Music

From Opera to Film

Module code: W3002
Level 5
15 credits in autumn semester
Teaching method: Seminar, Lecture
Assessment modes: Coursework

On this module, you’ll examine the history of musical storytelling from classical opera to film music.

You’ll study audio-visual musical works and explore how music supports story, plot and character. The module focuses on opera and film but you’ll also look at some instrumental music, including the symphonic poem.

Richard Strauss, for example, provides a link between late Romantic opera and 20th-century film music. This connection becomes clearer in the work of Eric Korngold. His operas led directly to his film scores of the 1930s and 1940s.

You’ll also study post-war film scores where music does more than follow the action on screen. Psychological music themes in Bernard Herrmann’s scores for Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and Vertigo are key examples.

These works also connect with opera, including the expressive and unconventional music of Arnold Schoenberg’s Erwartung and Alban Berg’s Lulu.
Your study includes essay work and regular listening and analysis of opera and film music.

You don’t need prior technical knowledge of music to take this module. You also won’t need to read music, as the focus is on audio-visual works rather than written scores.

Module learning outcomes

• Articulate (both in critical writing and in response to visual-aural examples) the differing approaches to continuity in a variety of musical-narrative styles in both opera and film genres
• Identify parallels and precedents for early Hollywood film music in opera and late nineteenth-century symphonic repertoire
• Demonstrate an understanding and critical awareness both of music's inner workings and its cultural/social roles and functions
• Demonstrate an understanding of the social, cultural economic and aesthetic importance of contemporary media