Crossing boundaries, defining states: confession, music and territoriality in six cities of the southern netherlands (c.1520-1630): Brussels, Mons, Soignies, Douai, Courtrai and Valenciennes (extended)

This project obtained a one-year extension of the funding initially granted for 2014-2016.

Presentation

Six representative cities have been selected to demonstrate how the composition, the interpretation and the diffusion of music in the Southern Netherlands between c.1520 and c.1630 served to associate a particular group with a specific confessional religion, and how this association may also have served to project a territorial claim.

The project is interested primarily in four main issues, namely conversion, belief, resistance, and memory. This study draws largely on archival (including public accounts) and literary sources (including diaries). A study of the musical repertory (notably diffusion and style) and a critical edition of music (for performance and study) supplement this information.

Promoters

• Iain Fenlon, Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge
• Marie-Alexis Colin, Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, ULB

Thanks to the Foundation’s support, Dr Matthew Laube has been hired at the University of Cambridge to work on this project.

Publication: Theatres of Belief: Music and Conversion in the Early Modern City (Brepols 2021) > read more.