The academic study of music—musicology—can be seen as inherently interdisciplinary. While musicologists are often concerned with musical materials like scores and recordings, questions of history, politics, sociology, religion, psychology, and more arise spontaneously, based on a researcher’s own interests, expertise, and area of enquiry. Indeed, this often matches the way music is experienced by musicians themselves as they write and perform. 

This section features a clear example of providing an interdisciplinary context to a musical subject. Author Maya Kitay describes a historical picture: how fundamentally intertwined were religion, politics, and social dynamics in England in the late 17th century. Kitay’s research perspective focuses on Henry Purcell, and how these extramusical factors bore on the somewhat anachronistic musical choices he made as a composer. 

As a musician, it is easy to get caught up in the emotional value of composers like Purcell and to enjoy the aesthetic on a surface level. It is perhaps less forthcoming for us to consider the composers and their working contexts as crucially relevant to the music we enjoy; these considerations are key, however, in the past and the present. 

Though we were just three editors on the Music board for the journal, the wide-ranging nature of musicological research often demands collective expertise. Many thanks to Lizzie Britton and David Dewar for their hard work in bringing this section to life. Amid challenging circumstances, it is invaluable to work with a team with such a passion for the project, and I am grateful to have the honour of sharing with you the final product of all our hard work. 

 Adriel Miles 

With thanks to: