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Home › News & Events › Events › 2019 Town and Gown Lecture – “Sound Propaganda: On Sound and Music in Early Modern Religious Persuasion”

2019 Town and Gown Lecture – “Sound Propaganda: On Sound and Music in Early Modern Religious Persuasion”

Lecture Tuesday March 12, 2019 - 7:00p.m. to 9:00p.m.

Venue: Holsclaw Hall, 1017 N. Olive Road, Tucson, AZ 85721-0004

Presented by:
The University of Arizona
College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Division for Late Medieval and Reformation Studies

Co-Sponsored by:
Department of History
Department of German Studies
Fred Fox School of Music

Supported by:
Department of Religious Studies and Classics
Group for Early Modern Studies (GEMS)
Institute for the Study of Religion and Culture (ISRC)
UA Medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation Committee (UAMARRC)

About the Lecture:
The use of propaganda is both a very old and a very new story. On the one hand, the advent of a technologized mass media since the twentieth century compels us to recognize the political instrumentalization of propaganda; on the other hand propaganda, understood primarily through the vehicle of the printing press, has long been seen as a crucial means of persuasion, not least in the Reformations and Counter-Reformations of early modern Europe. Scholars of early modern propaganda have often emphasized the silent media of printed sources and visual objects, but sound has largely evaded our scrutiny. Did sound—and music as its more specific expression—operate as “propaganda” in early modern Europe, and in what ways did it convey a persuasive message? The present talk unpacks these questions by considering some of the unique properties and ambiguities of sound and its role in religious persuasion in early modern Germany. Particular tunes, for example, conveyed propagandistic effect based on the texts with which they were originally associated; but at the same time, clear messages could be obscured by excessive musical complexity, shared musical traditions across confessional lines, and more generally by music’s semantic ambiguity. The emerging independence of instrumental music in the seventeenth century raises further questions about the power of sound to communicate in the absence of texts. Opening our ears to other kinds of artificial sounds—bell ringing, gunfire, and drumming, for instance—will compel broader consideration of how sound both enhanced and undermined the persuasive effect of early modern propaganda.

About the Speaker:
Alexander Fisher is Professor of Music at the University of British Columbia. A specialist in music, sound, and religious culture in early modern Germany, he is the author of Music and Religious Identity in Counter-Reformation Augsburg, 1580-1630 (Ashgate, 2004), and Music, Piety, and Propaganda: The Soundscapes of Counter-Reformation Bavaria (Oxford, 2014). His work has also appeared in various journals, including the Journal of Musicology, Journal of the Royal Musical Association, Early Music History, and the Journal for Seventeenth-Century Music. His current research on soundscapes and confessional space in the Holy Roman Empire in the post-Reformation era is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

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The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music
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The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

If you're interested in contributing to our scholarship drive and fundraiser for our talented students, you still have time until midnight tonight as "To Music with Love" draws to a close. Thank you to everyone who has already provided their support!

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The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music is in Arizona, United States.
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The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

So many of our students are learning how to juggle being a musician in the professional world while also being a student!!

One of our media team members, Caitlynn, is juggling a few outside things this week: Dvorak 9 with the Sierra Vista Symphony and Mahler 2 with the Tucson Symphony.

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Yay Caitlynn!!!!!! 🤩

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The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music
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Director of Bands Chad Nicholson is headed to Carnegie Hall again this year as part of the Symphonic Series! This is his third appearance at the event, and he will be working with outstanding ensembles from across the country prior to taking the stage at the historic Stern Auditorium. Check out his feature and event information here: ... See MoreSee Less

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Fred Fox School Of Music

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P.O. BOX 210004
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Tucson, AZ 85721-0004

Email: finearts@cfa.arizona.edu

Phone: 520.621.1302

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