Music Migration

The Meeting of the European East, West and South

Project head: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Gesa zur Nieden

The investigation of music migrations will offer insight into musico-cultural encounters, in spatial terms (European East, West and South), and in temporal terms (17th-18th c., i.e. Baroque and Classicism). The term “musicians” is to be understood broadly and here denotes not only composers, performers, writers on music issues, but also other professions related to music.

It is expected to be proved that music migrations have considerably contributed to the dynamics and synergy of the European cultural scene at large, stimulating innovations, changes of styles and patterns of musical and social behaviour, and contributing to the cohesive forces in the common European cultural identity.

The basic investigation will supply concrete data on migrating musicians. Upon these facts, a theoretical framework will emerge within which there will be possible to form a network of migrating musicians (individuals or groups), their routes and goals; secular and sacral centres with centripetal attractiveness; the cultural transfer of certain musical forms and styles; individual and social migrational motives (ideological, economical, political etc.). Based on these general issues, concrete illustrations and argumentation will be given through selected case studies.

Consequently, these insights will offer deeper understanding of the relations between the musical universalism and individual, regional, and national particularities. The academic and scholarly circles will be supplied with new, hitherto unknown relevant and critically elaborated data and ideas, what would enable their implementation in the more general surveys in musicological and culturological areas. In order to keep the audience at large acquainted with the final research results, various public manifestations will be organized: a series of concerts and an exhibition; project meetings and workshops; on-line accessible data base and interactive maps; open access and printed proceedings, monographs, critical editions of texts, articles in journals; and the publication of music material with introductory studies, mostly ready-to-play and record.

Project partners: Prof. Dr. Vjera Katalinić (Kroatische Akademie der Wissenschaften und Künste), Jun.-Prof. Dr. Gesa zur Nieden (Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz), Dr. Martin Albrecht-Hohmaier (Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften), Prof. Dr. Barbara Przybyszewska-Jarminśka (Polnische Akademie der Wissenschaften), Prof. Dr. Alina Zórawska-Witkowska (Universität Warschau), Dr. Metoda Kokole (Slowenische Akademie der Wissenschaften und Künste)

Project group Mainz: Juniorprof. Dr. Gesa zur Nieden (Institut für Kunstgeschichte und Musikwissenschaft), Dr. Berthold Over (Institut für Kunstgeschichte und Musikwissenschaft), Hanna Kneißler, B.A. (Institut für Kunstgeschichte und Musikwissenschaft)

Further information: http://musmig.hypotheses.org/ (Webblog)