Music history

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. The symphony: a short history
    Last Few Places
    Course start date:  Tue 23 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Edward Henderson
    Explore the history and development of the symphony from JC Bach to Beethoven and into the twentieth century. Break week: 28 May 2024.
    Full fee £219.00 Senior fee £175.00 Concession £142.00
  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
    Evening
    Course start date:  Thu 25 Apr 2024 (and 4 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 Romantic and modern music on this highly informative 10 week course. Ideal for people with no specialist knowledge. Please note this evening course has a 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 £169.00 Concession £110.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  4. Musical analysis for audiences 1
    Course start date:  Fri 26 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Pauline Greene
    Exploring beneath the surface of a musical work can help us decipher programme notes, understand the work’s context and a composer’s intentions, and greatly enhance our enjoyment of a performance.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £103.00 Concession £90.00
  5. The music of Cuba
    Last Few Places
    Course start date:  Wed 1 May 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Shyam Shah
    Arguably, no other music has been as influential as Cuban music in the 20th century. From being the foundation of Salsa music in the Americas, to its return home in Africa, the Cuban sound has travelled far and wide. But how did this relatively small island in the Caribbean have such a large musical influence, and why was it so readily accepted?
    Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £95.00 Concession £77.00
  6. Musical analysis for audiences 2
    Course start date:  Fri 7 Jun 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Pauline Greene
    Exploring further beneath the surface of a musical work can help us decipher programme notes, understand the work’s context and a composer’s intentions, and greatly enhance our enjoyment of a performance.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £129.00
  7. Mozart: the early operas
    Course start date:  Mon 16 Sep 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Edward Breen
    Explore Mozart’s operas from Bastien und Bastienne (1768) to Idomeneo, re di Creta (1780-81). Discover the stories and the music of these youthful works and learn about Mozart’s early biography. Break week: 28 Oct 2024.
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £174.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  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. Jazz today
    Course start date:  Mon 23 Sep 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Albi Gravener
    An exploration of jazz music as we find it today and as it has developed over the past forty years.
    Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £103.00 Concession £90.00
  10. 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
  11. Miles Davis: from bebop to hip-hop
    Course start date:  Mon 4 Nov 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Albi Gravener
    An in-depth exploration of the music, life and times of this frequently innovative, often controversial but always influential artist. There is so much more than Kind of Blue and Sketches of Spain.
    Full fee £129.00
  12. 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
  13. 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
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  14. 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
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