This is a list of possible subjects related to music between ancient times and 1750. This is not a definitive list, but is intended to start you thinking about what areas you might be interested in investigating as you work to develop a topic for your research project. For advice on narrowing down from a broad subject area to a specific topic, see How to Write a Music History Paper.
In choosing a topic, think about what excites you about music. What are you most curious about? You might start with a very broad question--such as "Why does music affect my feelings?"--and find a subject by gradually narrowing down. "How did Baroque opera composers convey the feelings of their characters through music?" is still too broad, but a comparison of a French to an Italian composer, or Monteverdi's first opera to his last, in terms of this question would make an excellent topic.
Topics dealing chiefly with the history of an instrument are generally discouraged. We have found that research papers on these topics tend to be merely descriptive or encyclopedic, lacking the thesis and argument that we expect from the research paper. You may, however, address the history of music written for or performed on a certain instrument, or look at the way changes in the instrument may have influenced the music written for it (or vice versa).
Topics dealing with a single body of music tend to be less successful than comparative papers or papers that place a body of music within its social and cultural setting.. Suppose you propose a paper on the solo cello suites of J. S. Bach. Then what? What will you say about those suites? Far better would be a comparison of some sort: for example, how does Bach's use of the cello in these pieces compare to accompanied cello music of the time, or to earlier unaccompanied music for strings? Or, how do they relate to earlier suites? Or, what function or functions did they serve, and how did that affect the music? Or what meaningful associations did the dance rhythms carry, and how did Bach use those meanings in these suites? Be creative, but don't just write a paper "about" your topic.
Evidence for Music in the Ancient Near East
The Role of Music in Greek Society
Greek Music Theory
Ethos and Music in Ancient Greece
Music and the Ideal State: Plato and Aristotle
Music in the Roman World (no Roman music survives, so this would
be about the social roles of music)
Music in the Bible
The Relation of Christian Musical Practices to Those of Judaism
Music Education in the Middle Ages
Medieval Adaptations of Greek Theory
The Writings of Boethius
Augustine [or another Christian writer] and the Ethics of Music
Rhythmic Interpretation of Gregorian Chant
The Influence of Byzantine Chant on Gregorian Chant
Centonization: Common Melodic Formulas in a Selected Chant Repertoire
Guido of Arezzo and Solmization
Tropes
Liturgical Drama
Instrumental Dances (e.g., characteristic of different countries)
Music of the Troubadours and Trouvères
Minnesingers
Refrains in Medieval Secular Music
Development of:
Women and Music in the Sixteenth Century
Renaissance Tuning Systems
The Rise of Tertian Sonorities
Comparison of early and late works of a composer
Comparison of two or more composers
Musical Borrowing in the Renaissance Mass (or chanson or Magnificat)
Masses with the same cantus firmus (e.g., "L'homme armé," "Caput")
Musical Professionalism within the Church
Music of the Reformation (Lutheran, Anglican, Calvinist)
Sources of Lutheran Chorales
Polyphony in the Renaissance Synagogue
Music and the Counter-Reformation
Music in Spain
Polyphony in the New World
The Organ Mass
Music at St. Mark's, Venice
Music in Convents
Early Music Printers and Printing
The Villancico
Musical Expression of Text
Sixteenth-Century Madrigal: Musical/Poetic Relationships
The English Madrigal
Elizabethan Keyboard Music
Music in Elizabethan Drama (e.g., Shakespeare)
National Styles of Song in the Renaissance
Comparison of two or more settings of the same text by different
composers
Use of Instruments in Renaissance Vocal Music
Instrumental Music Forms (ricercar, canzona, toccata, fantasy)
Instrumental Dance Music: Paired Dances
Dance Music and Steps
Development of Instrumental Consorts or "Families"
Ornamentation in Renaissance Instrumental Music
The Practice of Improvisation
Pre-1600 Musical Drama (opera's predecessors)
Renaissance Cosmology and the Music of the Spheres
Improvisation in Baroque Music
The Florentine Camerata
Monteverdi's Early and Late Operas: A Comparison
Opera and Patronage
The Role of Castrati in Baroque Opera
Women Composers: Barbara Strozzi, Francesca Caccini, or Elisabeth Jacquet
de la Guerre
Social Context and Role of Opera (in a specific phase and/or nation)
The Conservatories of Naples
The Venetian Ospedali and the Training of Female Musicians in
Venice
Baroque Music for the Synagogue
The Reception and Influence of Italian Opera in France
Music as a Tool of the State in the France of Louis XIV
Lully and French Opera
The Aesthetics of French Baroque Music
Charpentier and the Jesuits in France
Purcell and English Opera
Characteristics of Neapolitan Opera
The Rise of Figured Bass
Development of the
Last updated: 17 August 2007
URL: http://www.music.indiana.edu/som/courses/m401/M401sareas.html
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