Academic Papers

I have given academic presentations at conferences and other events internationally since the early 1990s. The list below contains most of them. 

I am adding pdfs of the scripts and (if I used them) powerpoint slides and handouts. For most of the older ones, however, I don't have these materials anymore.

These are free downloads for anyone's research purposes. Please respect my copyright, i.e. don't 'sell' my research as yours and quote me properly, thank you.

Über die Herausforderungen, eine irische Musikgeschichte zu schreiben

[On the challenges of writing an Irish musical history]

11 September 2024, Cologne (Germany), Annual Meeting of the Gesellschaft für Musikwissenschaft (GfM), in cooperation between the Musikwissenschaftlichen Institut der Universität zu Köln and the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz.

'de la ville de Galouay en Hybernie': An Introduction to Henry Madin (1698–1748)

9 June 2023, Dublin (Ireland), TU Dublin Conservatoire, Annual Plenary of the Society for Musicology in Ireland (SMI)

Ireland on Broadway

8 June 2023, Dublin (Ireland), TU Dublin Conservatoire, Irish-American Music Cultures Symposium

Work in Progress: A New History of Irish Music

26 November 2022, Dublin (Ireland), National Concert Hall, REMA Regional Meeting (pdf opens), in the 'Project Presentations' session.

Swan Hennessy: an American in Paris

11 July 2022, Venice (Italy), Palazzetto Bru Zane, Annual Meeting of the France: Musiques, Cultures, 1789–1914 network; see programme (pdf opens).

Swan Hennessy as Victim and Beneficiary of French Musical Networks

3 June 2022, Helsinki (Finland), Sibelius Academy, at Sixth Symposium in Music History, "Agents and Actors – Networks in Music History

Brittany in the Life and Music of Swan Hennessy

9 June 2021, Brest (Brittany, France), Université de Bretagne Occidentale (UBO), international conference "Brittany/North America: Connections, Relations, Interactions" (originally scheduled for 11 June 2020)

Writing a History of Irish (Art) Music

29 May 2021, Dublin (Ireland), Trinity College. Annual Plenary Conference of the Society for Musicology in Ireland (SMI) 27–30 May 2021, in conjunction with the Irish Chapter of the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM Ireland).

Music in and from Ireland: Perspectives on an Ununited Kingdom

7 May 2021, virtual conference (Lucca/Venice/Oviedo): "Between Centres and Peripheries. Music in Europe from the French Revolution until WWI (1789–1914)", 6–8 May 2021, organised by the Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini (Lucca), the Research Group ERASMUSH of the University of Oviedo (Spain), and the Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française (Venice).

Swan Hennessy's Critique of the Avant-garde

28 June 2019, Maynooth, County Kildare (Ireland), Annual Plenary Conference of the Society for Musicology in Ireland (SMI).

Redefining Irish Music

20 September 2018, Dublin (Ireland), Musicology Seminar, University College Dublin

Swan Hennessy's 2nd String Quartet (1920) and its Significance for Ireland

18 June 2017, Belfast (Northern Ireland), Queen's University, Annual Plenary Conference of the Society for Musicology in Ireland (SMI).

"C'est l'entr'acte est une fantaisie sur le boléro de Bosch" – Did Jules Massenet plagiarise a bolero by Jacques Bosch?

and

The Case for an International Encyclopadia of the Classical Guitar

10–12 March 2017, Hemmenhofen (Germany), 6th Lake Konstanz Guitar Research Meeting

Swan Hennessy (1866–1929) and his String Quartet No. 2, Op. 49

5 November 2016, Cork (Ireland), Triskel Arts Centre

Swan Hennessy (1866–1929), or: The Irish Career of an American Composer in Paris

10 June 2016, Dublin (Ireland), St Patrick's College, Dublin City University, Annual Plenary Conference of the Society for Musicology in Ireland (SMI)

"I believe in God, Beethoven and Patrick Pearse" – The Radicalisation of Carl Hardebeck

22 April 2016, Dublin (Ireland), Conference "Music in Ireland: 1916 and beyond", at DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama,

Previously also on 24 April 2015 at preliminary research event in the project 'Music and 1916', funded by the Irish Research Council, Dublin, DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama.

Gilbert Bécaud's Opéra d'Aran (1962) – A Rapprochement

23 May 2014, Dublin (Ireland), National Concert Hall, 10th Annual Conference of the Association of Franco-Irish Studies (AFIS).

Download: script

Symphonies and Accompaniments: 200 Years of Irish Symphonies

20 April 2013, Dublin (Ireland), Symposium 'The Symphony and Ireland', DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama. Download: edited script including appendix

The Career of Franco-Irish Composer Joseph O'Kelly (1828-1885) through the Eyes of the French Press

12 July 2012, Paris (France), University of London Institute, 4th Annual Meeting of the Francophone Music Criticism Network (FMC). 

Download: script (powerpoint presentation to follow)



'O the days of the Kerry dancing!' - Irish Song Composers in Victorian England

16 June 2012, Dundalk, County Louth (Ireland), Dundalk Institute of Technology, 10th Annual Conference of the Society for Musicology in Ireland (SMI). Download: script:

How Ireland Came to Shape Musical Modernism

(a paper about the Irish side of Henry Cowell)

25 June 2011, Dublin (Ireland), Royal Irish Academy of Music, 9th Annual Conference of the Society for Musicology in Ireland (SMI). Download: script.

For copyright reasons I am not allowed to publish my powerpoint slides here, but for your private academic purposes send me a note and I will send it to you.

O'Kelly - An Irish Musical Family in Nineteenth-Century France

27 May 2011, Lille (France), Université de Lille 3, 7th Annual Conference of the Association of Franco-Irish Studies (AFIS). Downloads: script and slides

French Connection: Irish Composers in Nineteenth-Century France

13 July 2010, Durham (England), University of Durham, First International Conference on Irish Music and Musicians. Downloads: script and slides

Adela Maddison (1863-1929) and the Difficulty of Defining an Irish Composer

17 April 2010, Maynooth, County Kildare (Ireland), Maynooth University, Conference "Women and Music in Ireland". Download: script

"A Daughter of Music" - Alicia Adelaide Needham's Anglo-Irish Life and Music

9 July 2009, Dublin (Ireland), Joint Annual Conference of the Society for Musicology in Ireland (SMI) and the Royal Musical Association

(NB.: I removed the downloads in October 2018 because a revised version of this presentation was published in late 2022; see under Articles.)

"Souvenir d'Irlande" - The European Response to Ireland and Irish Music in the Nineteenth Century

25 June 2008, Dublin (Ireland), University College Dublin (UCD), 15th Biennial International Conference on Nineteenth-Century Music. Downloads: script, three handouts, and slides

Further (older) conference presentations:

Celtic Legends in Irish Opera, 1900-1930
10 May 2008, Waterford (Ireland), Annual Conference of the Society for Musicology in Ireland (SMI)

Irish Music Redefined

- October 2004, New York City (USA), American Irish Historical Society (one-hour version for general audience)

- October 2004, Baltimore, Maryland (USA), Peabody Conservatory, Musicology Colloquium (one-hour version for young musicians/musicologists
- October 2004, Princeton, New Jersey (USA), Princeton University, Mid-Atlantic Regional ACIS Conference (20-minute conference version)

Brian Boydell, or The Importance of Being an Irish Composer
October 2004, Boston, Massachusetts (USA), Boston College

Celtic Legends in Irish Opera, 1900-1930
October 2004, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University, Harvard Celtic Colloquium

Charles Villiers Stanford and Cultural Identity in Irish Music
17 September 2004, Weimar (Germany), International Congress of the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung

Cultural Identity in Irish Classical Music
12 July 2004, Liverpool (England), John Moores University, Annual Conference for Irish Studies (ACIS)

"The Distant Music Mournfully Murmereth" - The Influence of James Joyce on Irish Composers
June 2004, Dublin (Ireland), Contemporary Music Centre

Mirror Imaginations - Cultural Reflections Between Irish and German Music, 1930-1970
15 July 2000, Berlin (Germany), International Conference "Music as a Bridge - Musical Relationships between Britain and Germany 1920-1950"

Stage Irish - The National in Irish Opera 1780–1923

September 1998, Dublin (Ireland), Royal Irish Academy of Music, International Musicological Conference to celebrate 150 years of the Academy

Deutsch-Irische Beziehungen in der Musik
February 1996, Bonn (Germany), Annual conference of the German-Irish Society

Irish Compositions 1900-1950
July 1994, Ennis, County Clare (Ireland), Ennis Composition Summer School

"Klassische" Musik in Irland, 1900-1950
February 1994, Bonn (Germany), Annual conference of the German-Irish Society

"Klassische" Musik in Irland, 1700-1900
February 1993, Bonn (Germany), Annual conference of German-Irish Society

October 1993, Warendorf (Germany), German-Irish Friends Circle

Die Musik Irlands im 20. Jahrhundert
October 1992, Erlangen (Germany), Universität, Annual conference of the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung (GfM)