Institutes … Home Study Institutes Political Music and Power Interdisciplinary Institute for Political Music and Power © Eugène Delacroix, La Liberté guidant le peuple, bearbeitet Skip page navigation Overview Key Research Areas News Publications Cooperations Research projects Return to slider start Music is never just music. It reflects power, shapes identities, inspires protest, and bears witness to political and social change. Throughout history, music has served both as an instrument of authority and as a voice of resistance – revealing the tensions, conflicts, and aspirations of its time. Department of Musicology +43 676 88122 462 sarah.heindl@moz.ac.at The Interdisciplinary Institute for Political Music and Power (IPM) explores the changing roles of music in political and social contexts from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century. Bringing together perspectives from musicology and related disciplines, Researchers investigate music's functions in representation, protest, and public communication, as well as the ways in which music is interpreted, reinterpreted, and misused—and how these processes shape the understanding and history of music itself. This work forms the basis of Political Music History, an innovative approach to music historiography. It understands music as a form of social and political agency through three interconnected fields of inquiry: music of domination, protest music, and music of violence. Together, these perspectives reveal how music not only reflects political realities but also actively participates in shaping them. Key Research Areas Political Music History Music, Society, and the State Music and Democracy Music under National Socialism and Right-Wing Extremism Occupation Music in Denmark (1940–1945): The Reception of Beethoven's Works Cultural Transfer, National Music, and Identity in the Baltic Region (18th–20th Centuries) Musical Functions, Immersion, and Functionalisation Political Popular Music Culture of Remembrance and History of Reception News Call for Papers: BioSphere & TechnoSphere 2 – Emotion and Affect in Musics Beyond the Human 6.7.2026 Call for Papers: BioSphere & TechnoSphere 2 – Emotion and Affect in Musics Beyond the Human Following on from the BioSphere & TechnoSphere 1 conference (Salzburg 2025), the year's conferences aims to place a particular emphasis on issues relating to emotion and the history of emotions. In interdisciplinary research on emotions, emotion and affect are sometimes strictly distinguished conceptually: emotions are understood as cognitive-intentional, communicative, socially shaped and thus historically changeable practices. By contrast, affects are understood as pre-conscious, bodily and instinctive reactions. Open Call Bella Musica and LAUT:SPRECHER included in the ‘Atlas of Good Teaching’ 11.6.2026 Bella Musica and LAUT:SPRECHER included in the ‘Atlas of Good Teaching’ Two projects from Mozarteum University Salzburg have been included in the “Atlas of Good Teaching”, a nationwide platform showcasing innovative teaching initiatives at Austrian universities. The Pre-College ensemble project Bella Musica and the university teaching initiative LAUT:SPRECHER demonstrate how artistic excellence, academic reflection and social responsibility can be combined in higher education in the arts. Both projects provide inspiring examples of participatory, future-oriented teaching practice. News LAUT:SPRECHER and "Erinnerungsorte" 15.12.2025 LAUT:SPRECHER and "Erinnerungsorte" 2025 offers countless opportunities to look back on the past 80 years. The Second World War ended in Europe on 8 May 1945 with “Liberation Day,” marked by Germany’s unconditional surrender and the final collapse of the Nazi regime. In the months leading up to this, Allied forces had liberated the concentration camps. News Yvonne Wasserloos receives Salzburg Culture Fund Award 19.11.2025 Yvonne Wasserloos receives Salzburg Culture Fund Award Yvonne Wasserloos, university professor of musicology, has been awarded the International Grand Prize for Science & Research (worth €12,000) by the Cultural Fund of the City of Salzburg for her outstanding achievements as a researcher, including her work on ‘Music and Power – Dimension and Context’ and her research on the social, political and cultural significance of music – especially in connection with democracy and the culture of remembrance. Congratulations! Awards & Successes Publications Metamorphosen - Musikalischer Wandel im 19. & 20. Jahrhundert Yvonne Wasserloos Metamorphosen - Musikalischer Wandel im 19. & 20. Jahrhundert Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Verlage, Göttingen 2025 Musicology Democracy Laboratory - Perspectives from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Joachim Bicheler, Gudrun Heinrich, Yvonne Wasserloos, Júlia Wéber [Hg.] Democracy Laboratory - Perspectives from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Wochenschau Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 2024 Musicology Interdisciplinary Nothing benefits the state like music. The musical performance of the state Interdisciplinary Musicology Music and Democracy Yvonne Wasserloos [Hg.] Music and Democracy Die Tonkunst e.V., Weimar 2023 Interdisciplinary Musicology Music and right-wing extremism Music Interdisciplinary Musicology Right-wing extremism - music and media Music Interdisciplinary Musicology Music in the Prussian Rhineland (1815-1918) Music Interdisciplinary Musicology Writings on the history of political music Interdisciplinary Musicology Inclusion & Exclusion. 'German' music in Europe and North America 1848-1945 Music Interdisciplinary Musicology Music – Power – State Music Interdisciplinary Musicology All publications Team Skip slider Yvonne Wasserloos Yvonne Wasserloos Univ.-Prof. of Musicology Senate Department Head Head of Institute Faculty Pavle Krstic Pavle Krstic Senior Lecturer in Musicology Faculty Annkatrin Babbe University Assistant / Postdoc (starting October 2026) Employee Faculty Marcos Adrián Hernandez Echeverría Employee Jump to slider start PhD candidate: Johannes Moser Thesis: Robert Schumann's Düsseldorf Piano Works: Continuity and Change in Their Reception Robert Schumann's creative work in Düsseldorf was shaped by his role as City Music Director, resulting primarily in large-scale orchestral and choral compositions. At the same time, he composed a number of works for solo piano that long remained in the shadow of his early piano music and only gradually – and only in part – entered the concert repertoire during the second half of the twentieth century. One reason for this is that the works from Schumann's final creative period were long viewed through the lens of his mental illness. The limited reception of these works and the assumption that they were of inferior quality – often attributed to this perceived "illness" – led to their widespread neglect within musicology. At the same time, the political appropriation of the Violin Concerto in D minor, WoO 23, by the National Socialists demonstrates that, beyond the stigma attached to Schumann's late works, political instrumentalisation also played a significant role in shaping their reception, a topic that has received comparatively little scholarly attention. Drawing on scholarly publications, research literature, and the general press up to 1956, the project traces continuities and changes in the reception of Schumann's Düsseldorf piano works. Its aim is to uncover the factors underlying shifts in Schumann's public image. By examining the period from the works' composition to the Schumann Year of 1956, the thesis explores their reception across different political systems, including the post-war period, in order to identify forms of reception shaped by political agendas. - - - ohannes Moser studied Music Education and Classical Philology at the Mozarteum University Salzburg (Department of Music Education in Innsbruck) and the University of Innsbruck (2013–2020), qualifying as a secondary-school teacher. From 2016 onwards, he also pursued a bachelor's degree in Piano Pedagogy in Innsbruck before completing a master's degree under Prof. Claudius Tanski at the Mozarteum University Salzburg. Since 2024, he has been pursuing a doctorate in musicology at the same institution under the supervision of Prof. Dr. phil. habil. Yvonne Wasserloos, M.A., with the project Robert Schumann's Düsseldorf Piano Works: Continuity and Change in Their Reception. He currently teaches piano and Latin at high schools in Salzburg. In addition to occasional concert appearances as a soloist, he works as a lieder accompanist and rehearsal pianist. His research focuses on the reception of music in sociopolitical contexts, particularly the discourse surrounding "German" and "degenerate" music during the Nazi era. PhD candidate: Josephina Strößner Musical Cultures in a Society Under Dual Transformation: On the Role of East Prussian Displaced Persons in Germany, 1943–1961 This thesis explores music as a catalyst for social change during the period from the beginning of the collapse of the Nazi dictatorship to the construction of the Berlin Wall—a time of profound political, social, and cultural transformation. The dual-transition society that emerged through refugee movements consisted, until the division of Germany, of East Prussian displaced persons and the native population of postwar Germany. Following the establishment of two political systems in 1949, these communities developed in different ways in East and West Germany. Drawing on archival sources and interviews with contemporary witnesses, the study examines music and musical practices through a corpus of musical materials. Using musicological and philological approaches alongside the historical method of oral history, it investigates the composition and functions of this corpus, as well as its continuities and discontinuities. Particular attention is paid to the musical mechanisms that promoted or hindered integration and segregation between the different communities. The thesis asks whether and to what extent encounters through music took place, and how the music and musical practices of East Prussian displaced persons and the native population contributed to the development of the new political systems and to processes of social integration, with a particular focus on the Soviet Occupation Zone (SBZ)/German Democratic Republic (GDR). - - - Josephina Strößner studied teacher training in Music Education and French at the Rostock University of Music and Drama and the University of Rostock (2014–2020). During the winter semester of 2017, she studied abroad through the Erasmus programme at the Pôle Aliénor and the Université de Poitiers in France. Following her First State Examination, she began her doctoral studies in December 2020 under the supervision of Prof. Dr. phil. habil. Yvonne Wasserloos, M.A., working on the project Musical Cultures in a Society Under Dual Transformation: On the Role of East Prussian Displaced Persons in Germany, 1943–1961. She was initially based at the Rostock University of Music and Drama before transferring to the Mozarteum University Salzburg in October 2022. From 2021 to 2022, she was supported by a scholarship from the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania State Graduate Funding Programme. Her thesis is co-supervised by Prof. Dr. phil. habil. Sabine Mecking (Philipps University of Marburg). Her research focuses on the musicology of displacement, the relationship between music and political structures, and musical memory. Cooperations Hochschule Magdeburg-Stendal (Deutschland), Fachbereich Soziale Arbeit, Gesundheit und Medien, Prof.in Dr.in Manuela Schwartz Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (Deutschland), Hochschule für Musik Mainz, Prof. Dr. Birger Petersen Philipps-Universität Marburg (Deutschland), Institut für Hessische Landesgeschichte, Prof.in Dr.in Sabine Mecking Universität Rostock, Netzwerk Bildung und Demokratie Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Deutschland), Landesweiter Arbeitskreis des Zentrums für Lehrerbildung und Bildungsforschung M-V Universität Rostock, Institut für Politik und Verwaltungswissenschaften, Arbeitsstelle politische Bildung und Demokratiepädagogik, Dr.in Gudrun Heinrich Research projects The Reception of Beethoven and His Music in Nazi-Occupied European Countries 1.10.2023 The Reception of Beethoven and His Music in Nazi-Occupied European Countries Although cultural life in various Nazi-occupied countries manifested distinctive differences in outlook between 1939 and 1945, partially accountable to specific national traditions and their historical and ideological relationship to German music and the political situation, one factor that appears to bind all musical activity in these areas is the consistent presence of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven. 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