Syntagma Musicum 1619 ~ 2019
International Musicological Conference
Ljubljana, 8–9 April 2019
In 1619 the last of the three volumes of the Syntagma Musicum by Michael Praetorius (1571–1621) was dedicated to the author’s patrons, the Lord Mayor and Councillors of the city of Nuremberg in the Holy Roman Empire, and was printed at his seat of residence in Wölfenbüttel. This all-encompassing music encyclopaedia of the time – on a level with the earlier treatises by Tinctoris and Zarlino – surpassed in scope and erudition anything that had appeared in Germany prior to its publication and remained an authoritative reference work well into the early eighteenth century.
Four hundred years on from its first publication it is still of prime interest and inspiration to any musicologist dealing with earlier periods of music. The year 2019 is therefore more than simply convenient for a conference devoted to Michael Praetorius, his monumental Syntagma Musicum and numerous subjects directly connected with his writings: music theory, organology, iconography, music terminology and performing practice, as well as, more generally, the music (especially the dance music) of the Renaissance and early Baroque periods.
A special session of the conference will be dedicated to the family of one of the most prominent patrons of music and the arts in the later part of the sixteenth century: the Khisls (to whom Giacomo Gorzanis, Claudio Merulo, Pietro Antonio Bianco, Matthia Ferrabosco, Filippo de Duc, Angelo Barbato, Lodovico Balbi and Romano Michieli dedicated music). The family then resided in the newly constructed castle of Kaltenbrunn (Slov. Fužine), today part of Ljubljana and the home of the Museum of Architecture and Design. This castle will host the second day of the conference.
The conference “Syntagma Musicum 1619 ~ 2019”, organised by the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute of Musicology (represented by Dr Metoda Kokole) and its partner institution, the Museum of Architecture and Design (represented by Matevž Čelik Vidmar), will take place on Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th April 2019 in Ljubljana.
The official language of the conference is English, with the exception of the session on the Khisl family which will also accommodate papers in Slovenian.
PROPOSALS for papers of 20 minutes on the subjects mentioned above and connected with Praetorius’s Syntagma Musicum are welcome to the end of August 2018. Proposals need to comprise a title, a short abstract of 150 to 300 words and the contact details of the speaker.
Submissions should be sent to:
muz_inst@zrc-sazu.si or directly to metoda.kokole@zrc-sazu.si
Submissions will be reviewed by the conference’s scientific committee.
Ljubljana, 20 May 2018
Metoda Kokole (Chair)