MERTON COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

26-28 March 2010

Composers, performers, and music critics in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries frequently distinguished Western music from other forms of art on the basis that it is not representational.  In contrast to the focus on representation that characterized theoretical discussions of meaning in the visual arts, writings about music often emphasized and valued music’s abstraction and autonomy from social and historical contexts, and from any other representational genesis of meaning.

In recent years, there has been increasing academic interest in the ways listeners interpret music to convey meanings, including in music’s interaction with the visual arts, and in its uses in identity construction and social movements.  These trends have made the study of questions relating to representation in music more relevant than ever, and yet no recent conference has dealt extensively with the subject. 

This conference assembles an international group of scholars to discuss and debate the concept of representation in music.  The broad range of speakers will provide an interdisciplinary response to the conference theme, incorporating the perspectives of musicology, art history, and philosophy.

ENQUIRIES:

musicandrepresentation@googlemail.com

SPONSORS:

University of Oxford FACULTY OF MUSIC

© MUSIC & REPRESENTATION, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.

All rights reserved. Revised September 19, 2009