We endeavour to understand the role of music in the formation of European Culture and Society, and how it reflects on and reacts to historical and social developments; the role of music in preserving memory and shaping identity. We seek to foster an interdisciplinary engagement with music covering European literature and language; visual arts; performing arts and music theatre.
Our main interests include:
Austro-Germanic Tradition:
18th-21st centuries: opera, Schubert studies; Lieder studies; modernism; aesthetics; film music; consumption.
Britain and Ireland:
Music in the marketplace; socio-economic issues; traditions and intersections; sacred and secular; traditional, folk and popular musics; performance and performers; institutions; transcription; publishing; reception; globalization.
France, 1870-1940:
Dukas; opera; ballet; music criticism; gender studies (women in French music)
Poland:
Analysis and performance of Chopin’s piano music.
Italy:
16th and 17th centuries: Monteverdi studies and early Italian opera.
Pan-European Piano Music:
Dvořák and Rachmaninov
Interdisciplinary Studies:
Music and theatre; music and text; music and visual culture; music and film; music and mythography.
Through the assimilation of analytical criteria we seek to deepen our understanding and interpretation of a wide range of compositional styles across history. We endeavour to increase the level of cultural, historical and analytical engagement when listening to and performing music. We engage in interdisciplinary research with technologies and other performing and visual arts.
Analysis
- Analysis of Chopin’s piano music
- Analysis of Schubert’s Lieder
Rhythmic analysis
Listening analysis
- Contemporary and avant-garde music
- Ecological listening
- Listening theories and approaches
Transcription and analysis of recordings
- Irish Traditional Music – arrangements, recordings, social context, performance practice and traditions
Computer-aided analysis
- Automation of Schenkerian analysis
- Sonogram/visual analysis
The relationship between analysis and performance
- Historically informed performance (Gregorian chant)
- Sources and textual analysis
Music and Text
- Monteverdi and early Italian opera
- Dukas and early 20th-century French opera
- Lieder
- Contemporary musics
Performance analysis
- Gestural analysis (Rachmaninov, Dvořák)
Mathematical music theory
New analytical methodologies
Interdisciplinary approaches:
- Music and theatre; music and text; music and visual culture; music and mythography; music and technology; music and imagery; the relationship between composer, musicologist and performer.
