MHST 237 - Music and Melodrama on Stage and Screen

FC CNDP DDHU

4 credits
This course combines a survey of music and melodrama in 19th-century theater and early silent cinema with a practicum in performing music for silent film. Beginning with 18th-century experiments combining oratory, pantomime, and instrumental music, we will consider how instrumental music supported the “heightened dramatization” of 19th-century stage melodrama and provided the musical topics of early film. Students will then study, select, and perform cinematic photoplay music to accompany selected classic silent films. Other assessments will include a research essay and program notes in support of the final performance project. Students will visit the Cleveland Public Library to view their archive of theatrical scores and silent film books. Open to instrumentalists in the Conservatory or College. Field trip(s) required.

Prerequisites: ESOL 130 (for students in ESOL sequence).