BA Music History

Music historians focus on music and musical life in the western tradition, placing particular emphasis on musical genres (e.g. masses and motets, symphonies and string quartets) and styles as well as musical institutions, musical thought, and the accomplishments of individual composers. Music history asks questions about historical change and development why do musical styles change, why do some genres flourish in the sixteenth century and others in the nineteenth It seeks answers to these questions within a broad socio-cultural context that involves the study of religious, political, social, and intellectual transformations that have defined the western experience.