Representations of trauma in the modernist musical artwork

This project represents the first significant attempt to link musicology with the interdisciplinary field of trauma studies. It focuses on the ways in which the lives and work of Soviet composers were shaped by their experiences of war, revolution, genocide, and living under a suppressive totalitarian regime. These are topics of key importance, but they have yet to be investigated more comprehensively. 

The project will culminate in a conference exploring wider questions about the links between music and trauma. The findings will inform a larger collaborative programme of research investigating the centrality of trauma for understanding musical creativity in the modernist era.