Nineteenth-Century Music in Britain Conference
Wed 28 Jun
|Open University
The Open University was delighted to host the thirteenth Music in Nineteenth-Century Britain Conference. They welcomed scholars from across the globe, speaking on a wide range of topics concerning musical thought and practice, drawing on a variety of perspectives.
Time & Location
28 Jun 2023, 19:00 – 30 Jun 2023, 23:00
Open University, Walton Hall, Kents Hill, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
About the event
Exploring the shanty’s shift from land to sea to land during the long 19th century
Although shanties are inextricably linked to the sea as a form of maritime work song, in reality very few of the shanties that were sung aboard ship were composed with a maritime setting in mind. Shanty repertoire in the 19th century was comprised of a variety of songs from many musical influences and backgrounds: anything and everything could be a shanty provided that the melody was catchy and the song could be metrically adapted to fit the work purpose. In this regard, shanties were highly unusual in the realm of folk music, as land-based song from a variety of inspirations took on a life outside of its original compositional setting or function in the diaspora space that was the sailing ship during the Great Age of Sail. During the latter half of the century, however, shanties…