Female Identities in the Musical Life of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries

Gastvortrag von Lana Šehović (Academy of Music/University of Sarajevo)

The lecture will provide a detailed analysis of the diverse aspects of the expression of female identities in the private and public space of Bosnian musical life during the Austro-Hungarian rule. The lecture offers a unique research perspective by focusing on female identities through two spheres: the private sphere (music-making in the salon) and the public sphere (amateur and professional activities). This classification facilitates the analysis of diverse kinds of musical activities, while examining women’s position in the family circle, girls’ music education, salon socializing as well as musical gatherings. The lecture thus provides a comprehensive overview of the representation and significance of women’s activities in cultural-educational, support and amateur music societies, music pedagogy, composing, and music publishing. The lecture also discusses the role of numerous female artists who shaped individual segments of Bosnian and Herzegovinian musical life in diverse ways and thus paved the way for the institutional development of Sarajevo’s musical culture in the Austro-Hungarian period. Lana Šehović’s reconstruction of significant segments of the musical life in Austro-Hungarian Bosnia and Herzegovina is based on primary sources that were previously unknown in BiH musicology. She employs a gender studies-based methodological approach.

Lana Šehović is a musicologist, musical writer and musical publicist. She graduated in Musicology at the Academy of Music, University of Sarajevo where she received her PhD in 2014. Her research focuses on music historiography, gender musicology, music journalism and criticism. She is currently working as an Associate Professor at the Academy of Music (Department of Musicology and Ethnomusicology), and since 2017 she has been the Head of the Department. She has published extensively, with over 40 papers appearing in musicological publications in both the country and the region. In 2019, she published a book entitled Female Identities in the Musical Life of Austro-Hungarian Sarajevo, which is the first monograph in BiH musicology dealing with the position and significance of women in music and musical life. In 2021 she was elected as the National Coordinator of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the DARIAH-EU digital research infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities.

Music, Culture & Politics in Central Europe. Historical Perspectives #13