Call for Papers: Women and Musical Mobility in Nineteenth-Century Europe (c. 1800–1850)

CALL FOR PAPERS
Zveme Vás k účasti na konferenci Women and Musical Mobility in Nineteenth-Century Europe (c. 1800–1850), která proběhne 3. a 4. 6. 2027 v Muzikologické knihovně (Puškinovo náměstí 447/9, Praha 6). Své abstrakty posílejte Anje Bunzel ([email protected]) nebo Maruše Zupančič ([email protected]).
Uzávěrka přihlášek je 15. 11. 2026.
https://www.udu.cas.cz/cz/akce/women-and-musical-mobility-in-nineteenth-century-europe-c-1800-1850
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We cordially invite submissions for the conference Women and Musical Mobility in Nineteenth-Century Europe (c. 1800–1850). The event will be held on June 3–4, 2027, at the Musicology Library (Puškinovo náměstí 447/9, Prague 6). Please submit your abstracts to Anja Bunzel ([email protected]) or Maruša Zupančič ([email protected]).
The application deadline is November 15, 2026.
https://www.udu.cas.cz/en/akce/women-and-musical-mobility-in-nineteenth-century-europe-c-1800-1850
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The nineteenth century witnessed profound transformations in European musical life. Expanding concert networks, growing urban centres, improvements in transportation, and the emergence of new musical institutions created new opportunities for mobility. Musicians travelled between cities, regions, and countries in search of employment, education, patronage, audiences, and artistic recognition. While the mobility of celebrated male virtuosi and composers has received considerable scholarly attention, the experiences of women musicians remain less visible and are often examined within local, regional, or national frameworks.
Through this conference, we seek to explore the mobility, agency, and cultural impact of women musicians in Europe, with a special focus on the first half of the nineteenth century. We aim to examine how women navigated social, geographical, institutional, and professional boundaries while participating in musical life as performers, composers, teachers, patrons, organisers, publishers, and cultural mediators. Particular attention is given to the ways mobility shaped artistic careers, facilitated cultural exchange, and enabled women to establish professional and social networks across diverse musical environments. By examining mobility in its various forms—physical, social, professional, and cultural—we highlight women’s contributions to European musical life and to their role in shaping musical cultures across borders during the first half of the nineteenth century. Studies that move beyond single-city narratives and situate local case studies within broader regional, transnational, or comparative contexts are particularly welcome.
We invite proposals exploring aspects of women’s musical mobility that draw on a wide range of textual, visual, and material sources and engage with a variety of themes, including but not limited to:
—Forms of participation and women’s agency in musical life;
—Musical institutions, societies, salons, theatres, and other performance spaces;
—Migration, travel, and transregional networks;
—Professional careers, dilettantism, and artistic visibility;
—Repertoire circulation, musical taste, and discourse;
—Wider transnational and global contexts of women’s musical mobility during the first half of the nineteenth century; and
—Sources and methodological approaches for studying women’s musical mobility.
We invite abstracts for individual 20-minute papers or 30-minute lecture recitals; a piano is available at the conference venue. The official conference language will be English. Abstracts of c. 300 words, a short biographical note, the author’s contact details, and an outline of technical requirements should be sent in a Word-compatible format by 15 November 2026 to Anja Bunzel ([email protected]) and Maruša Zupančič ([email protected]). We will endeavour to notify applicants of outcomes by late January 2027.
The conference will be organised by the Institute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Prague) and the Institute of Musicology, ZRC SAZU (Ljubljana).