Research Centre "Court - Music - City"

Early this year saw the launch of the new research centre "Court - Music - City", a cooperative project between the Department of Musicology of Heidelberg University, Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts and the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Under the roof of the joint institution, musicologists will explore the question of how courtly and urban music developed in southwest Germany and mutually influenced each other. A central element of activities is, moreover, enhancing university teaching in musicology, e.g. in the field of digital edition. The centre, located in Schwetzingen, is directed by Christiane Wiesenfeldt (Heidelberg) and Panja Mücke (Mannheim). From the late Middle Ages to the beginning of the 20th century, the court was an important patron of musical life. "In today's state of Baden-Württemberg there are numerous courts of varying size at which courtly music developed by different means, ranging from ceremonial events for the aristocracy to civic and state orchestras with an educational mission," explains Prof. Wiesenfeldt, who lectures and conducts her research at the Department of Musicology of Ruperto Carola. The scholars involved in the centre want to start at this interface and examine more closely how courtly and civic musical cultures were intertwined.