Chapter 3: The Posthumous Nephew: An Auto-Ethnographic Exploration of Belated Mourning and Fresh Divinations

This contribution provides an account of the author’s journey from first receiving notice about the Music & Death conference in Vienna, to his eventual presentation there in December 2017. The lure and impetus for the whole project was an unknown uncle of the author who had studied, performed and died as a musician in Vienna, when the author was an infant. This chapter combines reflections on the author’s first visit to Vienna, with journal writing undertaken at the time.