As a discipline concerned with the study of music and music-making in history and the present, musicology is an integral part of all degree programmes at the MHL. In this sense, musicological research is a central element at this institution, which finds its way directly into teaching and is closely connected to artistic practice. The MHL also offers the possibility of a doctorate in musicology.

The subject of musicology at the MHL is represented by Prof. Dr. Christiane Tewinkel and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Sandberger; courses on popular music are taught by Prof. Bernd Ruf. Focal points in research and teaching are figures such as Johannes Brahms, Georg Friedrich Handel, Theodor Leschetizky, Franz Liszt, and Robert Schumann in their historical contexts, as well as music and musical performance practice in the "long" 19th century, transatlantic relations in music, music criticism and music mediation, aspects of intermediality, reception history, and the history of knowledge and scholarship. The courses offered are complemented by the courses in ethnomusicology, media studies and systematic musicology.

Members of the Musicology Section

• Professors
  Prof. Dr. Christiane Tewinkel
  Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Sandberger
  Prof. Bernd Ruf (Popular Music)
  
  
• Researcher on the DFG-Project "Transatlantic Relations around 1900"
  Dr. Marten Noorduin
  
  
• Researcher at the Brahms-Institute of the MHL
  Dr. Fabian Bergener
  
  
• PhD researcher (with traineeship) at the Brahms-Institute of the MHL
  Christoph Arta, M.A.
  
  
• Student Assistants
  Jonathan Hartwig (DFG-Project)
  Christian Nungesser (DFG-Project)
  Amélie Schöpf
  Antonios Topalidis (DFG-Project)
  Meriel Vehring (DFG-Project)
  Jan-Christian Wagner

’You play exactly as if you came from America.’ Transatlantic Relations and Anti-American Bias in the Musical Life of the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy 1880-1915 (April 2022 until September 2024)
The goal of this research project, which is led by Prof. Dr Christiane Tewinkel and carried out by Dr. Marten Noorduin, is to illuminate the American grand tours in German-speaking lands between 1880 and 1915, and to make visible the transatlantic networks with teachers like Liszt (in Weimar) and Leschetizky (in Vienna) at the centre. Within this framework it will offer insight into the musical discourse in the German-speaking world, and the anti-American biases within it. More information about the project can be found here.

In recent years, the MHL has regularly hosted symposia, which have been documented in publications. Further conferences and meetings are planned.

• "Music and the Order of the World from Antiquity to the 19th Century" (in cooperation with the Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel and the University of South Florida, 2022)
• "Neue Bahnen. Schumann-Aspekte" (2019)
• "Zwischen Eigennutz, Inszenierung und Bekenntnis: Die künstlerische Widmung im 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert" (in cooperation with organisations in Weimar and Hannover)
• "Konfrontationen. Brahms und Frankreich" (2018)
• "Kontinuitäten? Joseph Haydn im Wandel der Interpretationen" (2017)
• "Kontrapunkte. Grenzenlos? Peter Tschaikowsky in Deutschland" (2015)
• "Konstellationen. Felix Mendelssohn und die deutsche Musikkultur" (2014)
• "Johannes Brahms – Ein deutsches Requiem" (2012)
• Friedrich Ludwig Aemilius Kunzen (2011)
• Zyklische Chormusik von Johannes Brahms (in cooperation with organisations in Zurich and Vienna, 2010)
• "Spätphasen", Johannes Brahms’ Werke der 1880er und 1890er Jahre (in cooperation with the Meininger Museen, 2008)
• Buxtehude-Symposium "Text-Kontext-Rezeption" (2007)
• Furtwängler-Symposium (2004)
• Annual conference of the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung (2003)
• "Bach, Lübeck und die norddeutsche Musiktradition" (2000)

The Brahms-Institute, affiliated to the university and directed by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Sandberger, has enriched musicology at the MHL in a unique way since 1991. The research work focuses on the 19th century. The heart of the institute is the extensive collection; the focus was and is on projects for its indexing and processing. With the help of the state of Schleswig-Holstein and numerous foundations (Volkswagen Foundation, Hermann Reemtsma Foundation, Possehl Foundation Lübeck), large parts of the collection can now be viewed worldwide in the digital archive of the Brahms Institute, including handwritten sources by Johannes Brahms, all first editions by Brahms and Robert Schumann as well as partial bequests by Theodor Fürchtegott Kirchner and Joseph Joachim.

As part of a DFG-funded project, the Institute has compiled the "Brahms-Briefwechsel-Verzeichnis" (Brahms Correspondence Index), which is also available digitally in its basic form. Numerous publications by the Institute, including standard works such as the Brahms Handbook, also enrich international Brahms research. Finally, the exhibitions, documented in catalogues published almost annually in the Institute's series of publications, are important for the scholarly development of the collection. The Brahms-Festival is also closely connected to the Institute; Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Sandberger has been the festival's project director since 2011.

"Brahms-Portal" (from 2022)
The portal, which is freely accessible worldwide, sees itself as an international digital hub for scholars and the public. By linking the now more than 43,000 digitised works, the cultural heritage is semantically processed for all users and scholarly enriched with information on the works of Brahms. Planned connections include the "Digitale Kulturwerk Lübeck", the "Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek" and the "Europeana" (from January 2022, financed in the first phase from the excellence budget of the state of Schleswig-Holstein).

Musicology at the MHL
Große Petersgrube 21
23552 Lübeck

Prof. Dr. Christiane Tewinkel
1.23
T: +49 (0)451-1505-331
F: +49 (0)451-1505-300
Mail an Prof. Dr. Tewinkel

Brahms-Institute of the MHL
Villa Brahms
Jerusalemsberg 4
23568 Lübeck

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Sandberger
T: +49 (0)451-1505-401
F: +49 (0)451-1505-420
Mail to Prof. Dr. Sandberger