PD Dr. Margret Scharrer

Margret Scharrer studied musicology, history and auxiliary historical sciences at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, the Université Charles-de-Gaulle in Lille and the Université Paris-Sorbonne. In 2011, she was granted her doctorate in Halle with a thesis on Zur Rezeption des französischen Musiktheaters an deutschen Residenzen im ausgehenden 17. und frühen 18. Jahrhundert (On the Reception of French Musical Theatre at German Residences in the Late 17th and Early 18th Centuries). She completed her habilitation in 2025 at the University of Bern with a study on „… c’estoit ung grant merveille à pensser…“ Macht, Klang und Ritual am Hof der Herzöge von Burgund: Inszenierungen einer wunderbaren Dynastie (“… c’estoit ung grant merveille à pensser…”. Power, Sound and Ritual at the Court of the Dukes of Burgundy: Staging a Marvellous Dynasty).

In recent years, she has been primarily based at the University of Bern, working on the SNSF project The sound of power: Sounding as intermedial category of 15th-17th century court festivity rituals in an intercultural perspective, serving as director of studies and lecturing on behalf of Prof. Dr Cristina Urchueguía courses in the spring semester of 2025. Together with three other colleagues, she is the editor of the Swiss Journal of Musicology.

Since October 2025, she has been project manager for the Digital Catalogue of Liszt’s Sources and Works at the Department of Musicology at the University of Heidelberg.

Her research interests lie in the following areas: the history of music in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period within courtly contexts (in German- and French-speaking regions), musical theatre, performance practice, research into festivals and rituals, reception, transfer, perception (beyond Europe), historiography, and sound studies.

List of Publications