The 22nd issue of Musicology Today, titled “Music, Nature, and Sound: Musical Ecology”, is now available online in open access. This volume brings together a wide range of perspectives on how music engages with the natural world, ecological thought, and sustainability in both historical and contemporary contexts.
Drawing on contributions from scholars and artists working across musicology, sound studies, composition, and cultural theory, the issue explores music as a medium that not only reflects ecological issues but also helps shape our understanding of them. Many of the articles stem from the International Online Conference on Renewable Music, held in October 2024 as part of the Creative Europe-funded project Renewable Music. V4 Composers for Sustainability, led by the Polish Composers’ Union.
Topics discussed in the volume include ecological approaches to composition, soundscape studies, the cultural implications of AI-generated music, the concept of “eco-music,” historical perspectives on animal musicality, and the sustainability of creative work in contemporary musical life. Together, these contributions offer a timely reflection on how music participates in broader ecological and social transformations.
Musicology Today
Volume 22 (2025): Issue 1 (December 2025)
Music, Nature, and Sound: Musical Ecology
- Agnieszka Cieślak-Krupa
Music, Nature, and Sound: Musical Ecology - Makis Solomos
Music, Ecologies and Degrowth. A Few Paths to Explore - Marcin Strzelecki
Generating Music, AI and Energy - Małgorzata Heinrich
Hildegard Westerkamp’s Beneath the Forest Floor and Graphic Analysis. Regrowing the Relationsip Between Human, Nature, Society, and Self through Soundscape Composition - Katarzyna Bartos
Depicting Japanese Soundscapes in Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil’s ‘Słowik i kamień’ - Jan Andreas Wessel
Animals in Early Modern Histories of Music - Oľga Smetanová and Roman Džambazovič
Sustaining Creative Work: Satisfaction of Classical Music Composers with Institutional Support in Slovakia
The publication has been co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – a special-purpose state fund.
