Dr Emma McEvoy, Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the Westminster School of Humanities, held a lecture on 28 October at The Wallace Collection, titled The Music of Gothic. The event was organised to celebrate Halloween in the museum, with tickets sold out.
The lecture invited the audience to discover the music of peasants, noble heroes and heroines, bandits, witches and ghosts. The event was inspired by the music recitals of London's townhouses in the 18th and early 19th centuries, included works composed for plays, melodramas and song-settings by composers such as Stephen Storace, Michael Kelly, Thomas Busby, Matthew Peter King and Harriet Abrams.
Emma talked about a time, between 1789 and 1820, when ideas about music in the Gothic changed. She discussed music that was designed to soothe and amuse its audiences, as well as music that was intended to scare them.
Seb Gillot, conductor, organist, and harpsichordist, directed live excerpts, played by a small orchestra and singers.
Talking about the event, Dr McEvoy said: “It was a fantastic evening. The musicians were a joy to work with. Some of the music hasn’t been played for 200 years. It was great to hear it brought back to life, and in such a stunning venue.”
Dr McEvoy’s interests are in Romantic writing and the Gothic. She is the co-editor of the Routledge Companion to Gothic (2007), and writer of the monograph, Gothic Tourism (2016). Dr McEvoy has also published on various other topics in Romantic and Gothic studies. At the moment, she is writing a monograph entitled The Music of the Gothic: 1790-1830, which looks at the music of Gothic novels, plays, melodramas and operatic romances.
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