ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to interrogate the sharp rise over the last ten years or so in scholarship on the history of medieval and early modern music and emotions (1100–1700). The problem is that though there has been an escalation in scholarship in the area of music and emotions, most of it is cognitive and philosophical and has more to contribute to psychology, physiology and medicine than it has relevance to history. It is the separation of emotion and reason in modern academic discourse that hinders our understanding of the medieval and early modern integration of these in a range of intellectual endeavours, but particularly in music. The human experience is enveloped within the emotional sphere, itself generated by that of music. Of the arts, music is particularly powerful in creating emotional worlds for its audiences, and should be considered especially valuable in the unlocking of emotional histories.
