Dr Rosemary Golding

Professional biography

My research covers areas of institutional and cultural history of music in nineteenth-century Britain. I am interested in the way music has been thought about over time, its status in society, and its different identities as an art form and cultural phenomenon. 

My most recent publication is a large-scale documentary history of music in nineteenth-century Britain. Commissioned by Routledge, the four volumes cover a range of topics charting the ways in which music was discussed and described in nineteenth-century print, from autobiographies to examinations of musical listening, from descriptions of concerts to philosophical texts. The volumes draw on my wide-ranging interests across the music and musical practices of nineteenth-century Britain, and offered a valuable opportunity to bring much of this research together. Details of the publication are available here: Music in Nineteenth-Century Britain - 1st Edition - Rosemary Golding (routledge.com)

My current research draws on my long-standing interests in the relationship between music and health, and in the historical perceptions of music's health-giving properties. This intersects with my work on the identities and discourse surrounding music in nineteenth-century Britain. My current project is focussed around music in British asylums during the nineteenth century and I have published a monograph on this subject, drawing on a rich body of archive material: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-78525-3. My research blog, which includes information about my recent research, publications, conference organisation and public engagement activity, is available here: https://musichealthandhappiness.wordpress.com/

My previous research focussed on different elements of the social history of music. In 2013 my first monograph, Music and Academia in Victorian Britain, was published by Ashgate. This book traces the development of music as a university subject at four British universities during the nineteenth century: Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and London. See https://www.routledge.com/Music-and-Academia-in-Victorian-Britain/Golding/p/book/9781138276659 This was followed by an edited collection of essays on the Music Profession in Britain 1780-1920. Details of the book and its contents can be found here: https://www.routledge.com/The-Music-Profession-in-Britain-1780-1920-New-Perspectives-on-Status/Golding/p/book/9781138291867

Selected Publications

For a full list please see the publications tab.

'Music and Mental Health: the parallels between Victorian asylum treatments and modern social prescribing' in The Conversation 9 March 2023 

I have contributed to modules across the Arts and Music curriculum, working on module teams including AA100, A113, A224, AA302, A870, A871, A873, A874 and A877. I chaired the Music MA modules A870 and A871 between September 2011 and November 2014 and the second-level module A224 between August 2017 and March 2018. I wrote two online units on research skills for the Music Level 3 module A342 and a case study for MA Music module A873. I recently co-chaired production of a new Music MA module, A890 (90 credits), for which I wrote material on the history and nature of musicology, inclusion and exclusion in the archive, music and the Victorian asylum, and nineteenth-century music education, as well as study and writing skills.

As Staff Tutor I manage tuition on a range of modules across the Arts disciplines, currently A111, A113 and the Music MA (A890, A874). I previously worked as an Associate Lecturer on the introductory interdisciplinary module AA100, and the third-level music module AA302.

I supervise several PhD students, including topics in music and its social history in nineteenth-century Britain. I would be delighted to hear from potential PhD students interested in any area of music in nineteenth-century Britain, in the social and institutional history of music, in the history of music and health, and in the history of music education.

As Associate Dean for Learning and Teaching in Arts (January 2014-October 2015) I had responsibilities across the faculty's curriculum, including developing new module content, teaching and assessment policy, employability, and accessibility. 

I maintain a regular research blog at https://musichealthandhappiness.wordpress.com/

With thanks to a grant from the National Centre for Academic and Cultural Exchange I put together an online exhibition showcasing key holdings in the Crichton Royal Institution archives relating to its role in establishing the Arts within psychiatric care: Heritage and The Arts: An Online Exhibition from The OU | The Crichton Trust

My research on the history of the Crichton has been featured in the Dumfries Courier in print and online at https://www.dng24.co.uk/doctor-flags-up-power-of-poetry-and-music/ (January 2024). 

I have published on my work on the history of music and mental health in The Conversation (March 2023) and was interviewed on Three Counties Radio on Sunday 23 April Babs Michel - London Marathon shout-outs - BBC Sounds starting at 3:12:36. I have also worked with composer Victoria Bernath and soprano Ruth Hopkins on creative work inspired by my research.

My current AHRC-funded Network 'Psychiatry and the Arts in Nineteenth-Century Britain' involves collaboration with the Bethlem Museum of the Mind, London and the Crichton, Dumfries. Both institutions are part of the history of psychiatric institutions and have a particularly important place in the history of the arts in psychiatric care and treatment. The Network brings together historians, scholars and practitioners in heritage, creative and health sectors to evaluate historical study and envisage new ways of collaboration and engagement.

I was also awarded a grant from the National Centre for Academic and Cultural Exchange to develop my collaboration with the Crichton.

I am a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists History of Psychiatry Special Interest Group. 

I am external examiner of the International Foundation Year in Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities at Royal Holloway, University of London. On behalf of The Open University I am an academic reviewer at University College, Peterborough, and Art Academy London. 

I am an elected member of the Board of the North American British Music Studies Association (NABMSA).

In 2023 I chaired the international conference on Music in Nineteenth-Century Britain, which took place in Milton Keynes and online.