From Private to Public: the Institutionalization of Bourgeois Music Culture in the Long 19th Century

14-17 May 2025
Application deadline: 1 December 2024
16th International musicological conference

Organizers: Department for History of Croatian Music of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts & Croatian Musicological Society

Historians commonly agree that the year 1789 marks the dividing line between the early Modern Age and modern periods. This is also considered the moment when the middle classes gained ground to the detriment of the nobility. However, it goes without saying that the middle class had emerged on the historical horizon of Europe much earlier, and that the nobility did not disappear following its socio-economical marginalization at the beginning of the 19th century.

The ascendancy of the bourgeoisie – partly fueled and fermented by the Napoleonic wars – consisted of numerous phenomena, some of which are directly relevant to the general topic of this Conference. Broadly, these include the ideal of personal freedom, socio-political liberalism and its legal order, industrialization, modernization, and the rise of capitalism, the emergence and affirmation of the public sphere, the development of the educational system, the modern phenomenon of amateurism, and the creation of a specific bourgeois culture, including musical culture.

The main goal of this Conference is to offer a forum for individual research on the identification, documentation, analysis and/or evaluation of various models of private and public initiatives in the field of music, both in European countries and beyond, and the transformation of these initiatives into private or state institutions which subsequently became the foundations of modern bourgeois culture in different times and in various territorial frameworks. These models might be explored through single case studies focusing on: the relationship between prominent musical, scientific and other public figures and political events; relationships which act as decisive factors in the transformation of private initiatives into social organizations; collecting various music material that has become public or is included in public music libraries or printed collections; the private music salon as a model of semi-public music making, of creating standards of quality in music composition and performance; the inclusion of military music in the civilian public music sphere; etc.

We welcome proposals of topics of particular interest including:

Definitions of ‘bourgeois music culture’

Forms and manners of interaction between ‘private’ and ‘public’ in the area of music culture

Elements of the bourgeois music culture in the long 18th-century ‘ancien régime’ societies

The impact of the industrial revolution on music culture of the bourgeois society in the long 19th century

Politics, legislation and music manifestations in the long 19th century

Forms of institutionalization of music culture in composition, performance and music schooling in the long 19th century

Place and functions of art music in bourgeois music culture

The relationship of art and salon/entertainment music in bourgeois music culture in the long 19th century

The role and function of military music in society and culture of the long 19th century

Keynote speakers: Professor Philipp Ther (Universität Wien); Professor emer. Stanislav Tuksar (Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb); Professor Harry White (University College Dublin)

Proposals containing a working title and abstract (300–400 words) for a 20-minute paper, accompanied by a short biography of c. 200 words, in Croatian AND English or in English, should be submitted on the application form by email, to: 1) Croatian Musicological Society, Ante Kovačića Street 5, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

2) or to the Coordinator (Dr. Stanislav Tuksar)

The deadline for submitting proposals with abstracts is 1 December 2024.

The list of accepted participants will be announced by 15 January 2025.

Languages: The official languages of the Conference will be Croatian and English.

Fee and sojourn details: Participants can avail of the ‘early bird’ fee of €80 (or €50 for PhD candidates) before 28 February 2025, or €100 (€70 for PhD candidates) from 1 March until 15 April 2025. The organizers will provide refreshments during the conference for all
participants. It is expected that travel expenses to and from Zagreb and the accommodation arrangements and expenses will be made and covered by all participants themselves.

Proceedings: The organizers are planning to publish the Proceedings of the conference with selected papers by mid-2027.

For the full call for papers and the application form, please see

Musicologie.org, 56 rue de la Fédération, 93100 Montreuil. ☎ 06 06 61 73 41.

ISNN 2269-9910.

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Jeudi 26 Septembre, 2024