Early Music Department

The Department of Early Music of the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna aims to be a central locus of historically informed performance practice for instrumentalists and singers within the university. An internationally respected all-round department is to be established where an understanding of the aesthetics of Western music from about 1550 to 1850 is conveyed. A special emphasis here is on Viennese and Austrian music, especially that of the 17th-century imperial court and Viennese classicism. Background knowledge both theoretical and practical provides a foundation upon which students can learn to approach the corresponding repertoire in an independent manner as artists.