Music, Work, Society: Speculations and Mediations at the Jahrhundertwende

In 19th century German cultural and academic life a wide-ranging discussion emerged about the relationship between music, work, society, and political economy. A disparate group sought to position music not as the ancients and early moderns had done, as a matter of mathematics, physics, and cosmic speculation, but as a matter of biology, physiology, ethnology, sociology, and economics. Focusing mainly on the political economist Karl Bücher and his influence across various media, this talk examines one social scientist’s encounter with music and follows its reverberations outside of academic life.

Celia Applegate is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Chair of History and Professor of History at Vanderbilt University. She studies the culture, society, and politics of modern Germany, with particular interest in the history of music, nationalism and national identity. She is the author of A Nation of Provincials: The German Idea of Heimat (Berkeley, 1990), the co-editor (with musicologist Pamela Potter) of Music and German National Identity (Chicago, 2000), and the author of Bach in Berlin: Nation and Culture in Mendelssohn’s Revival of the St. Matthew Passion (Cornell, 2005), winner of the DAAD/GSA Book Prize. She is currently working on comprehensive interpretation of musical life in Germany from the 17th century to the present, titled "Music and the Germans: A History." She teaches courses on modern German politics and culture, the history of the Holocaust, of European thought, and of European nationalism and ethnic conflicts. In 2017-18, Applegate is a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, NJ), sponsored by a grant from the Edward T. Cone Foundation as a Edward T. Cone Member in Music Studies.

If you are a person with a disability who requires an accommodation to participate in this event, please contact Germanic Languages & Literatures at 734-764-8018 or germandept@umich.edu at least one week in advance.