Musicology is a young research discipline both in an international and a national perspective. The subject has a 150-year history as a European university discipline, and a significantly shorter one in Sweden. The first professorship in musicology was not established in Sweden until 1947 at Uppsala ... [read more]Musicology is a young research discipline both in an international and a national perspective. The subject has a 150-year history as a European university discipline, and a significantly shorter one in Sweden. The first professorship in musicology was not established in Sweden until 1947 at Uppsala University, followed by Gothenburg (1977) and Lund Universities (1986). From having had western art music as its main field of research in the beginning, research in the subject now largely covers all music both across time and space. The research field has broadened at the same time as it has been strongly fragmented. The research that is carried out in Lund is something of an indication of the span currently shown by the subject of musicology. One part of the research is conducted within the framework of the Sound Environment Centre at Lund University. Investigations are done here into the way in which mind and cognition are affected by music and sound and how this can be registered through eye movement with the help of advanced technology (eye-tracking). In connection with this, studies are also carried out on the tonal and acoustic properties of music. Another field of modern character is rock music and its development processes. Currently at its centre are studies of so-called symphonic rock, also known as "art rock". Another area of research with a contemporary connection is that which is conducted within the framework of the southern choir organisation, Körcentrum syd, of which the core consists of the Music Academy, the Odeum and the division of musicology. The centre was started in December 2007 and aims to bolster choral activity nationally and internationally, in discussions between various agents, by coordinating and initiating education, concert productions and research. Two projects that are part of the latter are "A global inventory of choral research" and "The emergence of musical societies in Sweden mainly during the 1700s and 1800s" (partly in cooperation with the University of Leipzig). An international network of researchers is connected to the centre. Research into the history of music is still going strong in Lund, and its emphasis is on the 1700s (the musical environments, collections of sheet music, choir books), the 1800s (poetry declamation, Swedish-German musical links, folk music books) and the 1900s (ballad research, the musical production of modernism). Biographies of composers have always attracted a great deal of interest both among researchers and the general public. Among the composers whose life and works have been of special interest to Lund researchers are Hugo Alfvén, Franz Berwald, John Fernström, Gustaf Mahler, Franz Schubert, Arnold Schönberg and Eduard Tubin.
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Last modified 12 Feb 2010
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