Jeroen van Gessel studied organ at Utrecht Conservatory and musicology at Utrecht University, where he obtained his PhD with a dissertation on the composition contests of the Dutch Society for the Promotion of Music (1829-1879). Publications include books about Strasbourg’s opera (Die Praxis der Oper: Das Straßburger Stadttheater, 1886-1944) and the private music experience in the nineteenth century. He teaches musicology at State University Groningen.