Review of the Research Institute for History and - Universiteit Utrecht

lecturers at Harvard University, in 2003-2004 and 1998 respectively. Mutsaers was research fellow at the
Department of Folklore and Ethnomusi cology of Indiana Univerity. Prof. Albert Clement is president of the
Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft für theologische Bachforschung, whilst Hoenselaars is member of the
board of the European Society for the Study of English, and foreign secretary of the Société Internationale de
Recherches Interdisciplinaires sur la Renaissance, based at the Sorbonne in Paris. Gelderblom is member of
the board of the Internationale Vereniging voor Neerlandistiek (IVN) and in the advisory board van Amsterdam
University Press, Stronks and Meijer Drees were in the board of the Werkgroep 17de eeuw, Van Gemert
is member of the Gebiedsbestuur Geestestwetenschappen NWO. Hendrix is not only an established academic
in the fi eld of early modern Italian Literature, but is also, as scientifi c director of the National Research
School for Literary Studies OSL, a signifi cant player in the world of Dutch Literary Studies.
Op de Coul was general editor of Alphons Diepenbrock: Complete Songs for Solo Voice and Piano, a 14 volume
work published between 1993 and 2001, whilst Rasch is editor of Eighteenth Century Music, a journal
published by Cambridge University Press. Op de Coul is also scientifi c advisor for the Netherlands on the
Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik, that will ultimately comprise 24 volumes, and is currently being published
by Bärenreiter and Metzler publishers.
A 5. External validation
The communication with a wider, non-academic audience is a priority for this group. The major works produced
in this period on the history of Dutch music, and the history of female writing, were both published in
editions that also appealed to this audience. The Dutch Literary scholars are very much involved in the publication
of modern editions of early modern texts. They do pioneering work developing didactic material on
early modern Dutch literature and culture for secondary school readers. Van Gemert and Meijer Drees wrote
three successful volumes in the series Texts in Context, in collaboration with Grijp and with the Universities
of Amsterdam and Leyden (Wilhelmus en de anderen (with CD) 2000, with non-governmental funding;
Verhalen over verre landen 2001; Warenar 2002). As a sequel, Van Gemert, Gelderblom and Stronks will develop
the section on early modern literature of the national website www.literatuurgeschiedenis.nl (2005-06, with
external partners and non-governmental funding). Stronks also has an educational part attached to her site
http//emblems.let.uu.nl/emblems. The musicologists regularly review for the national press, and are actively
engaged in the organisation of music festivals, especially the annual Festival of Ancient Music, held in Utrecht
at the end of August. The Shakespeare-Genootschap van Nederland en Vlaanderen (Shakespeare Society for
the Netherlands and Flanders) provides not only a platform for scholars, but also produces a popular
magazine (Folio, Shakespeare-Genootschap van Nederland en Vlaanderen, edited by Hoenselaars, Franssen, and
Steenberg), but also a substantial and highly informative website (Franssen), and provides a wider audience in
the Low Countries access to Shakespeare scholarship.
A 6. Internal evaluation, analysis, perspectives and expectations for the research programme
1. Strengths
The group is actively involved in a range of multidisciplinary and disciplinary networks, locally, nationally and
internationally. Members of the group work together on thematic projects. They also participate in external
projects, mostly of a disciplinary nature. The chairs Early Modern Dutch Literature and Music History after
1600 play a leading role in their disciplines and have a recognizable profi le. They partake in innovations, raise
governmental funding and produce both specialist and popularizing publications. Though the disciplines of
English and Italian literature are represented on a somewhat smaller scale, research in these areas has a sharp
focus and produces excellent results in an internationally context. The programme has become a pivotal
participant in the European and indeed global Shakespeare scholarship community. The group has hosted
international conferences, such as Johann Sebastian Bach in 2000 and Reassessing the Art of Clemens non Papa and
Thomas Crecquillon in 2003.
2. Weaknesses
The various projects are well imbedded in their disciplines, but the international visibility can be improved.
The possibilities of raising European funds are underexplored. For researchers of Dutch literary history and
OGC Arts, culture and their contexts
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