ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book demonstrates how cosmopolitanism might cast new light on historical processes in music, or to concentrate on illustrating cosmopolitanism in action or to debate cosmopolitan values in relation to the music itself. It illustrates how and why the countries that emerged from the collapse of the Spanish Empire, and possessed loosely defined borders, remained open to European culture. The chapter shows the necessity of understanding both the cosmopolitan and colonial setting of Shanghai as a ‘treaty port’. It describes the international array of scholars who have developed a research interest in the criticism and analysis of music from a cosmopolitan perspective. The chapter provides a collection of examples of how cosmopolitan musicology may be put into practice.
