Michael Richardson completed his PhD in Music History and Theory from Stony Brook University, USA in 2015. He received a DAAD grant to conduct dissertation research in Germany for the 2012/13 academic year under the guidance of Annette Kreutziger-Herr. His research interests include late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century German, French, and Russian opera, nineteenth-century European folklorism and nationalism, medievalism and medieval music reception. He has given talks at a number of domestic and international conferences, including at AMS Milwaukee in 2014, Oxford University, and St. Petersburg, Russia.

Chapter 1: German Opera, the Rediscovery of the Middle Ages, and the Building of a
Chapter 2: Medieval Song I: Diegetic Portrayals of Minnesang in Weber's Euryanthe and Wagner's
Chapter 3: Medieval Song II: Folk Song and the Lied in Schubert's Fierrabras
Chapter 4: Christianity: Church Music as a Signifier of "Pastness" in Schumann's Genoveva
Chapter 5: Chivalry: Masculinity and Nation in Marschner's Der Templer und die Jüdin and Wagner's
Chapter 6: The Drive Toward Unification, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Modern