University of Cologne, Main Building, Albertus Magnus Platz 1
Musikwissenschaftliches Institut, Neues Seminarraum, 7.11.2024 15:00
Moderation: Dr. Jan Czarnecki (University of Cologne)
An Interdisciplinary Seminar accompanying the Concert Trost in Tränen (6.11.2024)
Abstract
John Dowland in his dedication to famous Lachrimae (1604) wrote that „the teares which Musicke weeps neither are teares shed always in sorrow but sometimes in joy and gladness”. His set of seven instrumental pieces on the theme of lute pavane (later known as the song entitled Flow my tears) may be interpreted as a catalogue of musical tears. The different types of weeping that those pieces can trigger or illustrate show the wide spectrum of emotional states in which one seeks the accompaniment of music. Visually and audibly unaesthetic moment of crying became probably the most inspiring subject for composers and still „sad music” is preferably chosen by listeners, regardless of the genre.
How Dowland and Monteverdi, two renaissance maters of musical laments, achieved such a deep expression of their pieces and in what context did they use musical tears? I would look for an answer, not only seeing into their compositions, but also showing their resonance in present-day culture.
Bio
Karolina Kolinek-Siechowicz is a PhD candidate at Interdisciplinary Doctoral School (University of Warsaw). She received her MA both in musicology and philosophy at the College of Inter-Faculty Individual Studies in the Humanities at the same university. She was a recipient of scholarship of Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education. She was also a fellow of Kościuszko Foundation as a Research Associate at Department of Music at University of California, Davis (under supervision of prof. Anna Maria Busse Berger). She took part in several conferences e.g. in Italy, Georgia, Lithuania and USA. As a music critic she is an author of several essays, reviews, interviews and children books. She was awarded the Grand Prix at the Polish Music Critics’ Competition KROPKA (2015) and a distinction at Zygmunt Moszkowicz Competition in Journalism (2018). Her interests are centered on the problem of Historically Informed Performance movement and its impact on modern musical culture, especially in case of pieces connected with the subject of weeping, lamenting, mourning and consolation. In „Ruch Muzyczny” she regularly publishes essays in a cycle under the title „Music and tears”.
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