The Institute of Musicology is an important centre of Czech musicology with the longest tradition in the country. The history of musicology at the University of Prague dates back to 1865 and is linked with several founding figures of the field, such as August Wilhelm Ambros, Guido Adler, or Paul Nettl.
Thanks to its research activities, our Institute still represents a significant place on the map of European and world musicology after more than one hundred and sixty years.
The Institute of Musicology currently offers full-time studies in musicology at the Bachelor’s and Master’s level in Czech (single- or two-discipline studies) and full-time and combined doctoral studies in musicology in Czech, German and English.
The Institute of Musicology has a well-equipped library with modern research facilities and access to specialized musicological on-line databases.
Today, the Institute of Musicology brings together a diverse and open society of teachers and students of various scientific expertise, musical skills and cultural interests. As teachers, we work together to pass on to new generations of students not only the knowledge we have gained and our thinking about music, but above all to encourage diverse and innovative ways of thinking and writing about the infinitely diverse world of music that never ceases to fascinate us.
We consider the close connection between teaching and scholarship to be the greatest strength of our Institute. In this we follow our best historical tradition. Quality always takes precedence over quantity, individuality over anonymity, and collegial relations over authority. Like the excellent universities of the world, we therefore pride ourselves on small-group study and the seminar system of teaching. We firmly believe that this is the way of studying that makes the most sense and provides students with a solid foundation of critical thinking and writing.
Our own individual research focuses on a number of topics. We have a strong historical tradition in the study of music before 1600, the area of Gregorian chant, medieval polyphony and Renaissance musical culture in the Czech lands, and the notational and editorial practice of this music.
In the areas of post-1600 music, Baroque music, Classical music, and music of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, several of us are concerned with issues of musical theatre in the Czech lands in a broader European context. In the context of 19th and 20th century Czech music, some colleagues study the area of domestic compositional production and its reception, but also, for example, issues of music and nationalism and editorial practice in 19th century Czech music.
The historical and Western domain of musicology has been complemented in recent years by the cultural studies of music, specifically ethnomusicological research on South African popular and religious musical culture and cultural analysis of 20th and 21st century musical theatre.