the last seventy years. After winning a scholarship to study in Prague in 1947, he became besotted by all things Czech and was determined to become a champion of that country’s music. He later proudly described himself as an ‘honorary Czech’ and was often at his artistic happiest when working with singers and musicians from the Czech and Slovak republics. Tutor: Professor Raymond Holden [external website].Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £29.00 - An introduction to Gurbani SangitaCourse start date: Tue 5 Dec 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Gurbani Sangita is the music of the Sikhs; once widely present in the Indian subcontinent and beyond, a pinnacle of musical excellence, it is now nearly extinct. In this short session, many facets of this still potent, living tradition will be explored, including unique musical compositions, melodic modes, pedagogical processes and instruments.Full fee £39.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £39.00 - Christmas Carols: a brief historyCourse start date: Thu 7 Dec 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Edward BreenDiscover the rich heritage of Christmas carols. Learn about traditional forms of the carol and the history behind selected examples from the medieval to twentieth century.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information. - The Sydney Opera House at 50: a musical historyCourse start date: Tue 12 Dec 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Trish ShawThe Sydney Opera House is one of the architectural wonders of the modern world, with its dramatic white sails soaring above the sun-dappled waters of Sydney Harbour. 50 years after the Opera House's official opening in October 1973, come and learn how this magnificent structure came into existence, and what is means to musical culture in its own country and throughout the world.Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £29.00 - Exploring the music of Fanny MendelssohnCourse start date: Tue 9 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Katy HamiltonThe elder of two brilliant composer siblings, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel was a child prodigy and prolific composer who was unable to pursue a glittering public career as her brother did. We explore her life and her work, her aspirations, her relationship with her family, and her artistic output. ** This course has a scheduled break week: 30 Jan 2024.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £95.00 Concession £77.00 - Operatic partnerships of Mozart and StraussCourse start date: Mon 15 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Although active during two very different historical periods, the operatic partnerships of Mozart and da Ponte and Strauss and Hofmannsthal have much in common. Not only were they seminal in shaping the perception and reception of the lyric theatre during their own lifetimes, but they created a series of theatrical masterpieces that continue to dominate the world’s major operatic stages. Tutor: Professor Raymond Holden [external website].Full fee £119.00 - The essential history of jazz in 20 cutsCourse start date: Mon 15 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Albi GravenerThrough a selection of 20 iconic albums, we will study the key figures, the innovators and the star soloists of 20th century jazz, as well as some important artists you might be less familiar with. - Greek stories and musical settingsCourse start date: Mon 15 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Katy Hamilton, Nikoletta ManiotiWe’re used to hearing of books and movies described as ‘timeless classics’ – but what does it mean for a composer to take a Classical myth and use it as the basis for a dramatic musical work centuries after the story was first recorded? Come and explore a range of myths from Homer, Euripides, Ovid and others, and learn how composers from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries brought these tales to life. * this course has no break week.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £189.00 Senior fee £189.00 Concession £123.00 - Exploring classical music: module 2Course start date: Tue 16 Jan 2024 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Karen BetleyDo 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. NB: This course has no scheduled break week.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00 - The music of fin-de-siècle ViennaCourse start date: Tue 16 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Karen BetleyVienna in the late 19th and early 20th centuries acted as a musical magnet, attracting to it composers as diverse as Mahler, Schoenberg and Richard Strauss. Join us as we explore the music of those who were living and working in Vienna at this time, and the ideas that influenced them. NB: This course has no scheduled break week.Full fee £219.00 Senior fee £175.00 Concession £142.00 - Exploring classical music: module 4Course start date: Tue 16 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Edward HendersonThis course offers a (very) brief history of Western art music during the 20th century. Suitable for classical music enthusiasts as well as near beginners. Each week we will look at a key work of classical music from the twentieth century and use it as a jumping off point to discuss the important historical and aesthetic developments that affected composition in the modern era. NB: no break week term 2, 2024. - Exploring opera 2Course start date: Thu 18 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Pauline GreeneJoin 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. NB: This course has no break week. - Exploring classical music: module 1
Course start date: Tue 19 Sep 2023 (and 2 other dates)Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Neil LuckDo you want to know more about classical music? Explore selected topics and key works in Medieval to (early) Baroque music on this highly informative 10 week course. Ideal for people with no specialist knowledge. Break week: 24 Oct 2023.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00
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