International Symposium on Musical Topics and Topic Theory
The International Symposium on Musical Topics and Topic Theory (IMSTTT) invites presenters and participants to explore ideas in topic theory with regard to musical discourse.
From its contacts with worship, poetry, drama, entertainment, dance, ceremony, the military, the hunt, and the life of the lower classes, music in the early 18th century developed a thesaurus of characteristic figures, which formed a rich legacy for classic composers. Some of these figures were associated with various feelings and affections; others had a picturesque flavor. They are designated here as topics—subjects for musical discourse.
—Leonard G. Ratner (1980)
3rd International Symposium on Musical Topics and Topic Theory Postponed until May 2027
Postponement
Regrettably we are postponing the 2026 conference until May of 2027. My Co-host and I felt there were too few submissions this year to ensure a quality conference experience for this year.
Melanie Lowe as selection committee chair has agreed to hang onto this year’s submissions and we will reach out to this year’s submitters sometime in early fall to see if they want to include their submissions for consideration for spring 2027. We will likely set a submission deadline for new submissions for the end of January 2027 with a notification date of Mid February.
If you have any questions regarding logistics or planning for 2027, please reach out to Janice Dickensheets .
Thank you again for your support of this conference.
Past Conferences
Conference Highlights
Students and scholars attending IMSTTT
Host, Dr. Jonathan Bellman.
Presenter, Hannah Aelvoet from Belgium.
Conference Contact & Webmaster
Janice Dickensheets
Professor of Music History