FWPS: University of Basel, Musicology Institute

Doctoral and Postdoctoral Research Fellowships

Music – Body – Image

Two positions within the module “Music – Body – Image” starting in October 2013

at the Musicology Institute, University Basel and eikones, National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) for iconic criticism (http://www.eikones.ch/)

Subjects:

- Medieval, and Late Medieval Music History
- Modern Music History

Abstract

This module discusses the relation between music and image from two disparate vantage points in the history of music: the Middle Ages and modernity. Both relations dont concern the immediate translation of the visual into the audible or the illustration of invisible sounds, but the contextualization of images within specific musical forms and aesthetic experiences. At this intersection of the audible and the visual, the body functions as a site for generating meaning, which can be either transposed into images or music.

The first Project has as objective to examine the rhythmic use of limbs and gestures in liturgy, drama, and dance in medieval music as an anthropological basis for musical-deictic elements; their dual character (acoustic/visual) permits their inquiry to be positioned within the context of iconic criticism.

The second project aims to develope an analysis of music, under the influence of anthropological theories of music in turn-of-the-century Vienna, as “audible gestures”. Special attention will be given to Arnold Schönberg’s intermediary compositions for the stage and vocal music around 1910 and his artistic engagement with the contemporary painting of Richard Gerstl and Wassily Kandinsky.

Individual project suggestions pertaining to the topic of this module are especially welcome.

Please submit your complete dossier no later than May 7, 2013 (single pdf-file).

This should include

– Cover letter, cv, copies of diplomas
– Project proposal (ca. 3–5 pages)
– Writing sample (e.g. chapter from a master’s or Phd thesis; 20 pages max.) – Contact information for 2 possible referees

Informations matteo.nanni at unibas.ch or matthias.schmidt at unibas.ch