Forced Musical Labor: A Colonial History of Classical Music and Music Schools (1527-1750)
Next Wednesday Jon gives a virtual presentation at the the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin. The talk is titled “Forced Musical Labor: A Colonial History of Classical Music and Music Schools (1527-1750).” It will focus especially on the history of forced musical labor models used by the Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish at colonies in South America and Southeast Asia during the early modern period.
A lot of this talk is pulling from a paper Jon is working on titled “A History of Forced Musical Labor: Slave Orchestras and Ensembles in European Colonies Globally (1594-1888).” See page for Publications and Presentations or Presentations Topics for more.
Featured Image Credit
Drawing of the Estate in Santa Cruz by Maria Graham (1785-1842) in 1823.
Established in 1570, the estate housed one of the earliest music schools for slaves until the expulsion of the Jesuits in mid 1700s when it was used as a residence for Portuguese viceroys. By the early 19th century, after the the Portuguese royal court was moved to Brazil, it once again was used to train slaves to play in orchestras, bands, and ensembles.
About the Butler School of Music
The Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music in the College of Fine Arts is located on the eastern side of The University of Texas at Austin. With over 100 faculty members and more than 750 students, the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music ranks among the top 3% in the country for size.
