Conference Agenda
The Online Program of events for the 2026 AMS Annual Meeting appears below. This program is subject to change. The final program will be published in early November.
Use the "Filter by Track or Type of Session" or "Filter by Session Topic" dropdown to limit results by type. Some of the sessions are also color-coded: purple indicates performances, grey indicates paper forums, and orange indicates sessions which have been organized by one of the regional associations of IMS (ARLAC or IMSEA). (Sessions which are both IMS sessions and performances are only colored orange.)
Use the search bar to search by name or title of paper/session. Note that this search bar does not search by keyword.
Click on the session name for a detailed view (with participant names and abstracts).
Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 1st Sept 2026, 02:58:00am EDT
|
Daily Overview |
| Session | |
|
Religious Musical Reception and Reform Session Chair: Paul Feller-Simmons, University of Oklahoma | |
    | |
Harmonies of Contention: The Evolution of Music in Faust Narratives of the Late 16th Century Yale University Long before Goethe's drama, the Faust narrative served as a wellspring of inspiration in both literature and music. The origins of this reception can be traced back to the Historia D. Johannis Fausten, which was anonymously published by the Frankfurt printer Johann Spies in 1587. The consensus in literary and theological history holds that the text is imbued with strong polemic and pro-Lutheran overtones. This polemical intent was further elaborated in subsequent adaptations of the narrative. This is particularly evident in the three-volume expansion by Georg Widman (1599). Widman omits passages, adds episodes to the story, and above all, extends the text with theological reflections that transform the Faust narrative into a moralizing devotional book. A comparative analysis between the original Faust book and Widman’s adaptation reveals a shift in Lutheran musical understanding in the late 16th century. The version printed by Spies in 1587 frequently evokes the music of the devil. Instead of adhering to the medieval tradition of portraying this music as dissonant and chaotic, Faust hears sounds reminiscent of monk chants; later, Mephistopheles even employs an ensemble of instruments to seduce Faust with his “Gauckelspiel”. The description of this music (including the term “Gauckelspiel”) incorporates contemporary stereotypes of Lutheran polemic against the music of the Catholic Church. By the end of the 16th century, not only had the musical practice of the Lutheran Church been established (including the use of instruments), but the ongoing conflict with territories that had converted to Calvinism necessitated a profiling of the Lutheran positive disposition towards music against the Calvinist music-critical position. Consequently, in Widman’s version, the birthplace of Faust is moved to Calvinist Anhalt. The depiction of the devil's music is reduced to a few examples, with Widman clearly indicating that it is dance music, which was often negatively connoted even within Lutheranism. The presentation will analyze the version differences of the Faust narrative in the 1587 print and Widman’s adaptation against the backdrop of the music-theological and confessional-political discourses of the late 16th century. In doing so, it will elucidate the evolution of musical understanding within the literary discourse of the time. | |