She is a scholar of nineteenth-century music and aesthetics. Her current research and teaching interests are centered in France, especially on the music of Berlioz. More broadly, they include music and histories of magic, interactions between sound and science, listening practices, romantic orchestras and conductors, and nineteenth-century performance practices. Many of these strands are drawn together in her book Fantasy, Science, and the Romantic Listener, forthcoming from Cambridge University Press in the series “New Perspectives in Music History and Criticism.” Brittan also works on popular music, especially blues and early rock and roll.