Anne C. Shreffler

Anne C. Shreffler is the James Edward Ditson Professor of Music at Harvard University and an Affiliate of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures. She has served as Graduate Advisor in Musicology since her return to Harvard in 2003, where she previously earned her Ph.D. in Musicology.

• Education: B.Mus. (1979), Master’s in Music Theory (New England Conservatory); Ph.D. in Musicology (Harvard)
• Former roles: Assistant Professor at University of Chicago (post-Ph.D.); Professor at University of Basel (1994–2003)
• Current affiliations: Harvard Music Department; editorial boards of Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, Paul Sacher Foundation

Shreffler’s research explores the musical avant-garde after 1945, focusing on intersections of politics, ideology, and music in Europe and America. She investigates historiography, composers in exile, performance theory, and contemporary opera, with a current book project, Musical Utopias: Progressive Music and Progressive Politics in the Twentieth Century (under contract with University of California Press).

Her publications reflect these themes, including studies of canonization processes in 20th-century music, Beethoven-Webern connections, and politically progressive musical models. She co-edited a Musiktheorie special issue on Rudolf Kolisch and contributed to works on Elliott Carter and Bruno Maderna.

• Scientific awards
  • Alfred Einstein Award (1995)
  • Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship (2007–08)
• Leadership
  • Vice President, American Musicological Society (2014–16)
  • AMS Council, Program Committee, and AMS-50 Fellowship Committee roles