GoingViral ERC

Mark is back from Venice where he presented at the Università Ca' Foscari Venezia - "Early Modern Lutheran shower songs: washing bodies with water and music " - as part of the ERC Research Center project "Water Cultures of Italy, 1500-1900"

Marie was thrilled to give the introductory talk at the symposium ‘Authentic? On Dealing with Emotions in Early Music', which took place at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Musik Akademie Basel_hsm_fhnw) from 23 to 25 November 2023. It was a wonderful opportunity to catch up with dear colleagues, make new friends and learn a lot about how to put theory into practice - and last but not least, to enjoy good food and wine in beautiful pre-Christmas Basel

first photo by: Susanne Drescher

Introducing our PI, Marie Louise Herzfeld-Schild .hs.3 Marie is a University Professor of Musicology at the University of Music and Performing Arts and is deeply passionate about conceptual and methodological questions related to music, medicine and emotions in the past. These also form an essential part of her research for GV, alongside exploring everything she can find on emotional dimensions of musicking during the Great Viennese Plague outbreak of 1679/80 and its aftermath until the last plague struck in Vienna in 1714. She loves to share her enthusiasm for cultural history in science communication projects for people of all ages and, as a member of the Young Academy of the Austrian Academy of Sciences .at is part of an interdisciplinary network of academics committed to improving the working conditions of early career researchers. When she isn't pondering matters of emotions history, she is happiest out and about somewhere in the mountains, which fortunately are only a stone's throw away from beautiful Vienna. 🏔️

Meet Aria Torkanbouri, our PhD researcher! Originally from Tabriz city, Aria brings a wealth of knowledge in composition, music theory, orchestra conducting, and piano, with studies in Graz, Berlin, Baku, Istanbul, and Tehran. Aria earned a Master’s in Ethnomusicology at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw), focusing on the complex interplay of socio-political and music theoretical factors contributing to the decline of Azerbaijan-Turkish Ashiq art over the past century. As part of the GV team, he delves into the emotional dimension of Azerbaijani music during the so-called Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918/19.

Introducing our PhD Researcher, Emma Schrott, who is deeply interested in the multifaceted roles that music plays in the emotional and embodied responses of people during times of crises. Emma joins us with an educational background in (ethno)musicology obtained in Vienna, Paris and Oxford as well as New York-based research experience in oral history. She is excited about contributing to GOING VIRAL by delving into sound and music related dimensions of emotional practices and the transformation of musicking throughout the trajectory of the Spanish Flu in Vienna.

Introducing our Postgraduate Researcher, Mark Seow. Mark comes to us from London. He did his doctoral studies at the Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge. His doctorate was on embodiment, hermeneutics and metaphor in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Mark's work for GV focuses on the conceptualisation for studying music and emotions across history - themes he is currently exploring are resonance as bodily health, and de-tuning in music from Heinrich Biber to Joni Mitchell...

Welcome to Going Viral! GV is the first major study to provide a comparative history of the significance of music in the emotional experiences of pandemics. We are based at the MDW in Vienna and funded by the ERC Research Center. And now to introduce our team…