Back in Oxford
So, I have had my collections. I don't really know why they're called that, but it's presumably because they use them to collect knowledge from you? They were... interesting. I've been back since Tuesday, and basically spent Wednesday and Thursday cramming like a crazy thing. How much difference this made, I don't know. We had to sit at the long tables in the dining hall, wearing our silly gowns over our scruffy jeans, I would think it looked rather peculiar.
My collection consisted of: 2 essay titles for French Baroque, and 2 for Rossini. The French baroque ones weren't bad, one was something like "Discuss the influences of Italian music on French baroque style" which I couldn't have done, but it's not totally insane. The one I did was "Discuss the political aspects of French Baroque music" and just wittered on about Louis XIV and how great he was. However, the Rossini ones were TOTALLY WEIRD. One was "Discuss the ways in which Guillaume Tell is a Grand Opera. How did this opera contribute to the development of this genre." I didn't have a clue, but when I looked at the second one and saw it was "Discuss the reasons why Rossini wrote his male heroic leads for female sopranos. What were the precedents for this?" I kind of knew I'd have to do the first one. It's probably best not to talk about how unutterably crap this essay was. Literally. I made half of it up, and I think the other half was me getting confused with French Baroque. I suddenly remembered why I gave up history as soon as I could: no memory whatsoever for names, facts and dates. I suddenly had flashbacks of the year eight history exam where I totally confused Mary Queen of Scots with Lady Jane Grey.
After the history, we had analysis, which was fine, although it did have to be the only one ever that wasn't in sonata form. Grrr..
Then the celebratory drinking commenced. George gave me whisky, then we went to the bar, then we went to G&Ds for ice-cream, then we went to the Blenheim Arms which has a late license, so we were there til 2. And I just woke up about half an hour ago. Fo is coming today, we are going to watch Brokeback Mountain.
My collection consisted of: 2 essay titles for French Baroque, and 2 for Rossini. The French baroque ones weren't bad, one was something like "Discuss the influences of Italian music on French baroque style" which I couldn't have done, but it's not totally insane. The one I did was "Discuss the political aspects of French Baroque music" and just wittered on about Louis XIV and how great he was. However, the Rossini ones were TOTALLY WEIRD. One was "Discuss the ways in which Guillaume Tell is a Grand Opera. How did this opera contribute to the development of this genre." I didn't have a clue, but when I looked at the second one and saw it was "Discuss the reasons why Rossini wrote his male heroic leads for female sopranos. What were the precedents for this?" I kind of knew I'd have to do the first one. It's probably best not to talk about how unutterably crap this essay was. Literally. I made half of it up, and I think the other half was me getting confused with French Baroque. I suddenly remembered why I gave up history as soon as I could: no memory whatsoever for names, facts and dates. I suddenly had flashbacks of the year eight history exam where I totally confused Mary Queen of Scots with Lady Jane Grey.
After the history, we had analysis, which was fine, although it did have to be the only one ever that wasn't in sonata form. Grrr..
Then the celebratory drinking commenced. George gave me whisky, then we went to the bar, then we went to G&Ds for ice-cream, then we went to the Blenheim Arms which has a late license, so we were there til 2. And I just woke up about half an hour ago. Fo is coming today, we are going to watch Brokeback Mountain.