Musicology

How can we think and write about music, its production, its distribution, its reception? Our innovative research Master’s in Musicology programme builds on a 95-year-long history of musicology at Utrecht University and enriches it with the newest perspectives on the field and its entanglements with other disciplines. It prepares you for music careers within and beyond academia where critical engagement, reflection and writing skills are key. Therefore, our research Master’s in Musicology will train you in advanced research while giving you academic insight into the theoretical and artistic principles underpinning how music is understood and practiced across history and cultures.

Western music from the Middle Ages to the present; music and media

The Musicology programme at Utrecht University focuses on Western music from the Middle Ages to the present, the impact of media on the reception and conceptualisation of music, and digital musicology. Interdisciplinary work is central to the programme, and there are particularly strong links with Medieval and Renaissance Studies, New Media & Digital Culture, Gender Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Computational Humanities, as well as Game Research.

Why this programme in Utrecht?

Inspiring setting

The city of Utrecht is home to a large number of concert venues, notably the state-of-the-art TivoliVredenburg complex, as well as the Utrecht School of the Arts. It is also host to a number of world-famous musical events such as the Utrecht Festival of Early Music, the Utrecht International Chamber Music Festival, the Gaudeamus Festival for Contemporary Music and Young Composers, the biennial 1000 Strings Harp Festival, and the triennial International Franz Liszt Piano Competition. The rich cultural facilities of Amsterdam, The Hague, and Rotterdam are all within easy travelling distance.

Internationally acclaimed library

The Utrecht University Library’s extensive music collection is internationally acclaimed and widely recognised as the most significant musicological research collection in the Netherlands and Flanders. The library also houses a range of original source materials for musicological research within its Special Collections.

Hallmarks of research

Current research trends are firmly imbedded within the taught components of this programme. Our research focuses on the complex relationship between music and politics both recently and throughout history, the interaction between music and media and between music and technology, music and theatre, music and migration, the impact of digital research tools on musicology. It covers late medieval music, Renaissance Franco-Flemish polyphony, Dutch music since the 17th century, music and its epistemologies from the 18th century to the present, 20th- and 21st-century art and popular music. These topics and repertoires are complemented with guest lectures by international experts, which will broaden your perspective even further. As a student of this programme, you will become part of a strong community of students, PhD researchers and teaching staff working together at a leading research institute. Former students were recipients of highly-competitive grant schemes, such as the US Fulbright program and the Utrecht Excellence Scholarship.

International contacts

Our academic staff’s wide network of national and international contacts enables you to conduct research in the Netherlands or another country. A number of our graduates have received funded doctoral positions and are pursuing doctoral research at Utrecht University, as well as at other world-renowned research universities such as Cambridge University, the University of Oxford, Cornell University, Brandeis University, UCLA, Berkeley, the University of Toronto, Royal Holloway, the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Duke University, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the University of Ghent and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

After graduation

This programme will give you the specialist knowledge, insight and skills necessary to pursue further study at PhD level or a career as a researcher outside academia. Many alumni pursued academic careers in international musicological research or found employment outside academia in museums, archives, libraries, music labels, in the cultural policy sector, and in publishing houses.