ABSTRACT
This chapter examines early theoretical reflections on applied musicology by Philipp Spitta (1841– 1894), Hermann Kretzschmar (1848–1924), Guido Adler (1855–1941), and Charles Seeger (1886– 1979), whose ideas galvanised the field and charted new courses for music’s (and musicology’s) relationships with different socio-cultural situations. Their positions range from a principled rejection of an applied function of musicology to considerations of the role of the discipline in the development of the art of music, in the organisation of musical life, and in serving non-musical social and political purposes. The chapter therefore not only exposes the roots of contemporary debates but also provides a historically informed problematisation of the very notion of ‘application’ in the context of musicology.
