The Institute of Musicology

History of the Institute

In the 19th century, it was common for the organist of the Münster or the director of the Bernese music society to teach music theory and history at the Philosophical Faculty. In 1912, this task was transformed into teaching positions for church music at the Faculty of Protestant Theology and music theory at the Philosophical Faculty; the State Council elects Ernst Kurth, who was born 1886 in Vienna and received his doctorate from Guido Adler, as "lecturer of music theory".

For further information, please note the reference at the bottom of this page.

History of the Institute
Overview
1920 Ernst Kurth is appointed the position of associate professor.
1921 By establishing the Department of Musicology, the discipline gets included as a doctoral subjects at the University of Bern.
1927 After turning down various positions in Germany, Ernst Kurth gets promoted to full professor.
  Teaching activity of Lucie Dikenmann-Balmer and Max Zulauf.
 1947 Private lecturer Kurt von Fischer takes on lessons on musical notation and New Music.
 1950 After the death of Ernst Kurth in 1946, the Swiss Arnold Geering is elected as the new full professor.
 1962 The Department of Musicology moves from the main building of the university to the Länggasstrasse 7.
 1968 The Hungarian Sándor Veress is appointed the position of associate professor after Lucie Dikenmann-Balmer's retirement. He is promoted to full professor in 1971.
 1973 After Geerings retirement, 40 year old Stefan Kunze is appointed the second ordinariate alongside Veress.
 1975 The training course "music for prospective high school teachers" gets established.
The Department of Musicology moves to the Hallerstrasse 12.
 1977 After the retirement of Veress, the second ordinariate is annulled and instead divided into multiple teaching posts which are filled by senior assistant PD Dr. Victor Ravizza (from 1988 onwards associate professor), the assistants Dr. Peter Ross and Dr. Jürgen Maehder as well as lecturer Gerhard Aeschbacher.
 1992 The Department of Musicology gets renamed to the Institute of Musicology.
 1993 Along with the newly formed Institute of Theatre Studies, the Institute of Musicology moves to the Hallerstrasse 5.
 1994 After the death of Stefan Kunze, Anselm Gerhard is appointed the positions of full professor and insitute manager.
 1996 The Institute celebrates its 75th birthday with an international conference on the history of German Musicology before 1945 (Musikwissenschaft - eine verspätete Disziplin?).
 2006 When associate professor Victor Ravizza resigns from his position, Klaus Pietschmann gets employed as assistant professor.
 2009 After establishing the new professorship of cultural anthropology of music, the Institute now employs three professors. Britta Sweers is appointed as the first female professor.
 2010 Klaus Pietschmann takes on the position as professor at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. Cristina Urchueguía takes his place as assistant professor.
 2011 At the initiative of the Institute of Musicology and the Hochschule der Künste Bern (HKB), the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Bern cooperates with the HKB and the Graduate School of the Arts (GSA) to establish a joint doctoral program that caters to graduates of the HKB interested in research.
 2016 Cristina Urchueguía gets promoted to associate professor.
 2018 The Institute moves to the current location at the Mittelstrasse 43.
2021 Britta Sweers becomes Managing Director of the Institute.

The Institute celebrates its 100 year anniversay with the international conference "Narrating musicology: Fachgeschichte(n) der Musikwissenschaft" ("Narrating musicology: Reviewing the History/Histories of Musicology").
Retirement of the professor Anselm Gerhard.
2022 Lena van der Hoven is appointed Assistant Professor of Music Theater at the University of Bern.