Department of Musicology
The Department of Musicology at Comenius University was established in 1921 and is one of the oldest musicological research centres in the region. The programme is influenced by its geographical and cultural embeddedness in the heart of Central Europe, in which musicology developed as a university discipline. The institute maintains important connections with Vienna, Prague, and Budapest.
The department was founded by the Czech theologian and hymnologist Dobroslav Orel. After World War II the department’s focus was then shaped especially by Jozef Kresánek, a composer, music theoretician, and a pioneer in the field of Slovak ethnomusicology,
Nowadays the department has seven full-time teaching staff and researchers: Marta Hulková and Jana Bartová engage primarily in research into older music history; Yvetta Kajanová is an expert on the history of jazz and popular music; Marcus Zagorski, a graduate of Stanford University, focuses on 20th-century music; Vladimír Zvara is concerned with the history of opera and aesthetics of music; Jana Belišová focuses on music culture of romani people and ethnomusicology; and Branko Ladič, conductor and pianist, is devoted primarily to music theory. These staff members also either lead or are participants in significant research grant projects. Additionally they are conducting a joint project focusing on the history of music in Pressburg / Bratislava.
The Department offers study programmes at the bachelor, master and doctoral level, and the teaching is in Slovak and English. The number of students is intentionally limited, for this allows for a more beneficial exchange between students and teachers. Graduates from the Department of Musicology at Comenius University have successful careers both in Slovakia and abroad, and they are highly regarded professonials not only in musicology, but also in the fields of music and cultural management, programming, and journalism.