Music And Academia In Victorian Britain (music In Nineteenth-century Britain)
by Rosemary Golding /
2013 / English / PDF
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Until the nineteenth century, music occupied a marginal place in
British universities. Degrees were awarded by Oxford and Cambridge,
but students (and often professors) were not resident, and there
were few formal lectures. It was not until a benefaction initiated
the creation of a professorship of music at the University of
Edinburgh, in the early nineteenth century, that the idea of music
as a university discipline commanded serious consideration. The
debates that ensued considered not only music's identity as art and
science, but also the broader function of the university within
education and society. Rosemary Golding traces the responses of
some of the key players in musical and academic culture to the
problems surrounding the establishment of music as an academic
discipline. The focus is on four universities: Edinburgh, Oxford,
Cambridge and London. The different institutional contexts, and the
approaches taken to music in each university, showcase the various
issues surrounding music's academic identity, as well as wider
problems of status and professionalism. In examining the way music
challenged conceptions of education and professional identity in
the nineteenth century, the book also sheds light on the way the
academic study of music continues to challenge modern approaches to
music and university education.
Until the nineteenth century, music occupied a marginal place in
British universities. Degrees were awarded by Oxford and Cambridge,
but students (and often professors) were not resident, and there
were few formal lectures. It was not until a benefaction initiated
the creation of a professorship of music at the University of
Edinburgh, in the early nineteenth century, that the idea of music
as a university discipline commanded serious consideration. The
debates that ensued considered not only music's identity as art and
science, but also the broader function of the university within
education and society. Rosemary Golding traces the responses of
some of the key players in musical and academic culture to the
problems surrounding the establishment of music as an academic
discipline. The focus is on four universities: Edinburgh, Oxford,
Cambridge and London. The different institutional contexts, and the
approaches taken to music in each university, showcase the various
issues surrounding music's academic identity, as well as wider
problems of status and professionalism. In examining the way music
challenged conceptions of education and professional identity in
the nineteenth century, the book also sheds light on the way the
academic study of music continues to challenge modern approaches to
music and university education.
