Global Encounters in Music History

About this course:

From the ports of Spain to the missions of Peru, from the trading cities of Japan to the coasts of Africa and Brazil, Western music traveled vast oceans in the wake of ships, merchants, and missionaries. In this course, we explore how music circulated across the globe in the early modern period, tracing the ways European musical traditions were transported, adapted, and transformed far from their origins. We examine the meeting points of cultures—in the churches of New Spain, the Jesuit missions of Cuzco, the encounter between Western and Japanese court music, the fusion of European and African rhythms, and the vibrant hybrids that emerged in colonial Brazil. Through maps, historical documents, and audio recordings, we uncover how navigation, trade, and empire reshaped music into a global language. This course will be recorded. Students will have access to videos for the duration of the course.