Queer Music, Queer Theory, Queer Music Theory

If a composer is queer, is their music queer too? In the early 1990s Susan McClary proposed that the answer to this question was 'yes'. She furthered Maynard Solomon's controversial proposal that Franz Schubert (1797-1828) might have been gay by suggesting that analysis of Schubert's music (that is, close study of its inner-workings) revealed stylistic features that might be associated with his homosexuality. Conservative music-lovers were appalled at the idea of a gay Schubert, let alone that their favourite Schubert works might be intrinsically gay too, and they preferred to attribute his unique musical ability to mental health problems, venereal disease, or even his ugly appearance. Yet queer musicology had burst out of the closet and into the academic limelight, and the debate about Schubert's sexuality was even reported in the mainstream press. The notion of 'queer music analysis', however, was damaged during the debate: in 1993 Rita Steblin comprehensively rebutted Solomon's biographical research and asserted that the evidence in fact pointed towards Schubert's vigorous heterosexuality, which left McClary's hypothesis of Schubert's homosexual musical style looking precarious. Apparently discredited, research into the analysis of queer music continued, but with considerably less prominence. (By contrast, the idea that popular music is often sexual, and sometimes queer, has been far less controversial: consider Bowie and Prince, for example.)

In the quarter-century since the birth of queer musicology, scholarship, and cultural and political attitudes have altered considerably. Many Western countries have introduced legislation to recognise same-sex relationships, and even President Putin acknowledged in 2013 that Tchaikovsky, Russia's most famous composer, was probably gay (inconvenient for Putin, given Russia's enactment of a so-called 'gay propaganda' law that year). Recently, there has been a renewed interest in queer music analysis, and a re-evaluation of the work and conclusions of earlier queer music scholarship is now due. Indeed, the very notion of 'queer music' is itself contestable and uncertain. We know that there are queer composers, whose artistic intentions may be related to their queer identity. But surely their intentions are not reducible to queerness alone? Perhaps rather than 'queer music' we should speak of queer creative strategies, queer forms of expression, queer 'meanings'? What, then, is 'queer' about queer music? Where does its queerness reside? And what can the analysis of queer composers' music contribute to our understanding?

This Fellowship ('Queer Music, Queer Theory, Queer Music Theory') will allow Dr David Bretherton to take a lead in re-energising the debate about the nature of queer music, and to play a decisive role in the re-conceptualisation of queer music from a music-theoretical and -analytical perspective (that is, from the perspective of the features and 'language' of music itself, rather than of the character traits of its composers). Focusing on selected works from the last two centuries, by composers such as Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Copland, Britten and Finnissy, this research will explore the emergence of queer musicology and critique earlier work in this area. It will then interrogate the concept of 'queer music' through several music-analytical case studies organised around core ideas from the discipline of queer theory. The notion that modern Western society is dominated by a 'heteronormative' discourse favouring heterosexual relationships and 'normal' gender behaviours will be particularly important, because its analogue, musical convention, when subverted is often dubiously interpreted as autobiographical evidence of a composer's queerness. This project seeks more nuanced and thoughtful alternatives, and seeks to align queer musicology with other approaches in the humanities. Its findings will be reported in a variety of academic and public forums.

Impact will be delivered to three different groups:

1. Audiences of 3 Concerts of Vocal Music by Queer Composers.
Turner Sims Concert Hall (a leading music venue on the South Coast) and the PI will stage a concert of queer composers' vocal music on 31/01/19, which will integrate live professional performances with commentary by the PI, presenting this project's research in an entertaining and accessible way. The concert will be the first in a 3-concert series; concerts 2 and 3 will also combine the project's research with performances, and will be held in autumn '19 and Feb. '20 respectively. (Concerts 2 and 3 fall outside the period of the fellowship, and so no contribution towards them is requested.) Turner Sims (capacity: 450) has a dedicated audience, and also an active outreach programme focusing on the under-25s, students and schools, to whom discounted tickets will be available. In addition, particularly as it will mark the start of Southampton University's programme of public events for LGBT History Month (February), the concert will be promoted to LGBT/-friendly local residents and university members. Turner Sims's market research indicates that audiences value concerts that closely integrate accessible, research-led commentary and music in an imaginative way; by taking such an approach with these concerts, the audience will benefit from an explanation of how music works on a technical level, and from a better understanding of role of queerness in music.

2. Participants and Observers of a Vocal Masterclass.
The concert on 31/01/19 will be followed on 01/02/19 by a public masterclass on 'queer song', organised by the PI and featuring the concert's vocal artists as the 'masters'. Again, this event will be part of the celebrations for LGBT History Month, and will provide the opportunity to disseminate the project's research to a non-academic audience. The masterclass will be promoted to Turner Sims patrons, LGBT/-friendly Southampton residents, and particularly to student singers at HEIs in the South and local schools/FE colleges. Participants (c. 8) to receive public coaching from the 'masters' will be chosen by formal application; half of the places will be reserved for Southampton University Music students. Tickets will be free. The event will be of great educational benefit to participants, and to observers (c. 75), who will discover how notions of 'queerness' might be harnessed for the creation of compelling artistic interpretations.

3. Attendees of the Music Analysis Summer School.
The University of Southampton will host the Society for Music Analysis Summer School in July 2019, at which intensive, specialist tuition will be delivered to an international body of graduate students. The PI will be one of the tutors and will deliver seminars related to the project's research. The summer school will be of significant benefit to its c. 25 students, who will be selected from an international pool of applicants, and are unlikely to have been exposed to queer studies approaches to music before. They will gain an understanding of how the tacit assumption of heterosexuality has influenced traditional approaches to the study of music, and they will also be equipped to identify and challenge such assumptions for themselves. The syllabus's inclusion of queer music studies may also influence the attitudes and beliefs of participants, some of whom will originate from countries where homosexual acts remain taboo or illegal. Given that many of the summer school's students will go into education and arts management/policy professions, there is thus the potential for the project's research to have an indirect influence on many other members of the public.

Attendees and participants for all the above events will benefit from a better awareness of issues of oppression, difference and equality.