Periodic Reporting for period 2 - MARTINET (Musicians in the “Republic of Letters”: For a Social Network Analysis of Giambattista Martini’s Correspondence)
Berichtszeitraum: 2024-02-01 bis 2025-01-31
Handwritten correspondence was a vital means of communication during the 18th Century. Through their letters, people kept in touch with family and friends, exchanged information, sought patronage, and did business. By frequently corresponding with each other, scholars, scientists and artists formed a flexible, self-regulating and international conglomerate of networks spanning the whole of Europe: the “Republic of Letters”. People became part of this community by the very act of writing letters: those who failed or refuse to establish sustained lines of communication, could be not reckoned as citizen of this Republic. It was like social media today: if you are not connected, you are not part of the community
The MARTINET project deals with the crucial role which epistolary exchanges play in the reconstruction of musical contexts all over Europe in the 18th century. Musicians’ correspondence bears witness to every aspects of musical life, from the performers’ education and careers, to the transfers of professionals and repertoires, to the questions about the construction of musical thought and the historical performance practices, as well as to socio-economic issues related to music production and listening.
The ultimate objective of this research is to provide a representation of European musical environment during the 18th Century, through the lens of Giambattista Martini’s epistolary network. This objective is approached through the innovative study of Martini’s correspondence and of his personal archive.
MARTINET is structured around 3 research objectives (RO):
RO1 to reconstruct Martini’s epistolary exchanges, through an extensive archival investigation, gathering the extant letters not included in his collection and compiling an index of the entire correspondence based on the main archival categories of description (sender, receiver, date, place, language, repository, reference). This RO was pursued by a philological approach combined with Digital Humanities indexing tools.
RO2 to analyse the letters’ content in order to answer to specific heuristic questions: which are the main topics and epistolary styles? How did Martini and his correspondents intend and use correspondence? Why and how he sent/received letters from his correspondents? Which are the formulas used and their connection to different social relations? How did the letters are part of Martini’s research method? Which cultural and musical European network emerge from the epistolary exchanges? Overall, which is the role of music in the cultural identity building process of modern Europe? This RO was achieved through a cultural historical and musicological approach and will produce academic articles and the digital critical edition of the most relevant letters.
RO3 to produce a searchable and interactive Open Access database of Martini’s network, mapping specific features of 18th-century cultural and musical life to achieve multifaceted representation of 18th-century European society through music and the global circulation of letters through using three key themes identified in Martini’s correspondence: 1. the social aspects of musicians training and professional networks; 2. the production and circulation of repertoires; 3. the relationship between music, art and the “Republic of letters”. This RO was fulfilled through a faceted classification, capable of ordering the large amount of information, and by applying the SNA methodology and tools to map and visualize with infographics the “big data” provided by the letters.
The MARTINET project deals with the crucial role which epistolary exchanges play in the reconstruction of musical contexts all over Europe in the 18th century. Musicians’ correspondence bears witness to every aspects of musical life, from the performers’ education and careers, to the transfers of professionals and repertoires, to the questions about the construction of musical thought and the historical performance practices, as well as to socio-economic issues related to music production and listening.
The ultimate objective of this research is to provide a representation of European musical environment during the 18th Century, through the lens of Giambattista Martini’s epistolary network. This objective is approached through the innovative study of Martini’s correspondence and of his personal archive.
MARTINET is structured around 3 research objectives (RO):
RO1 to reconstruct Martini’s epistolary exchanges, through an extensive archival investigation, gathering the extant letters not included in his collection and compiling an index of the entire correspondence based on the main archival categories of description (sender, receiver, date, place, language, repository, reference). This RO was pursued by a philological approach combined with Digital Humanities indexing tools.
RO2 to analyse the letters’ content in order to answer to specific heuristic questions: which are the main topics and epistolary styles? How did Martini and his correspondents intend and use correspondence? Why and how he sent/received letters from his correspondents? Which are the formulas used and their connection to different social relations? How did the letters are part of Martini’s research method? Which cultural and musical European network emerge from the epistolary exchanges? Overall, which is the role of music in the cultural identity building process of modern Europe? This RO was achieved through a cultural historical and musicological approach and will produce academic articles and the digital critical edition of the most relevant letters.
RO3 to produce a searchable and interactive Open Access database of Martini’s network, mapping specific features of 18th-century cultural and musical life to achieve multifaceted representation of 18th-century European society through music and the global circulation of letters through using three key themes identified in Martini’s correspondence: 1. the social aspects of musicians training and professional networks; 2. the production and circulation of repertoires; 3. the relationship between music, art and the “Republic of letters”. This RO was fulfilled through a faceted classification, capable of ordering the large amount of information, and by applying the SNA methodology and tools to map and visualize with infographics the “big data” provided by the letters.
During the 36 months of the MARTINET project I carefully followed and respected the project development as presented and approved by the REA, in line with the structure of the Annex 1 to the Grant Agreement, in order to fulfil the project deliverables and milestones.
More specifically, through the actions outlined in the 6 workpackages, the project reached its objectives in terms of research, publications and communication to the large public.
The products of the MARTINET research were published during the project: they are available on IRIS, repository compliant with the H2020 rules (see the Publication Tab on the portal).
In terms of impact the MSCA-GF has been playing a life-changing impulse in my career development. The MSCA-GF has already been boosting my skills and my profile.
This is confirmed by qualitative and quantitative indicators:
1. I was appointed Faculty Assistant at the Department of Music at Harvard University;
2. I published my research in international peer-reviewed journals;
3. I presented my research in five international conferences;
4. I created a database of 6,138 items.
More specifically, through the actions outlined in the 6 workpackages, the project reached its objectives in terms of research, publications and communication to the large public.
The products of the MARTINET research were published during the project: they are available on IRIS, repository compliant with the H2020 rules (see the Publication Tab on the portal).
In terms of impact the MSCA-GF has been playing a life-changing impulse in my career development. The MSCA-GF has already been boosting my skills and my profile.
This is confirmed by qualitative and quantitative indicators:
1. I was appointed Faculty Assistant at the Department of Music at Harvard University;
2. I published my research in international peer-reviewed journals;
3. I presented my research in five international conferences;
4. I created a database of 6,138 items.
Giambattista Martini’s correspondence is certainly not unknown to scholars. The first to note its importance, shortly after Martini’s death, was Guglielmo Della Valle (1745-1805), who selected 25 letters for publication. At the end of 19th-century, Federico Parisini (1825-1891) edited 136 letters in his Carteggio inedito del Padre G.B. Martini, and Leonida Busi (1834-1900) quoted extensively from the correspondence in his biography of the Franciscan friar. After these studies, several collections of letters by musicians have included selected items from Martini’s correspondence, and others have been published and translated in biographies, monographs and articles.
The analytical focus must shift from the writer to his epistolary exchanges, adopting a relational approach to drive the attention not on the individuals but on their correspondence network, the virtual space in which social roles, identities, and values acquire and change meaning.
This is why this project provides not only a more complete image of the Martini’s epistolary, but also an invaluable source to understand Europe musical world and the global circulation of Martini’s letter (collected in European archives, in Harvard and other US libraries) in a completely new way, through the very eyes and pens of its protagonists.
The analytical focus must shift from the writer to his epistolary exchanges, adopting a relational approach to drive the attention not on the individuals but on their correspondence network, the virtual space in which social roles, identities, and values acquire and change meaning.
This is why this project provides not only a more complete image of the Martini’s epistolary, but also an invaluable source to understand Europe musical world and the global circulation of Martini’s letter (collected in European archives, in Harvard and other US libraries) in a completely new way, through the very eyes and pens of its protagonists.