A Post-Doctorate in Musicology: Bronisława Wójcik-Keuprulian and Her Path to a Scientific Career

Abstract

The musical milieu of Lwów in the first half of the twentieth century was characterised by dynamic activities of women, particularly as music school students, which was the reverse of the situation prevailing in the other schools – particularly, tertiary schools. This fostered the female students’ keen interest in musicology, especially that Musicology was launched as a new major at the local university in 1912. Bronisława Wójcik-Keuprulian was its first graduate ever (in 1917). In 1934, she was the first woman in the history of Polish science to receive a post-doctoral degree (so-called habilitation) in Musicology at a Polish university. This was accompanied by multiple complications, including those caused by the Head of the Chair of Musicology. Yet, the applicant’s resolve brought about a successful end.