Category Archives: Musicology

by | February 12, 2026 · 9:47 am

Voicing Innocence: An annotated bibliography

On 6 April 2026, Innocence, the final opera by the late Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, receives its Metropolitan Opera premiere in New York, marking a significant moment in the work’s ongoing international circulation and scholarly reception. Coinciding with this event, the Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation hosts the conference Voicing Innocence: Trauma, Memory, and Contemporary Opera in the Work of Kaija Saariaho (7–8 April 2026) at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Inspired by the Metropolitan Opera’s presentation of Simon Stone’s original production—first staged at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2021—the conference situates Innocence within broader critical conversations on contemporary opera, trauma, memory, and the limits of forgiveness.

This annotated bibliography is shaped by the shared mission of the Brook Center and RILM, a project housed within the Center: to document, organize, and make accessible the global circulation of music scholarship across languages, disciplines, and cultural contexts. That mission resonates directly with Innocence itself, an opera conceived as a transnational and multilingual work, unfolding across multiple temporalities and perspectives. Saariaho and librettists Sofi Oksanen and Aleksi Barrière construct a dramaturgy in which characters sing in their native languages—Finnish, French, German, Czech, Spanish, Swedish, Greek, and English—without translation within the world of the opera, foregrounding linguistic difference as both a narrative and ethical condition.

In this sense, Innocence offers not only a subject for scholarly inquiry but also a methodological analogue for bibliographic work. Just as the opera resists a single linguistic or cultural vantage point, this bibliography assembles scholarship produced across national traditions, disciplinary frameworks, and languages, tracing how Innocence and the topics at the heart of the opera can be interpreted, historicized, and mobilized within diverse intellectual communities. By mapping these intersecting strands of research, the bibliography reflects the broader commitment of the Brook Center and RILM to foster dialogue across borders—linguistic, cultural, and scholarly—mirroring the opera’s own insistence on global entanglement and shared responsibility.


Innocence: Moving Moment with Vilma Jää

RILM Abstracts offers over 1200 bibliographic records that touch on Saariaho and her work, but surprisingly little has been written about Innocence to date. This is also evident from the website saariaho.org—the official hub for the composer. The select bibliography below draws from publications represented by RILM across all of its resources and draws together various topics relevant to a deeper understanding of the opera:

Liisamaija Hautsalo. “Whispers from the past: Musical topics in Saariaho’s operas”, in Kaija Saariaho: Visions, narratives, dialogues, ed. Tim Howell, Jon Hargreaves, Michael D. Rofe, Tim Howell (Farnham: Ashgate, 2011) 107–129. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2011-6218]

Examines the role of musical topics in Kaija Saariaho’s operatic works, focusing on the incorporation of historical and cultural musical references within a contemporary compositional language. Drawing on Raymond Monelle’s theory of musical topics, the study analyzes how recognizable stylistic gestures function semantically and hermeneutically in Saariaho’s operas. It traces the composer’s development as an opera composer and centers on detailed analyses of her two full-length operas, L’amour de loin and Adriana Mater. Musical semantics, semiotics, and hermeneutics are employed to demonstrate how topics mediate between past musical traditions and modern techniques, contributing to themes of memory, intimacy, and cultural resonance. Saariaho’s operatic practice is situated within broader interdisciplinary and narrative contexts, establishing a foundational framework for subsequent topic-based studies of her operatic repertoire. (Frühauf, Tina)

Tomi Mäkelä “Kaija Saariaho (1952–2023): Kunst zwischen Mensch und Maschine—Erste Gedanken post mortem”, Musik & Ästhetik XXVII/108 (2023): 5–11. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2023-25374]

Pays tribute to the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, who died in her home in Paris on 2 June 2023. More than a necrology, it serves as a topography of agendas that are or could be relevant to the reception of her works, from Bruden (1977) to Hush (2023), as well as her essays. Special emphasis is given to her Finnish environment—heritage, language, and professional surroundings. (journal)

Anni Katariina Oskala. “The voice in Kaija Saariaho’s music, 1977–2000” (Ph.D. diss, University of Oxford, 2008) (p. x, 418). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2008-19184] 

Examines the use of the voice in Kaija Saariaho’s works composed between 1977 and 2000, including her first opera L’amour de loin (2000). The term voice refers to all live, recorded, and/or processed vocal sounds as well as synthesized sounds modeled on vocal timbres. (author)

Éva Pintér. “Was die Träume erzählen: Textdeutungen in den Vokalwerken von Kaija Saariaho”, in Woher? Wohin? Die Komponistin Kaija Saariaho, ed. Hans-Klaus Jungheinrich. Edition Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (Main: Schott Musik International, 2007) 75–84. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2007-25840]

Kaija Saariaho bekennt sich zu den psychoanalytischen Traumdeutungen in ihren Kompositionen. So erwähnt sie beispielsweise in ihrer Einführung zu Grammaire des rêves (1988) auch Aspekte der Traumforschung, hebt jedoch insgesamt die musikalische Ausformulierung hervor. Die psychoanalytische Traumdeutung kann folglich die inhaltlich-musikalische Grundlage solcher Werke wie Im Traume, L’amour de loin, From the grammar of dreams oder Grammaire des rêves beleuchten. Auf der anderen Seite werden diese Traumdeutungen in einen souveränen musikalischen Stil eingebettet, der ein ganz entscheidend charakteristisches “Geflecht” in vielen Werken Kaija Saariahos bildet und damit ein eigenes, autonomes kompositorisches Verfahren aufweist.

Kaija Saariaho acknowledges the psychoanalytical interpretations of dreams in her compositions. For example, in her introduction to Grammaire des rêves (1988) she mentions aspects of dream research, though placing primary overall emphasis on the musical formulation. The psychoanalytic interpretation of dreams can therefore shed light on the contentual-musical basis of works such as Im Traume, L’amour de loin, From the grammar of dreams, and Grammaire des rêves. Conversely, these interpretations are integrated into a masterly musical style that creates an absolutely characteristic weave in many of Saariaho’s works and thus reveals a personal, autonomous compositional method. (Schöntube, Cornelia)

Elena Vasil’evna Kiseeva and Emma Sergeevna Korotkieva. “Traktovka žanra v opere Nevinnost’ Kaji Saariaho” [An interpretation of genre in Kaija Saariaho’s opera Innocence], Problemy muzykal’noj nauki: Rossijskij naučnyj žurnal/Music scholarship: Russian journal of academic studies 4 (January 2023) 128–141. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2023-23108]

Идея обновления оперного жанра нашла яркое претворение в многочисленных произведениях, авторами которых являются выдающиеся композиторы современности Джон Адамс, Луи Андриссен, Тан Дун, Стив Райх, Филип Гласс, Джон Кейдж, Кайя Саариахо и многие другие. В их сочинениях обнаружились трансформации, обусловленные нарушением в драматургии причинно-следственных связей, включением смысловых разрывов, прерывающих линейность повествования, а также отказом от коммуникативной функции слова в пользу музыкальности его звучания. В некоторых произведениях кардинально изменился характер взаимоотношений между автором, исполнителем и зрителем, что привело к разрушению установившихся жанровых норм. Предметом исследовательского интереса в данной статье выступили жанровые эксперименты, представленные в новой опере Кайи Саариахо «Невиновность» (2018). В них как в зеркале получила отражение гораздо более обширная и серьёзная научная проблема — трактовка оперного жанра в начале XXI века. Новизна исследуемого произведения определена соединением в нём оперы и триллера. Специфика построения либретто и музыкальной драматургии, трактовка вокальных и хоровых партий направлены на создание характерного для триллера длительного эмоционального нагнетания и погружения зрителей в состояние тревоги и страха.

The idea of a renewal of the opera genre is present in numerous works written by some of the outstanding 21st-century composers of our time: John Adams, Louis Andriessen, Tan Dun, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, John Cage, Kaija Saariaho, and many others. Their works demonstrate transformations stipulated by transgressions of cause-and-effect relationships in their dramaturgy, inclusions of semantic abruptions interrupting the linearity of the narrative, as well as a rejection of the communicative function of words in favor of the musicality of sound. In some works, the nature of the relationship between composer, performer, and audience has radically changed, leading to the disintegration of the established norms of the opera genre. The experiments in the sphere of genre demonstrated in Kaija Saariaho’s opera Innocence (2018) reflect a much more extensive and serious scholarly issue – the interpretation of the genre of opera at the beginning of the 21st century. The novelty of Saariaho’s composition lies in the combination of the genres of opera and thriller. The specific construction of the libretto and musical dramaturgy, as well as the interpretation of the vocal and choral parts, are aimed at creating a long-lasting emotional buildup, characteristic of a thriller, and immersing the audience in a state of anxiety and fear. (journal)

The full-text extension of RILM Abstracts offers several short write-ups of Innocence stagings: 

Jules Cavalié. “Festival d’Aix-En-Provence 2021”, L’avant-scène: Opéra 324 (septembre-octobre 2021) 102–105. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2021-7310]

Anon. Sinfónica. “La impactante nueva ópera Innocence de Kaija Saariaho y su tan esperado debut en el Reino Unido”, 1 mayo 2023. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2023-4230]

Ingo Hoddick “Empathiemusik: Das Musiktheater im Revier bringt die meisterhafte Oper Innocence von Kaija Saariaho zur deutschen Erstaufführung”, Das Orchester: Magazin für Musiker und Management LXXII/12 (2024) 53. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2024-20273]

Lucile Desblache. “Tales of the unexpected: Opera as a new art of glocalization”, in Music, text and translation, ed. Helen Julia, Minors. Bloomsbury advances in translation (New York: Bloomsbury, 2013) 9–19. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2013-5356]

Questions how languages in opera have been used as instruments of globalization, both as agents of what was seen initially as an operatic form expressing universal messages and as tools of cultural identity which promote the value of ethnicity or of a local heritage. Multilingualism and cultural diversity are central to the discussion. (Minors, Helen Julia)

Marta Mateo. “Multilingual libretti across linguistic borders and translation modes”, in Opera in translation: Unity and diversity, ed. Adriana Şerban and Kelly Kar Yue Chan. Benjamins translation library 153 (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2020) 337–357. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2020-77898]

Based on research on multilingualism in opera production, reception, and translation, the relationship between translation and linguistically heterogeneous librettos is examined, focusing on the texts themselves. Plurilingual operas encourage reflection on how important it is to understand the semantic content of the various languages in order to grasp the communicative value and enjoy these works. The advisability of neutralizing the verbal diversity—integral to their meaning—in the translation process must be questioned, too. The translation strategies used in subtitling and CD inserts for some multilingual librettos are analyzed. These show varying functions and degrees of heteroglossia, in order to observe whether those textual features determine translation choices as much as the translation mode. (author)

Tomi Kiilakoski and Atte Oksanen. “Soundtrack of the school shootings: Cultural script, music and male rage”, Young: Nordic journal of youth research XIX/3 (2011) 247–269. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2011-53211]

School shootings have had an enormous cultural impact on discussions about youth worldwide. Studies on school shootings have not yet considered the complex nature of youth subcultures, often blaming particular subcultures or cultural products. School shooters use different cultural products, including books, films, and, especially, music. As a consequence, particular cultural products are woven into the fabric of the cultural script of school shootings. The music of 46 videos left by the Finnish Jokela High School shooter is analyzed in the context of the cultural script of the shootings. School shooters are not only fascinated by previous shootings but are also fans of similar cultural products. Music is actively used as a reference, as shooters actively searched for lyrics that enforce the idea of revolutionary violence. Internet videos offered a channel for shooters to interact with other people. (journal)

Jennifer M. Sokira. “Considerations for music therapy in long-term response to mass tragedy and trauma”, Music therapy today XV/1 (2019) 78–90. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2019-7832]

Aprovechando la experiencia en la prestación de musicoterapia en la comunidad de Connecticut Newtown/Sandy Hook, desde el tiroteo que hubo en la escuela en 2012, este artículo describe la evolución y las fases del trauma psicológico de la comunidad, aportando consideraciones a los musicoterapeutas que trabajan con los super vivientes en todas las fases. Con referencia a la sintonía del terapeuta con los cambios neurológicos en el cerebro y en el cuerpo que sufren los supervivientes, se hacen recomendaciones relativas a la resiliencia como prevención, a educación y entrenamiento, a pautas de trabajo, y a la propia resiliencia del terapeuta.

Drawing from experience in providing music therapy to the Newtown/Sandy Hook, Connecticut community since the 2012 school shooting, the trajectory and psychological phases of community trauma are outlined, providing considerations for music therapists serving survivors through all phases. Advocating for therapist attunement to the neurobiological brain and bodily changes which trauma survivors experience, recommendations are made regarding resilience as prevention, education and training, networking, and therapist vicarious resilience. (journal)

Clara Foglia, “Kaija Saariaho,” DEUMM Online, 2025, https://www.deumm.org.

DEUMM Online, the preeminent Italian encyclopedia online, published a fresh appraisal of Saariaho in 2025. In addition to the new entry, Foglia also contributed work-specific articles on L’amour de loin (2000), Adriana mater (2005), La passion de Simone (2006), and Émilie (2009).

RILM Music Encyclopedias, s.v. “Kaija Saariaho,” https://rme.rilm.org.

RILM Music Encyclopedias, which aggregates a wide range of music encyclopedias and dictionaries, providing authoritative biographical, stylistic, and bibliographic information on composers, performers, and music topics, covers Kaija Saariaho across several sources, including the Historical dictionary of the music and musicians of Finland, Komponisten der Gegenwart, International encyclopedia of women composers, and The 20th century violin concertante: A repertoire catalogue. These entries provide concise biographical data, overviews of her compositional style, key works, and references to further scholarly resources.

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by | February 10, 2026 · 6:00 am

RILM submissions: The early days

A 1967 New York Times article titled Who’s writing about music and where reviewed the inaugural quarterly volume of RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, released in August of that year. The reviewer commended the publication as “the first permanent attempt to describe regularly what is being written about in the world’s significant literature on music,” observing that it “obviously fills a great need in musicological circles”. Even in its earliest stages, the potential of RILM Abstracts to help shape the field of music research was already being recognized.

1967 New York Times article.

In his 1967 inaugural report, RILM’s founder, Barry S. Brook, emphasized the integral role of authors and librarians in submitting abstracts, identifying the author-generated abstract as the “essential first step in the RILM project”. Drawing on its successful use in the sciences, Brook advocated for its adoption within the humanities to foster scholarly communication and documentation.

Prior to the introduction of online submission forms, all citations and abstracts were submitted manually–either handwritten or typed–on standardized forms like the yellow one shown above. These forms were available in multiple languages and color-coded for efficient sorting. Given the limitations of manual typewriters, corrections and diacritics had to be added by hand. Once received, submissions were retyped into the database at the International Center, and non-English titles and abstracts were translated into English.

Over the decades, RILM has benefited from the dedication of countless volunteers, including many prominent scholars in musicology and ethnomusicology, whose contributions have helped shape the richness and reach of the database.

Color-coded submission forms.

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by | February 3, 2026 · 6:00 am

How RILM began

The idea for RILM, as its founder Barry S. Brook later reflected, originated in 1964 from the belief that “the alternative to automation was inundation”. The idea was first publicly presented at the American Musicological Society’s meeting on 10 April 1965. During this presentation, a broad yet clear proposal was introduced, suggesting the creation of an abstract journal that would catalog “significant musicological literature published worldwide”, envisioned as a collaborative effort across multiple countries and universities, supporting graduate-level musicology research. The abstracts would be stored in a computer, indexed, published, and made accessible for retrieval in various ways as needed.

RILM’s founder Barry S. Brook.

A few months later, Brook unveiled a more comprehensive proposal at the Dijon congress of the International Association of Music Libraries. Years afterward, he expressed surprise at the proposal’s remarkably optimistic forecasts. Among its key points, the proposal envisioned RILM producing two main publication series–one focused on current literature and the other dedicated to retrospective material. It outlined a plan to release abstracts and indexes quarterly, with the long-term goal of compiling volumes of retroactive bibliographic records. It also anticipated the use of computer-based automatic indexing, enabling extensive cross-referencing and efficient information retrieval. It described a system in which cumulative indexes would be automatically generated, printed, and published on a regular basis. Additionally, it proposed that researchers could request computer-assisted bibliographic searches and receive printed results tailored to their inquiries. Finally, the proposal suggested that RILM would become financially self-sustaining through publication revenues and fees charged to institutions and individuals seeking specialized information services.

Brook playing an organ.

Brook later acknowledged that the 1965 proposal had been a product of wishful thinking–an idealistic vision of what might be possible. He admitted it was strikingly naïve in terms of the practical means by which RILM and its associated initiatives could be realized. Yet, in hindsight, he also recognized its uncanny prescience: nearly every element outlined in the proposal had, over time, become a reality within the history of RILM.

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by | December 2, 2025 · 6:17 pm

RILM acquires and relaunches the Hofmeister XIX database

01 December 2025

New York, NY / London, UK – RILM (Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale), a global organization dedicated to documenting and making accessible the world’s musical knowledge across all traditions, is proud to announce that it has acquired the Hofmeister XIX database from Royal Holloway, University of London, and King’s College London. This valuable resource is now hosted at hofmeister.rilm.org, continuing its mission under RILM’s stewardship to support musicological inquiry.

The Hofmeister XIX database provides comprehensive, searchable access to over 330,000 bibliographic records from the Hofmeister Monatsberichte, published between 1829 and 1900. These records represent a vital primary source for the study of music publishing, repertoire, and taste in the 19th century, and include bibliographic records for music scores, music-related books, periodicals, portraits, and other ephemera.

The database was created and developed at Royal Holloway and King’s College London (Department of Digital Humanities) by a team headed by Nicholas Cook (Director) and Liz Robinson (Project Manager), with support from the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council. Since 2007 the project has served music librarians, scholars, and others worldwide through an open-access model. RILM now assumes ownership with a firm commitment to preserving open access to the database, its quality, and its scholarly integrity. RILM will continue to credit the founding institutions prominently on the site and maintain the platform according to the high standards long associated with Hofmeister XIX.

“RILM is honored to take over this invaluable resource,” said Dr. Tina Frühauf, Executive Director of RILM. “As a UNESCO-accredited NGO under the 2003 and 2005 Conventions, we are committed to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage and promoting cultural diversity. Acquiring Hofmeister XIX aligns with this mission by preserving and disseminating a vital record of 19th-century musical life and publishing. We look forward to ensuring its continued accessibility for scholars and the public worldwide.”

Dr. Nicholas Cook, a former professor at Royal Holloway, commented: “At a time when digital resources in academia often struggle to keep up with the pace of technical innovation, RILM’s acquisition of Hofmeister XIX is the best possible guarantee of its long-term survival.”

Royal Holloway’s Director of Research and Innovation, Sue Starbuck, noted: “We are thrilled that Hofmeister XIX will thrive under RILM’s custodianship. Their infrastructure, global reach, and deep commitment to musicology ensure a strong future for this resource.”

Dr. Arianna Ciula, Director of the King’s Digital Lab, commented: “With the support of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities leadership at King’s College London, King’s Digital Lab has made every effort to sustain digital resources of value to the research community. The migration of this important resource to its new home is a great example of what trustworthy collaboration and a holistic archiving and sustainability programme can achieve.”

As of today, the original site can be accessed through the new URL https://hofmeister.rilm.org, marking a seamless transition for the academic community and general public.

For more information, please contact:

  • RILM
    Dr. Tina Frühauf
    Executive Director
    info@rilm.org
  • Royal Holloway, University of London
    Sue Starbuck
    Director of Research and Innovation
    Sue.Starbuck@rhul.ac.uk
  • King’s College London
    Dr. Arianna Ciula
    Director, King’s Digital Lab
    kdl-info@kcl.ac.uk

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by | June 13, 2025 · 6:00 am

Montréal’s rich musical and intellectual life

As the capital of Québec, Montréal is home to around 40% of the province’s population—approximately 2 million people, as of 2021. The city was originally settled by the Iroquois along the Saint Lawrence River before being established as Ville-Marie in 1642 by Catholic missionaries. Nearly a century earlier, in 1535, Jacques Cartier documented his visit to the Indigenous village of Hochelaga, a thriving community of around 1,500 inhabitants at the foot of Mount Royal. However, by the time the missionaries arrived, no trace of Hochelaga remained. Montréal’s location, at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Outaouais Rivers in southwestern Québec, was ideal for settlement due to its access to natural resources.

Aerial view of Montréal in 1930. Photo courtesy of Archives de la Ville de Montréal.

Montréal’s Jacques Cartier Square, circa 1900. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Cartier Square today. Photo credit: Taylor McIntyre

By the late 18th century, Montréal’s cultural landscape had begun to flourish with the construction of theaters, organized tours, and a growing concert-going audience. In 1789, composer and poet Joseph Quesnel, along with painter Louis Dulongpré, established the Théâtre de Société, where Quesnel premiered Colas et Colinette, recognized as the first Canadian opera, in 1790. The city’s theatrical development continued in 1825 with the opening of the Théâtre Royal, located on the site of today’s Marché Bonsecours, which attracted talented singers from Europe and the United States.

Since the 19th century, Montréal’s vibrant musical scene has thrived through clubs and organizations dedicated to enriching public performances. The Ladies’ Morning Musical Club, established in 1892, welcomed legendary performers such as Vladimir Horowitz, Arthur Rubinstein, Glenn Gould, Isaac Stern, Jean-Pierre Rampal, and Pierrette Alarie. In 1919, Elizabeth Griswold Waycott founded the Delphic Study Club, which hosted an annual music week from 1923 to 1937, featuring free concerts in theaters, shops, schools, churches, and other public spaces. Another significant contribution came in 1948 with the founding of Société Pro Musica by Gertrude Constant Gendreau, known for its diverse programming of local and international musicians.

Ernest Lavigne and his Orchestra, Sohmer Park, Montreal.

Beginning in 1979, the Prix Gertrude Gendreau has recognized outstanding Montréal students, while several major music institutions have made the city their home–including Youth and Music Canada (since 1949), the Canadian Music Center’s Quebec branch (since 1973), the Quebec Music Council (since 1987), and the World Musicians’ Centre (since 2017). From 1965 to 1980, the Montréal International Music Competition awarded a special prize for the best interpretation of a compulsory piece composed by a Canadian artist.  

The Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (Quebec National Library and Archives) in Montréal.

Montréal has hosted major international events, including the 1967 World’s Fair (Expo 67) and the 1976 Summer Olympics, further cementing its reputation as a global cultural hub. Today, the city is home to four universities and numerous research centers, as well as key institutions like the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (Quebec National Library and Archives) and the Radio-Canada Museum. Montreal’s rich arts scene includes a network of cultural centers, theaters, event spaces, and museums. The city also boasts two symphony orchestras and a prestigious opera house, reinforcing its status as a thriving center for artistic and intellectual life.

This according to MGG Online’s featured article of the month by Ariane Couture, entitled Montréal.

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by | May 17, 2025 · 6:00 am

Musicology’s global expansion

The global expansion of musicology beyond Europe and North America in the latter half of the 20th century was shaped by several key factors. Alongside the structure of each country’s higher education system, its connection to the so-called West and engagement in Western-oriented modernization played a significant role. The presence of European music within a nation’s cultural landscape, as well as the distinct character and status of its own musical heritage, has further influenced developments. In this context, countries with direct historical ties to European musical and academic traditions–either through colonization or European immigration–generally aligned their approach with the European model of musicology. Conversely, former colonies without large European-descended populations primarily focused on studying their indigenous musical traditions, incorporating European influences only sparingly. This pattern was particularly evident in India and various Muslim-majority countries. In these regions, musicology evolved in response to national independence, secularization, and modernization efforts.

Countries that underwent partial Western colonization but embraced cultural Westernization centered their studies on Western music while also applying musicological methods to analyze their own music traditions. The selection of musical subjects in each region reflects the enduring influence of colonial history. In Western Europe and North America, ethnomusicology continues to engage with musical traditions from across the globe. However, in other regions, research tends to prioritize indigenous musical traditions, with Western music playing a role only when it is explicitly recognized as culturally significant.

In Latin America, the institutional development of musicology has followed diverse paths, with varying degrees of formalization. In its early stages, research primarily focused on indigenous musical traditions, aligning closely with ethnomusicology. It was not until the 1950s that academic musicology began to take root in universities, emerging sporadically as music history and ethnomusicology–first at the Universidad de Chile in 1952 and later at the Universidad Católica Argentina in 1959. This growth accelerated from the 1990s onward. Despite this progress, most universities typically offer only one level of an academic musicology program–either a licentiate (at conservatories) or a master’s degree (at universities). In many cases, musicological studies are embedded within interdisciplinary programs rather than established as standalone departments. Full doctoral programs in musicology remain rare, available at only a handful of institutions, such as Argentina’s Universidad Católica and Mexico’s Universidad Nacional Autónoma and Universidad de Guanajuato.

Studying Indian classical music at Banaras Hindu University.

In India, university arts faculties with dedicated music departments provide opportunities to study both North (Hindustani) and South (Karnatak) Indian music. While theoretical, aesthetic, and academic perspectives complement practical training, they are seldom structured as standalone degree programs, despite India’s rich tradition of music and arts scholarship spanning over two millennia. One notable institution is Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, which established its musicology institute in 1966. This institute offers a doctoral program in musicology and has produced some of India’s most distinguished musicologists. Beyond universities, several other institutions contribute to music research, including the Sangeet Natak Akademi in New Delhi, founded in 1953, and the independent ITC Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata. The Sangeet Natak Akademi plays a crucial role not only in promoting musical practice but also in documenting, studying, and funding research on Indian music.

The institutionalization of musicology in the Arab world, Turkey, and Iran remains relatively limited, with formal degree programs appearing only sporadically–primarily within Christian universities. One notable initiative is the Académie Arabe pour la Musique, founded in Amman in 1971 under the auspices of the Arab League. This institution organizes conferences, awards prizes, and actively promotes musical practice. Other music research institutes in the region tend to focus on national and regional musical traditions, serving primarily as centers for collection, documentation, and study.

This according to this month’s free article titled Musicology by Melanie Wald-Fuhrmann in MGG Online.

The image at the beginning of the piece is of students visiting the Gallery of Musical Instruments at Sangeet Natak Akademi in New Delhi, India.

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by | April 16, 2025 · 6:00 am

New titles for RILM Abstracts with Full Text in 2025

RILM Abstracts with Full Text will add eight more titles to its full-text journal collection this summer. The new titles are:

Българско музикознание [B”lgarsko muzikoznanie/Bulgarian musicology]. Sofiâ: B”lgarskata Akademiâ na Naukite, Institut za Izkustvoznanie, 1977–. ISSN 0204-823X

The only academic periodical dedicated to music and musicology in Bulgaria, this journal was established in 1977 as a musicological series and has been published quarterly since 1981. It features scholarly articles that explore phenomena and developments across both Bulgarian and international musical cultures.

Canadian winds/Vents canadiens: Journal of the Canadian Band Association/Revue de l’Association canadienne des harmonies. Toronto: Canadian Band Association/Association Canadienne de l’Harmonie, 2002–. ISSN 1703-5295

The professional journal of the Canadian Band Association, this publication was first issued in the fall of 2002. It features a broad range of articles related to wind band activity, interpreted in an inclusive and expansive manner. Striving to balance scholarly inquiry with pedagogical relevance, the journal is designed to be accessible to all instrumental music educators. While its primary audience is Canadian and many articles address issues specific to the Canadian context, the journal maintains an outward-looking perspective, aiming to foster dialogue and engagement with the international wind band community.

Fontes artis musicae. Madison: A-R Editions, 1954–. ISSN 0015-6191

The journal publishes articles aligned with the aims of IAML, with a particular focus on international music librarianship, documentation, bibliography, audiovisual materials, and musicology.

関渡音樂學刊 [Guandu yinyue xuekan]/Kuandu music journal. Taibei: Guoli Taibei Yishu Daxue/Taipei National University of the Arts, 2004–. ISSN 1814-1889

Named after Guandu, the area of Taipei where the university is located, the journal has been in publication since 2004, and is published by the School of Music at Guoli Taibei Yishu Daxue (Taipei National University of the Arts, TNUA). It features scholarly articles on a range of topics, including musicology, ethnomusicology, compositional techniques, music theory, and music psychology.

Journal of Christian musicology. Ilé-Ifẹ̀: Obafemi Awolowo University, 2020–. ISSN 2782-8433

Published annually by the Christian Music Research Forum in collaboration with the Christian Music Institute and Research Centre–an academic NGO based in Nigeria–this journal responds to the growing need for a systematic study of Christian music in all its diversity and distinctiveness. It advances global scholarship and practice in Christian music by publishing research on its various forms, disseminating theoretical perspectives across genres, and promoting the performance and application of Christian repertoire in a range of social and cultural contexts.

– Liuteria, musica e cultura: Organo ufficiale dell’Associazione liutaria italiana. – Cremona: Associazione Liuteria Italiana, 2006–. ISSN 1825-7054

The official publication of the Associazione Liutaria Italiana (Italian Violinmaking Association), this journal supports the Association’s mission to promote and preserve the culture of violin making. It welcomes contributions from scholars whose research interests intersect with the field of violin making, as well as the broader domains of organology and musical scholarship. Membership in the Association is open to individuals engaged in these areas of study.

– Studi musicali. Firenze: Leo S. Oschki, 1972–2009. ISSN 0391-7789 and eISSN 2037-6413

The official publication of the long-established Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, dedicated to the field of music culture. While the journal leans toward historical musicological studies–particularly those related to Rome–it also encompasses a range of other disciplines, including music criticism, sociology, ethnomusicology, and analysis. Given its international circulation, the journal accepts submissions in widely used scholarly languages within the cultural and academic spheres.

– Studien zur Musikwissenschaft: Beihefte der Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich. Wien: Hollitzer Wissenschaftsverlag, 2017–. ISSN 0930-9578

Founded in 1913 by Guido Adler, this journal features studies closely related to the volumes of the Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich (DTÖ), along with methodological reflections on musical philology, articles on the history of music in Austria, and editions of relevant textual sources.

These additions exemplify RILM’s commitment to providing full-text content that is truly international in scope, with coverage that embraces a diversity of languages, nations, subject matter, and approaches to music research. RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text is a comprehensive bibliography of writings on music, featuring citations, abstracts, and indexes. It covers over one million publications from the early 19th century to the present on traditional music, popular music, jazz, classical music, and related subjects, enhanced with full text.

If you do not already subscribe to RILM Abstracts with Full Text, please reach out to your EBSCO sales representative, or email information@ebsco.com.

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by | April 13, 2025 · 6:00 am

Solfeggio’s rebirth

The study of 18th century music pedagogy in the Neapolitan region of Italy has seen a significant surge in interest within musicological research in recent years. This research has explored sources related to the practice of partimento since the late 20th century, and over time, has expanded to include materials on counterpoint and solfeggio. Solfeggio evolved throughout the 20th century into an exercise focused almost exclusively on musical reading–first spoken, then sung. A landmark modern and systematic study of the instructional duo between the 16th and 17th centuries is Andrea Bornstein‘s comprehensive monograph, followed by Robert O. Gjerdingen‘s works. Gjerdingen identifies a compositional framework within 18th century exercises, which he refers to as “schemata” and finds within the partimenti. His research demonstrates that both partimento and solfeggio, centered on the close relationship between bass and melody, can be considered foundational exercises for musician training since the 18th century.

Subsequent studies by scholars such as Paolo Sullo explored the role of solfeggio within the composition schools of various Neapolitan masters, carefully reconstructing and analyzing the production context and repertoire spanning from the era of Leonardo Leo to that of Nicola Zingarelli. The work of Nicholas Baragwanath, particularly his influential monograph The solfeggio tradition (2020), has sparked a revival of interest in 18th century solfeggio, reaching an expanding audience of musicologists and musicians. Baragwanath’s study highlights the deep connection between solfeggio and the practice of solmization on the hexachord, a practice that, in Italy, persisted until the 19th century. He identifies the enduring presence of this practice as being largely due to the central role of the Catholic Church, which continued to base the teaching of musical rudiments on hexachordal plainchant and the associated solmization system.

Leonardo Leo

For Baragwanath, the gradual abandonment of hexachordal solmization in favor of the French method of reading real sounds–where each note corresponds to a single syllable–marks a key factor in the gradual decline of the Italian bel canto tradition. In this context, hexachordal solmization emerges not only as a performance technique, which Baragwanath carefully reconstructs and applies to 18th century solfeggi, but also as an interpretative lens through which to understand the solfeggi themselves.

This according to a new article on solfeggio by Paolo Sullo in DEUMM Online.

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by | March 4, 2025 · 6:00 am

A resource for international women composers

International Women’s Day, celebrated worldwide on Saturday, 8 March, highlights the remarkable achievements of women and reinforces the ongoing pursuit of gender equality. To honor this day, Bibliolore features a reference text from RILM Music Encyclopedias, International Encyclopedia of Women Composers by Aaron I. Cohen, which celebrates the extraordinary contributions of women in music. Let its inspiring content guide you in embracing this year’s International Women’s Day theme, “accelerate action”, a rallying cry for equal rights, power, and opportunities for all. At the heart of this vision lies the empowerment of the next generation—particularly young women and adolescent girls—as driving forces for meaningful and lasting change. This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a progressive document used as a blueprint for women’s and girls’ rights worldwide that transformed the women’s rights agenda in terms of legal protection, access to services, youth engagement, and change in social norms and stereotypes.

A retired town planner and self-proclaimed “research buff” from Johannesburg, South Africa, Aaron I. Cohen (b.1906) made history in 1981 by publishing the first encyclopedia dedicated to women composers. The second edition of this groundbreaking work, expanded into two volumes, includes 6,200 entries and 14 appendices. Cohen’s remarkable research journey began with a four-year expedition across Europe, during which he gathered materials on women composers. He also established a global network of antiquarians who provided him with essential references. Recognizing the linguistic diversity of the sources, he eventually put together a small team capable of translating texts from at least 15 different languages.

Cohen’s encyclopedia is remarkable for its breadth, highlighting the earliest known woman composer, Hemre (2723 B.C.E.), an Egyptian leader of court music, and spans a vast geographical scope, featuring nearly 300 composers from Asia to Central America. To this day, the International encyclopedia of women composers remains the only comprehensive resource that covers virtually every known woman composer. It provides biographical details, lists of compositions and publications, as well as a bibliography. This edition also includes a discography and a list of recording companies, making it an invaluable reference for understanding the contributions of women in music.

To learn more, visit RILM Music Encyclopedias and browse through its encyclopedias devoted to a wide range of music and subjects.

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by | February 7, 2025 · 6:00 am

Jose Maceda reimagines time

The Filipino ethnomusicologist and composer Jose Maceda created unique works that blended his fieldwork on Filipino and other music with his expertise in European avant-garde traditions. His compositions combined innovative techniques such as spatialization, a focus on timbre, and musique concrète with Asian instruments, rhythms, and structures. Maceda was particularly drawn to a flexible approach to time, famously commenting during a flight from New Zealand to the Philippines that a recording of a Chopin Berceuse was “so stiff that I wanted to jump out of the plane!”

In a 1975 paper presented at the Third Asian Composers’ League Conference and Festival in Manila, Maceda proposed a new concept of Asian musical time, inspired by natural phenomena like bird migration and plant flowering, rather than clocks, time signatures, or barlines. In 1971, he composed Cassettes 100, a performance featuring a hundred performers with portable cassette players in the lobby of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. The piece incorporated recordings of Indigenous instruments, natural sounds, and choreographed movements. As Maceda explained, “The recordings are my dictionary. They are a receptacle of ideas from which I can pull at any time.”

Maceda’s Cassettes 100 was re-staged in Singapore as part of the 2019 exhibition Suddenly turning visible: Art and architecture in Southeast Asia (1969–1989). Watch the video here.

After graduating from the Academy of Music in Manila in 1935, Maceda continued his studies in piano with Nadja Boulanger and Alfred Cortot in Paris. He also pursued musicology at Columbia University and Queens College in New York, anthropology at Northwestern University, and ethnomusicology at Indiana University in Bloomington, as well as at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he earned his doctorate. Between 1940 and 1957, Maceda performed as a pianist in France, and during the same period, he also worked as a conductor in both the United States and the Philippines. He conducted works by composers such as Edgard Varèse, Iannis Xenakis, Pierre Boulez, and others, including pieces from China and the Philippines. In 1958, Maceda worked as a researcher at the Groupe de Recherches Musicales in Paris, where he met influential figures such as Pierre Boulez and Iannis Xenakis.

Maceda served as a professor of piano and ethnomusicology at the University of the Philippines from 1952 to 1990. He became renowned for his extensive fieldwork, which spanned diverse settings, including urban areas, remote mountain villages, and island communities across the Philippines. Maceda’s research also took him to musician communities in Sarawak (Malaysia), Thailand, Kalimantan (Indonesia), Africa, Brazil, and Australia, with his findings published in numerous international journals. His work focused on documenting Southeast and East Asian musical practices and folk traditions, particularly prehistorical Indigenous music. Maceda’s field recordings, which encompass 51 language groups and include music, instruments, photographs, text transcriptions, and translations, are archived at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City. From 1997 to 2004, Maceda served as the executive director of the UP Center for Ethnomusicology in the Department of Music Research at the university.

The floorplan for Maceda’s Pagsamba, performed by 241 musicians at the Parish of Holy Sacrifice in Quezon City, Philippines (1968). Image courtesy of the UP Center for Ethnomusicology.

He received numerous prestigious scholarships and awards throughout his career, recognizing his contributions to music and ethnomusicology. He was awarded research scholarships for his work in Africa and Brazil by the Guggenheim Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation in 1968. Maceda also received the Ordre des Palmes Académiques in France (1978), the Outstanding Research Award from the University of the Philippines (1985), the John D. Rockefeller Award from the Asian Cultural Council in New York (1987), and the Fondazione Civitella Ranieri Award in Italy (1997). In 2000, he was honored as a Filipino National Artist for Music by the Philippine government. Additionally, three of his albums–Gongs and bamboo (2001), Drone and melody (2007), and Ugnayan (2009)–were released on John Zorn’s Tzadik label.

This according to the entry on Jose Maceda in MGG Online.

Listen to excerpts of Ugnayan and Pagsamba below.

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Filed under 20th- and 21st-century music, Asia, Ethnomusicology, Musicology, Nature, Performers, Sound, World music

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