Northwestern University
Bienen School of Music
Programs of Study
Musicology

| Degrees Available | About the Musicology Program |
| Musicology Faculty |

Degrees Available

  • Bachelor of Music
  • Bachelor of Arts
  • Master of Music
  • Master of Music in Musicology and Library Science
  • Doctor of Philosophy

 

About the Musicology Program


| Program overview | Faculty Specialties | Degree Information

Musicology Program Overview

Encompassing much more than music history, the Musicology Program at Northwestern approaches music as a social activity shaped by aesthetic movements and intellectual theories – in essence, the humanistic study of music in culture.  Students are invited to view musics through an interdisciplinary lens to reveal cultural contexts and meanings not accessible through the study of music notation alone. By integrating the perspectives of historical musicology and ethnomusicology, the program trains open-minded yet critical scholars adaptable to varied repertoires and academic strategies, in an atmosphere of collegiality and peer support.

The internationally renowned musicology faculty is the program’s greatest asset. Their collective expertise covers all periods of traditional music history as well as neglected geographies that are gaining increasing prominence in the field, such as the former Soviet Republics, Spain, Britain, the Middle East, and Latin America. A particular program strength is eighteenth-century studies.  All of these areas, coupled with Northwestern’s historic strength in African and African-American studies, create a group of specializations that is unique to Northwestern.

The PhD degree program is truly interdisciplinary in design, requiring coursework in a ‘cognate’ area in the humanities or social sciences.  The musicology coursework reflects the wide interests of the faculty and its interdisciplinary approaches. Among the courses regularly offered are Film Music, Music in Islam, Music and Gypsies, Music and Evolutionary Biology, Humor in Music, and Authenticity. Students are regular presenters of academic papers at regional, national, and international conferences, and have received prestigious fellowships and awards, as well as academic placements, after graduation. All students in the PhD program receive four years of full tuition and a living stipend so that they may fully devote themselves to research and study.

The mission of the Musicology Program is enhanced by its location at a major research university and within a prominent school of music.  Because the University is dedicated to interdisciplinary study, the Musicology program gains support from a campus-wide network of scholars who are open to collaboration.  A vibrant performance culture includes more than 400 concerts each year, including three professional series.  Students also benefit from the multi-faceted scholarly community, research libraries, and thriving musical cultures of both Evanston and Chicago.

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Faculty Specialties


A list of the musicology program faculty and their specialties.

Linda Austern: 16th- and 17th-century England; gender; European iconography; music as related to history of medicine and science

Thomas Bauman: 18th-century opera; film music; cultural studies

Drew Edward Davies: 17th- and 18th-century Mexico and Iberia, 20th-century Britain

Inna Naroditskaya: Ethnomusicology, Middle East, Russia, gender studies

Jesse Rosenberg: 19th- and 20th-century opera

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Degree Information


Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Arts
The Bachelor of Music degree with concentration in musicology combines broad training in the field of music history with limited performance study. The curriculum provides a balanced exposure to music of all periods and offers studies in the analysis of music, foreign language, ethnomusicology, and related areas. The Bachelor of Arts degree permits a wider selection of liberal arts courses, but less time for musical performance.

Master of Music
The Master of Music in musicology is diverse, exposing students to a variety of musical styles and research methods. Although the program offers an advanced degree only in Western studies, students are encouraged to take courses in ethnomusicology. Admission is selective, keeping the program small so that students receive individual attention. Most students receive some financial aid in the form of graduate assistantships, requiring that they work within the department. Upon admission, students are automatically considered for all forms of financial aid.

Master of Music Requirements
The Master of Music requires the completion of 12 courses (4 each quarter), normally during a residency of one year. The terminal requirement involves language proficiency in either German or French, and a comprehensive written examination. While some of the course work is required or is stipulated as the result of diagnostic entrance tests, there is a great deal of flexibility so that students may contour a degree program suited to their needs.

For complete information including requirementsw, visit our Degrees page. Admission information can be found on the Music Graduate Application page.

PhD Program
The PhD in musicology exposes students to a variety of musical styles and research methods. Although the program offers advanced degrees only in Western studies, students are encouraged to take courses in ethnomusicology. Admission is selective and the department is small so that students have easy access to the faculty. All students receive full tuition and a living stipend so that they may fully devote themselves to research and study.

PhD Requirements
The degree requires 18 courses beyond the MM degree, 3 each quarter during the two years of residency. The terminal requirement involves language proficiency in two European languages, a comprehensive examination in music history and theory, and a dissertation. While some of the coursework is required or is stipulated as the result of diagnostic entrance tests, there is a great deal of flexibility so that students may contour a program suited to their needs.

For complete information including requirementsw, visit our Degrees page. Admission information can be found on the Music PhD Application page.

Contact for further information:

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Musicology Faculty


Linda Phyllis Austern

Associate Professor, Musicology

l-austern@northwestern.edu - 847-491-5705
PhD, University of Chicago
Recent Activity

Specialist in Renaissance and baroque musical-cultural relations, gender and feminist theory, European iconography, music as related to visual art and the early history of science. Recipient of major fellowships and research grants, including American Council of Learned Societies, British Academy, Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute (Radcliffe College/Harvard University), and National Endowment for the Humanities. Author, Music in English Children's Drama of the Later Renaissance (Gordon and Breach, 1992), Music in English Life and Thought 1550-1650 (forthcoming); editor, Music, Sensation and Sensuality (Routledge, 2002), editor, Music and the Sirens (Indiana University Press, 2006). Author of numerous articles and reviews in books and such journals as Journal of the American Musicological Society, Modern Philology, Music and Letters, and Renaissance Quarterly.

Thomas Bauman

Professor, Musicology

t-bauman@northwestern.edu - 847-467-2031
PhD, University of California, Berkeley

Specialist in opera, film music, cultural studies, Mahler. Recipient, National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships, ACLS Grant-in-Aid, Pew Foundation Grant, Andrew Mellon Faculty Fellowship (Harvard University). Author, North German Opera in the Age of Goethe (Cambridge University Press, 1985), W. A. Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Cambridge University Press, 1987). Contributor, The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera (Oxford University Press, 1993), New Grove Dictionary of Opera (Macmillan, 1992). Former board member, American Musicological Society.

Drew Edward Davies

Assistant Professor, Musicology

dedavies@northwestern.edu - 847-467-3367
PhD, University of Chicago
Recent Activity

Specialist in 16th- through 18th-century musics of Latin America and Iberia in global contexts, and 20th-century Britain. Articles and reviews published in Eighteenth-Century Music, Sanctorum, Revista Portuguesa de Musicologia, Journal of the Society for American Music,Heterofonía, BoletínMúsica (Havana) and The Courtesan's Arts: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Dissertation “The Italianized Frontier: Music at Durango Cathedral, Español Culture, and the Aesthetics of Devotion in Eighteenth-Century New Spain” received the 2006 Wiley Housewright Award from the Society for American Music. Mexico City Regional Coordinator for Musicat, the Seminario Nacional de Música en la Nueva España y el México Independiente (National Seminar on the Music of New Spain and Independent Mexico) at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). Monograph Music and Devotion in New Spain under contract with Oxford University Press. Edition of the complete works of Santiago Billoni, an 18th-century Italian composer in New Spain, forthcoming from A-R Editions in the Recent Researches in Music of the Baroque series. Complete thematic catalog of the music archive of Durango Cathedral, Mexico in preparation. Frequent collaborator with early music ensembles and recent presenter at academic conferences throughout the USA, and in Mexico, the UK, Spain, Cuba, Poland, and Japan. Research interests include Spanish viceregal/colonial arts and cultures; historiography; cultural studies; medieval music; post-Tridentine church music; 20th-century English art song.

Virginia Gorlinski

Lecturer, Musicology

v-gorlinski@northwestern.edu

Biographical information coming soon.

Jennifer Jenkins

Lecturer, Musicology

jennifer-jenkins@northwestern.edu
PhD Northwestern; MMus Northwestern

Research interests include history of opera, film music, issues of audience receptivity to modern music and media. Recipient of an NU Alumnae Association Fellowship and NU Dissertation Year Fellowship. Published in American Music and has presented papers at the Midwest Modern Library Association Conference, the International Conference on Nineteenth Century Music, the College Music Society International Conference, the Royal Musical Association Conference, and the American Culture Association-Popular Culture Association Joint Conference. Served as artist in residence for Columbia College Chicago.

Inna Naroditskaya

Associate Professor, Musicology

in-narod@northwestern.edu - 847-467-2034
PhD, University of Michigan
Recent Activity

Coordinator, musicology program. Specialist in Azerbaijanian and Eastern music cultures, Russian music, gender studies, and diasporas. Author, articles and reviews in Ethnomusicology and Asian Music as well as essays and articles in Azerbaijanian and Russian publications; producer of numerous radio programs. Author, Song from the Land of Fire: Azerbaijanian Mugam in the Soviet and Post-Soviet Periods (Routledge, 2003). Editor, Music and the Sirens (Indiana University Press, 2006); co-editor, Manifold Identities: Studies on Music and Minorities (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2004). Recipient of Center for the Education of Women prize, Rackham research grant, Harvard University Davis Senior Fellowship, the Rockefeller Bellagio Scholarly Residency, and funding from the International Institute and School of Music at the University of Michigan.

Jesse Rosenberg

Associate Professor, Musicology

j-rosenberg1@northwestern.edu - 847-467-2033
PhD, New York University

Specialist in 19th- and 20th-century Italian opera, with articles published on Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, and Verdi; papers read at national and international conferences on opera and film music history. Research interests in musical aesthetics and the convergence of music with fields such as literature, poetry, and theology. Contributor, New Grove Dictionary of Opera (Macmillan, 1992), Pipers Enzyclopädie des Musiktheaters (Pipers, 1996), New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Macmillan, 2000). Outstanding Dissertation Award and Excellence in Teaching Award, New York University. Faculty Honor Roll, Northwestern University.

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