European Folk Music

by Ulrich Morgenstern

The starting point of folk music research, since the Enlightenment era, are patterns of musical and cultural behavior and expressive qualities which can be regarded as a legacy of social formations which in estate-based societies of Europe more or less easily could have been identified as “the folk” (the “common people”). While it is hardly possible to define Europe in terms of folk music, at least in a regional perspective some tendencies can be described, such as certain tonal-harmonic patterns, a continuous exchange with so-called art music (vertical transfer), since the 18th century, a cross-regional repertoire of dance music and a frequent adaption of non-European impulses (horizontal transfer). Folk music research focuses on musical domains in unwritten cultures (and cultures with a low degree of literacy) and on how musical and artistic accomplishments can be achieved without a formal education and without the fundament of an overall music theory.
The distinction between folk music research and ethnomusicology, reflected in the Department’s name, is not an absolute one and is due to historical reasons (s. paragraph “Austrian-Alpine folk music”.
Since its earliest times, the Department is a place for international exchange. It was the founding director Walter Deutsch who in particular initiated and developed relations with Southeast and Central Eastern Europe.  in besonders auch Kontakte nach Südost- und Ostmitteleuropa knüpfte und ausbaute. His follower as the Chair for History and Theorie of Folk Music, Gerlinde Haid, maintained especially close ties to the neighbouring Alpine countries of Austria in accordance with the concept of a „Musica Alpina“.
This European perspective of the IVE is also reflected in the country focus, in overall research on multipart music, folk musical instruments and instrumental music, and on folk music revival and revitalization.
 

See also Publication list Morgenstern, in particular:

Zehn populäre Vorurteile über Volksmusik (2014)
European Traditions of Solo Multipart Instrumental Music […] (2016)