Thesis submission ID 98 | created
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Fabian Gregor Huss, The Chamber Music of Frank Bridge
Supervisor(s): Prof. Stephen Banfield
Repository (hard copy): University of Bristol
General specialism: Musicology
Key terms, persons: Frank Bridge
Abstract:
The chamber music of Frank Bridge is the most wide-ranging portion of the composer’s output, ranging from the student works, written under Stanford at the Royal College of Music, to the most radical examples of the late style. The early works give an insight into some of the fundamental technical and aesthetic priorities of Bridge’s musical language, relating to features of his music throughout the rest of his career. These are developed in the subsequent period, as aspects of construction become more advanced and individual. Different aesthetic approaches to chamber and orchestral music suggest distinct influences on and conceptions of different genres. From around 1913 onwards a marked forward-momentum can be felt in Bridge’s stylistic development, and the music of the next decade is in some ways traditional, while also reaching full maturity. The post-tonal language follows on naturally from the developments of the transitional period, leading to the exploration of expressionistic elements.
Through detailed technical discussion I trace the evolution of Bridge’s musical language in the chamber music, relating it to the remainder of Bridge’s output, music by his contemporaries and likely influences, and wider cultural contexts. These include post-Victorian culture, modernism, impressionism, expressionism, attitudes to genre, and concepts of musical expression and their relation to gender identity and morality.
Fabian Gregor Huss, The Chamber Music of Frank Bridge
PhD, University of Bristol, 2010
Supervisor(s): Prof. Stephen Banfield
Repository (hard copy): University of Bristol
General specialism: Musicology
Key terms, persons: Frank Bridge
Abstract:
The chamber music of Frank Bridge is the most wide-ranging portion of the composer’s output, ranging from the student works, written under Stanford at the Royal College of Music, to the most radical examples of the late style. The early works give an insight into some of the fundamental technical and aesthetic priorities of Bridge’s musical language, relating to features of his music throughout the rest of his career. These are developed in the subsequent period, as aspects of construction become more advanced and individual. Different aesthetic approaches to chamber and orchestral music suggest distinct influences on and conceptions of different genres. From around 1913 onwards a marked forward-momentum can be felt in Bridge’s stylistic development, and the music of the next decade is in some ways traditional, while also reaching full maturity. The post-tonal language follows on naturally from the developments of the transitional period, leading to the exploration of expressionistic elements.
Through detailed technical discussion I trace the evolution of Bridge’s musical language in the chamber music, relating it to the remainder of Bridge’s output, music by his contemporaries and likely influences, and wider cultural contexts. These include post-Victorian culture, modernism, impressionism, expressionism, attitudes to genre, and concepts of musical expression and their relation to gender identity and morality.
Thesis submission ID 98