Research
Research

Research

Diversity Survey for Music Students

Dear music students, lecturers, and scholars! I am conducting a survey on diversity in music business and professional music education. If you are a student, you are cordially invited to participate. If you are teaching at a German university or conservatory, please forward the survey link to your students. Your help is much appreciated! The survey is in German language, will take around 20 minutes and is subdivided into five sections:

  • General questions of diversity in music
  • Composers
  • Researchers and teachers
  • Academic subjects and topics
  • Personal information

Symphonies of Light

While mostly appreciated for his innovative piano music, Alexander Scriabin also was a prolific orchestral composer. My latest essay for VAN Magazin, entitled »Shining Visions, Flourishing Forms«, focuses on his seven symphonic works, commenting on their stylistic and aesthetic features in reverse chronology, and contextualising the mutual appreciation of Scriabin and his friend, the poet Konstantin Balmont. Hope you enjoy the read!

Types and Prototypes: Study Day in Hamburg

This month is already bursting with music conferences and symposia, but the following event could indeed be worthwile to experience: Together with Patrick Becker and Roberta Vidic I am co-organising a hybrid study day, titled Types and Prototypes: Towards a Theory of Compositional Models in East-European Music, which will focus on theories of Satzmodelle and schemata in the repertoire in question. It is hosted by Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg and will take place both on-site and remotely via Zoom next Saturday, 18 February, 3–8 pm.

We are glad to have a promising line-up of presenters, including musicologists and music theorists from four different countries: Bart de Graaf (Amsterdam), Inna Klause (Hannover), Olha Kushniruk (Cambridge), Rebecca Mitchell (Vermont), and Jeff Yunek (Georgia). The study day will be chaired by Christoph Flamm (Heidelberg). Everybody interested is cordially invited to participate—please see this website for information on how to register.

Tonality as a Family Affair

I wrote a few lines on Johanna Kinkel’s imaginative description of sonata form, as comprised in her Acht Briefe an eine Freundin über Clavier-Unterricht (1852). Kinkel creates a tongue-in-cheek analogy between harmonic regions and family members, assigning masculine and feminine properties to the primary and secondary theme zones of a sonata exposition, which prompted me to make some observations on the sociological and political dimensions of her writings. The resulting paper is, as it seems, my first contribution to musical gender studies—in German, though, but I might consider preparing an English translation in the future. Hope you enjoy the read.

» Tonality as a Family Affair

Scriabin and the Sonata

This semester I am teaching a music analysis seminar on Alexander Scriabin‘s sonata conceptions at TU Dortmund University. The covered repertoire will range from the early sonatas of the 1880s to the Poème de l’extase, Op. 54, including solo piano music, the three symphonies, and the piano concerto. Since the group of participants is a bit smaller than expected, I will gladly accept some guests—please let me know in case you would like to join. The seminar is taking place every Thursday, in alternating on-site and remote sessions.