Manuscript and print sources have traditionally had a central role in establishing and examining musical texts. However, they also have much to reveal about the meanings and purposes assigned to music by the people who commissioned, made, owned and used them. In this context, the 'use' of music sources extends beyond their role in live performance, to encompass also their use as gifts and as objects for collection and display. Aspects of noble, bourgeois, artistic and professional identities rested on the ways in which musical texts were selected, presented, distributed and used in this expanded sense. This conference turns the spotlight onto the people involved in music manuscripts and prints, asking what the sources with which they are connected can tell us about the various motives lying behind their investment in music.
Invited speakers include Jane Alden (Wesleyan), Julie Cumming* (McGill), Honey Meconi (Rochester), Marica Tacconi* (Penn State), and Rob Wegman (Princeton). (*Funding allowing.) An anthology of essays deriving from the conference will be published in the Brepols series 'Epitome musical'; it will be the subject of a proposal and selection process running parallel to that for the conference.
The call for papers is now closed. Queries can be addressed to the conference organisers, Lisa Colton (l.m.colton@hud.ac.uk) and Tim Shephard (t.shephard@sheffield.ac.uk), or administrative queries to Catherine Haworth (c.m.haworth@hud.ac.uk). Programme and booking information will appear here in due course.
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This interdisciplinary conference took a broad approach to matters of representation and identity, examining the intersection of age and gender in relation to musical creativity across a wide range of historical periods and genres. Dr Sophie Fuller (Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance; MuGI Visiting Research Fellow) gave the keynote paper, '"Something Revolting": Women, creativity and music after 50', which explored narratives of ageing and female creativity in the work of composers including Grace Williams, Elizabeth Maconchy, Joni Mitchell, and Patti Smith.
Click below to view the abstracts for all the papers presented at the conference. You can also view a Storify of tweets related to #MuGI2012 here. Thanks to Lauren Redhead for archiving these.
Gender, Musical Creativity and Age abstracts
