Tim Shephard

I was appointed Lecturer in Musicology at the University of Sheffield in September 2012, following posts at the Universities of Nottingham and Oxford. I’m a historical musicologist, which means that I’m interested in musical cultures of the past. Most of my research has been set in Renaissance Italy, covering more-or-less the period and locations featured in the TV series The Borgias. I’m particularly interested in finding out what music meant to people and what purposes it served – as an aspect of personal identity, as a way of communicating messages about oneself, and as a tool of statecraft. My approach is very context-led, so I don’t always look in the most obvious places for musical information; in particular, I’m known as an expert in the relationship between music and visual culture (painting, sculpture, book illustration, and all the discussion surrounding them).