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MUS31490

Academic Year 2026/2027

Music and Sexuality in Early European Musical Cultures (MUS31490)

Subject:
Music
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
Music
Level:
3 (Degree)
Credits:
10
Module Coordinator:
Dr Matthew Thomson
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

Many medieval and early modern European cultures saw music, and especially song, as being intricately connected with sexual desire and romantic love. This course explores the particularly intense links between music and sexuality found in two repertoires stretching between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries: the twelfth- and thirteenth-century love songs of the troubadours and trouvères and seventeenth-century opera.
The module will therefore begin by examining different scholarly models for characterising how sexuality and sexual identity were understood in pre-modern European societies, as well as for understanding how music and sexuality are linked. Students will be encouraged to weigh up the benefits and problems of these different approaches. We will then apply these approaches to each of the two repertoires, mixing analysis of primary sources and individual songs with examination of broader cultural trends and societal changes. The first session of each week (2 hours) will introduce students to the repertoires under consideration and broad historical approaches to music and sexuality. In the second session (1 hour), we will analyse primary sources, individual songs, and operatic scenes, all of which will be provided in English translation.
Please note - No prior knowledge of these repertoires is required for this module, full introductions will be provided. For students who have already taken the Stage 2 'Early European Music', this module will go much further than that module's coverage of those repertoires, allowing you to use your existing knowledge for an in-depth study of the connections between music and sexuality.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

– Explain and appraise different current scholarly models for:
o characterising pre-modern understandings of sexuality.
o analysing the interactions between music and sexuality.
– Analyse primary sources (in English) and summarise the evidence they provide about historical understandings of sexuality and its relation to music.
– Analyse individual songs or operatic scenes, evaluating how they inflect our understanding of the relationship between music and sexuality.
– Evaluate the connections between music and sexuality in pre-modern European musical cultures from the twelfth to the seventeenth centuries.

Indicative Module Content:

Week 1: Understanding Pre-Modern Sexuality and its Links to Music.

Troubadours and Trouvères

Week 2: Representation: Depicting sexual desire in song.
Week 3: Representation.
Week 4: Regulation: Managing musical and sexual behaviour.
Week 5: Scripting: Using song in real-life desiring encounters.
Week 6: Thinking about Sexuality in Troubadour and Trouvère Song: Preparing Essay Abstracts and Presentations


Seventeenth-Century Opera
Week 7: Introduction to Seventeenth-Century Opera and Presentations on Troubadour and Trouvère Primary Sources.
(2 weeks of study period)
Week 8: Representation: Desire on the operatic stage.
Week 9: Regulation: Sexualised Women on and off the Stage
Week 10: Scripting: Opera and Society
Week 11: Thinking about Sexuality in Seventeenth-Century Opera: Preparing Presentations and Abstracts
Week 12: Presentations on Seventeenth-Century Opera Primary Sources

UNESCO highlights a set of key competencies that support individuals in their development and support society in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UCD has adapted these competencies and is combining them with others to form a general framework of learning competencies. This module will help you develop the competencies below to the levels specified. 
Learning Competency Additional Information Level

Collaboration

 The ability to learn from others; to understand and respect the needs, perspectives and actions of others (empathy); to understand, relate to and be sensitive to others (empathic leadership); to deal with conflicts in a group; and to facilitate collaborative and participatory problem solving. Competent

Critical Thinking

 The ability to question norms, practices and opinions; to reflect on one’s own values, perceptions and actions. Competent

Systems Thinking

 The ability to recognize and understand relationships; to analyse complex systems; to think of how systems are embedded within different domains and different scales; and to deal with uncertainty. Competent

Self-awareness

 The ability to reflect on one’s own role in the local community and (global) society; to continually evaluate and further motivate one’s actions; and to deal with one’s feelings and desires. Competent

Normative

 The ability to understand and reflect on the norms and values that underlie one’s actions; and to negotiate values, principles, goals, and targets, in a context of conflicts of interest and trade-offs, uncertain knowledge and contradictions. Competent

Wellbeing

 Wellbeing is having the resources and skills to meet life's challenges, including attributes such as personal development skills, resilience, stress management, strengths, lifestyle skills, nutrition, physical activity, sleep, alcohol/substance use, academic skills, time management, goal setting, interpersonal skills, group work, communication. Competent

The United Nations identified seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as core to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and UCD contributes in general to SDG 4 Quality Education. Further SDGs explored within this module if relevant are listed below. A scale of 1 - 5 indicates the extent to which the SDG is covered.


Goal Name Description Coverage

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all 1

Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls 1

Reduce inequality within and among countries 2
 

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

96
Autonomous Student Learning

118
Lectures

36
Total

250

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Lecture and seminar teaching with extensive opportunities for discussion.
Group analysis of primary sources.

AI Policy: Students may use AI tools for limited support in this module (including brainstorming, idea generation, information collation). However, students remain fully responsible for the accuracy and reliability of their learning. Any use of AI must be cited appropriately.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade Component repeat (in-module) Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): Proposal for essay topic. If the essay is on the Troubadours and Trouvères, this is to be submitted in Week 7. If it is on Seventeenth-Century Opera, it is to be submitted in Week 12. Week 7, Week 12 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
10
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Essay (2,000 to 3,000 words) arising from the course. Week 15 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
40
 No
Individual Project: Individual presentation on a primary source. Troubadour and Trouvère primary sources: week 7. Seventeenth-century opera sources: week 12. Week 7, Week 12 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
40
 No
Participation in Learning Activities: Participation in class discussions and preparation of set reading. This will be assessed through making comments on digital copies of weekly reading and by reporting class discussions on Brightspace. Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11, Week 12 Graded No
10
 No

As part of UCD's student support, under the Additional Consideration policy, extensions may be available for the following assessments in the module: Assignment (including essay/poster), Portfolio, Reflective Assignment, Report(s), and Individual Project.


Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Summer No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Peer review activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Each student will produce both a presentation and an essay, each addressing a different section of the topic. So, if they present on one of the troubadour and trouvère sources studied in Weeks 1-4, they should write their essay on seventeenth-century opera, as studied in weeks 7-13, and vice versa. Our sessions in Week 6 will provide guidance on the preparation for the essay abstract or presentation on the troubadour and trouvère part of the topic. In week 7, students will submit either their essay abstract or their choice of primary source on which to present. Presentations on troubadour and trouvère sources will then happen in Week 7. Our sessions in Week 11 will provide guidance on the preparation for the essay abstract or presentation on the seventeenth-century opera part of the topic. In week 11, students will submit either their essay abstract or their choice of primary source on which to present. Presentations on seventeenth-century opera sources will then happen in Week 12. In both cases, students will receive formative feedback on their essay proposal.

Cusick, Suzanne G. Francesca Caccini at the Medici Court: Music and the Circulation of Power. 1st ed. Vol. 156. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009;2015;.
Heller, Wendy. Emblems of Eloquence: Opera and Women's Voices in Seventeenth-Century Venice. 1st ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003;2004;.
Leach, Elizabeth Eva. "Do Trouvère Melodies Mean Anything?" Music Analysis 38, no. 1-2 (2019): 3-46.
Leach, Elizabeth Eva. Medieval Sex Lives : The Sounds of Courtly Intimacy on the Francophone Borders. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2023.
McClary, Susan. Desire and Pleasure in Seventeenth-Century Music. 1st ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012. doi:10.1525/california/9780520247345.001.0001.
Karras, Ruth Mazo. Sexuality in Medieval Europe: Doing Unto Others. London; New York;: Routledge, 2005.
Kay, Sarah. Subjectivity in Troubadour Poetry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Quinlan, Meghan. "When Courtly Song Invades History: Lyricizing Blanche De Castille." In Gender and Voice in Medieval French Literature and Song, edited by Rachel May Golden and Katherine Kong. 1st ed., 93: University Press of Florida, 2021.
Rosand, Ellen. Opera in Seventeenth-Century Venice: The Creation of a Genre. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press, 1991.
Rosenberg, Samuel N, Margaret Louise Switten, and Gérard Le Vot. “Songs of the troubadours and trouvères : an anthology of poems and melodies.” New York ; Garland, 1998.
Rosow, Lois. "Power and Display: Music in Court Theatre." In The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Music, edited by Carter, Tim and John Butt, 197-240. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Thomson, Matthew P. "Song, Dance, and Sex: The Social Role of the Carole in Thirteenth-Century Clerical Thought and Vernacular Literature." Music & Letters 105, no. 2 (2024): 153-176.

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Mon 10:00 - 11:50
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Wed 10:00 - 10:50
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