from my point of view, a subject is born from the academic discussion that develops around it. If a group of scholars exists, then a subject exists. Musicology has existed for centuries, practically since the first discussion of musical theory ever conducted (and therefore I would say AT LEAST since the Homeric poems onwards). Whether it had this name or not matters little. To speak about music in a technical, theoretical, philosophical, or historical way means to speak of musicology.
Musicology-composition does not exist. There are specialized branches of musicology that deal with musical analysis and the history of composition, which can also become veeeery specialized (in the sense that a musical analyst may base their academic career on a single model of analysis applied to a single repertoire), but which in theory never rely on the concept of composition taught in schools today, namely the idea that a student develops their own compositional language by learning techniques synchronously. Musicologists do not know how to write music and they do not pose the problem of doing so. Then, if you are also a composer, well, that's your passion. But a musicologist should not say "I would have done this differently"; they must always relate to it in a historical manner. And here lies the other flaw of a course like the one at the Milan Conservatory: historical training. Whether one likes it or not, musicology falls within the humanities. It is fundamental that an ANALYST musicologist has specific musical knowledge, but it is also necessary that they know the history of literature, the history of philosophy, the history of theater, cinema, etc., etc. Even more so, it is necessary that even their teachers know all these things. And indeed, the great icons of world musicology are essentially historians or philosophers. The five music history courses in three years that I see in the study plan make no sense if you don't know Italian literature...
But regardless of this, I repeat, the subject "musicology-composition" does not exist. If, unfortunately, you want to be a musicologist, you must study musicology, and if you want to be a composer, you must study composition.
This also serves to say that I am not inherently opposed to the idea of opening musicology courses in conservatories. That is, as things stand today in conservatories, for me, even music history should not be taught as a complementary subject, given that the recruitment systems are ridiculous. But if a virtuous conservatory decided to choose good teachers, then musicology courses would be very welcome, provided they are done WITHOUT 36 credits of composition and done in collaboration with Italian universities for the other humanities subjects. The Como Conservatory collaborates with the university for the sound engineering course and offers specific courses on electroacoustic music history and other things like that. They didn't open a course of their own called "musician assistant-sound engineer" and stuffing it with nonsense...
Because, moreover, things must also be looked at specifically. "History of theory and treatises" in a conservatory—who teaches it?! There must be 20 European experts in such a subject... if we want to do the
