Carola Bebermeier, Clemens Kreutzfeldt, Christoph Müller-Oberhäuser and Jonas Traudes; Musikwissenschaftliches Institut der Universität zu Köln and mdw. Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien

Venue: Köln/Cologne
Time: 28.-29.06.2019
Musical competitions like the Eurovision Song Contest, the Grammy Awards or the Pulitzer Prize for Music are not just a focal phenomenon of contemporary musical life. As early as the 19th century, competitions in the musical field were a widespread practice and received increased attention by the public. A glimpse into this time period reveals a heterogeneous landscape of music-related competitions and similar rivalries, which may refer to compositions, performances, instrument-making, libretti, poetry, musicological writing, etc. Although competitions were omnipresent in 19th century musical life, they did not – with a few exceptions like the Prix de Rome – inscribe themselves into cultural memory, and they have likewise scarcely been of a scholarly focus.
The international and interdisciplinary conference intends to address the diverse aesthetic discourses, social settings, as well as the actors and their economic, ideological or social motives involved in music competitions. Its goal is to bring international musicologists, historians and sociologists and their research together and to encourage further studies. In addition to an initial overview on competitions in 19th century music culture, the phaenomenon will be theoretically examined and embedded into the interdisciplinary research discourse on questions concerning competitiveness. Read more and source … (Web)