The project explores the concurrent establishing of musicology and art history as academic disciplines at the University of Vienna as part of an education reform conducted by Leopold, Count von Thun und Hohenstein (1811–1888). This education reform, following the 1848/1849 revolution which had shaken the foundation of numerous European governments, led to the diversification of theoretical philosophical aesthetics into more specific academic disciplines. As a result, Rudolf von Eitelberger (1817–1885) was awarded an extraordinary professorship for art history in 1852, followed by Eduard Hanslick (1825–1904), who only four years later received the first post for musicology in German-language academia as lecturer for the “History and Aesthetics of Musical Art.”
Both disciplines therefore emerged from a setting shaped deeply by political and cultural concerns. While in light of the changing political situation Thun was tasked with systematically modernizing Habsburg education, he moreover intended to suppress liberal forces considered responsible for the revolution. Furthermore, he had to address language conflicts and increasing nationalist tensions between Austria’s ethnic groups, which had fueled the uprising. Because they treated non-verbal arts, musicology and art history took center stage in fostering the “culturally neutral” method of positivism, an objectivist scientific approach seen as free from cultural and political partiality. Both academic disciplines were thus created at the border of science and politics, allowing for a rare window into the complex relations between these factors.
Beyond studying the network between politics, culture, and science, the project will also analyze the development of musicological methodology and examine the exchange of concepts between early exponents of musicology and art history. Here, it will primarily consider the works of Guido Adler (1855–1941), pupil of Hanslick and founder of the department of musicology at the University of Vienna, whose central notion of “style” was profoundly influenced by art-historical precepts such as Alois Riegl’s (1858–1905) “Kunstwollen.” Adler also founded the “Monuments of Musical Art in Austria,” an ongoing music edition project dedicated to preserving and presenting “masterworks” of Austrian origin in a broad sense. This endeavor, ripe with covert identity politics, was established in engagement with art-historical monuments preservation movements. The project will thus show how methods employed by both disciplines were not the result of “purely scientific discourse” but rather address concrete political agendas.
Wilfing, Alexander (04.07.2024) Reconsidering the Origins of Musikwissenschaft in German-Language Academia. Vortrag bei: Second Biennial International Conference of Music and the University, Surrey, Guildford/UNITED KINGDOM <https://musicandtheuniversity.wordpress.com/>.
Wilfing, Alexander (06.11.2023) What is Musikwissenschaft? The Origins, Context, and Composition of German-Language Musicology. Vortrag bei: Ron Alexander Memorial Lectures in Musicology, Stanford/UNITED STATES <https://events.stanford.edu/event/ron_alexander_memorial_lectures_in_musicology_alexander_wilfing>.
Wilfing, Alexander (26.06.2023) The Strange Case of German-Language Musicology: Origins and Byways of Academic Musical Research, 1870–1945. Vortrag bei: Vossius Research Seminar, Amsterdam/NETHERLANDS <https://vossius.uva.nl/content/events/2023/06/vossius-seminar-alexander-wilfing-and-james-kennaway.html?origin=H3GhPrctSceEUjmMjbkR4A>.
Wilfing, Alexander (22.04.2023) Gegenkonzepte zu Adlers Modell der Musikforschung. Vortrag bei: Geschichte, Gegenwart und Zukunft der Musikwissenschaft(en), Wien/AUSTRIA.
Wilfing, Alexander (20.04.2023) When Style Came Into Style: Guido Adler, Alois Riegl, and the Scientification of Musicology and Art History. Vortrag bei: Influence of the Vienna School of Art History III: Origins, Modifications, and Influences of its Theoretical Concepts, Prag/CZECH REPUBLIC <https://www.academia.edu/100175722/Conference_Program_The_Vienna_School_Of_Art_History_Origins_Modifications_and_Influences_of_Its_Theoretical_Concepts_?uc-sb-sw=94709409>.
Wilfing, Alexander (27.02.2023) Modernizing Musicology: Adler, Riegl, and the Concept of Stylistic Analysis. Vortrag bei: Viennese Modernism and Its Legacies: A Symposium in Celebration of Bojan Bujić’s 85th Birthday, Oxford/UNITED KINGDOM <https://www.music.ox.ac.uk/event/viennese-modernism-and-its-legacies>.
Hilscher, Elisabeth; Wilfing, Alexander (22.02.2023) Forschungsaspekte der Musikwissenschaft. Vortrag bei: Mentoring-Programm: Meet the Researchers, Wien/AUSTRIA.
Wilfing, Alexander; Bunzel, Anja (24.11.2022) ‚Známý videňský a již zemřelý professor a aesthetik‘: Eduard Hanslick’s Double Lives. Vortrag bei: Učenecká korespondence a praxe vícejazyčnosti mezi republikou učenců a počátky moderní národní společnosti, Prag/CZECH REPUBLIC <https://komeniologie.flu.cas.cz/images/korespondence_program_net2.pdf>.
Wilfing, Alexander (29.09.2022) Politik, Kultur, Philosophie: Frühe Weichenstellungen der Musikwissenschaft und ihre Folgen. Vortrag bei: Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Musikforschung, Berlin/GERMANY <https://www.musikundmedien.hu-berlin.de/de/musikwissenschaft/Historische/gfm-tagung-2022>.
Wilfing, Alexander (22.08.2022) Guido Adler, Musicological Methodology, and 'Austrian' Positivism: Creating an Integrative Conception of Musical Research. Vortrag bei: 21st Quinquennial Congress of the International Musicological Society, Athen/GREECE <https://pcoconvin.eventsair.com/ims22/program>.
Wilfing, Alexander (07.07.2022) Of Pianists, Painters, and the Idea of Style: Guido Adler’s Attempt at the Scientification of Musicology and his Reception of Art-Historical Principles. Vortrag bei: Music and the University: History, Models, Prospects, London/UNITED KINGDOM <https://musicandtheuniversity2022.wordpress.com/>.
Wilfing, Alexander (18.05.2022) Presentation of the project outline of "In Search of Identity: The Histories and Synergies of Musicology and Art History". Vortrag bei: Research Seminar, Centre for Modern Art and Theory, Masaryk University Brno, Brno/CZECH REPUBLIC <https://modernartbrno.com/en-o-nas/>.
Wilfing, Alexander (25.04.2022) Presentation of the project outline of "In Search of Identity: The Histories and Synergies of Musicology and Art History". Vortrag bei: Zoombar, Institute of Austrian and German Music Research, Surrey, Surrey/UNITED KINGDOM <https://iagmr.org/events/>.
Wilfing, Alexander (22.02.2022) Presentation of the project outlines of "Creating an Academic Discipline" and "In Search of Identity: The Histories and Synergies of Musicology and Art History". Vortrag bei: Guest Lecture, Research Group Histories of Music, Mind, and Body, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt/GERMANY <https://www.aesthetics.mpg.de/en/research/research-group-histories-of-music-mind-and-body/news/news-rg-hmmb-detail/article/dr-alexander-wilfing-guest-lecture.html>.
Wilfing, Alexander (12.01.2022) Presentation of the project outlines of "Creating an Academic Discipline" and "In Search of Identity: The Histories and Synergies of Musicology and Art History". Vortrag bei: Department Meeting, Music Department, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt/GERMANY.
Wilfing, Alexander (21.11.2021) Guido Adler and the Eclectic Origins of Musicology. Vortrag bei: 87th Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society, Chicago/UNITED STATES <https://amschicago2021.dryfta.com/>.
Wilfing, Alexander (18.09.2021) How to Establish an Academic Discipline: The Multi-Ethnic Makeup of 19th-Century Austria, Habsburg Positivism, and the (Political) Creation of Musicology and Art History. Vortrag bei: Inaugural Conference of the Institute for Austrian and German Music Research, Surrey/UNITED KINGDOM <https://iagmr.org/inaugural-conference-september-2021-copy/>.
Wilfing, Alexander (15.09.2021) Contextualizing Musicology: The Eclectic Origins of Guido Adler's Concept of Musical Research. Vortrag bei: 57th Annual Meeting of the Royal Musical Association, Newcastle/UNITED KINGDOM <https://conferences.ncl.ac.uk/rma2021/>.
Wilfing, Alexander (07.09.2021) Reframing the Beginnings of Academic Musicology. Vortrag bei: Narrating Musicology: Fachgeschichte(n) der Musikwissenschaft (Institut für Musikwissenschaft, Universität Bern), Bern/SWITZERLAND <https://narratingmusicology.home.blog/>.
FWF 10.55776/J4529
02/2021–04/2023
02/2021–01/2022, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics
02–07/2022, Masaryk University Brno, Department for Art History
08/2022–04/2023, ACDH-CH Abt. Musikwissenschaft
Barbara Boisits
Matthew Rampley
Melanie Wald-Fuhrmann