Dr Matthew Pilcher

Matthew teaches and contributes to a range of UG and PG modules and supervises UG and PG dissertations and research projects.

Current and previous teaching include:

• FCEAP Foundation Course (for UG and PG international students)
• BMus1 and BMus2 Aural Skills
• BMus1 Study Skills
• BMus1, BMus2, and BMus3 Performance Traditions
• BMus2 Contextual Studies: Case Studies
• BMus3 Contextual Specialisms (The Song Cycle)
• BMus4 Contextual Studies Projects
• BMus4 Final Projects
• PG MA Dissertation Proposal
• PG MA Research Methods
• PG Historical Performance Practice
• PG Lecture Recital

Matthew’s research interests include: the music of Beethoven (with particular emphasis on the vocal works and solo keyboard works); the relationship between words and music and intersections between music and literature (in particularly in 19^th century Austro-Germanic repertoire); late-18^th and 19^th-century music (including both vocal and keyboard repertoire); and 20^th-century music (with particular emphasis on experimental trends in American music).

Active as a founding member of Manchester Beethoven International Research Symposia since 2009, Matthew has given more than 50 presentations on a range of topics (biographical, analytical, source studies, etc.). Additional research presentations have been delivered in recent years at the Sichuan Conservatoire, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and University of Manchester.

Matthew has supervised research projects and dissertations on Beethoven, keyboard repertoire, solo song, and pedagogy, among other topics.

Current MA dissertations include:

• Carlo Bassini and register shifting in mid-19^th century vocal pedagogy
• Topic theory in Beethoven’s piano sonatas

Previous dissertations and PG research projects have included:

• Brahms song cycles vs. song collections
• Alexis Weissenberg and song transcriptions
• Film music of Hans Zimmer

Recent publications include articles for A-R Editions (Online History Textbook):

• ‘Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes and Romantic Pianism: Contexts, Genres, Techniques’ (January 2021)
• ‘Schubert’s Winterreise: Fragmented Narratives in Song’ (May 2018)
• ‘Genres and Forms in the Classical Era’ (October 2017)

Matthew is currently co-editing the first volume of Manchester Beethoven Studies (Manchester University Press, forthcoming autumn 2021). Additional chapters/articles on Beethoven’s approach to aria forms and song forms are in preparation, and a monograph on aspects of narrative in Schubert’s Winterreise is under development.