CALL. 12.02.2017: 10th MOISA Meeting, The "Revolution" of the New Music - Oxford (England
Jesus College Oxford will be pleased to host the 10th MOISA Meeting in July 2017 – a historic conference that marks the tenth anniversary since the foundation of MOISA, the International Society for the Study of Greek and Roman Music and its Cultural Heritage. To celebrate this milestone appropriately, this conference will focus on one of the most controversial and discussed phenomena in ancient Greek musical history: the radical innovations of the so-called ‘New Music’.
FECHA LÍMITE/DEADLINE/SCADENZA: 12/02/2017
FECHA CONGRESO/CONGRESS DATE/DATA CONGRESSO: 28-29-30/07/2017
LUGAR/LOCATION/LUOGO: Jesus College, Oxford (England)
ORGANIZADOR/ORGANIZER/ORGANIZZATORE: Andrew Barker (Birmingham) ; Armand D’Angour (Oxford) ; Pauline LeVen (Yale) ; Tosca Lynch (Oxford) ; Sylvain Perrot (Paris) ; Eleonora Rocconi (Pavia) ; Anna Stoll–Knecht (Oxford).
INFO: web - tosca.lynch@jesus.ox.ac.uk
CALL:
Proposals are invited of no more than 500 words for 30-minute papers in English on any aspects of this topic, from the Classical heyday of this musical ‘revolution’ to explorations of its historical roots and later reception. The aim is for selected papers to represent a variety of approaches to this complex phase of ancient music – literary, musicological, and historiographical discussions as well as archaeological, ethnomusicological, iconographic and other perspectives. Questions of interest might include, among others: - specific technical innovations such as the development of new melodic, instrumental, metrical and rhythmical tropes, and their repercussions on performance styles as well as harmonic and rhythmical theory; - Greek musical fragments and the ‘New Music’;
- ideological readings of these musical innovations: the development of a conservative aesthetics of ‘elegant’ musical simplicity vs ‘cheap’ showmanship; - the opposite type of ideology promoted by the supporters of this avant-garde style: the rejection of ‘monotonous’ traditional music in favour of ‘new’ exciting paths (modulations, anabolai etc.); - the relationship between ‘theatre music’, the ‘new’ dithyramb and solo musical genres (esp. kitharodic nomoi); - the social status of the performer, its aesthetic and ethical implications, including both literary and visual representations; - archaeological evidence for technical innovations in musical instruments;
- explorations of the evidence about the popularity of this style (including epigraphic and material findings, as well as iconographic and literary sources) against the background of conservative criticism; - myth-making surrounding the New Music, both contemporary and later: e.g. how did Timotheus become an icon of the ‘shocking’ innovations of this musical style? How much of this is rooted in his own self-presentation, and how much is it a product of later historical projections (including not only ancient reception but also the ‘New Timotheus’ portrayed in early modern musical writings and opera)? - the oriental background of the New Music: what aspects of Persian musical practice were ‘imported’ into the Greek world by the New Musicians? And to what extent did the Orient turn into a literary and, at times, polemical trope in the Greek debate? Proposals should be sent to Tosca Lynch (tosca.lynch@jesus.ox.ac.uk) by 12 February 2017. Abstract submission is open to all, but only MOISA members (whether regular or student) shall be eligible to deliver a paper at the Meeting. A selection of the papers delivered at the conference will be published in a dedicated issue of Greek and Roman Musical Studies, the first specialist periodical entirely devoted to ancient Greek and Roman music.