LUCEM
Leeds University Centre for English Music
LUCEM provides a focus for the study of English music and musical life of all periods, partly inspired by recent insightful work by Irish, Scottish and Welsh musicologists on issues of identity and cultural conflict raised by the presence of exported musical cultures in cities such as Edinburgh and Dublin. For centuries, England’s intellectual elite has tended to regard music as a polite amusement – largely the concern of foreigners, women, or children – and musicologists, whose discipline was invented in nineteenth-century Germany, still tend to regard England as outside the mainstream at best, and as ‘Das Land ohne Musik’ at worst. Even the more open-minded still accept the notion of ‘decline’ after the death of Purcell and a corresponding ‘renaissance’ with the emergence of Elgar. Scholarly monuments such as Musica Britannica, Early English Church Music, the Blackwell History of Music in Britainand Ashgate’s series Music in Nineteenth-Century Britain have done much to change attitudes in recent years, and there has been welcome interest in neglected English music from recording companies, such as the English Orpheus series on Hyperion. LUCEM seeks to accelerate this process by
- promoting research into English music and musical cultures, in print, online and on CD
- bringing together scholars and performers interested in the study, reassessment and performance of English music
‘English music’ is defined here as music composed in or for England, rather than music by native Englishmen and women; for with one or two prominent exceptions, the contribution of migrant and immigrant musicians to English cultural life has traditionally been ignored or misunderstood. For similar reasons, English musicians who spent their careers abroad also fall under LUCEM’s remit.
Research Interests - Centre members, their research areas and postgraduate studies at the School of Music
Key Publications (current and most recent)
Edited volumes:
- Cowgill, Rachel, and Julian Rushton, eds, Europe, Empire, and Spectacle in Nineteenth-Century British Music (opens in a new window) (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006)
- Hewitt, Martin, and Rachel Cowgill, eds, Victorian Soundscapes Revisited (opens in a new window) , Leeds Working Papers in Victorian Studies 9(Leeds: LUCEM and LCVS, 2007)
- Cowgill, Rachel, and Peter Holman, eds, Music in the British Provinces, 1690-1914 (opens in a new window) (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007)
For full details of publications in this area, see individual staff pages and Publications and Resources
Events
September 2008: Music and the Idea of the North
March 2007: Victorian Soundscapes (18th Northern Victorian Studies Colloquium), with Leeds Centre for Victorian Studies (Leeds Trinity & All Saints College)
September 2004: The English-texted Music of William Byrd (opens in a new window)
July 2003: Fourth International Biennial Conference on Music in Nineteenth-Century Britain (opens in a new window)
September 2002: Shakespeare in Music; Music in Shakespeare (with Leeds University School of English)
May 2001: Music in the English Provinces, 1700-1900
Personnel and Membership
Director: Professor Peter Holman (Director of Research)
Deputy Director:Dr Michael Allis
Scientific Director: Dr Kia Ng
Membership:
Dr Michael Allis
Professor Clive Brown
Dr David Milsom
Dr Stephen Muir
Professor Emeritus Richard Rastall
Professor Emeritus Julian Rushton
Professor Derek Scott
Dr Bryan White
Contact details & mailing list
Leeds University Centre for English Music
School of Music
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT UK
Tel. +44 (0)113 343 2583
Fax. +44 (0)113 343 2586
email: lucem@leeds.ac.uk
