27^e année, 30 mars 2026.

Song is our Weapon: Music in the Process of Nation Building

17–19 November 2026, Ljubljana and Trieste,

International Musicological Conference

From the mid-18th century onwards, fundamental concepts of nationality began to take shape in Europe, along with new forms of collective identity and cultural belonging. Culture, and within it music – particularly in connection with language and folk traditions – was a key factor in the symbolic, emotional, and ideological mobilisation of the nation-building process. Music played an important role in shaping national imaginaries, strengthening national values, and fostering feelings of belonging as well as divisions between communities.

The conference Song is Our Weapon: Music in the Process of Nation Building is intended to reflect on the role of music in the formation, consolidation, and articulation of national consciousness from the mid-18th century to the end of World War II. It aims to highlight the diverse connections between music, identity, and political processes, where music was not only a form of aesthetic expression, but also an important means of national identification, social communication, and the establishment of symbolic boundaries between “us” and “them”. In the vivid words of the Slovenian patriot Ivan Godina from Trieste: “Dear brothers! Who else but the song has so far kindled the flame of national consciousness? The song has shaken our simple, unconscious people out of their lukewarmness. The song is our role model, the song is our weapon with which we fight against our common national enemy.”

Studying the role of music in the process of nation building offers new perspectives on the cultural and social changes that shaped this process, helping us understand the complex connections between culture, identity, politics, and society. At the same time, it shows how political and social circumstances influenced the image of musical life, its institutional organisation, and aesthetic expression. This helps us understand why music took certain forms in a specific historical moment and why musical institutions functioned as they did. This dual perspective – music as both a factor in and a product of nation building – opens a rich interdisciplinary field of research, enabling new methodological approaches to understanding the relationship between music, culture, and political processes.

In this context, the following topics are of particular interest:

Music as a means of national mobilisation and political articulation.

The formation of symbolic boundaries and the establishment of identity labels (“us” vs. “them”) through music in the process of nation building.

The transformation of musical practices in extreme political circumstances during nation building.

Music and cultural policy in the process of nation building.

The influence of nation building on the characteristics of musical language, performance and reception of music.

National musical canons (composers, works, genres).

Music societies and music institutions in the process of nation building.

The role of individual musicians in the process of nation building.

Music journalism and the formation of public opinion on the role of music nation building.

Discourse and writing about music during the process of nation building: national music history paradigms.

The role of music in nationalist ideologies between the two wars.

Music and nation building in border, multilingual and multi-ethnic environments.

Case study: music and nation building in Trieste.

Other topics and case studies related to the role of music in the process of nation building.

Proposals for papers (20 minutes + 10 minutes discussion), which should include the title and a short summary of the proposed topic (200–400 words), a short biography and the contact details of the author, should be sent by Sunday, 31 May 2026.

Authors will be informed about the selection of papers, which will be reviewed by the international scholarly committee, no later than 21 June 2026. The final programme of the conference will be completed by mid-October 2026. After the conference, the selected papers will be published in a special issue of the musicology journal De musica disserenda.

The official languages of the conference will be Slovenian and English.

Invited keynote speakers: Senior Research Fellow Dr Tatjana Marković (Austrian Academy of Sciences Vienna), Assoc. Prof. Dr Fritz Trümpi (mdw - University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna), Prof. Dr Marta Verginella (University of Ljubljana)

International Scholarly Committee: Prof. Dr Giulio D'Angelo (Giuseppe Tartini Conservatory of Music in Trieste), Prof. Dr Matjaž Barbo (University of Ljubljana), Senior Research Fellow Dr Tatjana Marković (Austrian Academy of Sciences Vienna), Prof. Dr Lubomír Spurny (Masaryk University of Brno), Assist. Prof. Dr Nejc Sukljan (University of Ljubljana), Assoc. Prof. Dr Fritz Trümpi (mdw - University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna), Prof. Dr Boštjan Udovič (University of Ljubljana), Prof. Dr Marta Verginella (University of Ljubljana)

Organising Committee at the Department of Musicology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Assist. Prof. Dr Katarina Bogunović Hočevar, Assist. Prof. Dr Nejc Sukljan, Assist. Dr Vesna Venišnik Peternelj, Assist. Sara Zupančič

The conference is organised as part of the ARIS research project Music and Nation Building in Trieste.

The conference is organised in collaboration with the Slovenian Musicological Society, the Institute of Musicology at the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and the Bruno e Michèle Polli Centre for Documentation and Tartini Studies at the Giuseppe Tartini Conservatory of Music in Trieste.

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

ISSN 2269-9910.

imagette de bas de page

Mardi 31 Mars, 2026