Staff profile

Elizabeth Sweet is a doctoral student in the Department of Music. Her part time PhD thesis explores Neoclassicism in British Music which follows on from her previous research and is due to be defended in 2022.

Her thesis examines the cultural and historical context in which Neoclassical music was composed in Britain in the period 1918-45. It reviews current literature on Neoclassicism in music, pulling together existing opinion into a general model by which Neoclassical music can be analysed and identified. This thesis then applies this model to the works of British composers to determine their use of the Neoclassical aesthetic. Research is being carried out into the music of both canonical composers and lesser known composers; these include Holst and Vaughan Williams, the music of composers who studied with Hindemith - Walter Leigh, Arnold Cooke and Stanley Bate, moving onto Walton and Lambert, Tippett, Berkeley and Britten.

She received a First-Class degree in Music from the University of Leeds in 2013 which she took as a mature student, and in 2016 she completed an MA by Thesis at Durham into the Neoclassical Works of William Alwyn. She is an instrumental teacher, pianist and also plays the flute and violin. She has gained a teaching Diploma and a teaching certificate from the Piano Teachers’ Course in piano teaching as well as an LRSM in flute performance and an ATCL in piano performance. 

• Music of the Early Twentieth Century
• Analysis
• English Music