Musical Life in Europe 1600-1900 1 Circulation, Institutions, Representation Contents Page Editorial 3 Workshop Activities 1. Italian Opera in Central Europe, 1614-ca. 1780 4 2. The Opera Orchestra in 18th- and 19th-Century Europe: Social, Institutional, and Artistic Problems 5 3. The Concert and its Publics in Europe Formes d’organisation collectives du concert 8 4. Centre and Periphery: Musical Exchanges in Europe, 1600-1900 10 5. Musical Education in Europe (1700-1914): Compositional, Institutional, and Political Challenges 12 6. Mid-term Conference: Le Musicien et ses Voyages – pratiques, réseaux et représentations 15 News – Informations The Project The Baltic Area as a Musical Landscape 17 Les Noces de Pélée et de Thésis: un colloque CEFI-CNRS (Turin Chambéry, 3-7 novembre 1999) 19 ERASMUS/TEMPUS, Network in Music and Musicology 20 Calendar of Events 2000 – Calendrier 2000 21 Reviews – Comptes Rendus 22 Steering Committee 25 Team Leaders 26 Travel Grants (call for applications) 27 2 Editorial 3 he year 2000 marks the beginning programme, that is to say a shift of Tof the third and penultimate year of cultures. A recent review of the work the ESF programme Musical Life in presented on this occasion has led us to Europe, 1600–1900: Circulation, propose a second workshop in the near Institutions, Representation. The first future in order to investigate further the two years of the programme, 1998 and modalities of these travels and what they 1999, were devoted to an intensive represent, as well as to fill in a number evaluation of the present state of of lacunae that have been identified. research, looking particularly at the methodological problems involved and, Certainly one of the most gratifying by so doing, studying and developing results of the meetings organised to the various themes of the programme. date has been the fostering of extensive To date nearly 120 researchers, personal contacts between researchers participating in six large public colloquia from diverse European scholarly and five smaller workshops, have communities. In order to support these contributed to this ambitious effort. exchanges and to increase such contacts among the members of the programme, The present issue of our Newsletter a discussion forum will be launched in brings together the reports resulting the near future on the ESF Web site from work carried out in 1999. In (http://www.esf.org). It is our hope addition to exploring the programme that this site will actively contribute to themes, each of the five study groups the intellectual life of the project by has designed an editorial programme providing the locus for a broad that will lead to the publication of a exchange of ideas and information both series consisting of thirteen volumes. within and – especially – among the five The two coming years will be devoted thematic groups of the programme. primarily to the process of finalising these publications, the first of which is Finally, we want to strongly encourage scheduled to appear in 2001. interested pre- and postdoctoral researchers to participate in the research Early in the planning stages of this undertaken in the different groups. To project we decided that a period of this end, as has been the case in review and reflection would be previous years, a number of competitive appropriate halfway through the grants will be offered to finance the programme. The year 1999 was travel and subsistence costs of such therefore marked by the organisation of junior scholars. The terms and a “transverse” colloquium on “The conditions of these grants will be found Musician and His Travels”, held in on page 27. Göttingen in September. This lively symposium, attended by over 20 Professor Dr. Christoph- researchers from the different thematic Hellmut Mahling groups, provided an opportunity to focus Dr. Christian Meyer upon the central theme of the Professor Dr. Eugene K. Wolf 4 Workshop Activities Group 1 relationship of “Hofoper” within the wider concept/frame of “Hofmusik”. Italian Opera in Central Isolated performances as well as lasting Europe, 1614-ca. 1780 traditions depend in many cases on dynastic constellations, and on single or Braunschweig, 7-9 May 1999 collective promoters, whose activities In several descriptions of the general are embedded in a specific political, programme, Group 1 had identified the cultural and social context. These research areas of “Institutional history/ aspects have been illustrated by several Migration” and “Representation” as case studies that analyse the individual two of its main research goals. As a circumstances of rise and decline of result, two workshops had been hitherto operatic institutions and traditions. dedicated to these subjects. The first of Although the examples cover a wide these was the international conference range of geographic areas like present- entitled “European Baroque Opera: day Austria, Slovenia, Poland, South Institutions and Ceremonies”. The Germany and the Netherlands, they are conference, organised by Reinhard not to be understood as a history of Strohm, took place at Oxford University Italian opera outside Italy, and therefore in November 1998. have no intention of completeness; they are illustrations of possible kinds of In 1999, the group’s main concern was to practice, of imperial and non-imperial discuss the wealth of material presented court opera, and of initiatives by at the first conference, and to carry academies and civic patronage. The further our investigation of this field. example of Italian opera in Spain, For this purpose a second workshop, although not strictly in the central attended exclusively by the core group geographic area of the research project, members, was held in Braunschweig (7 may also be taken into account. Baroque to 9 May 1999), a city important in the society is based on a social and political early history of Italian opera in concept of life that is highly determined Germany. The contributions of the by ritual aspects. While on the one hand previous Oxford conference underwent a the musical drama on stage reflects the close scrutiny and examination in view ceremonial rules that govern Baroque of the publication of the first volume of society, the establishment and the group planned series which will implementation of opera on the other report the results of the research may be interpreted in itself as a cultural undertaken thus far. The results that can act and ceremonial highlight. In this tentatively be stated show the necessity sense ceremonies may be understood as of a renewed discussion of the basic motivation and pre-condition of any models of organisations and operatic activity and thus linked to the institutions, i.e. the various types of institutional aspect of the establishment organisational structures like court of opera. The relation of ceremonies on theatre and public opera, as well as the stage (as manifested for instance in 5 many dramas by Metastasio) that reflect spectators, and especially by northerners real day-to-day rules, the opera visiting Italy. Thus the problem of performance as ceremony, and the “italianità” may be summarised by the utilisation of opera for certain political twofold question of how Italian was purposes are illustrated by various “Italian” opera, and how it was examples from European centres, from considered to be Italian. Hamburg to Naples and from Vienna to Dr. Norbert Dubowy Madrid. The outlines of the research programme for the following years were also discussed. Preparations for a large Group 2 conference to take place in Vienna on 22- 24 September 2000 are already going on. The Opera Orchestra in The thematic label “italianità” chosen 18th- and 19th-Century for this conference is conceived as a Europe: Social, Institutional, collective term and as an attempt to and Artistic Problems define the position of Italian opera Copenhagen, 27-30 May 1999 within the courtly or urban culture of central Europe, one that is often The conference, hosted by the Royal characterised by a mixture of Danish Academy of Sciences and indigenous traditions and foreign Letters in Copenhagen, centred on four influences. “Italianità” in fact comprises principal themes: (1) national, regional, a variety of different aspects of Italian and local aspects in the material and opera both as literary and musical res social history of the opera orchestra; (2) facta, as well as a matter of the orchestra, opera production, and the performance. Fields of investigation public; (3) the circulation of music and may not only include the Italian style of musicians; and (4) the opera orchestra the music, but also the Italian art of as an institution in 19th-century musical singing and acting. Although the life. expression “after the Italian manner” is in many cases already a synonym for The opening session was devoted to the “opera” (i.e., a drama entirely set and state of current research, the availability performed in music), it is necessary to of sources, and aspects of regional explain to what extent Italian dramma histories and performance practices. per musica is linked to the Italian While virtually intact archives in some language, as well as to Italian literature countries – such as Sweden and and its tradition, and also whether there Denmark – have spawned important are cross relations between the Italian histories of national opera houses literature and the local, in most cases (available so far largely only in the German, language and literature. One native language and hence of limited important question is how Italian opera impact on international scholarship), was perceived by contemporary the lack of stable theatrical institutions 6 Workshop Activities has elsewhere – and notably in Spain – The third session centred on the led to the dispersion and destruction of relationship between repertoire and the much primary material and consequently opera orchestra. The introduction of a dearth of research. In spite of such new works outside the usual repertoire apparent disparity, comparable of a company, such as grands opéras in documentation is rapidly emerging on countries other than France, could effect the size, proportion, and types of alterations in the orchestra’s structure.