Musicology: How Has Music Changed?

For us performers, very much so; in general, I think the figure of the reviewer has disappeared in favor of that of the musicologist. I think teaching methods must also change

I must say that there have certainly been strong impacts on the world of interpretation, but

ttw wrote:

I think teaching methods must also change

referring also to the field of composition; finally, things are moving in the direction of master painters, who are defined as such when they reach the point of being able to create historical forgeries.

In short, a more musicological approach to the training of composers, who are also oriented toward understanding and better knowing how a composer's style is truly constructed.

Probably the musicological discipline that has had the most influence on the last century of music has been philology. Music philologists have recovered a crazy amount of forgotten music, transcribed it, and made it available. The massive rediscovery of repertoires such as early music and Baroque music has then led to a radical change in the approach to interpretation, with studies of ancient practice being, in a strict sense, musicological work. Even ensembles not specialized in early music today follow a style influenced in a certain sense by philology: there is more attention to correctness, to intonation, the right tempos, less abandon and more control.

As I imagined, but now in your opinion, those who teach and who studied in a period where musicology was almost non-existent, how do they approach teaching? On what basis can they found their didactic strategy?

Are there refresher courses available? (assuming one has the desire to put in the effort and not wallow in one's own complacency)

In the conservatory, do they know that musicology exists?

In my opinion, in conservatories, they often don't even know that music exists. And often at the university as well.

The most widespread discipline remains music history, but it is approached and studied in an amateurish, biographical way, and has NO impact on the world of interpretation (that is, in theory, little lessons on Allart should lead to practical awareness in those who play; they should provoke stylistic choices, not just fill heads with dates...).

Currently in Italy, there are many university courses in musicological subjects, some taught by incompetents, others by experts of international standing. It happens that some musicology professionals do something in the conservatory, but it is still very rare. There is a specialist degree in musicology in Milan in collaboration with the conservatory, but as far as I know, the only teachers worth mentioning are those hired by the university, not the stopgaps at the conservatory...

Traditionally, the subjects most at risk are the analytical ones. They are often "outsourced" to composers, and more than once on this forum we have discussed how the analysis techniques taught in conservatories are only a small part of those that can be used to analyze repertoire. Even worse, everything that is technical subject matter would have a possible historical application, but this connection is made only by skilled musicologists; it is rarely the responsibility of a composer's training. In other words, understanding the evolution of Bachian compositional technique is a subject that presupposes not only technical knowledge but also historical and philological knowledge, which are more typical of an excellent musicologist (a rare figure) than an excellent composer.

On the other hand, currently many universities have music history courses approached in a non-musicological way. They become histories of musical civilization, or biographical histories of composers, without any technical analytical input, and often without any contact with textual realities. Studying Mozart without knowing how to read AND ANALYZE one of his scores is almost useless, at least for the purposes of higher-level training; likewise, studying medieval music theory well without ever having seen ancient notation—which is what happens in practically all Italian university music history courses—is frustrating and provides little specialization (and is almost always caused by the poor preparation of the teachers).

To go against this, one should always do the usual things: read, study, listen.