Interdisciplinary and International Symposium of the FWF Research Project "Musician Families: Constellations and Concepts"
Music_Family – the gap between music and family invites us to ponder: How might this gap be bridged? One might think of “music within the family,” in the sense of music played at home or musical education within the family setting, but also the transmission of musical skills across generations. In connection with Richard Strauss’s Sinfonia domestica or numerous operas, ballads, songs, etc., in which family is the theme, one might speak of “music about family.” And what role does “music for family” play? Aspects such as identity, performance, and memory come to mind. “Music of the Family” focuses on family ensembles, but also on other forms of collective (musical) cultural activity. Most often, we encounter the connection between music and family in the form of a compound word: musical family. Many an artist’s biography, many an entry in music encyclopedias begins with the standard phrase “… comes from a musical family.”
This international and interdisciplinary symposium is dedicated to the specific nature of music in the context of familial constellations across its entire historical scope. It aims to open up space for interdisciplinary discussions and is directed at historians and scholars from various disciplines who engage with familial constellations and concepts within the context of music-related fields of activity.
Within this framework, Ingeborg Zechner and Jakob Leitner will give a lecture on May 28 on the topic: “Family Affair: Digital Perspectives on the Viennese Theater Scene in the Mid-18th Century.”