Elizabeth Norman McKay (née Norman) (1931 – 20 May 2018) was an English
musicologist
Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...
,
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
and
Lieder
In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French sp ...
accompanist
Accompaniment is the part (music), musical part which provides the rhythmic and/or harmony (music), harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece. There are many different styles and types of accompaniment in ...
.
McKay graduated from
Lawnswood High School in
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
in 1947/48.
She gained a degree in Physics from
Bristol University
, mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'')
, established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter
, type ...
, and worked in London as a pianist, accompanist, and repetiteur. In 1962 she was awarded a D.Phil. from the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
(where she studied at
Somerville College
Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...
) for her thesis on Schubert's music for the theatre.
She was formerly Tutor in Piano and Visiting Professor at the
Birmingham Conservatoire
The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is a music school, drama school and concert venue in Birmingham, England. It provides professional education in music, acting, and related disciplines up to postgraduate level. It is a centre for scholarly res ...
.
Her publications include three books on
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
, and many contributions to symposia and dictionaries.
Selected bibliography
* 1962 The stage-works of Schubert, considered in the framework of Austrian
Biedermeier
The ''Biedermeier'' period was an era in Central Europe between 1815 and 1848 during which the middle class grew in number and the arts appealed to common sensibilities. It began with the Congress of Vienna at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in ...
society
* 1991 Franz Schubert's music for the theatre
* 1987 The impact of the new pianofortes on classical keyboard style : Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert
* 1996 / 2001 Franz Schubert : a biography
* 1998 The Oxford Bicentenary Symposium 1997 : Bericht - The Biedermeier and Beyond (1997)
* 1998 Schubert's string and piano duos in context
* 2003 Schubert and the theatre
* 2009 Schubert : the piano and dark keys
References
External links
Elizabeth Norman McKay
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKay, Elizabeth Norman
1930 births
2018 deaths
People from London
English music historians
English writers about music
English musicologists
Women musicologists
English classical pianists
English women pianists
Accompanists
Schubert scholars
Alumni of the University of Bristol
British women historians
Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford
Women classical pianists
People educated at Lawnswood High School