Symposium
Listening to Fear: Music, Emotion, and Crisis in Eurasia, 1550–1750
6–8 May 2026
Festsaal (Seilerstätte 26, 1010 Vienna)
This interdisciplinary symposium explores how fear shaped early modern Eurasian societies (1550–1750) through the lens of sound and music, with a focus on the often-overlooked lands bridging the Habsburg and Ottoman monarchies. By bringing together experts on the histories of emotions, the body, and the senses with scholars in music and sound studies, it will examine the ways that fear was used as a tool of authority, a response to crisis, and as a spiritual and embodied force. Topics to be discussed range from sonic strategies of protection in Christian or Muslim traditions to the emotional resonance of music in moments of war, plague, and migration. In doing so, this symposium aims to explore the shared human experiences that emerge when fear and sound intersect and to thereby challenge entrenched narratives of division.
Programme
Wednesday, 6 May 2026
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PANEL 1 |
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10:00–10:20 |
Welcome and Introduction Linda Pearse, Marie Louise Herzfeld-Schild, Scott L. Edwards |
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10:20–10:50 |
Una McIlvenna The Manipulation of Fear in Early Modern Disaster Ballads |
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10:50–11:00 |
Florian Kasseroler Lightning Talk |
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COFFEE BREAK |
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KEYNOTE 1 |
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11:30–12:30 |
Andreas Bähr, Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder, GER) The Power of Fear and the Power of Sounds in Early Modernity |
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12:30–13:15 |
Workshop with Andreas Bähr |
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LUNCH BREAK |
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PANEL 2 |
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14:50–15:20 |
Vladimír Maňas The Last Two Waves of Plague in Baroque Brno (Moravia): The Role of Music in Public Processions and Other Rituals |
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15:20–15:30 |
Delilah Rammler Lightning Talk |
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15:30–16:00 |
Agata Katarzyna Meissner |
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COFFEE BREAK |
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KEYNOTE 2 |
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16:30–17:30 |
Jacob Olley, Durham University (UK) Speaking Mountains, Shrieking Vampires, and Whistling Djinns: Sonic Supernaturalism in the Ottoman World |
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17:30-18:15 |
Workshop with Jacob Olley |
Thursday, 7 April 2026
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PANEL 3 |
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9:50–10:20 |
Linda Pearse Bells and the Adhān: Sonic Rituals and Fear in the Austrian Habsburg–Ottoman War (1593–1606) |
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10:20–10:30 |
Elina Viluma-Helling Lightning Talk |
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10:30–11:00 |
Salih Demirtaş Sonic Traces of Order against the Fear of Decline: Aural Vision in the Post-Passarowitz Ottoman World |
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COFFEE BREAK |
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KEYNOTE 3 |
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11:30–12:30 |
Nina Macaraig, previously Koç University (TUR), independent scholar Sound Measures against Disease and Death: The Soundscapes of Ottoman Hospitals and Tombs |
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12:30–13:15 |
Workshop with Nina Macaraig |
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LUNCH BREAK |
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PANEL 4 |
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14:50–15:20 |
Hee Seng Kye |
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15:20–15:30 |
Blake Shepherd Lightning Talk |
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15:30–16:00 |
Vijay Ratiney |
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COFFEE BREAK |
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KEYNOTE 4 |
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16:30–17:30 |
Alexander Fisher, University of British Columbia (CAN) |
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17:30–18:15 |
Workshop with Alexander Fisher |
Friday, 8 May 2026
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PANEL 5 |
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9:30–10:00 |
Leonie Krempien ‘And be your Loves Immortal as your Fames!’ War, Patriotism, and Witchcraft in Dennis/Eccles' Rinaldo (1698) |
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10:00–10:30 |
Martin Čurda Storms, Furies, and Divine Wrath in Early-Eighteenth-Century Vocal-Instrumental Music |
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COFFEE BREAK |
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KEYNOTE 5 |
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11:00–12:00 |
Bettina Varwig, Cambridge University (UK) |
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12:00–12:45 |
Workshop with Bettina Varwig |
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12:45–13:00 |
Final Remarks |
Organizers:
Dr. Linda Pearse, Canada Research Chair in Music, Contact, and Conflict, Mount Allison University
Dr. Marie Louise Herzfeld-Schild, Professor of Music, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw)
Dr. Scott L. Edwards, Assistant Professor, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw)
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