The British Library, supported by The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities, will host an international conference in 2014 exploring music during the First World War.
It will be held on the 30th-31st August 2014 in London.
The conference will mark the Centenary of the outbreak of war and consider “the multiple and complex roles of music during the conflict”.
“For civilians and soldiers alike, music of all kinds played a central part in the battle, whether as entertainment, as a powerful means to boost morale, as a vehicle of government propaganda, as a therapeutic tool, or as part of commemoration rituals”.
The British Library considers the Centenary a “timely opportunity to reconsider the fundamental role of music and musicians during the exceptional circumstances of 1914–1918”.
This conference will provide a forum for musicologists, cultural historians, and other scholars to discuss the contribution of music in all its forms to the war, “whether Western Art or popular music, on the home or fighting fronts, and in combatant or non-combatant countries”.
Source: British Library website
Images courtesy of the British Library
Posted by: Daniel Barry, Centenary News