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. 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
    Rating:
    80% of 100
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. 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 Senior fee £103.00 Concession £90.00
  5. Nine lessons and carols
    Course start date:  Mon 9 Dec 2024

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Edward Breen
    What is a Service of nine lessons and carols? Where did it begin and how has it become associated with the chapel and choir of King’s College, Cambridge? Explore the cultural and musical history of this service in this short online course.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £39.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £39.00
  6. Mediaeval Christmas carols
    Course start date:  Tue 10 Dec 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Edward Breen
    Discover the rich heritage of medieval Christmas carols. Learn about traditional forms of the carol and the history behind selected examples.
    Full fee £39.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £39.00
  7. 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
  8. Exploring classical music: module 2
    Course start date:  Mon 13 Jan 2025 (and 2 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Edward Breen
    Do you want to know more about classical music history? Explore selected topics and key works in Baroque, Classical and early Romantic music on this highly informative 10-week course. Ideal for people with no specialist knowledge. Break week: 17 Feb 2025.
    Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £139.00
    Rating:
    93% of 100
  9. Debussy: an introduction to his music
    Course start date:  Tue 14 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Edward Henderson
    Debussy is one of the most recognisable early 20th century composers. His influence was far reaching. Come and explore several key works to find out what makes his style so distinctive, and his music so intoxicating.
    Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £103.00 Concession £90.00
  10. 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
  11. Electronic music: a brief history
    Course start date:  Tue 25 Feb 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Edward Henderson
    From the sound you phone makes to wake you up in the morning to pop, club music and concert music – electronic music is everywhere an available to everyone. This course tells the story of electronic music from computers as big as rooms in the WDR studios in Cologne to GarageBand on your iphone and the music that was made along the way.
    Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £103.00 Concession £90.00
  12. 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
  13. 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
  14. 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
  15. Music in the 21st century: the first 25 years
    Course start date:  Tue 29 Apr 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Edward Henderson
    We are now 25 years into the 21st century. This course is a guide to concert music and new composition of the century so far.
    Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £99.00 Concession £99.00
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