Essay Outline & Sample Chapter

General Remarks
If you havent used footnotes/references yet make sure you do so in the final
version. All quotations as well as opinions/interpretations (not basic facts!)
taken from the literature have to be referenced.
Use the section/chapter headings of the outline in the main text as well (not
every single bullet point, but the 2-4 main headlines).
Many of the stylistic issues discussed in Writing about Music apply here as
well: avoid commencing subsequent sentences with the same word; avoid
saying the same thing two or three times in a single paragraph;

Absolute and Programme Music

There is a tendency to spend more time on programme music than on
absolute music. The latter is more difficult to define/understand, but both
should have similar space.
Music with tone painting or rudimentary programmes existed indeed at least
since the 16th century, but the term/concept of programme music only
emerged in the 19th century in opposition to absolute music. How we listen to
it/define something is at least as important as what is in the score.
These essays should (among other things) engage with why the 19th century
suddenly rated pure instrumental music that high, and why some people
hated programme music while others loved it.
Liszts Achievements as a Pianist and Composer
This could actually be written without any biographical sections; in any case
keep them as brief as possible.
This is about achievements that had an impact on music history. That he gave
a concert aged 9 or played for the English king aged 13 was an achievement
for him personally but would not make us remember him today, so it is not
really what this essay ought to be about.
In my view the best structure would be one main section about the pianist
and one about the composer, but not an overall biography with occasional
achievements interspersed then it risks becoming 80% biography and at
most 20% of what is should be about.
The section on the pianist should include something about: his specific
playing techniques, recitals, the publics response to him; paraphrases and
transcriptions; masterclasses. There can be more, but these ought to feature
somewhere.
The section on the composer should include something about programme
music/the symphonic poem, thematic transformation, double function form.
There can be more, but these ought to feature somewhere.

Wagners Music Drama

Aesthetic concepts: gesamtkunstwerk, critique of normal opera as being
dominated by music at the expense of the text/plot.
Musical characteristics: leitmotif, never-ending/endless melody, individual
treatment of lines of text, others.

Neoclassicism
Again, avoid too much biography.
What are the typical musical characteristics of a neoclassical piece?
 Neoclassicism was a reaction to what style/period? What did neoclassical
composer not like about it?
How/why did people like Adorno or Boulez criticise neoclassicism?

Minimal Music
As with Liszt, keep the biographies of people like Young, Reich or Glass to a
minimum.
Include something on the influence of minimalist painting which emerged
earlier then the music.
Discuss the specific ways in which melody, harmony and rhythm are treated
in minimal music which of these (or other) parameters is more important
than others, and how does this differ from other musical styles?