When Bells Spoke: A Conversation with Musicologist Dr. Alex Fisher

The Blue Hour: Sackbuts, Soundscapes, Bells, and Reformation Germany In this conversation, I speak with Professor Alex Fisher about bells, early music, soundscapes, weather, ritual, and the religious worlds of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Germany. Alex Fisher is Professor in the UBC School of Music, where he coordinates Early Music. He is both a distinguished musicologist and a performing musician. Trained as a trombonist, he later specialized in the Renaissance sackbut and has performed with leading early music ensembles. He is also a co-founder of Cappella Borealis. As a scholar, Professor Fisher studies the musical, religious, and cultural worlds of early modern Germany, with particular interests in soundscapes, ritual, and the relationship between music and religious identity during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. His work has appeared in leading journals, including the Journal of Musicology, Early Music History, and the Sixteenth Century Journal. His books include…