Stephen Rose

Professor Stephen Rose is Head of the Department of Music at Royal Holloway, University of London. His research focuses on music history from the 16th to 18th centuries in German-speaking lands and England, utilizing methods from book history, social history, and digital humanities. He explores how music circulated between communities and its symbolic meanings, particularly through printed music and authorship concepts. His work includes groundbreaking projects like the digitization of early music collections and open data initiatives analyzing music catalogues.

• Director of major AHRC projects: 'Music, Heritage, Place' (2024-26), 'A Big Data History of Music' (2014-15), and 'Early Music Online' (2010).
• Editor of Early Music journal (2004–present) and co-editor of scholarly editions like Leipzig Church Music from the Sherard Collection.
• Recipient of grants from the British Academy, AHRC, and Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation.

His research emphasizes overlooked sources, such as novels and fictional narratives to uncover social attitudes toward musicians. He collaborates with institutions like the British Library and the Foundling Museum to enhance public access to musical heritage. Current projects include documenting regional musical collections in English county archives to decentralize understandings of English music history.

Teaching includes undergraduate courses on music history, digital tools for music studies, and baroque performance practices. He mentors PhD students in topics ranging from charity school music to French performance styles in 17th-century England. Recent trainees hold academic positions at universities like Northumbria and Brigham Young.