Project facts

Project coordinator: Philippe VENDRIX, University of Tours
Project consortium: Utrecht University, Musikhochschule Lübeck, Universitetet i Oslo, Vilnius University, The Institute of Musicology at the University of Wrocław, Institución Milá y Fontanals de Investigación en Humanidades (IMF), Orpheus Instituut, University of Malta
Funding bodies: European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST)
Subject areas: Archaeology, Music
Website: https://earlymuse.eu

Presentation

EarlyMuse is a Europe-wide scientific network that aims to strengthen the place of early music research in Europe. It will transform the way that the discipline is studied, redraw the place of early music in higher education, attract original talent, deploy tools useful to emerging creative industries, and define public policy in the field of culture.

The meaning of the term early music has undergone significant evolution, particularly since the 1970s, when the term still mostly referred to repertoire from before 1750. Over time, the movement broadened its focus to include repertoire from up to 1900 and beyond and has largely abandoned its focus on historical authenticity in favour of more open-ended goals.

Impacts & Results

In its current form, the study of early music is both highly original and radical, as it has the demonstrated ability to cross the divide between scholarship and musical practice both by bringing in new repertoires as well as new historically informed approaches to more familiar repertoire. Accordingly, it is an important part of Europe’s living musical tradition, and its radical nature also allows the formation of new career paths for early-career scholars and performers from diverse backgrounds who have historically been under-represented in the cultural and creative industries. Building on these existing strengths, EarlyMuse will bring together scholars from across Europe to create new opportunities for the study of this significant European cultural heritage in a post-pandemic world.