
Dr Michael Fend
Emeritus Reader in Musicology
Research interests
- Music
Biography
Michael Fend studied Musicology, German Literature, and Philosophy at the Universities of Marburg and TU and FU Berlin (MA 1980, PhD 1983). Before joining King's College London in 1993, he taught at the Universities of Aberdeen and Nottingham. In the 1980s he was a fellow of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the Society for the Humanities (Cornell University), the DAAD at the Warburg Institute (London) and the Maison des sciences de l'homme (Paris). Following his Habilitation in 2005, he was also Privatdozent at the University of Bayreuth. In 2005 he was Visiting Professor at the University of Hamburg.
Research Interests and PhD Supervision
- Intellectual and Political History of Music
- Nationalism in Music
- Opera
- Music and Law
My first research project dealt with early modern controversies among music theorists and composers concerning the status of arithmetic and aesthetic categories in evaluating musical progress. My second research project explored the conditions under which composers worked during the French revolutionary period, focussing on Luigi Cherubini's opera dramaturgies, contemporary aesthetics and institutional practices. A new book, which investigates Cherubini's career as a whole, is still in progress. PhD supervision on Musical Culture and Aesthetics in France and Germany around 1800, and on Wagner.
Teaching
MMus modules on History of Music Theory from Antiquity to 19th Century, Faust in Music, History and Criticism, Enlightenment and, in particular, on Late Beethoven. BMus modules ranged from the early modern period to 1950s Music Avant-garde. In 2019 I convened (together with Drs Johnson Okpaluba, Ananay Aguilar, and Esther Cavett) an inter-departmental module on Music and Law.
Expertise and public engagement
External PhD Supervision (University of Utrecht); External PhD Examining (Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, Royal Holloway, Université de Poitiers); Member of Steering Committee in Balzan Project Towards a Global History of Music, directed by Reinhard Strohm (2013-2017); Advisor for European Research Council, European Science Foundation, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Oesterreichischer Wissenschaftsfond, National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities of Italy, Swiss National Science Foundation, German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development, Czech Academy of Sciences, National Science Centre Poland, Universitaet der Künste Berlin, AMS, Il Saggiatore, Yale University Press, Routledge, CUP, OUP; essay contributions for Opera Brussels and Wexford; Humanities Recognition of Distinction Committee, University of Oxford.
Selected publications
- "Opera", The Oxford Handbook of Western Music and Philosophy, ed. Tom McAuley, Nanette Nielsen, Gerold Levinson, and Ariana Phillips-Hutton (Oxford, 2020), 601-627.
- "Romantic Empowerment at the Paris Opera in the 1770s and 1780s", Music and Letters, 94.2 (2013), 263-294.
- Cherubini's Pariser Opern 1788-1803 (Beihefte zum Archiv fuer Musikwissenschaft, Vol. 59) (Stuttgart, 2007).
- "Hugo Riemann's Challenge to the Conservatory and the Modernists' Challenge to Riemann", Music Education in Europe (1770-1914): Compositional, Institutional, and Political Challenges (European Science Foundation: Musical Life in Europe, 1600-1900), ed. Michael Fend and Michel Noiray, 2 vols (Berlin, 2005), II, 399-430.
- "The Changing Functions of 'Senso' and 'Ragione' in Italian Music Theory of the late Sixteenth Century", The Second Sense. Studies in Hearing and Musical Judgement from Antiquity to the Seventeenth Century (Warburg Institute Surveys and Texts, vol. 22), ed. Charles Burnett, Michael Fend, and Penelope Gouk (London, 1991), 199-223.
From Silence to Sound. Beethoven's Beginnings. By JeremyYudkin. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. 2020. xx + 424pp. $95/£65 (hb). ISBN 978‐1‐78327‐479‐6
Fend, M., 4 Oct 2022, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies. 46, 1Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
Opera
Fend, M., Dec 2020, Oxford Handbook of Western Music and Philosophy. McAuley, T., Nielsen, N. & Levinson, J. (eds.). New York: Oxford University Press, p. 601-627 27 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Cherubini's 'Medee' on the contemporary Opera Stage: A harrowing Attraction
Fend, M., 26 Feb 2019, (Accepted/In press) Medee dans tous ses etats. Elart, J. & Taieb, P. (eds.). Rouen, 11 p. (Changer d'epoque).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
From Immigrant Musician to State Employee: Cherubini's Career in Paris in the 1790s
Fend, M., Dec 2018, Cherubini Studies: Atti del Convegno Cherubini, Benevento 2018. Menchelli-Buttini, F., Arfini, M. T. & Pantini, E. (eds.). Sinzig: Studio Verlag, Vol. 3. p. 263-278 16 p. (Cherubini Studies).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Cherubinis Institutionalisierung
Fend, M., 29 Jun 2016, (Accepted/In press) Cherubini Studies. Geyer, H. (ed.). Sinzig: Studio Verlag, Vol. 2. 11 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference paper
Die Bedingungen des 'beleidigten Ohres'. Italienische Kontrapunkttheorie zwischen Vicentino und Artusi
Translated title of the contribution: Stipulations of the 'offended ear'. Italian Theory of Counterpoint between Vicentino and ArtusiFend, M., 2013, Handbuch der Musik der Renaissance 2. Komponieren in der Renaissance. Lehre und Praxis. Calella, M. (ed.). Laaber: Laaber, p. 173-216Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Historical alternatives to a poststructuralist reading of Johannes Kepler's harmony of the world
Fend, M., 1 Jan 2013, In: OPERA QUARTERLY. 29, 3-4, p. 328-334 7 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
L'influence sur Debussy des procédés de composition non européens
Translated title of the contribution: The Influence of non-european compositional methods on Debussy Fend, M., 2013, Regards sur Debussy. Chimenes, M. & Laederich , A. (eds.). Paris: Fayard, p. 357-369 13 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Romantic Empowerment at the Paris Opera in the 1770s and 1780s
Fend, M., 11 Jul 2013, In: MUSIC AND LETTERS. 94, 2, p. 263-294 32 p., N/A.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
'German Bel Canto': Nineteenth-Century German Singing Manuals in a Political Context
Fend, M., 2012, L’insegnamento dei conservatori, la composizione e la vita musicale nell’Europa dell’Ottocento. Sirch, L. (ed.). Lucca: Libreria Musicale Italiana, p. 89-107 19 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Cosimo Bartoli and the Language of Musical Experience in Sixteenth-Century Italy: Bartoli is shown as the first author in early modern Europe to have accorded instrumental music the status of deserving "attention"; the rhythmic freedom in Francesco da Milano's lute fantasies may have been the cause for this privilege.
Fend, M., 2011, Cosimo Bartoli (1503-1572). Fiore, F. (ed.). Florence: Leo S. Olschki, p. 131-139 9 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Ingenuous Entertainment and Reveries: Music in some English Country Houses in the Late Eighteenth Century
Fend, M., 2011, Innenseiten des Gartenreichs. Die Wörlitzer Interieurs im englisch-deutschen Kulturvergleich. Holm, C. (ed.). Mitteldeutscher Verlag, p. 41-53 13 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
MELANCHOLY MUSE Michael Fend salutes Cherubini on the 250th anniversary of his birth
Fend, M., Nov 2010, In: OPERA. 61, 11, p. 1333 - + 9 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Witnessing a ‘Process of Rationalisation’? A Review Essay of Max Weber’s Study on Music
Fend, M., Jan 2010, In: Max Weber Studies. 10, 1, p. 101-120 20 p., N/A.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review
An Instinct for Parody and Spirit for Revolution: Parisian Opera 1752-1801
Fend, M., 2008, The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Music. Keefe, S. (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 295-330 35 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Cherubinis Pariser Opern (1788-1803)
Translated title of the contribution: Cherubinis Pariser Opern (1788-1803) Fend, M., 2007, Stuttgart: Steiner Verlag.Research output: Book/Report › Book
Musical Education in Europe (1770-1914). Compositional, Institutional, and Political Challenges
Fend, M. (Editor) & Noiray, M. (Editor), 2005, Berlin: Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag.Research output: Book/Report › Book
Riemann's challenge to the conservatory and the modernists' challenge to Riemann
Fend, M., 2005, Musical Education in Europe (1770-1914). Compositional, Institutional, and Political Challenges. Fend, M. & Noiray, M. (eds.). Berlin: Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, p. 399 - 430 32 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Reading Renaissance music theory: Hearing with the eyes (review)
Fend, M., 2003, In: EARLY MUSIC. 31, 4, p. 618 - 619 2 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review
Die Haut oder der Hut? Zur Geschichlichkeit musikalischer Anschauungs- und Denkformen
Translated title of the contribution: Die Haut oder der Hut? Zur Geschichlichkeit musikalischer Anschauungs- und DenkformenFend, M., 2002, Anschauungs- und Denkformen in der Musik. Haas, M., Marx, W. & Reckow, F. (eds.). Bern: Peter Lang, p. 69 - 117 49 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Ist die Aufführung eine Funktion der musikalischen Form? – Zu Erwin Stein
Translated title of the contribution: Ist die Aufführung eine Funktion der musikalischen Form? – Zu Erwin SteinFend, M., 2002, Die Lehre von der musikalischen Aufführung in der Wiener Schule. Grassl, M. & Kapp, R. (eds.). Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, p. 317 - 347 31 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Die ästhetische Kategorie des Erhabenen und die Entdeckung der Alpen in der Musik
Fend, M., 2000, Schweitzer Töne: Die Schweiz im Spiegel der Musik. Unknown Publisher, p. 29 - 43 15 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference paper
The Problem of the French Revolution in Music Historiography and Music
Fend, M. & Greer, D. (Editor), 2000, Musicology and Sister Disciplines: Past, present, Future: (Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of the IMS, London, 1997). London: Oxford University Press, p. 239 - 250 12 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference paper
From Silence to Sound. Beethoven's Beginnings. By JeremyYudkin. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. 2020. xx + 424pp. $95/£65 (hb). ISBN 978‐1‐78327‐479‐6
Fend, M., 4 Oct 2022, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies. 46, 1Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
Opera
Fend, M., Dec 2020, Oxford Handbook of Western Music and Philosophy. McAuley, T., Nielsen, N. & Levinson, J. (eds.). New York: Oxford University Press, p. 601-627 27 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Cherubini's 'Medee' on the contemporary Opera Stage: A harrowing Attraction
Fend, M., 26 Feb 2019, (Accepted/In press) Medee dans tous ses etats. Elart, J. & Taieb, P. (eds.). Rouen, 11 p. (Changer d'epoque).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
From Immigrant Musician to State Employee: Cherubini's Career in Paris in the 1790s
Fend, M., Dec 2018, Cherubini Studies: Atti del Convegno Cherubini, Benevento 2018. Menchelli-Buttini, F., Arfini, M. T. & Pantini, E. (eds.). Sinzig: Studio Verlag, Vol. 3. p. 263-278 16 p. (Cherubini Studies).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Cherubinis Institutionalisierung
Fend, M., 29 Jun 2016, (Accepted/In press) Cherubini Studies. Geyer, H. (ed.). Sinzig: Studio Verlag, Vol. 2. 11 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference paper
Die Bedingungen des 'beleidigten Ohres'. Italienische Kontrapunkttheorie zwischen Vicentino und Artusi
Translated title of the contribution: Stipulations of the 'offended ear'. Italian Theory of Counterpoint between Vicentino and ArtusiFend, M., 2013, Handbuch der Musik der Renaissance 2. Komponieren in der Renaissance. Lehre und Praxis. Calella, M. (ed.). Laaber: Laaber, p. 173-216Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Historical alternatives to a poststructuralist reading of Johannes Kepler's harmony of the world
Fend, M., 1 Jan 2013, In: OPERA QUARTERLY. 29, 3-4, p. 328-334 7 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
L'influence sur Debussy des procédés de composition non européens
Translated title of the contribution: The Influence of non-european compositional methods on Debussy Fend, M., 2013, Regards sur Debussy. Chimenes, M. & Laederich , A. (eds.). Paris: Fayard, p. 357-369 13 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Romantic Empowerment at the Paris Opera in the 1770s and 1780s
Fend, M., 11 Jul 2013, In: MUSIC AND LETTERS. 94, 2, p. 263-294 32 p., N/A.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
'German Bel Canto': Nineteenth-Century German Singing Manuals in a Political Context
Fend, M., 2012, L’insegnamento dei conservatori, la composizione e la vita musicale nell’Europa dell’Ottocento. Sirch, L. (ed.). Lucca: Libreria Musicale Italiana, p. 89-107 19 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Cosimo Bartoli and the Language of Musical Experience in Sixteenth-Century Italy: Bartoli is shown as the first author in early modern Europe to have accorded instrumental music the status of deserving "attention"; the rhythmic freedom in Francesco da Milano's lute fantasies may have been the cause for this privilege.
Fend, M., 2011, Cosimo Bartoli (1503-1572). Fiore, F. (ed.). Florence: Leo S. Olschki, p. 131-139 9 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Ingenuous Entertainment and Reveries: Music in some English Country Houses in the Late Eighteenth Century
Fend, M., 2011, Innenseiten des Gartenreichs. Die Wörlitzer Interieurs im englisch-deutschen Kulturvergleich. Holm, C. (ed.). Mitteldeutscher Verlag, p. 41-53 13 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
MELANCHOLY MUSE Michael Fend salutes Cherubini on the 250th anniversary of his birth
Fend, M., Nov 2010, In: OPERA. 61, 11, p. 1333 - + 9 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Witnessing a ‘Process of Rationalisation’? A Review Essay of Max Weber’s Study on Music
Fend, M., Jan 2010, In: Max Weber Studies. 10, 1, p. 101-120 20 p., N/A.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review
An Instinct for Parody and Spirit for Revolution: Parisian Opera 1752-1801
Fend, M., 2008, The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Music. Keefe, S. (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 295-330 35 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Cherubinis Pariser Opern (1788-1803)
Translated title of the contribution: Cherubinis Pariser Opern (1788-1803) Fend, M., 2007, Stuttgart: Steiner Verlag.Research output: Book/Report › Book
Musical Education in Europe (1770-1914). Compositional, Institutional, and Political Challenges
Fend, M. (Editor) & Noiray, M. (Editor), 2005, Berlin: Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag.Research output: Book/Report › Book
Riemann's challenge to the conservatory and the modernists' challenge to Riemann
Fend, M., 2005, Musical Education in Europe (1770-1914). Compositional, Institutional, and Political Challenges. Fend, M. & Noiray, M. (eds.). Berlin: Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, p. 399 - 430 32 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Reading Renaissance music theory: Hearing with the eyes (review)
Fend, M., 2003, In: EARLY MUSIC. 31, 4, p. 618 - 619 2 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review
Die Haut oder der Hut? Zur Geschichlichkeit musikalischer Anschauungs- und Denkformen
Translated title of the contribution: Die Haut oder der Hut? Zur Geschichlichkeit musikalischer Anschauungs- und DenkformenFend, M., 2002, Anschauungs- und Denkformen in der Musik. Haas, M., Marx, W. & Reckow, F. (eds.). Bern: Peter Lang, p. 69 - 117 49 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Ist die Aufführung eine Funktion der musikalischen Form? – Zu Erwin Stein
Translated title of the contribution: Ist die Aufführung eine Funktion der musikalischen Form? – Zu Erwin SteinFend, M., 2002, Die Lehre von der musikalischen Aufführung in der Wiener Schule. Grassl, M. & Kapp, R. (eds.). Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, p. 317 - 347 31 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Die ästhetische Kategorie des Erhabenen und die Entdeckung der Alpen in der Musik
Fend, M., 2000, Schweitzer Töne: Die Schweiz im Spiegel der Musik. Unknown Publisher, p. 29 - 43 15 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference paper
The Problem of the French Revolution in Music Historiography and Music
Fend, M. & Greer, D. (Editor), 2000, Musicology and Sister Disciplines: Past, present, Future: (Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of the IMS, London, 1997). London: Oxford University Press, p. 239 - 250 12 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference paper