Music theory in/as musicology in Norway

Historical reflections

Abstract

This article presents historical reflections on relations between music theory and musicology in Norway. More specifically, it asks two questions: What roles has music theory played in musicology in Norway (i.e. as part of musicology education and research)? To what extent has music theory been considered as musicology in Norway (i.e. existing as a distinct subdiscipline of research)? Taking these questions as its point of departure, the article presents the first discussion of the broad intertwining of the histories of music theory and musicology in Norway. It argues that there has long been a shared (regulative) music theory discourse between conservatoire education and university musicology education. The picture is more complex regarding music theory in/as musicology research. Music theory in Norway has existed uneasily between being an established practical-pedagogical field (in both conservatoire and university contexts) and having a somewhat unclear position within musicology research. There are, however, recent tendencies that indicate a stronger focus on music theory research in Norway, including closer contact with the established international (primarily Anglo-American) field of academic music theory. The article is an edited version of the author’s trial lecture for the PhD degree.