València, 23-25 October 2023

The evocative prologue of the seminal essay by Reinhard Strohm (1985) suggested an ideal horizon for musical historiography, which was by then increasingly uncomfortable with the paradigm centred on the author/work binomial and the patronage of social elites.

It is at that point that urban musicology began to take shape: the urban framework is focused as a symbolical space where communities and civic authorities continuously negotiated their reciprocal relations. Most musical (sonic) events of the past contributed to these communicative processes, which were articulated in the dense network of rituals and ceremonies that structured the experience of individuals and groups.

Central to this approach are the events to which the surviving repertories bear witness in their musical (sound) aspects, with diverse implications:

• Communicative processes imply networks of relationships in which all participants are to be considered, regardless of their power and prestige.
• The decoding of messages is as significant as their encoding, as are the contextual elements that channel and condition communicative processes.
• Urban spaces are of interest for their symbolic value, and not only for their physical dimension.
• This leads in the direction of possible reconstructions of soundscapes, or the recognition of all the sources that define the sound experience in given circumstances.
• Studying sound perception and listening, not necessarily musical, is also highly relevant: hearing subjects are part of the reconstruction.
• It is also possible to investigate the intellectual or affective response of the participants in the communicative processes.

Disciplinary fields other than musicology have assumed sound experience among their research objects, in a sociological (sound studies) or a historical perspective (sound history), with relatively little attention to musical production. However, the shared objects of study and conceptual tools invite interdisciplinary dialogue.

This dialogue should enrich the methodological framework of urban musicology: its important achievements point to challenges that are proposed as central to this congress:

• Studies on a single urban centre have allowed very sophisticated reconstructions: but in what terms can different centres be compared?
• And, in diachronic terms: how can an urban musicological study be proposed in the medium or long term?
• Thirdly: how can we return from the reconstruction of communicative processes to surviving musical repertories? To what extent can urban musical historiography provide a foundation for an exegesis of repertories?

Call for papers

Languages

The conference languages are Spanish, Catalan, English and Italian.

Categories of presentation

The conference will be on-site. However, sessions will be held remotely to facilitate the presentation of proposals from remote locations. Proposals are invited in any of the following formats:

• Posters (including a dedicated session for presentation).
• Individual papers of 20 minutes (followed by up to 10 minutes of discussion and questions).
• Themed sessions (90/120 minutes for three/four papers, including discussion and questions).
• Roundtables (maximum 90 minutes, please describe its form and content).
• Workshops (Requirements, aims, form, and content should be described).

Submission

Proposals must be submitted through the following form:

https://bit.ly/CFP-Propuestas

Proposals should include the following information:

• Proposer’s name.
• Email.
• Filiation (optional).
• Title.
• Format.
• Abstract.
• Keywords.
• Names and affiliations of any additional participants.
• A short bio or bios of the participants (max. 15 lines).
• Further remarks (if any).

Abstract

For individual contributions: aprox. 250 words.

For sessions with multiple participants: aprox. 200 words on the proposal as a whole, and aprox. 100 words on the contribution of each participant.

Deadlines

Submission: 24 June 2023.

Notification of acceptance: 27 July 2023.

Conference Director

Ferran Escrivà-Llorca (Universidad Internacional de Valencia)

Programme Committee

Andrea Bombi (Universitat de València)

Juan José Carreras (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Dinko Fabris (Università della Basilicata – Universiteit Leiden)

Tess Knighton (ICREA – Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

Kate Van Orden (Harvard University – President IMS)

Organising Committee

María Ordiñana Gil (Universidad Internacional de Valencia)

Mireya Royo Conesa (Associació Valenciana de Musicologia)

María José Iglesias Pastén (Universidad Internacional de Valencia)

Ignacio Prats Arolas (Conservatori Superior de Música “Joaquín Rodrigo de València)

Pasqual Hernández Farinós (Conservatori Superior de Música “Joaquín Rodrigo de València)

Paula Molina (Universidad de Salamanca)

Contact

congreso.ciudades.sonoras@gmail.com

https://bit.ly/ciudades_sonoras

Organizer

Project Ciutat sonora. Música, so i soroll a València (1609-1813). GE-2022. Programa per a la promoció de la investigació científica, el desenvolupament tecnològic i la innovació en la Comunitat Valenciana. [2021/9263]

Partnerships

Universidad Internacional de Valencia

Universitat de València

Conservatori Superior de Música “Joaquín Rodrigo” de València

Associació Valenciana de Musicologia (AVAMUS)

International Musicological Society (IMS)

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