The project takes heed of music theory’s recent turn to matters of convention and schemata, using that approach to confirm the intuitions of most listeners literate in the repertory and its style.
Distinctive idioms and procedures were shared by the leading musicians, the application of that stylistic code being central to the music’s expressive communication. The project thereby models the musical sense-making and semantic understanding of literate listeners.
The primary genres under analysis are choral/orchestral music, orchestral music and solo song.
Composers include Hubert Parry, Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Herbert Howells, Ivor Gurney, Gerald Finzi, John Ireland and William Walton.