Historiography of Music
A.Y. 2023/2024
Learning objectives
Through studies of relevant literature and case studies, the course provides an introduction to central characteristics regarding the musical historiography as a theoretical field, with particular emphasis on reflexivity.
The course aims to enable students to relate their musicological knowledge with a historical understanding of musical phenomena. The ability to read and interpret musical objects and practices in a historiographical perspective and under a cultural angle is the main learning scope of the course.
The course aims to enable students to relate their musicological knowledge with a historical understanding of musical phenomena. The ability to read and interpret musical objects and practices in a historiographical perspective and under a cultural angle is the main learning scope of the course.
Expected learning outcomes
By the end of the course, students will have understood that music is not a phenomenon of nature, and this historical awareness will enable them to place the musical examples considered within its specific cultural context, with reference to the monographic subject explored each new academic year.
Lesson period: First semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
Course Title (2023-24 A.Y.):
Mapping Music History in Milan: StoryMaps, and Historical GIS.
The aim of the course is to discuss and test the consequences of the "spatial turn" in music historiography. As a case study, we have chosen the Milan's "soundscape" during the post-unitarian period (1861-1881) when the myth of Milan as the "moral capital" of Italy began to be constructed. How do we listen to the past? How do we map and reconstruct the historical soundscape of Milan? In this perspective, the use of historical cartography and GIS technologies can offer new opportunities for rethinking and reconstructing the audio-musical landscape of the past.
Mapping Music History in Milan: StoryMaps, and Historical GIS.
The aim of the course is to discuss and test the consequences of the "spatial turn" in music historiography. As a case study, we have chosen the Milan's "soundscape" during the post-unitarian period (1861-1881) when the myth of Milan as the "moral capital" of Italy began to be constructed. How do we listen to the past? How do we map and reconstruct the historical soundscape of Milan? In this perspective, the use of historical cartography and GIS technologies can offer new opportunities for rethinking and reconstructing the audio-musical landscape of the past.
Prerequisites for admission
A good knowledge of "classical" and "popular" music and/or others non-Western music traditions are important prerequisites of the course as well as an appropriate knowledge of the basic elements of musical grammar and music theory.
In addition to these skills, students should have some familiarity with the history of Milan in the national and transnational context during the second half of the nineteenth century.
In addition to these skills, students should have some familiarity with the history of Milan in the national and transnational context during the second half of the nineteenth century.
Teaching methods
The lessons will take place on site and will draw on the Teams platform for sharing materials and teaching aids.
Teaching Resources
Students are required to familiarize themselves with the story-mapping practices using the software ArcGis https://www.arcgis.com/home/index.html.
Recommended preliminary readings.
On the history of Milan:
- Milano 1861-1906. Mappa e volto di una città. Per una geostoria dell'arte, ed. by Maria Grazia Schinetti, Milano, Franco Angeli, 2015.
- Milano 1848-1898. Ascesa e trasformazione della capitale morale, ed. by Rosanna Pavoni and Cesare Mozzarelli, 2 voll., Venezia/Milano, Marsilio/Museo Bugatti Valsecchi, 2000.
On the concept of soundscape:
- R. Murray Schaefer, Il paesaggio sonoro. Il nostro ambiente acustico e l'accordatura del mondo, nuova new edition ed. by Giovanni Cestino, Milano-Lucca, Ricordi-LIM, 2022.
PART A
Theoretical Context:
Michel Foucault, Spazi altri. I luoghi delle eterotopie, ed. by Salvo Vaccaro, Milano, Mimesis, 2011.
- Edward W. Soja, Thirdspace. Journeys to Los Angeles and other Real-and-Imagined Places, Malden MA, Blackwell, 1996, chapter 2 (The Trialectics of Spatiality), pp. 53-82 + chapter 5 (Heterotopologies: Foucault and Geohistory of Otherness), pp. 145-163.
- Alexander von Lünen, Tracking in a New Territory: Re-imaging GIS for History, in History and GIS. Epistemologies, Considerations and Reflections, ed. by A. von Lünen and Charles Travis, Dordrecht, Springer, 2013, pp. 211-239.
- Sam Griffiths, GIS and Research into Historical "Spaces of Practice": Overcoming the Epistemological Barriers, in History and GIS, pp. 153-171.
- Deborah Paci, BIG DATA versus THICK DATA? L'orizzonte dell'aspettativa dello storico digitale, in La storia in digitale. Teorie e metodologie, ed. by D. Paci, Milano, Unicopli, 2019, pp. 67-82.
- Tiago Luís Gil, GIS e cartografia narrative nella ricerca storica, in La storia in digitale, pp. 117-142.
PART B
Musicological context:
- Tim Carter, The Sound of Silence: Models for an Urban Musicology, in «Urban History», vol. 19, n. 1 (May 2002), pp. 8-18.
- Tim Carter, Listening to Music in Early Modern Italy: Some Problems for Urban Musicologist, in Hearing the City in Early Modern Europe, ed. by Tess Knighton and Ascensión Mazuela-Anguita, Turnhout, Brepols, 2018, pp. 25-49.
- Steven Feld, Un manifesto per l'acustemologia, translated by Nina Baratti, in Dialoghi con i non umani, ed. by Emanuele Fabiano and Gaetano Mangiameli, Milano, Mimesis/Molimo, 2019, pp. 167-190.
- James G. Mansell, Historical Acoustemology: Past, Present, and Future, in «Music Research Annual», vol. 2, 2021 (open-access journal: https://musicresearchannual.org/).
- Heather Platt, The Digital Humanities and Nineteenth-Century Music: An Introductory Overview, in «Nineteenth-Century Music Review», vol. 18, issue 1 (April 2021), pp. 3-18.
- Shekh Moinuddin, Continuum of Space and Place in Digital Manifestations: Contours in Digital Spatiality, in GeoJournal. Spatially Integrated Social Sciences and Humanities, vol. 88, issue 4 (2023), pp. 3699-3708 (available on the unimi website).
PARTC
Case study:
- The website "The Musical Geography Project" https://musicalgeography.org/ (project promoted by St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota).
- Robert Kendrick, The Sonic Expression of Urban Identity, in The Sounds of Milan (1585-1650), Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002, pp. 3-25 (primo capitolo del libro).
- Francesca Vella, (De)railing Mobility: Opera, Stasis, and Locomotion on Late-Nineteenth-Century Italian Tracks, in «Opera Quarterly», XXXIV/1, pp. 3-28.
- Emilio Sala, Voci della città: da "Hé! Lambert!" (Parigi, 1864) a "Se sa minga" (Milano, 1866), in Viaggi italo-francesi, ed. by Marica Bottaro and Francesco Cesari, Lucca, LIM, 2020, 101-115.
- Carlo Lanfossi e Emilio Sala, Negativi di Parigi: Epifonie della Ville Lumière all'Expo di Milano (1881), forthcoming.
ADDING READINGS FOR NON ATTENDING STUDENTS
- Edward W. Soja, Thirdspace. Journeys to Los Angeles and other Real-and-Imagined Places, Malden MA, Blackwell, 1996.
- Todd Presner, David Shepard, Yoh Kawano, Hypercities. Thick mapping in the Digital Humanities, Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press, 2014.
Recommended preliminary readings.
On the history of Milan:
- Milano 1861-1906. Mappa e volto di una città. Per una geostoria dell'arte, ed. by Maria Grazia Schinetti, Milano, Franco Angeli, 2015.
- Milano 1848-1898. Ascesa e trasformazione della capitale morale, ed. by Rosanna Pavoni and Cesare Mozzarelli, 2 voll., Venezia/Milano, Marsilio/Museo Bugatti Valsecchi, 2000.
On the concept of soundscape:
- R. Murray Schaefer, Il paesaggio sonoro. Il nostro ambiente acustico e l'accordatura del mondo, nuova new edition ed. by Giovanni Cestino, Milano-Lucca, Ricordi-LIM, 2022.
PART A
Theoretical Context:
Michel Foucault, Spazi altri. I luoghi delle eterotopie, ed. by Salvo Vaccaro, Milano, Mimesis, 2011.
- Edward W. Soja, Thirdspace. Journeys to Los Angeles and other Real-and-Imagined Places, Malden MA, Blackwell, 1996, chapter 2 (The Trialectics of Spatiality), pp. 53-82 + chapter 5 (Heterotopologies: Foucault and Geohistory of Otherness), pp. 145-163.
- Alexander von Lünen, Tracking in a New Territory: Re-imaging GIS for History, in History and GIS. Epistemologies, Considerations and Reflections, ed. by A. von Lünen and Charles Travis, Dordrecht, Springer, 2013, pp. 211-239.
- Sam Griffiths, GIS and Research into Historical "Spaces of Practice": Overcoming the Epistemological Barriers, in History and GIS, pp. 153-171.
- Deborah Paci, BIG DATA versus THICK DATA? L'orizzonte dell'aspettativa dello storico digitale, in La storia in digitale. Teorie e metodologie, ed. by D. Paci, Milano, Unicopli, 2019, pp. 67-82.
- Tiago Luís Gil, GIS e cartografia narrative nella ricerca storica, in La storia in digitale, pp. 117-142.
PART B
Musicological context:
- Tim Carter, The Sound of Silence: Models for an Urban Musicology, in «Urban History», vol. 19, n. 1 (May 2002), pp. 8-18.
- Tim Carter, Listening to Music in Early Modern Italy: Some Problems for Urban Musicologist, in Hearing the City in Early Modern Europe, ed. by Tess Knighton and Ascensión Mazuela-Anguita, Turnhout, Brepols, 2018, pp. 25-49.
- Steven Feld, Un manifesto per l'acustemologia, translated by Nina Baratti, in Dialoghi con i non umani, ed. by Emanuele Fabiano and Gaetano Mangiameli, Milano, Mimesis/Molimo, 2019, pp. 167-190.
- James G. Mansell, Historical Acoustemology: Past, Present, and Future, in «Music Research Annual», vol. 2, 2021 (open-access journal: https://musicresearchannual.org/).
- Heather Platt, The Digital Humanities and Nineteenth-Century Music: An Introductory Overview, in «Nineteenth-Century Music Review», vol. 18, issue 1 (April 2021), pp. 3-18.
- Shekh Moinuddin, Continuum of Space and Place in Digital Manifestations: Contours in Digital Spatiality, in GeoJournal. Spatially Integrated Social Sciences and Humanities, vol. 88, issue 4 (2023), pp. 3699-3708 (available on the unimi website).
PARTC
Case study:
- The website "The Musical Geography Project" https://musicalgeography.org/ (project promoted by St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota).
- Robert Kendrick, The Sonic Expression of Urban Identity, in The Sounds of Milan (1585-1650), Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002, pp. 3-25 (primo capitolo del libro).
- Francesca Vella, (De)railing Mobility: Opera, Stasis, and Locomotion on Late-Nineteenth-Century Italian Tracks, in «Opera Quarterly», XXXIV/1, pp. 3-28.
- Emilio Sala, Voci della città: da "Hé! Lambert!" (Parigi, 1864) a "Se sa minga" (Milano, 1866), in Viaggi italo-francesi, ed. by Marica Bottaro and Francesco Cesari, Lucca, LIM, 2020, 101-115.
- Carlo Lanfossi e Emilio Sala, Negativi di Parigi: Epifonie della Ville Lumière all'Expo di Milano (1881), forthcoming.
ADDING READINGS FOR NON ATTENDING STUDENTS
- Edward W. Soja, Thirdspace. Journeys to Los Angeles and other Real-and-Imagined Places, Malden MA, Blackwell, 1996.
- Todd Presner, David Shepard, Yoh Kawano, Hypercities. Thick mapping in the Digital Humanities, Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press, 2014.
Assessment methods and Criteria
Students are required to write a final paper (approximately 5000-word long) on a topic drawn from the monographic framework of the course. Here are the assessment criteria:
1. Pertinence to the topics discussed throughout the course; 2. Originality of the chosen topic/methodology; 3. Analytical competence and depth of personal interpretation; 4. Quality of writing style (terminological appropriateness, coherence, accuracy of the critical apparatus, bibliography).
The paper must be submitted at least 7 days in advance prior to the date of the exam. The oral examination will consist of a discussion of the course's materials, based on the professor's feedback on the paper submitted.
1. Pertinence to the topics discussed throughout the course; 2. Originality of the chosen topic/methodology; 3. Analytical competence and depth of personal interpretation; 4. Quality of writing style (terminological appropriateness, coherence, accuracy of the critical apparatus, bibliography).
The paper must be submitted at least 7 days in advance prior to the date of the exam. The oral examination will consist of a discussion of the course's materials, based on the professor's feedback on the paper submitted.
L-ART/07 - MUSICOLOGY AND HISTORY OF MUSIC - University credits: 9
Lessons: 60 hours
Professor:
Sala Emilio
Professor(s)