International and interdisciplinary symposium at the Institute of Music, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg

May 9th-11th, 2019, library hall

Music history is a research topic as well as an issue of novels, films, comics or computer games. It is also an object of music theater. Performative ways of creating music historiography deal with sound, historical materials or with established images of artists. Whether they appear as opera, musical, scenic montage, historical pastiche or walkable encyclopedia – they stage history and establish links between past and present.
The symposium “Musikgeschichte auf der Bühne / Performing Music History” addressed the question how music history is being narrated, composed, staged and embodied in music theater. What are the core features of this intermedia type of music historiography? How does it relate to historiography in other media? Which narrative strategies and practices characterize music histories on stage? How do music, costumes, scenery, performance and dance help to build conceptions of history? How does the audience experience this?