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Each year, students in the IU Department of Musicology have the opportunity to apply for grants and fellowships that support travel, research, and study abroad. These funds, generously provided by donors and departmental supporters, help students access archives, participate in language programs, and engage with primary sources and cultural contexts crucial to their research.

This past year, two of our musicology Ph.D. students were able to perform archival research at key locations related to their work. In July, Yishai Rubin was able to visit Germany and Austria, thanks to the  Peter Burkholder and Doug McKinney Musicology Research Travel Fund. Jacqueline Fortier just recently returned from her trip to Fort-de-France, the capital of Martinique, thanks to the A. Peter Brown and Carol V. Brown Research Travel Fund. Below, they share highlights from their recent travels as well as some thoughts about how these experiences enriched their research and inspired new directions in their studies.

Last summer, I had the precious opportunity to conduct archival research in Germany and Austria. My trip was made possible by the very generous support of the Peter Burkholder and Doug McKinney Musicology Research Travel Fund, for which I am immensely grateful.

My current research focuses on musical activities involving the Jewish community of Bonn in the mid-to-late eighteenth century. So far, my work in the topic led me to look at manuscript copies of notated synagogue music, rabbinical publications in Hebrew, historical German newspapers, as well as many financial and legal documents, a lot of which became accessible to me thanks to the recent trip. A figure that is naturally ever-present in the background of my inquiry is Ludwig van Beethoven, who was born and raised in Bonn during the same time period, and whose relations to the city’s Jews are yet to be fully investigated.

My visit in Europe certainly had its share of Beethoveniana, as I unexpectedly stumbled upon one of Beethoven’s best-known letters while I was plowing through archival materials at the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv in Vienna—now I can proudly say that I held an autograph Beethoven manuscript in my hands!

—Yishai Rubin

My recent research travel has greatly impacted my dissertation research in many ways. I was able to make great strides in my fieldwork. I met with a good number of local musicians, scholars, and avid listeners who gave me crucial information on the rich and complex state of music on the island, past and present. I was also able to attend various musical performances around Martinique, testifying to the island’s vibrant and diverse musical life. These include bèlè drumming and dance performances, zouk concerts, and intimate reggae and ragga evenings in local restaurants.

I spent time working in the Schoelcher Library, the library of the Université des Antilles, as well as the Archives Territoriales de la Martinique. The materials held in these spaces include various music periodicals from the late 20th century that pertain to my research as well as books and dissertations that are hard to access outside of the island. I also worked with the fonds Sully Cally, which includes hours of interviews with musicians on the island, which has aided in strengthening my knowledge of music history in Martinique. I am extremely thankful to Carol V. Brown for establishing the A. Peter Brown and Carol V. Brown Research Travel Fund. Without this funding, I would not have been able to pursue this trip which has been central to my research.

I’ve included a few pictures. First, the beautiful bibliothèque Schoelcher, situated in Fort-de-France, the capital of Martinique. This library is not only a fantastic resource for my research but also an important historical monument. Second, a picture of the anse Figuier beach, one of the many beautiful beaches in Martinique where I like to spend my time when I am not working.

—Jacqueline Fortier

Addendum: We are delighted to share that Jacqueline Fortier has been awarded the M. Elizabeth C. Bartlet Fund for Research in France (2024) for her project, “Sounding Martinican Identity through Popular Music in the 21st Century.” This prestigious award supports doctoral and post-doctoral musicological research in France and honors the memory of M. Elizabeth C. Bartlet, a renowned scholar of French music. Congratulations to Jackie for this remarkable achievement!

Students in the IU Department of Musicology have the opportunity to apply for grants and fellowships that support travel, research, and study abroad. These funds, generously provided by donors and department supporters, help students access archives, participate in language programs, and engage with primary sources and cultural contexts crucial to their research. Learn more about IU Musicology funding opportunities here.

Thanks to the A. Peter Brown and Carol V. Brown Research Travel Fund, the Peter Burkholder and Doug McKinney Musicology Research Travel Fund, the W. Richard Shindle Musicology Fund, the Laura S. Youens-Wexler Musicology Travel Fund, the David Henry Jacobs International Overseas Study Musicology Fellowship, the Jacobs Student Travel Committee, and the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship, the three students featured in this travel blog—Mingfei Li, Kaylee Feller-Simmons, and Sarah Sabol—were able to travel abroad for both research and language learning.

I am grateful for a very fruitful summer I spent in Germany and Austria funded by the A. Peter Brown and Carol V. Brown Research Travel Fund and the David Henry Jacobs International Overseas Study Musicology Fellowship. This study and research trip has allowed me to access archival materials that had been previously difficult to access. Thanks to this support I visited archives in Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Vienna, where I examined manuscripts of these repertories and established connections with archivists. Having the opportunity to spend time with these performance materials has shaped my dissertation topic and furthered my research.

While in Vienna, I enrolled in intensive German courses at the University of Vienna, which has greatly enhanced my language skills for working with German-language primary sources. Sightseeing in Bavaria and Vienna during my free time also provided me with more well-rounded understandings of the culture, people, and language related to my dissertation research – not to mention that it was fun, too.

—Mingfei Li

I’d like to express my gratitude to the W. Richard Shindle Fund for Musicological Research and Travel that allowed me to conduct my research in the Netherlands this summer. This funding supported enrollment in an intensive early modern Dutch paleography course at Columbia University, providing the tools I need to translate antiquated Dutch vocabulary and historical scripts, as well as a three-week stay in Den Haag, where I viewed the 17th century Dutch songbooks that will be the center of my forthcoming dissertation.

This trip was crucial to my studies and well-timed: seeing the primary sources in person helped me make sense of a massive repertoire, which redirected and focused the scope of my dissertation proposal. I now have a greater understanding of the materials with which I am working (and a greater appreciation of Dutch street food).

—Kaylee Feller-Simmons

This summer, I received funding from the David Henry Jacobs International Overseas  Study Musicology Fellowship, the Laura S. Youens-Wexler Musicology Travel Fund, the JSOM Travel Fund, and the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship to take an intensive course in Italian for seven weeks in Verona and begin archival research at the Accademica Filarmonica of Verona in preparation for writing the proposal for my dissertation, which focuses on Italian academies in the sixteenth century.

My language studies went well, and I improved my Italian from a B1 level to a B2. At the Accademia Filarmonica archive, I had the opportunity to examine all the extant madrigal prints dedicated to the academy. Highlights of the summer definitely include seeing Turandot and Aida at the Arena di Verona! In addition to studying in Italy, I had to opportunity to present my paper “Taking Up the Cross: Difficulty, Effort, and Contemplation in Three Cruciform Riddles” at MedRen in Granada in July and connect with other early music scholars.

—Sarah Sabol