London In Song

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Same as ENGL 24481 - London In Song, with additional work. This course asks what can we learn about the history of a place by studying the song traditions that have emerged from the place. Each week we will focus on one particular song in order to discover what we can learn about the history of London, both from its content, and from the circumstances surrounding its composition, performance and printing. We will consider what kinds of history songs can tell, with a particular attention to the mentalities of communities who otherwise leave little trace in archives. We will combine in-class discussion of songs, learning about their history, and examining various recordings, with site visits to the places described in the songs. Along the way we will learn about the new burgeoning field of mainstream song studies, tracing its history back through the second ballad revival of the mid-twentieth century, and the first ballad revival of the late Victorian period. We will investigate the research of Francis Child, the first English professor at Harvard University, who gave his name to the Child Ballads. We will consider the importance of ballads to the development of Romanticism, and we will consider the ballad debates that occurred after Thomas Percy published his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry in 1765.Throughout we will consider the history of mainstream song both in print and performance. We will discuss the history of ballad printing in London, and visit the Print Workshop at the St Bride Foundation on Fleet Street to learn about historical printing presses, and provide some hands-on instruction in setting type. There would be guest lectures from ballad scholars, and performers, who will provide insights into what performing mainstream song can do to our understanding of song history. And inevitably we would end up doing some singing ourselves.