Conference Agenda

In recent decades, scholarly mobility has increasingly been framed as a driver of intellectual innovation. Yet the history of musicology suggests a more complex dynamic of mediation, adaptation, and institutional negotiation.

This paper examines the transatlantic careers of German émigré musicologists Willi Apel and Hans Tischler to explore how scholarly mobility shaped the emergence of American musicology in the mid-twentieth century. Based on an archival study of personal papers, editorial projects, and records of the American Musicological Society, I argue that the consolidation of the discipline was neither a straightforward European “transfer” nor a unilateral process of American professionalization.

Through case studies of their editorial work in early music, this archival research shows how these scholars contributed foundational research while simultaneously reshaping curricula, mentoring practices, and standards of scholarly rigor. These processes illustrate that the transfer of knowledge was not unilateral; rather, it was a negotiated co-production in which German philological traditions and American institutional structures mutually informed each other.

By foregrounding these reciprocal dynamics, this study reframes scholarly mobility as a constitutive element in the formation of disciplinary norms and professional infrastructures. It challenges simple narratives of “brain gain” and offers historical insight into the structural conditions that continue to shape musicological careers across national contexts. In doing so, it highlights the enduring significance of transnational exchange for both the intellectual development and the institutionalization of the discipline.