Academic content
The Bachelor’s degree in Musicology (Minor) provides foundational knowledge in Historical Musicology while also introducing students to theoretical, systematic, and ethnomusicological approaches. The programme combines an introduction to music history with methodological and analytical skills, emphasising critical engagement with musical sources, practices, and discourses.
Students gain an overview of key periods in European music history and explore their connections in a broader, global context. Modules in compositional techniques, music analysis, and musicological sources equip students with the practical skills required for scholarly analysis, interpretation of musical evidence, and application of musicological methods. Ethnomusicological perspectives, as well as media and cultural contexts and the reflection on scholarly discourses, broaden historical understanding and foster awareness of trans-cultural relationships.
The Musicology Department underwent a comprehensive restructuring in 2019. The establishment of the Research and Teaching Centre for Music (FZM) by the University and the Freiburg University of Music created new structural, personnel, and content-related opportunities for research and teaching. The collaboratively developed staff structure covers Historical Musicology, Systematic Musicology, and Ethnological and Cultural Music Research comprehensively, sustainably shaping the programme. Another distinctive feature is the collaboration with the Museum of Historical Keyboard Instruments in Bad Krozingen, which exhibits, among other items, loans from the Musicology Department.
In this structure, the Minor programme is flexible and tailored to the individual needs of students. For their foundational historical musicology training, students may select three out of four lectures in the survey cycle, allowing coordination with their Major programme. Exemplary specialisation is provided through a seminar, chosen from four epoch options, ensuring the practical application of methods introduced in the introductory module. The choice of methodological focus—in compositional techniques, ethnomusicology, or systematic musicology—remains with the students, enabling optimal alignment with the Major and personal interests. Similarly, the final module, “Musical Cultures, Music Media, and Musicological Discourses,” offers options between subfields of the discipline as well as between professional and academic orientations.
Thus, the Minor is not conceived as static but as a dynamic, individualised complementary programme, combining a solid foundation in historical musicology with methodological breadth, flexibility, and targeted specialisation. Presentations, written assignments, and engagement with primary and secondary sources develop both scholarly communication skills and the ability to structure and convey knowledge effectively.
Graduates of the Bachelor’s degree in Musicology (Minor)
- possess foundational knowledge of Western music history and are sensitised to global music-historical contexts,
- master fundamental methods of Historical Musicology as well as selected approaches from other sub-disciplines (music theory, systematic musicology, ethnomusicology),
- are able to analyse, interpret, and critically contextualise musical sources of various types,
- can independently apply scholarly methods and communicate results clearly in both oral and written form,
- are able to transfer and reflect upon acquired methods and knowledge in relation to practical questions and scholarly discourse.
Recommended prerequisites and skills:
- Basic interest in music: Enjoyment of music from different periods and cultures.
- Basic score-reading skills: Understanding of musical notation and structures facilitates analysis and compositional exercises.
- Curiosity and willingness to learn: Openness to various methodological approaches (Historical Musicology, Systematic Musicology, Ethnomusicology).
- Analytical thinking: Ability to follow musicological and music-theoretical content.
- Independence: Willingness to actively participate in seminars and exercises and to deepen knowledge independently.
- Flexibility: Readiness to coordinate the minor content with the major and to set individual focuses.
Subject combinations
An overview of all possible combination subjects for Musikwissenschaft (Musicology):
- Ancient Civilization Studies
- Archaeological Sciences
- Educational Science and Education Management
- German Studies
- Cultural Analysis/European Ethnology
- English and American Studies
- Cultural and Social Anthropology
- FrancoMedia – French Language, Literature, and Media Culture
- German Studies from a German–French Perspective
- History
- IberoCultura – Spanish Language, Literature, and Culture
- Islamic Studies
- Jewish Studies
- Classical Philology
- Art History
- Musicology
- Early Modern and Modern History
- Philosophy
- Political Science
- Romance languages and literatures
- Sinology
- Scandinavian Studies
- Slavic Studies
- Sociology
- Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Statutes
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Zulassungs- und Immatrikulationsordnung (ZImmO)
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Prüfungsordnung B.A.: Rahmenordnung
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Prüfungsordnung B.A.: Rahmenordnung § 18
(Nur bei Studienbeginn vor dem 1. Oktober 2015 und sofern nicht Anwendung von § 18 Absatz 12 n.F. beantragt wurde)
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Prüfungsordnung B.A.: Anlage A
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Prüfungsordnung B.A.: Musikwissenschaft (Nebenfach)
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Prüfungsordnung B.A.: Musikwissenschaft (Nebenfach)
(Nur bei Studienbeginn vor dem 1. Oktober 2024; Abschluss des Studiums bis spätestens 30. September 2028)
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Prüfungsordnung B.A.: Musikwissenschaft (Nebenfach)
(Nur bei Studienbeginn zwischen dem 1. Oktober 2011 und dem 30. September 2013; Abschluss des Studiums bis spätestens 30. September 2018)
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Prüfungsordnung B.A.: Rahmenordnung
(Nur bei Studienbeginn vor dem 1. Oktober 2011 und sofern nicht ab dem Wintersemester 2011/2012 eine Neueinschreibung für ein anderes Haupt- oder Nebenfach erfolgt ist)
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Prüfungsordnung B.A.: Anlage A
(Nur bei Studienbeginn vor dem 1. Oktober 2011 und sofern nicht ab dem Wintersemester 2011/2012 eine Neueinschreibung für ein anderes Haupt- oder Nebenfach erfolgt ist)
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Prüfungsordnung B.A.: Anlage D
(Nur bei Studienbeginn vor dem 1. Oktober 2011 und sofern nicht ab dem Wintersemester 2011/2012 eine Neueinschreibung für ein anderes Haupt- oder Nebenfach erfolgt ist)
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Prüfungsordnung B.A.: Musikwissenschaft (Nebenfach)
(Nur bei Studienbeginn zwischen dem 1. Oktober 2007 und dem 30. September 2011)
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Satzung über ergänzende Regelungen zum Zulassungs- und Prüfungsrecht
The versions of statutes with relevance to teaching and learning provided on this page by the Department of Legal Affairs (in particular admission and selection regulations as well as subject and examination regulations) are primarily for information purposes. This means that all amendments subsequently agreed upon by the University Senate have been integrated into the respective text of the original statutes; in the case of the examination regulations for bachelor's and master's degree programmes, this generally relates to extracts of the respective examination regulations (framework examination regulations, subject-specific provisions, and appendices).
The greatest care has been taken in writing these versions. Nevertheless, it cannot be entirely ruled out that errors may have occurred. Consequently, it is solely the officially announced statutes and statute amendments that are legally binding, i.e. as published in the Amtlichen Bekanntmachungen der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisgau [de] or, up to the year 2000, in the official gazette of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts.