Universitat de València Faculty of Geography and History Conference Room welcomed the book presentation of 'The Making of European Music in the Long Eighteenth Century' by renowned musicologist David R. M. Irving (ICREA - Milà i Fontanals Institution).
This act was organised by the project 'Ciutats sonores. Fonosferes urbanes de la Mediterrània (1500-1900' ('Sound cities. Urban phonospheres of the Mediterranean [1500-1900]') (www.uv.es/fonurmed), participating the project main researcher Andrea Bombi.
Irving asks a provocative question: 'when was European music born?' in order to spark critical exploration of colonial and ideological origins of a concept that has shaped Western musical historiography. This book analyses how labels such as 'European music' or 'Western music' emerged between the 1670s and 1820s to build history in contexts of intercultural meeting and comparison, particularly with Jesuitical texts form China, Paraguay and Europe.
With a transdiciplinary approach integrating global history, etnomusicology and post-colonial theory, Irving addressed anachronism and presentism in the use of these topics, defending a reflexive, critic and decolonising musical historiography.
