Late breaking information

MUSICOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM

13/12/2013

Conference on Cultural Musicology, January 24-25, 2014

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
DEPARTMENT OF MUSICOLOGY
International Conference on Cultural Musicology
24-25 January 2014
University of Amsterdam
Nieuwe doelenstraat 16
1012 CP Amsterdam
On January 24-25, 2014 the musicology department of Amsterdam University is organising an international conference about cultural musicology on the occasion of the retirement of Prof. Wim van der Meer. As a cultural anthropologist and a musicologist Wim van der Meer has contributed significantly to the field of cultural musicology. For the last thirteen years he and Prof. Rokus de Groot were at the very core of the Amsterdam musicology department which saw an impressive renewal of both the education programmes and the research activities.
The term cultural musicology has been circulating a lot in the past decade, but often in an implicit manner. Through the joint efforts of the participants the conference aims to clarify and expand the field. Scholars with a widely divergent background and interest in music will present their contributions about fundamental issues related to the interconnections between music and culture in different parts of the world.
The conference is open to scholars and students in musicology, cultural studies and related disciplines as well as interested persons in general.
For additional information consult the website (where you can also register online):
http://culturalmusicology.org/conference-2014/

BA students of Musicology at UvA can receive 1 strip for every morning and/or afternoon they witness. 

19/11/2013

“Onze kut-subcultuur-shit-muziek”: Dutch improvised music and the politics of (self-)representation

Colloquium Muziekwetenschap
MA Loes Rusch

December 12, 15:30-17:00
Universiteitstheater, Nieuwe Doelenstraat 16, zaal 3.01

During the 1960s a group of jazz musicians emerged in the Netherlands that distanced themselves from American models of jazz performance. Rather, these self-acclaimed improvising musicians (Han Bennink, Misha Mengelberg, Willem Breuker, among others) sought for their own musical identity by challenging existing boundaries in terms of performance, musical genre, and artistic discipline. In this process they not only committed themselves to the renewal of musical life in the Netherlands, but also to more socially engaged forms of music making.

This talk addresses ways in which media representation has shaped the establishment of Dutch improvised music as a distinctively Dutch form of art. By taking a closer look at fascinating examples of improvised music (Breuker’s “Litany for the 14th of June, 1966,” Leo Cuyper’s Zeeland Suite) I will further demonstrate how improvising musicians strategically – and most intriguingly - deployed the media in their attempts to gain governmental support.

11/11/2013

Composing inside electronics – The Music of David Tudor

Colloquium Muziekwetenschap
prof. Julia Kursell

November 19, 15:30-17:00
Universiteitstheater, Nieuwe Doelenstraat 16, zaal 3.01

For a long time, David Tudor (1927-1997) was mainly known as a pianist who premiered the music of avant-garde composers. More recently, his compositions and performances with his group “Composers inside Electronics” and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company have attracted attention. For the historian of music, however, these compositions seem almost inaccessible, because they aimed at live-performance in a radical sense: most often, Tudor made no score, no circuit diagrams, no other prescription; recordings are scarce. But what is more, he designed his equipment in such a way as to be self-destructive. Most importantly – and this will be the central feature of his music I address in this talk – the resulting sounds seemed to live on their own and they also ceased to exist in ways that made them resemble living beings. In my talk, I will relate this feature to the concept of indeterminacy that Tudor had encountered as a pianist in the music of John Cage and the New York School. Departing from there, I will then discuss how his music challenges tacit assumptions about self-identity in musical composition.

17/10/2013

Conference MA Musicology Graduates: 25 October 10:00-18:00

Location: Universiteitstheater, Nieuwe Doelenstraat 16, room 1.01A (so not room 1.01, but if you found that it is just around the corner)

Program:

Session 1 (9:30-11:30)
9:30                 Nina Westzaan
10:00               Anne de Wilde
10:30               Sandra Wallner
11:00-11:15     Graduation ceremony
11:15-11:30     coffee break

Session 2 (11:30-14:00)
11:30               Niels Hoogendoorn
12:00               Meike Scholten
12:30               Martin Luyxck
13:00-13:15     Graduation ceremony
13:15-14:00     lunch break

Session 3 (14:00-16:00)
14:00               Sybren Woudstra
14:30               Arjanne Bruggeman
15:00               Anneke van Woerden
15:30-16:00     tea break

Session 4 (16:00-18:00)
16:00               Eleonoor Tchernoff
16:30               Jelma van Amersfoort
17:00               Wouter Capitain
17:30-17:45     Graduation ceremony
17:45-18:00     performance by Jelma van Amersfoort and Jelle Leistra


Abstracts: 

9:30-10:00

Nina Westzaan

First supervisor: Sander van Maas

 

Exploring Black Cones: The reinvention of loudspeaker experience in the Darmstadt school


Between 1946 and 1961 the loudspeaker listener became an important figure, as the loudspeaker was an emerging medium and as electroacoustic music gained ground in the Darmstadt repertoire. He remains in our midst even today. Most of our daily listening experiences are mediated by the loudspeaker. However, a concrete and concise characterization of the loudspeaker listener is lacking in research.

Regarding this particular form of listening subjectivity geared towards loudspeakers as sources of sound since 1880, the research question I addressed was ‘how did composers of the Darmstadt school (1946-1961) constitute a loudspeaker listenership of their electro-acoustic compositions in both live and recorded contexts?’ In my talk I will argue that between 1946 and 1961 a new relationship between composers and the loudspeaker listener took shape. Between 1950 and 1961 in particular, composers of the electronic Darmstadt repertoire intended to constitute a relationship with the loudspeaker listener on a participatory level. The performances of electroacoustic works were no longer tied to one fixed point in space or a chronological notion of time. The absence of these handholds was meant to induce an active and critical, individual listening experience.

10:00-10:30

Anne de Wilde

First supervisor: Wim van der Meer

 

The Complete Experience: Musical omnivores and their experience of live classical and popular music


It has long been a commonplace finding in academia that the rise of mediated music has meant the decline of live music. The live music sector seemed doomed to extinction, surviving only as the result of state-subsidised conservation. Yet, how can it then be that the live music sector seems to be ‘booming’ more than ever? Concerts are often sold out, people are willing to pay more than 80 Euros for a ticket and bands are able to put on extremely expensive and over-the-top shows. Live music is, in fact, not a competitor of mediated music in terms of leisure spending, but has rather developed in combination with recorded music, as part of a single, yet more complicated music market. Based on theories of Simon Frith (2007), Lawrence Kramer (2011), Hans Abbing (2009) and Richard A. Peterson (1992), this thesis analyses this complicated music market from the audience’s point of view. How are musical performances experienced by the listeners and how does this experience relate to the special meaning that people ascribe to it?

10:30-11:00

Sandra Wallner

First supervisor: Henkjan Honing

 

Probing relative pitch in non-human animals: Music-theoretical considerations


The discourse on music evolution forms the theoretical background for this thesis in which the problems and challenges of studying non-human animals’ relative pitch perception in a music-theoretical context are investigated. Relative pitch perception in humans seems to be a fundamental cognitive trait that is already present immediately after birth. Since records on the musical abilities and behaviours of extinct hominids are missing, it is difficult to scientifically illustrate the evolution of music. By examining non-human animals’ auditory perception and thereby defining the particular aspects of music perception that are common to humans and other non-human animals, it is possible to achieve a fundamental knowledge of music perception. For example: do animals listen to the interval size or solely to the direction of pitch changes when deciding whether a sequence is the same or not? Does the use of just intonation affect the discrimination task more than using the equal temperament tuning system? Do key modulations have an impact in solving a pitch perception task? In principal, animals can be brought up without music. If they still demonstrate some musical abilities, this could be evidence of the innateness of these particular musical features. However, animals do not make music by themselves, so the musical qualities discovered in animals would not confirm a particular adaptation for music but would rather refer to more general auditory mechanisms.

11:00-11:30 Graduation ceremonies and coffee break

11:30-12:00

Niels Hoogendoorn

First supervisor: Sander van Maas

the Next SoundCloud: on changing technologies and what it is to be a user


When SoundCloud released a redesign of its audio sharing platform in December 2012 (the Next SoundCloud), part of its existing user base blamed the company behind the service for setting sail in an undesired direction. The changes that were applied –aimed at providing a simpler and more elegant way to engage with audio online– were felt to be counterproductive; diminishing the value of the platform these users grew highly accustomed to and dependent on in their musical endeavors.

I argue that although these users’ disillusion is genuine, their criticism is somewhat misplaced. In my opinion, change is a characteristic attribute of Web technologies. Moreover, I advocate that usefulness should not be regarded the ultimate measure to determine a technology’s value. In fact, although the use of technologies is often firstly valued in terms of usefulness and convenience, use shouldn’t be considered a mere “use in order to”. Our use of technologies also needs to be investigative and explorative. We should develop and emancipate a kind of use of technologies that touches upon itself, turning inward rather than immediately pointing at something external —a kind of use that might as well be useless and perhaps even inconvenient at times.

12:00-12:30

Meike Scholten

First supervisor: Wim van der Meer

Musealisering van muziek: Contradictio in terminis?


Dit onderzoek is het resultaat van twee afstudeerscripties: één voor de onderzoeksmaster Kunstwetenschap en één voor de master Muziekwetenschap.
Bij beide staat de musealisering van muziek centraal. Is het vatten van een zo vluchtige kunstvorm als muziek in een ‘tastbare’ museale opstelling niet per definitie een contradictio in terminis?

Uitgangspunt bij het onderzoek is de muziekverzameling van Daniël François Scheurleer (1855 - 1927) die thans in het depot van het Gemeentemuseum Den Haag ligt begraven. Hoe kan een collectie die aan het eind van de negentiende eeuw nog tot één van de grootste en mooiste van Europa behoorde nu uit het zicht zijn verdwenen? Welke museologische en muziekwetenschappelijke veranderingen liggen hieraan ten grondslag?

Een reconstructie van de verzamel- en tentoonstellingsgeschiedenis van de collectie, toont aan dat drie museummodellen (traditioneel, reflectief en marktgericht) de rol en functie van muziek als (museum)kunst ingrijpend hebben veranderd
Daarnaast hebben de motieven die de basis vormden voor de aanleg van negentiende-eeuwse muziekverzamelingen een zeer tegenstrijdige uitwerking op de omgang met en conservering van muziek in een hedendaagse museale context, waarbij de eenheid in veelzijdigheid die van muziek een unieke kunstvorm maakt wordt aangetast.

Het musealiseren van muziek levert binnen de huidige Nederlandse cultuurpolitiek discussie op over de plaats, functie, context en betekenis van het begrip muziek. Afhankelijk van de definitie die aan muziekwetenschap – en in het bijzonder aan het begrip muzikaal erfgoed – wordt gegeven, blijft het musealiseren van muziek daarom een contradictio in terminis.

12:30-13:00

Martin Luyckx

First supervisor: Wim van der Meer

Populaire muziek en muziekwetenschappen. De emancipatie van muziekwetenschappelijk onderzoek naar populaire muziek


Dit onderzoek richt zich op de rol van populaire muziek binnen de muziekwetenschappen. Jarenlang is deze muziek genegeerd en zodoende buiten de beschouwing van muziekwetenschappelijk onderzoek gebleven. De muziek zou vergeleken met bijvoorbeeld klassieke muziek oninteressant zijn. Toch heeft het onderzoek op academisch niveau naar populaire muziek zich de afgelopen decennia weten te emanciperen. Wat waren hier de redenen voor en wat heeft er voor gezorgd dat men anders over deze muziek is gaan denken? In het bijzonder zal er hierbij ingegaan worden op de situatie zoals deze aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam was en is. Ook zal de huidige status van het musicologisch onderzoek naar populaire muziek aan bod komen, de staat van de zogenaamde ‘high analysis of low music’ (Griffiths 1999).

13:00-14:00 Graduation ceremonies and lunch break

14:00-14:30

Sybren Woudstra

First supervisor: Wim van der Meer

The Meaning of Measure


In the thirteenth century, John of Garland initiated the development of rhythmical notation. Over the course of centuries, this led to the rise and use of the musical measure as we know it today. Music theorists tend to make a distinction between pulsating and non-pulsating music. What can we say about the meaning of measure use in pulsating music? From an investigation of the influence of tempo on the perception of rhythm, I work towards a formulation of meaning in measure use. In my thesis, I explicate several types of musical meaning of measure use, such as symbolical and practical meaning. Two notable examples are the Holy Trinity, which was symbolized in the ternary division of the modal perfect long, and the Waltz, both a music genre and dance, that is inextricably connected to the three-quarter measure.

14:30-15:00

Arjanne Bruggeman

First supervisor: Wim van der Meer

Jazz funerals in New Orleans


Begrafenissen met muziek kwamen al voor de twintigste eeuw door heel Amerika voor, onder zowel de zwarte als de blanke bevolking. De term ‘jazz funeral’ ontstond pas rond 1950/1960 aangezien de muziek, die tijdens de begrafenissen werd gespeeld, in eerste instantie geen jazz was. Door verschillende ontwikkelingen vind je de jazz funeral tegenwoordig bijna alleen nog in New Orleans onder de zwarte bevolking.
De wortels van de jazz funeral kunnen onder andere worden teruggevonden in verschillende Afrikaanse stammen uit West-Afrika, de Mardi Gras, muziek en begrafenis tradities van New Orleans brassbands, genootschappen en verenigingen en de zwarte kerk.
Orkaan Katrina is een van de oorzaken dat het aantal jazz funerals per jaar is teruggelopen. Toch is dit ritueel nooit helemaal verdwenen. Verschillende bronnen laten zien dat jazz funerals een grote rol spelen in de cultuur en identiteit van New Orleans, maar hoe hebben de jazz funerals de identiteit van New Orleans beïnvloed en wat voor invloed hebben deze parades nu nog op de identiteit van de stad?

15:00-15:30

Anneke van Woerden

First supervisor: Saskia Kersenboom


“A museum and a theatre in one!”: effectiveness in MixMax Brasil


The main focus of my thesis is MixMax Brasil, the current exhibition of Tropenmuseum Junior. In my presentation I want to demonstrate that performance is an important and valuable strategy for museum exhibitions, especially within the field of intangible heritage. In order to provide a productive framework to the concept of performance, I will use the ideas of Peter Brook about Immediate Theatre. In his book The Empty Space Brook proposes various components to the form of theatre he considers most successful. I will contrast the ideas of Peter Brook with the specific working method of Tropenmuseum Junior to show how and where performance can be seen present in MixMax Brasil. Focusing on MixMax Brasil as a concrete case study, I hope to show how performance can be of value not only within the context of MixMax Brasil and Tropenmuseum Junior in specific, but also in the world of museums in general.

15:30-16:00 tea break

16:00-16:30

Eleonoor Tchernoff

First supervisor: Eddie Vetter

 

Legitimering als rechtvaardiging. Over de legitimering van het cultuurbeleid van de Nederlandse rijksoverheid met betrekking tot orkesten en ensembles


Onder leiding van staatssecretaris Halbe Zijlstra is tijdens het kabinet-Rutte I een van de grootste bezuinigingen op cultuur doorgevoerd: 200 miljoen euro, bijna een kwart van het totale rijkscultuurbudget. In de media wordt een gebrek aan een goede argumentatie of legitimering vóór cultuurbeleid als een mogelijke verklaring gezien. In Legitimering als rechtvaardiging is daarom onderzocht hoe de Nederlandse rijksoverheid het cultuurbeleid legitimeert, in het bijzonder voor orkesten en ensembles. Het onderwerp is belicht aan de hand van een literatuurstudie en een serie interviews met beleidsmakers, wetenschappers, subsidieaanvragers en personen uit het kunstenveld, vrijwel allen werkzaam binnen de klassiekemuzieksector.
Aan de hand van deelvragen is het onderwerp ‘legitimering’ verder uitgediept. Hoe kan het begrip geduid worden? Hoe kunnen legitimeringen als ‘kunst is goed voor de economie’ en ‘kunst maakt mensen gelukkig’ naast elkaar bestaan? Hoe heeft de rijksoverheid het cultuurbeleid vanaf 1945 tot 2012 gelegitimeerd? En wat is het belang ervan? Op deze vragen, en wat de parallel is met milieubeleid in Zweden, geeft deze presentatie een antwoord.

16:30-17:00

Jelma van Amersfoort

First supervisor: Eddie Vetter

 

Een gepassioneerd en origineel talent. Inleiding tot het leven en werk van Pauline Duchambge (1776-1858)


Pauline Duchambge (1776-1858) componeerde in de eerste helft van de negentiende eeuw ruim driehonderd romances voor zang met piano-, harp- of gitaarbegeleiding die in haar tijd zeer populair waren, en die werden gewaardeerd door musici als François-Joseph Fétis en Hector Berlioz. Aan de hand van een historie van de romance in Frankrijk, een biografie van de componiste en van een aantal dichters met wie ze samenwerkte, alsmede analyses van een selectie van haar romances heb ik in mijn scriptie onderzocht hoe dit oeuvre past in de geschiedenis van de romance, en wat het oeuvre en haar levensloop zeggen over het culturele klimaat van haar tijd.

Een van Duchambges belangrijkste kwaliteiten blijkt haar keuze van goede en interessante teksten, van zowel bekende als onbekende dichters, mannen en vrouwen, highbrow en obscuur. De liederen die ze schreef hebben daardoor een zeer uiteenlopende thematiek en vertelperspectief.

Daarnaast was ze vooral op melodisch gebied origineel, begaafd en vindingrijk: ze gebruikt een soort cellentechniek om haar liederen intern tot een hecht geheel te smeden. Dit is door tijdgenoten zeker erkend. Het succes van haar werk kan – behalve aan de intrinsieke kwaliteit –  tevens worden toegeschreven aan externe factoren als de behoefte van de opkomende burgerij aan toegankelijke, nostalgische en eenvoudige liederen, en aan muzikaal individualisme, escapisme en rollenspel in een restrictieve samenleving.

17:00-17:30

Wouter Capitain

First supervisor: Wim van der Meer

 

Performing the Orient: Edward Said’s (and Giuseppe Verdi’s) Aida


In the last one or two decades, musicology has attempted to catch up with the debates on ‘orientalism’ – the construction of ‘the Orient’ through cultural artefacts. Verdi’s Aida (1871) is, largely due to a highly critical essay on this opera by the prominent cultural critic Edward Said (1935-2003), probably the opera figuring most prominently within these debates. What disturbs me about these debates is that they generally focus on Aida from a historical perspective, thereby granting relatively little attention to the contemporary position of orientalism within operatic performance. In my talk, I will criticise this approach by discussing Peter Konwitschny’s production of Aida from 1994, in which the historical character of the opera is explicitly questioned. My argument is that, rather than treating problematic artefacts as part of a cultural heritage, musicology should take contemporary performances of Aida as an opportunity to reflect on our own constructions of and prejudices towards ‘the other’. More specifically, critical reflection on Aida can and should shed light on the celebratory attitude of intellectual, technological and economic advancement that necessarily involves, as a counterpoint to hegemonic self-glorification, the suppression of the other.

17:45 – 18:00
Performance by Jelle Leistra (tenor) and Jelma van Amersfoort (early-romantic guitar), who will perform four songs by the composer Pauline Duchambge (1776-1858):

Le bouquet de bal – text by  Eugène Scribe
La jeune fille Russe - text by Élim Mestscherski
Coulez, coulez mes jours - text by Mélanie Waldor
Cancione amoroso - text by Gil Vicente

08/10/2013

Resisting Cultural Commodification: Maskanda Music as Discourse of Power in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Colloquium Muziekwetenschap
Barbara Titus

October 16, 15:30-17:00
Universiteitstheater, Nieuwe Doelenstraat 16, room 3.01

In this talk I address ways in which South Africans manoeuvre between legacies of apartheid and opportunities to ‘tune in’ with the rest of the globe. These manoeuvres are played out in maskanda performance which is consumed as Zulu pop music in South African public spaces. Through the close reading of a specific musical event, the MTN Onkweni Royal Cultural Festival in Ulundi in October 2009, I reveal that seemingly totalizing impositions of power – in this case the commodification of Zulu culture by the Zulu royal house – can still lead to a diversity of musical framings, artistic self-conceptions, and social identifications. Responses to the event’s commodification, in the form of musical performance and verbal dialogue, function as a ‘lens’ enabling us to observe this diversity.

12/09/2013

Congres Nieuwe Masters Musicologie 25/10/2013

Date: October 25, 2013
Place: Nieuwe doelenstraat 16, Amsterdam - room 101A

On Friday, October the 25th 2013, we are organising a conference in which recently graduated students (or those that will graduate in the near future) will present their work. In the past we still used to have a 'defence' of MA thesis - a practice which no longer makes sense because we have to hand in the grade to the administration long before the defence. And in a more distant past there was a conference of recently graduated students. However, since two years now we have revived the graduates' conference, to give them the opportunity to talk about their MA theses to a wider public and to fellow graduates. We know that family and friends may want to come and indeed they are most welcome. But they will have to accept that celebrations cannot take place on the spot. For those who will speak in the morning this means waiting till lunch, for the afternoon speakers it has to be at the end of the day. A minor inconvenience, but I'm sure the speeches will be well worth the wait.
The full program is going to be posted here soon, with abstracts and timetable.

05/09/2013

Arabic Music in Western Ears: An Account of the Music of the Hejaz at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

Colloquium Muziekwetenschap
Anne van Oostrum

September 19, 15:30-17:00
Universiteitstheater, Nieuwe Doelenstraat 16, zaal 3.01

Between c. 1905 and 1909, the Dutch Arabist Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (1857–1936) was responsible for making what are now known as the oldest recordings of music and speech of the Hejaz on wax cylinders by means of an Edison phonograph. Snouck Hurgronje’s perception and appreciation of Arabic music are studied as expressed in his work Mekka (1888-1889) and in his commentary on some songs included in his collection of wax cylinders. Firstly, the views of Guillaume-André Villoteau (1759-1839) and Edward Lane (18011876), his predecessors in the field of the study of Arabic music, will be viewed, then opinions of the musicologists and composers of his time will be sketched and finally Snouck Hurgronje’s comments on his recordings will be discussed.

02/06/2013

Laura Lauta van Aysma wordt derde bij UvA scriptieprijs 2013

Kunnen we de bijzonder complexe en over de jaren steeds wisselende walvisliederen als muziek beschouwen? Het is een vraag die ik ieder jaar aan de eerstejaars studenten heb voorgelegd bij de zoektocht naar het antwoord op de vraag "wat is muziek"?
Laura Lauta van Aysma is zo gebiologeerd geraakt door deze vraag dat zij het naadje van de kous wilde weten en de onderste steen boven wilde halen. "Geen zee was haar te hoog" zei de voorzitter van de scriptieprijscommissie Frank van Vree, doelend op het feit dat Laura op verschillende plaatsen ter wereld bij marine biology instituten stage heeft gelopen en veldwerk verricht. Biologen bestuderen walviszang al bijna een halve eeuw, maar dat een musicoloog zich daarmee bemoeit is niet vanzelfsprekend. Musicologie is geesteswetenschap, humanities, en een bultrug is geen human. Maar zoals bekend beschouw ik zelf alle varianten van muziek tot het domein van de musicologie en ik heb Laura dan ook waar mogelijk gesteund bij haar moeilijke en moedige onderneming. Ik weet dat sommige vakgenoten zich afvragen hoe gek het nog moet worden. En natuurlijk hebben we een probleem in de zin dat we de bultruggen niet kunnen vragen hoe zij hun liederen componeren. Maar aan de andere kant onderzoeken etnomusicologen en hun voorgangers al eeuwenlang de muziek van 'barbaarsche' volkeren zonder er een snars van te begrijpen. En Bach ondervragen gaat ook niet meer lukken zonder een medium.
Met behulp van de computersoftware PRAAT (ontwikkeld aan de UvA door Paul Boersma en David Weenink) analyseerde Laura de walviszang vanuit een musicologisch perspectief op de parameters ritme, melodie en dynamiek en concludeerde dat walviszang meer met menselijke zang gemeen heeft dan we vermoedden. Maar dat weten de liefhebbers van walviszang opnames natuurlijk al lang. Op de lange en gevarieerde lijst van muzieksoorten en genres waar ik naar geluisterd heb staat de walviszang beslist niet onderaan!
Om tussen 74 inzendingen van scripties met een 8,5 of hoger vanuit de hele universiteit op de derde prijs te eindigen is bijzonder eervol. Ik ben blij dat de universiteitsbonzen hiermee ook aangeven dat zij originaliteit en durf zeer hoog in het vaandel hebben. Ik hoop van ganser harte dat Laura de gelegenheid krijgt haar onderzoek voort te zetten in de vorm van een proefschrift.

08/05/2013

Subject matter, local colour, and national style in nineteenth-century Russian opera: the case of Aleksandr Serov’s Judith

COLLOQUIUM MUZIEKWETENSCHAP  
Rutger Helmers

May 16, 2013, 15:30-17:00
Universiteitstheater, Nieuwe Doelenstraat 16, zaal 3.01



The history of nineteenth-century Russian opera has always been closely associated with the search for a distinctive, national style of composition. It is worth noting, however, that the notion of what constitutes Russian music is closely associated with actual portrayals of Russia: the vast majority of the Russian canonical operatic repertoire is based on Russian subjects—something that is hardly the case, for instance, for the French or Italian traditions. The Russian conception of national opera, therefore, appears to be intimately related to the notion of local colour, and as Marina Frolova-Walker recently argued, this relation is worth exploring in more detail. What were the implications when Russian composers chose a non-Russian subject? How did such works relate to the widespread desire to develop a recognizable national style of Russian music? How did the potential tension between the portrayal of the characters on stage and the sense of the composer’s own national identity play out?

Focussing on Aleksandr Serov’s biblical opera Judith (1863), this lecture will show the confusion and lack of consensus surrounding these questions in nineteenth-century discourse and examine the implications for our understanding of the role of nationalism in the history of Russian music.

17/04/2013

"If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know": De betekenis van jazz

Lezing prof.dr Walter van de Leur
woensdag 24 april 17.00 - 18.00 uur

Louis Armstrongs fameuze antwoord op de vraag "wat is jazz" is het vertrekpunt van deze verhandeling over wat jazz is. Daarbij is het niet zozeer de opzet om die vraag te beantwoorden, maar vooral om te kijken hoe er door de jaren over jazz is nagedacht, en welke betekenis luisteraars en musici aan de muziek hebben toegeschreven. Die betekenis is steeds anders geweest, en daaruit moge al blijken dat er geen eenduidig antwoord bestaat op de vraag "wat is jazz". Of toch wel?


Walter van de Leur is researchcoördinator aan het Conservatorium van Amsterdam, en hoogleraar Jazz en Improvisatiemuziek aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam.Van de Leur is principal investigator voor Rhythm Changes, een driejarig onderzoeksproject naar jazz in Europa, dat door de Europese Unie wordt gefinancierd. Verder is hij onder andere redacteur van het wetenschappelijk tijdschrift Jazz Perspectives en lid van de redactieraad voor de jazzreeks van de University of Michigan Press.

Colloquium Muziekwetenschap UvA

Spoken Theatre and Architectural Acoustics around 1800

Dr. Viktoria Tkaczyk
Donderdag 18 april 2013
15.30 uur in zaal 301
Nieuwe Doelenstraat 16

Generally, the foundation of the discipline of architectural acoustics is attributed to the physicist Wallace Clement Sabine, who developed around 1900 the formula for reverberation time, and with it the possibility of making calculated prognoses about the acoustic potential of a particular design. If we shift, however, the perspective from the history of this discipline to the history of architectural knowledge and praxis it becomes apparent that the topos of ‘good sound’ had already entered the discourse much earlier.

In my presentation, I will trace the Europe-wide architectural discussion on the behaviour of sound in enclosed spaces between 1760 and 1830. Special emphasis will be put on the acoustics of theatre auditoria. It will be shown that the period of investigation is marked by a rising interest in theatre sound, which is linked to the emergence of a bourgeois theatre culture and the socio-political importance of the spoken word. Subsequently, the architects’ search for new methods of research on sound propagation in enclosed spaces prompted a profound rethinking of the ‘mediality’ of architectural buildings, which, in turn, paved the way for the academic establishment of architectural acoustics in the early 20th century.

07/04/2013

Afrovibes: muzikale lezing door Joep Pelt


In samenwerking met Stichting Afrovibes/Spui 25

Lezing/College Spui 25
10 april 20-22 uur
Musicus en journalist Joep Pelt spreekt over Mbaqanga, Soweto Soul, een muziek-stroming uit de jaren zestig en zeventig die razend populair was in de townships in Zuid-Afrika gedurende het apartheidsbewind. Zijn lezing wordt ondersteund door fragmenten; hij zal ook zelf spelen. Met medewerking van muziekwetenschappers Wim van der Meer en Barbara Titus.

22/03/2013

Spoken Theatre and Architectural Acoustics around 1800

COLLOQUIUM MUZIEKWETENSCHAP
Viktoria Tkaczyk

April 18, 2013, 15:30-17:00
Universiteitstheater, Nieuwe Doelenstraat 16, zaal 3.01

Generally, the foundation of the discipline of architectural acoustics is attributed to the physicist Wallace Clement Sabine, who developed around 1900 the formula for reverberation time, and with it the possibility of making calculated prognoses about the acoustic potential of a particular design. If we shift, however, the perspective from the history of this discipline to the history of architectural knowledge and praxis it becomes apparent that the topos of ‘good sound’ had already entered the discourse much earlier. In my presentation, I will trace the Europe-wide architectural discussion on the behaviour of sound in enclosed spaces between 1760 and 1830. Special emphasis will be put on the acoustics of theatre auditoria. It will be shown that the period of investigation is marked by a rising interest in theatre sound, which is linked to the emergence of a bourgeois theatre culture and the socio-political importance of the spoken word. Subsequently, the architects’ search for new methods of research on sound propagation in enclosed spaces prompted a profound rethinking of the ‘mediality’ of architectural buildings, which, in turn, paved the way for the academic establishment of architectural acoustics in the early 20th century.

20/03/2013

Bake society annual meeting

Op zaterdag 23 maart houdt de Bake society een tweetal paneldiscussies die voor studenten musicologie interessant zullen zijn. Toegang is gratis en er is ook een strip mee te verdienen.

Locatie: Lipsius gebouw zaal 028, Cleveringaplaats 1, Leiden
Aanvang 14:00 uur


(a) voordrachten over het (veranderende) werkveld van de musicoloog – op zoek naar nieuwe initiatieven.

Cultureel ondernemen schept toekomst. Maak je niet afhankelijk van subsidies en instellingen, maar wees creatief en neem initiatief. Cultureel ondernemen is meer dan een begroting maken, of de VAR aanvragen: het is een houding van eigen kansen creëren. Het panel van musicologen zal in korte voordrachten voorbeelden geven van hoe het werkveld er op dit moment voor hen uitziet. Ze bespreken hun aanpak in een periode van (dreigende) culturele kaalslag. Henrice Vonck trekt conclusies en doet aanbevelingen.

Panelleden: Jaenneke den Boer, Suzanne van der Pol, Bernard Kleikamp, Henrice Vonck


(b) panel en discussie over het opkomende fenomeen van de culturele muziekwetenschap.

Panel: Cultural musicology, ethnomusicology, new musicology: The same difference?

Panellists: Barbara Titus (UU), Vincent Meelberg (RUN), Joep Bor (UL), Fred Gales (Bake society), Helen Metselaar (UvA), Wim van der Meer (UvA)

Moderator: Klaus Kuiper (Bake society), Referents: Adri Schreuder (CvA), Henrice Vonck (Codarts)

Up to the 80s of the past century musicology mainly knew two branches: musicology and ethnomusicology [1]. The former studied the European ‘art’ music tradition and its manifestations elsewhere, the latter studied all ‘other’ music. But not only the object of study was different, their methods also diverged. Musicology was primarily historical, perusing scores and exploring archives, ethnomusicology applied anthropological methods to music research. In the 80s turmoil ensued, ethnomusicological methods were applied to European ‘art’ music, and historical and other perspectives were applied to the study of ‘other’ music. The binary opposition of European ‘art’ music and ‘other’ music had eroded and perhaps even became obsolete. Then we saw the rise of an ever growing number of designations; anthropology of music or musical anthropology, new musicology, critical musicology and of course cultural musicology. And then there were further bifurcations that focussed on specific issues: popular music studies, world music studies, jazz studies, postcolonial musicology, feminist musicology…
What we will try to elucidate in this panel is whether these designations refer to distinct disciplines and if so what does distinguish them. We will also raise the question whether the old musicology-ethnomusicology binary is still viable and if ethnomusicology, historical musicology and cultural musicology can coexist meaningfully. But most of all, we will attempt to get a clearer picture of what cultural musicology is or could be.
Members of the panel will be asked to prepare a five minute statement presenting their views on the matter, and in a second round can respond to the statements of others. Finally the discussion will be thrown open to the floor.
[1] there are of course other branches, such as systematic musicology, biomusicology, sinology, music theory, paleomusicology, etc.

31/01/2013

Musical Form and Embodiment in Post-Soviet Russian Popular Music

COLLOQUIUM MUZIEKWETENSCHAP
Stephen Amico

February 21, 2013, 15:30-17:00
Universiteitstheater, Nieuwe Doelenstraat 16, zaal 3.01

Abstract:
How can the connection between musical form and an explicitly corporeal apprehension of and relationship to music be theorized?  Focusing on Russian popular music, and drawing upon the works of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Alphonso Lingis, I will begin by offering an overview of several salient formal attributes of post-Soviet popsa and related genres which contribute to a relative homogeneity of style, specifically in contrast to “Western” pop.  Thereafter, rather than analyzing such musical forms as contemporary instances of ideological standardization in service of the creation of the acquiescent post-Soviet citizen, I will propose that known and ubiquitous sounds and structures, in the context of both decades-long discourses of the body, as well as the eradication of social and ideological foundations, allow for and engender a formation of an embodied and experiential sense of self and place.

23/01/2013

AUDITORY MEMORY AND SOUND ARCHIVES FROM THE LATE-NINETEENTH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT

AUDITORY MEMORY AND SOUND ARCHIVES FROM THE LATE-NINETEENTH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT
Workshop - 18 February 2013 (Potgieterzaal, UvA)

The current project seeks to investigate the term “auditory memory”, which has been largely neglected in memory studies in favour of visually-oriented arts of memorization, with their long tradition within rhetoric (ars memorativa). A central concern is to what extent different forms of sound memorization have become relevant in science, art and media technology from the late-nineteenth century to the present. The project will especially focus on how sound has been stored and archived with the aid of different media technologies, material cultures and bodily techniques, and how each of these forms of auditory memories has generated a specific form of “cultural heritage of sound”.

Organized by: Carolyn Birdsall, Manon Parry and Viktoria Tkaczyk
Funded by: Onderzoekszwaartepunt Cultural Heritage and Identity, Volkswagen Foundation

Due to the limited space for extra participants, please register by email before 10 February: soundarchives.amsterdam2013@gmail.com

14/01/2013

Different Voices: structure, manipulation and meaning in the sampler-based compositions by Steve Reich

COLLOQUIUM MUZIEKWETENSCHAP
Maarten Beirens

24 januari 2013, 15:30-17:00
Universiteitstheater, Nieuwe Doelenstraat 16, zaal 3.01

Abstract:
In my examination of some of Reich’s sample-based compositions, I will focus on some interesting complexities both on the narrative and on the structural levels. These include the tension between on the one hand the ‘documentary’ sense of objectivity in incorporating the voices of different speakers, each with his own background and opinions, and on the other hand the authorial ‘voice’ of the composer. Secondly, the manipulation of samples either by appropriating the material while taking it out of its original context, or by literally modifying and electronically altering the samples. Finally, these compositions display a remarkable approach to musical structure, as the literal meaning of the texts and their melodic and harmonic material both become factors in determining the musical structure.