The fascination exercised by music over other arts is manifested in a way that is both plural, persistent and subliminal. It is common to recognize this fascination, but it is rare to reflect on its assumptions and consequences, and even less on the diversity of its manifestations. The evanescence, not always incompatible with the precision, of the musical language, its sometimes elliptical or sometimes centrifugal relationship with the mimetic principle and its intrusive or contagious capacity are among the factors that we could evoke, without pretending to be exhaustive, to give account of that fascination.

The theme that serves as a motto for Encontros MUSAS – The Music of the Arts stems from a deviation and a fold: starting from a decentralization – not a distancing – in relation to the practices and knowledge of music, the purpose of meditating is chosen. not so much about the interaction of music with other arts, but above all about the perspective of these other arts, and the knowledge that takes them as an object, about the sound event and experience. It is, therefore, about listening and, so to speak, borrowing the ears not only of those who create or think music, but also those who felt challenged by it to the point of recognizing it as desirable or inevitable, in their own another practical or theoretical work, the reference to the musical.

How does this other perspective, this other look, this other listening, but also this admiration, this astonishment or this distrust, expressed in works, practices and speeches, reoccur on what we understand and experience as music? This is the question that we asked our guests and that we would like to discuss together.

A background note to finish. The Encounters MUSAS – The Music of the Arts appear in the scope of the research project, developed by me under a Marie SkŁodowska-Curie Action of the European Commission, entitled “The Profanation of Opera: Music and Drama on Film”, a project whose ramifications intersect with this debate. This first edition is also part of the seminar on the CESEM / FCSH-NOVA Music Line, Critical Theory and Communication. It is therefore a happy convergence of efforts, motivations and challenges that we are talking about – hoping to continue it, we count on your presence.

View program

Between the 9th of June and the 13th of July the VI Seminar ‘Music, Critical Theory and Communication’ will take place.

This seminar, organized by CESEM’s Critical Theory and Communication Group, introduces a set of ongoing research works, promoting the meeting and discussion between researchers, artists and other interested parties, on a diversity of musicological and artistic topics, in an integrated manner, critical and interdisciplinary, in the context of social sciences.

Six sessions take place between June and July, of which five are presented as thematic panels, bringing together twenty exhibitions that aim to address the composition and reception of orchestral music in Lisbon in the 19th and 20th centuries, the production and circulation of stage music in content audiovisuals off and online, perspectives on music and theater, between radio opera, musical theater and music, processes of production and interpretation of audiovisual works and musical practices in the Aushwitz field and in the state of Goiás, in Brazil.

Organizing committee:
Paula Gomes Ribeiro
Paulo Ferreira de Castro
Filipa Cruz
Maria Fernandes

See the full program of the Seminar here