Visions Of Tomorrow: Art And Music In Britain 1770 1920

By 1770 British art was beginning to find its feet.  Blake, Constable and Turner became leading figures in the Romantic movement and even reversed the Continental influence which had dominated the British scene for a very long time.  The Irish Uprising of 1798 had profound political, social and cultural consequences including the revival of Irish rebel music which continued to 1920, and beyond. Meanwhile the Victorian desire to bring culture to the masses was embodied by Charles Halle whose tireless work as conductor, concert organiser and educator laid the foundations for the appreciation of  Elgar, Delius and Holst – the greatest English-born composers for 150 years.  Most ordinary people, however, found their entertainment in the lively, unpretentious world of the music hall.  At the other extreme the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood came from a consciously aesthetic and self-referential angle – an approach which would influence the Bloomsbury Group and many of the artists and composers who recorded the horrors of the Great War.   

WEEK 1: WILLIAM BLAKE

WEEK 2: JOHN CONSTABLE

WEEK 3: JMW TURNER

WEEK 4: IRISH REBEL MUSIC

WEEK 5: CHARLES HALLE AND THE DEMOCRATISATION OF MUSIC

WEEK  6: THE BRITISH MUSIC HALL

WEEK 7: THE PRE-RAPHAELITES

WEEK 8: EDWARD ELGAR

WEEK 9: OTTOLINE MORRELL AND THE BLOOMSBURY GROUP

WEEK 10: SYMPHONIC POETS - FREDERICK DELIUS AND GUSTAV HOLST

WEEK 11: BRITISH ART 1914-1918

WEEK 12: BRITISH MUSIC 1914-1918