Nicholas Baragwanath
Director of Postgraduate Studies, Faculty of Arts
Contact
Biography
Following studies as a pianist at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, Nick completed postgraduate degrees at the University of Sussex. From 1998 he was Lecturer in Music at the University of Wellington, New Zealand, moving in 2001 to the Royal Northern College of Music, where he was Head of Postgraduate Studies and subsequently Dean of Research and Enterprise, overseeing the establishment of a new Graduate School and the introduction of collaborative PhD programmes. He joined the University of Nottingham in 2010.
Expertise Summary
Music Theory from 1700, especially Italian; Nineteenth-Century Opera; Wagner; Berg; Puccini; Music Analysis; Piano Music; Russian Music; Frankfurt School Critical Theory
Research Summary
Current research explores mainstream musical practices of 18th- and 19th-century Europe that remain marginalized or obscured. This can take many forms: e.g., highlighting the dependence of Mozart's… read more
Selected Publications
BARAGWANATH, N., 2012. The Early Chamber Music with Keyboard: Traditions of Performance, Composition, and Commodification. In: HARLOW, M., ed., Mozart's Chamber Music with Keyboard Cambridge University Press. 25-44
BARAGWANATH, N., 2008. Analytical Approaches to Melody in Selected Arias by Puccini Music Theory Online. 14(2),
Current Research
Current research explores mainstream musical practices of 18th- and 19th-century Europe that remain marginalized or obscured. This can take many forms: e.g., highlighting the dependence of Mozart's early works on Italian continuo methods, investigating Chopin's use of operatic rhythms, or discussing the essential role of solfeggi in melodic composition from Haydn to Mascagni. Nick has recently completed a brief history of melodic accent from Zarlino to Zingarelli.
A major new study of compositional theory and practice in 19th-century Italy was published in July 2011 by Indiana University Press. It surveys the once commonplace fundamentals, methods, and formulas that were taught at Italian music conservatories during the 19th century, and explores their significance for composition through case studies from Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti to Verdi, Boito, and Puccini. Taking account of some 400 primary sources, the book explains theories and practices that differ considerably from current theoretical and analytical conceptions of this music.
Past Research
Nick's doctoral research investigated the influence of Wagner on the music of the Second Viennese School. Since then his research interests have covered a broad range of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century topics. Publications include articles on analysis, manuscript studies, and musicological theory in journals such as Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, Music Analysis, Music & Letters, Music Theory Online, and Nineteenth-Century Music. He was awarded the Jack Westrup Prize in 2006.
Future Research
Nick is currently working on plans for a collaborative project, tentatively entitled "Solfeggio and the Art of Melody, 1780-1900", which will draw together a body of primary source materials to investigate the significance of traditional solfeggio/solfège methods to performance and composition.