Musicology - University of Houston
Skip to main content

Moores School of Music

Musicology Division

Leadership

Matthew Dirst
Professor of Musicology
Coordinator of Musicology
phone: 713-743 -3150
email: mdirst@uh.edu
office: MSM 215

Welcome to the Moores School of Music Musicology Division! Musicology at the University of Houston supports all music degree plans at the Moores School of Music and offers a Master of Music Degree in Musicology. Our musicology and support faculty represent a diversity of musical, historical, and topical interests. Graduates from our Master’s program often go on to pursue the doctorate; recent graduates have continued doctoral work at such institutions as Indiana University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne, and Case Western Reserve. If you have specific questions about our program or would like to be connected to current students to ask questions, don’t hesitate to e-mail or call! #GoCoogs   

 

 

 

 

Master of Music

  • The Master of Music in musicology is a scholarly degree focused on music history. The program provides a foundation in musicological—and, in some instances, ethnomusicological—coursework. The aim is to enhance any professional pursuit in music as well as to provide preparation for advanced Ph.D. programs in music. A Musicology Master’s Thesis is the culmination of this program. Degree candidates often also hold a music history teaching assistantship and are may receive additional scholarship assistance. 

Scholarships

Scholarships are available for students at all levels of study who demonstrate outstanding accomplishment and promise. For nonresident students, merit-based scholarships may make a student eligible to receive a tuition waiver resulting in Texas resident tuition rate. A variety of teaching assistantships is available for qualified students. Typically, these positions assist professors in undergraduate music history classes for music majors.

Faculty

Select Musicology Courses

  • The musicology faculty provides a variety of advanced and special topic courses in music history every semester. Other faculty—such as opera director Buck Ross, choral director Charles Hausmann, music theorist John Snyder, composer Marcus Maroney, jazz director Noe Marmolejo—also teach occasionally in this area.

  • Bach and Handel
    Classical Music and Queer Studies
    French Music, 1830-1870
    Music and National Identity
    Secular Song and Dance in the Renaissance
    Symphonic Choral Music of the Nineteenth Century
    The Symphony since Mahler

Musicology Guest Speakers and Workshops

Houston is Texas’s most vibrant city for the arts, and esteemed visitors often come to our campus to speak about the state of music today. Recent guest speakers and performers include : Alejandro Barrañon ; Apollo String Quartet; Carlos Andrés Botero; Javier Alvarez; Kamran Ince; Nilam Kothari Patel; Sarah Rothenberg and Abigail Fischer; Tango Forza with Blas Canedo ; Vanessa Van-Anh Vo.  

Faculty Publications

Ars Lyrica Houston

Ars Lyrica Houston 

Directed by Professor Matthew Dirst, Ars Lyrica Houston is a Grammy-nominated Houston-based ensemble that provides world-class performances of a wide range of dramatic, sacred, and chamber works from the 17th and 18th centuries. Their most recent recording is The First Organ Concertos: Reconstructions of Works by G. F. Handel and J. S. Bach (2018). 
feature image