Vienna - MU228: Music & the Museum

MU228: Music & the Museum

Vienna, Austria

Last Offered: Spring 2026

In this class we will study both the literal and figurative museumification of music in the very place where Western art music (as a canon) was born: Vienna, Austria. We will explore museums and go behind the scenes, meeting with curators and restoration specialists to discuss the opportunities and challenges that they face when dealing with musical instruments as museum-objects. We will attend concerts, investigating the “imaginary museum” of musical works, and how shifting reception histories and issues of performance practice have shaped our understanding of what music is and where it exists. 

Course led by Prof. Lidia Chang