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            <title><![CDATA[Erazm Parys, Józef Sikorski,: and Church Music in the Polish Lands in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2026-0003</link>
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            <pubDate>Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[This article examines the testimony of the Revd Erazm Parys, a nineteenth-century parish priest in Sterdyń, Podlasie, published by Józef Sikorski in Pamiętnik Muzyczny i Teatralny in 1862 under the title ‘Głos jednego z proboszczów’. Particular attention is devoted to Parys’s efforts to establish and maintain a parish instrumental chapel composed mainly of peasant boys, his methods of musical education, the acquisition of repertory, and cooperation with local society. The study also analyses his reflections on musical life in the provinces, social inequalities in access to musical education, amateur music-making, and the circulation of repertory and pedagogical materials. The correspondence is thus presented as a rare ego-document recording the experiences of a rural priest and highly committed amateur musician. Finally, the study places Parys’s account in the changing context of church music in the mid-nineteenth-century Polish lands and considers Sikorski’s reply, especially his harsh criticism of Wacław Raszek’s Kancyonał muzyki kościelnej.]]></description>
            <category>ARTICLE</category>
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        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Memory as a Tool for Updating History: The Case of the Kraków School of Composition]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2026-0001</link>
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            <pubDate>Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[The author of the article examines the phenomenon of the Kraków School of Composition from the perspective of cultural memory. Drawing on Jacek Schindler’s concept of memory as a cultural strategy and Jacques Derrida’s hauntology, she proposes an interpretation of the Kraków compositional milieu as a community whose identity is sustained through continuously renewed acts of remembrance. The discussion combines theoretical reflection with analyses of selected works by representatives of the youngest generation of Kraków composers, demonstrating how musical memory operates through four hauntological mechanisms: restitution, reincarnation, incorporation and repositioning. Rather than preserving the past as a closed historical archive, these strategies reactivate it in new artistic contexts, revealing memory as a dynamic process of cultural continuity and creative transformation. The author argues that the Kraków School of Composition should be understood not only as a historical formation but also as an evolving community whose identity is continually negotiated through contemporary compositional practice.]]></description>
            <category>ARTICLE</category>
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        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Unity of the Classical–Romantic Era?: On the Weaknesses of a Certain Paradigm in Music History]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2026-0002</link>
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            <pubDate>Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[One significant proposal in the periodisation of music history was the concept of the unity of the Classical–Romantic era, presented in similar form by Zofia Lissa and Friedrich Blume in the 1960s. Both authors proposed combining musical Classicism and Romanticism— two periods previously treated separately—into one coherent period lasting almost a century and a half (c. 1770–c. 1910).Although this type of periodisation survived until the end of the twentieth century and was regarded as broadly authoritative, discussion of this approach to music history seems necessary in the twenty-first century. Extensive research into early music has shown that the fundamental traits of the Classical style were formed well before 1770. In turn, recent interpretations of the styles and trends of nineteenth-century music have led researchers to question whether it is appropriate to treat musical Romanticism as a phenomenon extending into the second half of the century. All this necessitates a re-examination of Lissa and Blume’s position, which, from a source-historical perspective, appears oversimplified and outdated.]]></description>
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        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Music, Ecologies and Degrowth. A Few Paths to Explore]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2025-0002</link>
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            <pubDate>Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[The climate crisis compels us to rethink the future. It is important to do so with the knowledge that environmental problems are also social problems (social inequality) and mental problems (increase in mental disorders). We can, therefore, broaden the notion of ecology by thinking in terms of ‘three ecological registers’:1 the environmental, the social, and the mental. Rethinking the future requires a theory capable of working across these three registers. The concept of ‘degrowth’, which is developing into an important paradigm,2 proposes such a theory. As a means of attaining a post-growth society (rather than as an end in itself), degrowth poses the question of limits.3 This requires a questioning of the dominant model of the homo economicus in order to promote other values: care, sharing, autonomy, or free time. Art is one of these values. We will deal here with a general introduction to these questions and with two musical examples: the first, taken from orchestral music, is Dmitri Kourliandski; the other, dealing with musical technology, is Agostino Di Scipio.]]></description>
            <category>ARTICLE</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Music, Nature, and Sound: Musical Ecology]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2025-0001</link>
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            <pubDate>Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <category>ARTICLE</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Depicting Japanese Soundscapes in Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil’s ‘Słowik i kamień’]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2025-0005</link>
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            <pubDate>Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[In an article titled ‘Ekomuzyka’ [Ecomusic], Polish composer Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil states: ‘Music is an audio organism. Its existence unfolds in time and space. When stopped, it dies, similarly to other living earth organisms or stars in space. Music is entirely subject to the rules of life: it is born, it grows, fades – and dies. It is renewable (recurring with every performance), and it can reincarnate!’. The artist introduced the term ‘ecomusic’ not only to describe a cycle of her own compositions, but also as a trend in music that can be observed since prehistoric times. As a keen traveller, Pstrokońska-Nawratil has visited many countries on almost all continents. After coming back from her trips, she writes down her impressions and feelings, thus creating musical reportages. Her oeuvre includes seven such work, the latest of which – ‘Słowik i kamień’ [The Nightingale and the Stone] (2020) – was inspired by the soundscape of Japan. In this piece, written for two pianos and percussion, the composer depicts places that she visited, among them: tea fields, dry gardens called karesansui, and Aokigahara forest. The paper summarises Pstrokońska-Nawratil’s concept of ecomusic. The aim is to present the aforementioned composition by analysing sources of inspiration and signs that represent extramusical, Japanese reality.]]></description>
            <category>ARTICLE</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Sustaining Creative Work: Satisfaction of Classical Music Composers with Institutional Support in Slovakia]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2025-0007</link>
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            <pubDate>Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[This paper explores Slovak composers’ perceptions of institutional support, specifically examining grants and subsidies, and how these mechanisms influence creative autonomy. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic power and Sapiro’s cultural mediation, the study analyses key indicators of satisfaction, identifies systemic obstacles, and discusses the bureaucratic dimensions of grant systems. Based on original quantitative study involving thirty-three respondents and twenty-nine structured questions, the study analyses key indicators of satisfaction, identifies systemic obstacles, and discusses the symbolic and bureaucratic dimensions of grant systems. The findings reveal a striking discrepancy: While composers report relatively high success rates in obtaining grants, their overall satisfaction remains moderate, hindered in particular by administrative burdens. The article interprets these results using the concepts of institutional autonomy, symbolic power (Bourdieu), and cultural mediation (Sapiro).]]></description>
            <category>ARTICLE</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Generating Music, AI and Energy]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2025-0003</link>
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            <pubDate>Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[This article explores the intersection of artificial intelligence and music, focusing on the conceptual foundations of AI in music generation. It underscores the technological advancements and limitations of AI in capturing the nu-anced elements of traditional music composition. The article addresses the broader implications of utilizing AI, in-cluding the significant energy consumption involved in training and operating these models. It critically examines the sustainability of AI-driven music production against the backdrop of cultural, ecological, and economic consid-erations. By providing insights into both the technical and aesthetical aspects of AI in music, the article offers an overview that aids in understanding the potential and challenges of integrating AI into the creative process, while al-so considering the evolving role of music in human societies.]]></description>
            <category>ARTICLE</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Hildegard Westerkamp’s Beneath the Forest Floor and Graphic Analysis. Regrowing the Relationship Between Human, Nature, Society, and Self through Soundscape Composition]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2025-0004</link>
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            <pubDate>Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Hildegard Westerkamp (b. 1946) is a German-Canadian electroacoustic composer, researcher, and educator, best known for her work in acoustic ecology and soundscape studies. She is recognised for her vast soundscape composition oeuvre, her contributions to the World Soundscape Project, and for shaping and popularising the theory and praxis of soundwalk. Westerkamp’s musical language is characterised by material derived from the real environment and a strong, ecological message. These traits are embodied in the composer’s 1992 piece Beneath the Forest Floor.Based on an analysis of the composition, the paper shows how music can address environmental issues, through the incorporation of real-world natural and human-made sounds. Furthermore, it describes how the electroacoustic transformation of environmental sounds can address their deeper, symbolic, and mythological levels, thus uncovering their cultural and personal associations. The use of totemic sounds in Beneath the Forest Floor will also be discussed as a means of invoking (native) cultures’ close relationship with nature, thus introducing another social and cultural level to the piece. The paper argues that by incorporating these elements soundscape composition may reacquaint listeners and composers with the environment and their inner selves, renew their relationship with the natural world and prompt their engagement with climatic issues. Finally, a graphic analysis of Beneath the Forest Floor shall be presented, to suggest that multisensory experience may serve educational purposes postulated by the World Soundscape Project, and therefore complete the environmental, social, cultural, political, and educational aims and levels of soundscape composition.]]></description>
            <category>ARTICLE</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Animals in Early Modern Histories of Music]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2025-0006</link>
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            <pubDate>Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Although the place of animals in early modern musical thought has received some scholarly attention, their role in the works that inaugurated music historiography in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries remains unexplored. The present study seeks to address this gap by examining the representation of animal musicality in two foundational works of the genre: Wolfgang Caspar Printz’s Historische Beschreibung der edelen Sing- und Kling-Kunst (1690) and the multi-authored Histoire de la musique, et de ses effets, depuis son origine jusqu’à présent (1715). It focuses on the specifically historical dimensions in the two sources’ engagement with animal musicality, exploring how this phenomenon is expressed through the historical example – the defining genre feature of the era’s historiography. The historical example, it will be argued, shapes the articulation of animal musicality in ways that reflect its three established epistemic functions – demonstrative, representative, and paradigmatic—each manifested through a distinct mode of reasoning in the source texts. Attention is also given to the underlying criteria by which knowledge of animal musicality is valued and justified in music-historical writing.]]></description>
            <category>ARTICLE</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[A Polish Composer of Jewish Descent: in Interwar Lwów. Reflections on the National and Religious Identity of Józef Koffler]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2024-0008</link>
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            <pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Józef Koffler (born 1896 in Stryj, died 1943/1944) has so far usually been perceived as a Polish composer of Jewish origin. He was a composer and professor at the PTM Conservatory of Music in Polish Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine) in the years 1924–1939. This article attempts to analyse his identity against the background of his education, work, professional activity, and circle of acquaintances and friends. The problem deserves attention, especially since the fact that Koffler abandoned Judaism in favour of Christianity before World War II has been completely unknown so far. The composer’s letter of December 1941, especially important in this context, has likewise been unknown. This paper inquires whether baptism influenced Koffler’s career in any way, and whether this decision could have resulted from internal motives. Koffler’s conversion at a rather late age may have been related to his late fatherhood. However, the wish to ensure his son’s full (including religious) assimilation did not necessarily preclude a change in the Koffler couple’s personal beliefs.]]></description>
            <category>ARTICLE</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Chopin’s Music in the ‘Brand Theatre’: From Directed Stimulation to Shared Meaning]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2024-0011</link>
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            <pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[The rapid development of sound recording and reproduction techniques in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has contributed to the consolidation of a ‘new sound culture’, characterised by ‘acousmatic listening’ to sounds separated from their original source and context. One of the most interesting examples is the use of classical music in different forms of marketing strategies, such as audiomarketing or sonic branding, to influence consumers’ responses in agreement with the sender’s intentions.The main aim of this paper is to present selected examples of Polish brands that construct their marketing strategies around Fryderyk Chopin’s works in order to build appropriate brand experience and aura around a product or service in accordance with the rules of sensory marketing. The social enhancement model of music and the hierarchical model of musical semantics are the starting points for understanding the psychological mechanisms that determine the effectiveness of such activities. Overall, the analysis reveals that marketing practitioners focus on two complementary mechanisms (‘directed stimulations’ and ‘directed associations’). Both processes can take part in the transmission of meanings especially on a group level. It leads to some controversies and ethical problems that appear when the boundary between persuasion and manipulation seems to be blurred.]]></description>
            <category>ARTICLE</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[March ‘68 and Its Aftermath: in Polish Popular Music]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2024-0006</link>
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            <pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[The events of March 1968 in Poland can be viewed as four overlapping threads (i.e. lines of development): 1) factionalism in the ruling party, 2) the intellectuals’ protest against the government’s cultural policies, 3) a student revolt, 4) an anti-Semitic campaign, all in the wake of international events in 1967–68. These developments intertwined in a series of events, the most notable of which were the pacification of students by the milicja (state police) on 8 March and the forced emigration of thousands of Polish Jews as a result of the anti-Semitic political campaign. In this paper, the author examines the period’s popular music which reflects the events of March ‘68. The limited number of songs is a consequence of the prevailing conditions in Polish popular music at that time. The rock genre remained the domain of teenagers, recordings were subject to restrictions, and the recording process remained under the control of the censorship. As a result, popular songs (in the broadest sense of the term) that deal with the theme of March ‘68 are part of the independent legacy of the so-called ‘student culture’, preserved outside the mainstream, mainly in oral tradition. Maciej Zembaty’s ‘Pan Prokurator ma rację’ [‘Mr Prosecutor is Right’] is analyzed here as a case study of a March ‘68 protest song. It has been paired with Andrzej Zieliński and Agnieszka Osiecka’s song ‘W żółtych płomieniach liści’ [‘In the Yellow Flames of Leaves’], which is often referred to as a rock song reflecting the events of March ’68.]]></description>
            <category>ARTICLE</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Music Therapy in the Treatment: of People with Hearing Deficits: A Review of Selected Strategies]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2024-0010</link>
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            <pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[The paper deals with the question of music making in people with hearing deficits, showing the main advantages of such practice. It examines differences between ‘hearing’ in a medical sense and ‘musical hearing’ which is semantically much wider and involves different parts of the brain. Using various examples, the paper proves the possibility of music making even in the case of acute, bilateral or prelingual hearing impairment, but emphasises the necessity of Individualized Education Programme implementation to successfully face challenges posed by hearing deficits. The paper describes the main difficulties and challenges that deaf individuals face during the music learning process, and sums up strategies for musical pedagogy recommended in research studies since the second half of the twentieth century. Elements such as melodic patterns, rhythm and harmony are discussed. The teaching methodology presented in this paper focuses on multisensory approaches that may compensate for hearing loss, underlining such aspects as imagination, movement coordination, visual and haptic stimuli. Different types of hearing loss are presented, depending on their medical causes, hypoacusis level, onset time, and articulation ability in the context of music making. The article emphasises the beneficial role of active music-making for the patient’s well-being, especially for memory training, developing the emotional sphere, improvement of prosodic elements in speech, and tinnitus relief.]]></description>
            <category>ARTICLE</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Music in the Year of Truth: A View on the Contribution of Selected Songs to National Unity during the Velvet Revolution in Slovakia]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2024-0005</link>
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            <pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[The term Velvet Revolution denotes the events that took place between 16 November and 29 December 1989 and resulted in overthrowing the long-standing communist regime in Czechoslovakia. This historical milestone is often connected with specific symbols, such as the V sign and the jingling of keys, a gesture signifying that the country unlocked its door to the Western world. Music also played an important role during demonstrations in the squares. Alongside political activists and dissidents, several artists representing various genres of pop, folk, and classical music performed there to support the crowds. Some of the songs sung during those revolutionary days were written in the heat of the moment or shortly before. Others were evergreens without political overtones. As a form of protest or an expression of hope for a better future, they all perfectly captured the atmosphere of this final reckoning with totalitarianism. The artistic activities of some of the participating singers had been restricted under communism and their performances had an even greater effect for that reason. At the same time, the involvement of popular artists was risky for them personally because, if the change of regime had failed, it would probably have meant the end of their careers. Regardless of their previous status, the musical pieces they performed became an essential part of the demonstrations.This article reflects on the significance of music during the Velvet Revolution as an important persuasive element. Along with a survey of the characteristics of song authors and performers, selected songs will be categorised according to the specific features through which they contributed to national unity in those decisive moments.]]></description>
            <category>ARTICLE</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Vox Humana of War: Ukrainian Art Music as a Mode of Resistance (2022–24)]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2024-0002</link>
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            <pubDate>Thu, 13 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Since 2014, when the Russian war against Ukraine began, and especially after the full-scale invasion started, numerous cultural actions have emerged as acts of Ukrainian cultural resistance. Resistance studies are characterized by their interdisciplinarity, enabling the application of their methodologies across various fields. At the heart of resistance is a refusal to accept oppression. It has been observed that, during the war in Ukraine, composers and their creative works have been resisting both the wartime circumstances and the political narratives propagated by Russia. Generally, artistic creativity stands against the violence and death inherent in war, generating new meanings that reflect and capture the emotions, desires, and hopes of Ukrainians. This article examines theories of resistance to provide a framework for analyzing compositions dedicated to the theme of war, and explores the mode of resistance in Ukrainian art music. Specifically, I focus on the composition Vox Humana (2023) by Roman Grygoriv, written for an MRLS BM-27 Uragan missile and chamber orchestra. Uniquely, this work uses a missile fragment as a musical instrument, illustrating a meaning-making process within the resistance narrative that remains deeply relevant to Ukrainians today.]]></description>
            <category>ARTICLE</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Weaponized Songs: Pro-Putin and Other Totalitarian Musical Propaganda]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2024-0003</link>
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            <pubDate>Sun, 02 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[The paper discusses the topic of weaponization of song, understood in the broadest sense as music with text, sung by one performer or several voices, with or without instrumental accompaniment. Whereas battle songs have historically been used during physical attack on the enemy, the use of music in propaganda gained significance in the twentieth century, with the rise of totalitarian regimes. The author refers to Ernst Cassirer’s elucidation of political myth and interprets contemporary uses of song in war propaganda by Putin and Islamic organizations, juxtaposing it with the abuse of song in totalitarian (communist and Nazi) regimes, and arguing that it is the mythicizing potential of song encapsulating a concise propagandist message that makes it the ideal carrier for propaganda. The author draws upon a vast range of literature on the topic, referring to the Third Reich, Maoist China, Putinist Russia, and the jihadi nasheed.]]></description>
            <category>ARTICLE</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Music on the Periphery of Aesthetics]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2024-0001</link>
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            <pubDate>Fri, 24 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <category>ARTICLE</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Views of the Baltic German Press on the Traditions: of Other Nationalities in Riga’s Music Life in the 1870s–1880s: The Influence of the Political Context]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2024-0009</link>
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            <pubDate>Fri, 24 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[The history of German presence in the territory of Latvia began in the thirteenth century, when Germans arrived here as crusaders. From that time until the nineteenth century, they played the dominant role in the economic and political life of the region. In the second half of the nineteenth century, however, the situation changed. After the abolition of serfdom (1817–1819), Latvians greatly improved their economic and educational status, and the new Latvian intelligentsia expressed its opposition to German dominance in the region. The Latvian national revival of that period was supported by the Russian authorities with a somewhat selfish interest.The aim of this paper is to answer the question: how did these processes affect the descriptions of music life in the press, or, more precisely, one aspect of press commentaries – the Baltic Germans’ views on the traditions of other nationalities?It has been found that many reviews confirm the Baltic Germans’ interest and openness towards other national traditions. At least some of the German music critics do not deserve to be criticised for ignoring the music life of ethnic Latvians as described in Latvian periodicals. The political context, however, comes to the fore when discussing not the music itself, but the press publications or speeches that include some ‘provocative’ elements – be it claims to the premises of the Rigaer Stadttheater voiced in a Russian newspaper, or efforts to deny the inspiring role of Germans in Latvian cultural history.]]></description>
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        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Gendered Musicking Among: the Ebira People of Kogi State, Nigeria]]></title>
            <link>https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/muso-2024-0004</link>
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            <pubDate>Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[The Ebira people view women as the weaker sex. Women are barred from touching and playing certain musical instruments. This study investigates the Ebira people and their musicality. It assesses the basis for such restrictions in the light of the possible benefits to the community if they were removed. In this study, we relied on data gathered through oral interviews, personal observation, and a review of relevant literature. The findings reveal that out of the twelve musical instruments in Ebiraland, women perform only on one which makes up 8% of the total ensembles in the area. It was also observed that of the seven musical ensembles in Ebiraland, women play instruments in two, that is, 29%. This disparity can be attributed to spiritual and masquerading activities. If women, who are more numerous, are discouraged from participating in Ebira art forms, those forms will dwindle. It is recommended that gender politics should be avoided for the sake of cultural advancement.]]></description>
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