Dissonance: Music and Globalization since Edison's Phonograph

A two-year interdisciplinary initiative beginning Fall 2014 organized by CAS Resident Associates William Kinderman (Musicology) and Harry Liebersohn (History)

This CAS Initiative examines the many ways in which globalization has reshaped musical life since the late nineteenth century, including the growth of the phonograph industry, the migration of musicians, and the transformation of performance practices. Dissonance, chosen as a key concept, is a challenging feature of some non-Western music to Western ears; the term also links changes in the meaning of music to social, cultural and political conflict. In the Western context, the “emancipation of dissonance” absorbed political meanings that were widely recognized by the time of the Weimar Republic. This initiative will primarily bring together historians and musicologists, but it will also encourage contributions from a wide range of disciplines in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences.