Music history - Keeley Street

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 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
  2. 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
  3. Great works: Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges
    Course start date:  Wed 2 Apr 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Trish Shaw
    The fantastical opera L'Enfant et les sortileges, by Maurice Ravel, was first performed in March 1925 at the Monte Carlo Opera. Come and explore this delightful work, with plot and libretto by the novelist Collete, and its magical characters and even more magical music.
    Full fee £39.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £39.00
  4. Great composers: Palestrina
    Course start date:  Mon 7 Apr 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Edward Breen
    Known as one of the three towering composers of the renaissance (alongside Lassus & Byrd), explore the life and works of this most famous polyphonist.
    Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £79.00
  5. Handel: the late oratorios
    Course start date:  Mon 28 Apr 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Edward Breen
    Explore Handel’s late oratorios from Samson (1743) to The Triumph of Time and Truth (1757). Discover the stories and the histories behind these great works and learn about the later years of Handel’s own life. Break weeks: 5 & 26 May 2025.
    Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £139.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  6. Musical interpretation and performance
    Course start date:  Wed 30 Apr 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Cheslav Singh
    A music appreciation course focusing on the aspects of music left to its performers, particularly in the Western Classical Tradition.
    Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £167.00
  7. 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
  8. 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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