Periodic Reporting for period 3 - PERFORMART (Promoting, Patronising and Practising the Arts in Roman Aristocratic Families (1644-1740). The Contribution of Roman Family Archives to the History of Performing Arts)
Berichtszeitraum: 2019-09-01 bis 2021-02-28
I. The issue being addressed
The aim of the project is to offer an overview of the material, social, economic and political history of performance arts in Rome between 1644 and 1740. The idea is to shift attention from the papal commissions for art and architecture of baroque Rome to the very many performances involving theatre, music and dance, commissioned by the main aristocratic families of the day. Up until now, research has focused on the specific patronage of a particular pope, cardinal or prince. Our goal is to replace this fragmented approach by working more broadly on the Roman cultural scene, without prioritising either music, theatre or dance, but by considering these arts as elements of the same artistic environment.
Eleven families were selected, i.e. approximately half of the great Roman aristocratic families of that time: the families Aldobrandini, Borghese, Caetani, Chigi, Colonna, Lante della Rovere, Orsini, Ottoboni, Pamphilj, Ruspoli and Vaini. Besides the obvious contribution to the history of art and performance as such, the project also endeavours to contribute to the history of aristocratic families, the history of home economics and the study of forms of political engagement.
In the history of Roman aristocratic families, the period chosen represents a particular moment of competition, whereby these families sought to obtain political influence through the patronage of the arts. Within this context, the arts became an aspect of political action. The project starts in 1644, with the election of Pope Innocent X, after the reign of Pope Urban VIII (which has been deliberately left out since the performance arts of this period have already been studied in depth); it ends in 1740, with the death of the great patron Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni. This date corresponds to the end of what is known as “minor nepotism” (nepotism refers to the tendency of certain pontiffs to favour their relatives, especially their nephews, without taking into account the normal selection processes).
II. Importance for society
The study of the Roman world of performance (musical, theatrical and choreographic) in the 17th and 18th centuries through the study of 11 family archives offers interesting comparisons with contemporary cultural activity. It enables us to reflect upon the birth of entrepreneurship, the notion of cultural consumption, the search for distinction (according to Pierre Bourdieu’s sense of the term, which extends beyond the primary meaning of the term, that is the ability to establish distinctions and value as an excellent manner of being) and the importance of cultural transfers on a European scale.
III. Objectives
1. To make a pool of new information on spectacles in 17th- and 18th-century Rome publicly available
How can we transform very diverse texts, objects, facts, institutions and the people we are working on, into data? The sources we are studying, which represent a considerable weight of documentation, range from accounts books to private correspondence, via notarial documents (dowry contracts, wills, sales, etc), journals (the avvisi), librettos (and their frontispiece where there is one) and musical scores. Certain objects which are by nature not archive materials may nonetheless become historical documents comparable to archive items: for instance an annotated opera libretto or an old musical instrument. As sources, all documents transcribed by PerformArt’s archivists and researchers according to shared norms and international standards are gathered in our database. In direct connection with these documents, the database also contains information on the realia, iconographical documents, historical persons, groupings, literary and musical works, places and events, as well as the bibliography relevant to each of these specific data. All these elements are linked to one another, such that it is easy to find all available information on ‘spectacle events’, considered either individually or as part of a series of events. At the end of the project, the entirety of the relevant data from the base will be made available to the public at large through an interactive website, which will also be able to respond to various types of requests made by other databases.
2. Performing arts, between Performance and Magnificence
Besides individual publications, two collective works are planned within the framework of the project.
The P.I. is currently preparing the first one with José María Domínguez, who teaches at the University of La Rioja, and Élodie Oriol, a historian with a CNRS research contract. It will be a thematic issue of the 'Mélanges de l’École française de Rome’ (MEFRIM) series, currently entitled Spectacles et performance à Rome (1644-1740) (Shows and performance in Rome). It is based on the following observation: it is impossible to view performances of shows from the past owing to their ephemeral nature and early sources only provide us with a very fragmented account; but does this mean we should give up writing their history? These performances did leave traces, remains, which it is up to the researcher to find. They can serve as a starting point for an analysis, and also call upon historical imagination. To address the challenge of studying these performances, which are by definition unique and impossible to repeat, recourse to the concept of performance is very useful. This exogenous notion provides an interpretive space where our documentary approach, prospects for analysis and the historical account we would like to propose, can come together. Manuscript to be submitted to the EFR on 1 October 2019; publication in second semester of 2021.
A second work, which the P.I. shall be editing in collaboration with Michela Berti, will offer a reflection on the concept of princely magnificence in Rome in the 17th and 18th century, based on the systematic comparison of the 11 families included in the project. We shall focus on showing how Roman magnificence, under the guise of offering gifts, was an effective form of action, on an aesthetic, political and social level. By analysing the performances organised by Roman aristocrats, we will show how they were focused on building the aesthetic and social image of their family, and on a goal: to bring together large audiences and famous performers in their homes, within an ostensibly extravagant framework. Book to be submitted, in English, in 2020, to the collection ‘Epitome musical’ directed by Philippe Vendrix at Brepols, for publication in 2021.
The aim of the project is to offer an overview of the material, social, economic and political history of performance arts in Rome between 1644 and 1740. The idea is to shift attention from the papal commissions for art and architecture of baroque Rome to the very many performances involving theatre, music and dance, commissioned by the main aristocratic families of the day. Up until now, research has focused on the specific patronage of a particular pope, cardinal or prince. Our goal is to replace this fragmented approach by working more broadly on the Roman cultural scene, without prioritising either music, theatre or dance, but by considering these arts as elements of the same artistic environment.
Eleven families were selected, i.e. approximately half of the great Roman aristocratic families of that time: the families Aldobrandini, Borghese, Caetani, Chigi, Colonna, Lante della Rovere, Orsini, Ottoboni, Pamphilj, Ruspoli and Vaini. Besides the obvious contribution to the history of art and performance as such, the project also endeavours to contribute to the history of aristocratic families, the history of home economics and the study of forms of political engagement.
In the history of Roman aristocratic families, the period chosen represents a particular moment of competition, whereby these families sought to obtain political influence through the patronage of the arts. Within this context, the arts became an aspect of political action. The project starts in 1644, with the election of Pope Innocent X, after the reign of Pope Urban VIII (which has been deliberately left out since the performance arts of this period have already been studied in depth); it ends in 1740, with the death of the great patron Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni. This date corresponds to the end of what is known as “minor nepotism” (nepotism refers to the tendency of certain pontiffs to favour their relatives, especially their nephews, without taking into account the normal selection processes).
II. Importance for society
The study of the Roman world of performance (musical, theatrical and choreographic) in the 17th and 18th centuries through the study of 11 family archives offers interesting comparisons with contemporary cultural activity. It enables us to reflect upon the birth of entrepreneurship, the notion of cultural consumption, the search for distinction (according to Pierre Bourdieu’s sense of the term, which extends beyond the primary meaning of the term, that is the ability to establish distinctions and value as an excellent manner of being) and the importance of cultural transfers on a European scale.
III. Objectives
1. To make a pool of new information on spectacles in 17th- and 18th-century Rome publicly available
How can we transform very diverse texts, objects, facts, institutions and the people we are working on, into data? The sources we are studying, which represent a considerable weight of documentation, range from accounts books to private correspondence, via notarial documents (dowry contracts, wills, sales, etc), journals (the avvisi), librettos (and their frontispiece where there is one) and musical scores. Certain objects which are by nature not archive materials may nonetheless become historical documents comparable to archive items: for instance an annotated opera libretto or an old musical instrument. As sources, all documents transcribed by PerformArt’s archivists and researchers according to shared norms and international standards are gathered in our database. In direct connection with these documents, the database also contains information on the realia, iconographical documents, historical persons, groupings, literary and musical works, places and events, as well as the bibliography relevant to each of these specific data. All these elements are linked to one another, such that it is easy to find all available information on ‘spectacle events’, considered either individually or as part of a series of events. At the end of the project, the entirety of the relevant data from the base will be made available to the public at large through an interactive website, which will also be able to respond to various types of requests made by other databases.
2. Performing arts, between Performance and Magnificence
Besides individual publications, two collective works are planned within the framework of the project.
The P.I. is currently preparing the first one with José María Domínguez, who teaches at the University of La Rioja, and Élodie Oriol, a historian with a CNRS research contract. It will be a thematic issue of the 'Mélanges de l’École française de Rome’ (MEFRIM) series, currently entitled Spectacles et performance à Rome (1644-1740) (Shows and performance in Rome). It is based on the following observation: it is impossible to view performances of shows from the past owing to their ephemeral nature and early sources only provide us with a very fragmented account; but does this mean we should give up writing their history? These performances did leave traces, remains, which it is up to the researcher to find. They can serve as a starting point for an analysis, and also call upon historical imagination. To address the challenge of studying these performances, which are by definition unique and impossible to repeat, recourse to the concept of performance is very useful. This exogenous notion provides an interpretive space where our documentary approach, prospects for analysis and the historical account we would like to propose, can come together. Manuscript to be submitted to the EFR on 1 October 2019; publication in second semester of 2021.
A second work, which the P.I. shall be editing in collaboration with Michela Berti, will offer a reflection on the concept of princely magnificence in Rome in the 17th and 18th century, based on the systematic comparison of the 11 families included in the project. We shall focus on showing how Roman magnificence, under the guise of offering gifts, was an effective form of action, on an aesthetic, political and social level. By analysing the performances organised by Roman aristocrats, we will show how they were focused on building the aesthetic and social image of their family, and on a goal: to bring together large audiences and famous performers in their homes, within an ostensibly extravagant framework. Book to be submitted, in English, in 2020, to the collection ‘Epitome musical’ directed by Philippe Vendrix at Brepols, for publication in 2021.
In September 2016, each of the 11 archival funds taken into account by PerformArt has been allocated to a team of two persons: a specialised researcher and an archivist. The research area of each collaborator has been delineated. A first scientific meeting, attended by our scientific committee, was held at the École française de Rome on December 5, 2016 (https://performart-roma.eu/it/event/primo-incontro-performart/). A concert at Palazzo Farnese was given on this occasion (https://performart-roma.eu/it/event/concerto-madrigalesco-di-ercole-bernabei/). 7 research seminars, open to a scholarly audience, each one followed by a private meeting of our team, served to clarify the main goals of our undertaking: we discussed the problems raised by the soundscape, the relationship between performing arts and economic history, the specificity of the patronage provided by the Roman Cardinals, the importance of the art of writing words for music as part of aristocratic identity, the relevance of the distinction between public and private spheres as well as the use of the concept of magnificence for the history of performing arts in Rome. Furthermore, one seminar session was entirely given over to the conception of our thesaurus. See reports published on our website: http://performart-roma.eu/it/calendario/. 3 Brainstorming dedicated to the Performance held on February 28, 2018 (EFR, Rome), June 5 1018 (EFR, Rome) and October 25 and 26 2018 (University of La Rioja, Spain) were dedicated to the content of the first volume to be published by our team as a special thematic issue of the MEFRIM (it should be submitted to the journal editors by October 2019).
Over thirty archival research missions have been undertaken by members of our team (see the ‘Research expeditions’ section, detailing these missions – but not including the many missions set up in order for the PerformArt team to meet periodically for its research activities).
The 26 members of PerformArt are currently using our database, designed by our computer technician, in close association with the P.I. A specific ethical charter was approved and signed by every user of the database. 9 workshops (in Rome and in Tours) helped introduce the team to the technicalities of this database and gave the opportunity to submit to the developer a list of desired improvements. Data acquisition progressed according to the schedule previously defined. The database holds at the present time in rich text format 3134 archive documents, 3469 entries for historical persons, 3525 entries for musical works, 459 entries for places and 796 entries for spectacular events. Instructions for a normalised transcription of documents, a user guide for the database and a few tutorials meant to facilitate acquisition of some problematic types of datas are at the disposal of the users of the PerformArt database. A thesaurus is currently being developed, and at present contains 521 descriptors. An agreement has been concluded with the team behind the Nuovo Soggettario of the Central National Library of Florence for all PerformArt descriptors to be incorporated into their system and thus be made available to the public.
Some efforts have been made to ensure an effective communication. Our website (both in Italian and English) can be accessed since December 4, 2016: https://performart-roma.eu. A radio program on France Musique and another one on Vatican Radio were broadcast. A paper on PerformArt was published in the InSHS CNRS journal, another one in the Microscoop journal, along with a third one on the concert given on December 5, 2016 in Rome (http://progressonline.it/un-concerto-daltri-tempi/). The project has also recently been presented on the website of Italian archives (Il Mondo degli Archivi: http://www.ilmondodegliarchivi.org/rubriche/in-italia/713-spettacoli-e-magnificenza-aristocratica-a-roma-tra-il-xvii-e-il-xviii-secolo-un-indagine-collettiva-negli-archivi-di-famiglia). A poster describing the main features of the PerformArt project was drawn: https://performart-roma.eu/it/poster. Each of our seminars and workshops was introduced by printed programs and posters. A Twitter account (twitter.com/@PerformArt_Roma) a Facebook account (www.facebook.com/PerformArt_Roma) and an Instagram account (performart_roma) are also active.
A few personal initiatives ensured scientific content dissemination: many of our specialists attended international meetings and delivered papers. The second session of our seminar shall be reviewed in the 2019 issue of the journal Archivum Historiae Pontificiae.
Over thirty archival research missions have been undertaken by members of our team (see the ‘Research expeditions’ section, detailing these missions – but not including the many missions set up in order for the PerformArt team to meet periodically for its research activities).
The 26 members of PerformArt are currently using our database, designed by our computer technician, in close association with the P.I. A specific ethical charter was approved and signed by every user of the database. 9 workshops (in Rome and in Tours) helped introduce the team to the technicalities of this database and gave the opportunity to submit to the developer a list of desired improvements. Data acquisition progressed according to the schedule previously defined. The database holds at the present time in rich text format 3134 archive documents, 3469 entries for historical persons, 3525 entries for musical works, 459 entries for places and 796 entries for spectacular events. Instructions for a normalised transcription of documents, a user guide for the database and a few tutorials meant to facilitate acquisition of some problematic types of datas are at the disposal of the users of the PerformArt database. A thesaurus is currently being developed, and at present contains 521 descriptors. An agreement has been concluded with the team behind the Nuovo Soggettario of the Central National Library of Florence for all PerformArt descriptors to be incorporated into their system and thus be made available to the public.
Some efforts have been made to ensure an effective communication. Our website (both in Italian and English) can be accessed since December 4, 2016: https://performart-roma.eu. A radio program on France Musique and another one on Vatican Radio were broadcast. A paper on PerformArt was published in the InSHS CNRS journal, another one in the Microscoop journal, along with a third one on the concert given on December 5, 2016 in Rome (http://progressonline.it/un-concerto-daltri-tempi/). The project has also recently been presented on the website of Italian archives (Il Mondo degli Archivi: http://www.ilmondodegliarchivi.org/rubriche/in-italia/713-spettacoli-e-magnificenza-aristocratica-a-roma-tra-il-xvii-e-il-xviii-secolo-un-indagine-collettiva-negli-archivi-di-famiglia). A poster describing the main features of the PerformArt project was drawn: https://performart-roma.eu/it/poster. Each of our seminars and workshops was introduced by printed programs and posters. A Twitter account (twitter.com/@PerformArt_Roma) a Facebook account (www.facebook.com/PerformArt_Roma) and an Instagram account (performart_roma) are also active.
A few personal initiatives ensured scientific content dissemination: many of our specialists attended international meetings and delivered papers. The second session of our seminar shall be reviewed in the 2019 issue of the journal Archivum Historiae Pontificiae.
1. Progress beyond the state of the art
First point: there’s no history of performance arts in Rome for the period we are interested in. In our field of study, where the borders between disciplines are very rigid, individualism has always triumphed. Knowledge is scattered among dozens and dozens of studies, written in every possible language. A musicologist can work on a musician who served a Roman prince without taking an interest in the work conducted by an art historian on a painter in the service of the same prince, and vice versa. Furthermore, the fragmented, existing knowledge is very partial since no wide-scale systematic research has ever been undertaken on Roman family archives, with such a chronological range and from an interdisciplinary angle. Third point: Rome, with its unique position as the capital of Christianity and the density of European diplomatic representation, is of particular interest because it was witness to the birth of a shared European cultural language, which served as a melting pot. Within the context of the social, cultural and political crisis that Europe is experiencing today, it may well be useful to examine the past. Penultimate point: in a somewhat more secondary manner, a study of patronage may be useful to help us understand why, within the context of the state’s gradual withdrawal, which is the case in France and Italy today, should private individuals become patrons and pay to subsidise culture? Here, too, the example of the 17th and 18th century, before state support was invented, could be very interesting. Last point: finally, our work may have side effects that are absolutely decisive for the performers, since we have been able to unearth forgotten music scores and plays - on 5 December 2016, we organised a concert at the Palazzo Farnese, with the Faenza ensemble, which was the perfect example of the type of result we were hoping for. The P.I. suggested to the Faenza early music ensemble, directed by Marco Horvat, that they elaborate a programme based on a collection of polyphonic madrigals by Ercole Bernabei, the Concerto madrigalesco a tre voci diverse, published in Rome in 1669, and dedicated to Flavio Orsini, the head of the francophile party in Rome.
2. Expected results until the end of the project
2.1. The model for aggregating the data proposed by the PerformArt database is entirely new in the field of performing arts. It allows gathering, ordering and use of a vast corpus of documents which allows users to formulate their analyses based on solid data and suggest syntheses not limited to extended speculation but instead founded on the most exhaustive information available. This enables and encourages researchers to treat sources in a rational and systematic way and to base their interpretations on a solid documentary foundation.
Besides the multi-criteria searches permitted by the application for the end users, additional functionalities will allow us to produce different types of reports, in a largely automated way: family trees, prosopographies, professional or social networks, catalogue of sources and works, cartographies and chronologies, and statistics. For instance, we would like to produce a graph showing the annual periods of use of the families' holiday villas and city palaces. We would also like to elaborate a dynamic map that locates the different families' places of residence (palace, 'vineyard', suburban villa, holiday villa) and another one that locates the families in the city according to their political label.
Besides the multi-criteria searches permitted by the application for the end users, additional functionalities will allow us to produce different types of reports, in a largely automated way: family trees, prosopographies, professional or social networks, catalogue of sources and works, cartographies and chronologies, and statistics. For instance, we would like to produce a graph showing the annual periods of use of the families' holiday villas and city palaces. We would also like to elaborate a dynamic map that locates the different families' places of residence (palace, 'vineyard', suburban villa, holiday villa) and another one that locates the families in the city according to their political label.
2.2. To produce new knowledge about the performing arts in Rome:
1. Using the analytical and dynamic concept of 'performance', we seek to articulate our documentary approach, our analytical perspectives and the historical narrative we wish to suggest. The point is to put performance spectacles back into a broader logic, to situate them amid the historical events unfolding around them, and to understand the wider context in which they took place. Intrinsic to the spectacle-event is the context of exhibiting a work, its moment of execution, and therefore performance itself, its reception, even its recording in memory. This leaves traces which can be studied in various ways, not only from an aesthetic but also an anthropological standpoint. Instead of looking at a product -- the spectacle -- we focus on analysing a process, which takes in the process of production as much as the aesthetic dimension. Rather than concentrating only on actors, we turn our attention to performers, that is to say all the individuals who took part in the event, whether as audience, onstage or backstage, seen in their embodied dimension. Rather than working on a staging (mise en scène), we are interested in a production. The Event table of the PerformArt database, which seeks to gather all available information on a given event -- archival documents produced, individuals involved, realia created and/or used, places and groups involved -- should in this vein provide a large amount of the material needed for our inquiry. Far from limiting ourselves merely to what happened on stage or in the performance venue, our analysis looks at the spectacle-event as a whole, in its multimedia dimension. We are thus in a position to produce as precise a synthesis of historical performance processes as possible.
2. The uses of spectacle by the Roman aristocracy merit a wide-ranging study, looking at modes of consumption and reception associated with the system of 'magnificence' that defined court societies of the time, whether in Rome, Paris or Madrid. Beneath the apparent gratuity of the sumptuary expense, or in other words the mechanics of gift-giving, aristocratic magnificence was in fact an effective action, even an exchange, since it sought to demonstrate the excellence and preeminence of those bestowing it. By following family accounts records over significant time periods, it should be possible to assess the economic weight of musical and theatre patronage within the sumptuary expenses of these families. In considering the cost of music, theatre and dance in Roman family finances, bearing in mind the specificities of the aristocratic economy, we are in a position to analyse the economy of 17th-century spectacles through concepts that would have been familiar at the time, rather than anachronistically imposing our own modern vision. We are thus contributing to better understanding of the dynamics of political legitimation through wealth and the arts, which formed the backbone of the family histories of Roman elites.
First point: there’s no history of performance arts in Rome for the period we are interested in. In our field of study, where the borders between disciplines are very rigid, individualism has always triumphed. Knowledge is scattered among dozens and dozens of studies, written in every possible language. A musicologist can work on a musician who served a Roman prince without taking an interest in the work conducted by an art historian on a painter in the service of the same prince, and vice versa. Furthermore, the fragmented, existing knowledge is very partial since no wide-scale systematic research has ever been undertaken on Roman family archives, with such a chronological range and from an interdisciplinary angle. Third point: Rome, with its unique position as the capital of Christianity and the density of European diplomatic representation, is of particular interest because it was witness to the birth of a shared European cultural language, which served as a melting pot. Within the context of the social, cultural and political crisis that Europe is experiencing today, it may well be useful to examine the past. Penultimate point: in a somewhat more secondary manner, a study of patronage may be useful to help us understand why, within the context of the state’s gradual withdrawal, which is the case in France and Italy today, should private individuals become patrons and pay to subsidise culture? Here, too, the example of the 17th and 18th century, before state support was invented, could be very interesting. Last point: finally, our work may have side effects that are absolutely decisive for the performers, since we have been able to unearth forgotten music scores and plays - on 5 December 2016, we organised a concert at the Palazzo Farnese, with the Faenza ensemble, which was the perfect example of the type of result we were hoping for. The P.I. suggested to the Faenza early music ensemble, directed by Marco Horvat, that they elaborate a programme based on a collection of polyphonic madrigals by Ercole Bernabei, the Concerto madrigalesco a tre voci diverse, published in Rome in 1669, and dedicated to Flavio Orsini, the head of the francophile party in Rome.
2. Expected results until the end of the project
2.1. The model for aggregating the data proposed by the PerformArt database is entirely new in the field of performing arts. It allows gathering, ordering and use of a vast corpus of documents which allows users to formulate their analyses based on solid data and suggest syntheses not limited to extended speculation but instead founded on the most exhaustive information available. This enables and encourages researchers to treat sources in a rational and systematic way and to base their interpretations on a solid documentary foundation.
Besides the multi-criteria searches permitted by the application for the end users, additional functionalities will allow us to produce different types of reports, in a largely automated way: family trees, prosopographies, professional or social networks, catalogue of sources and works, cartographies and chronologies, and statistics. For instance, we would like to produce a graph showing the annual periods of use of the families' holiday villas and city palaces. We would also like to elaborate a dynamic map that locates the different families' places of residence (palace, 'vineyard', suburban villa, holiday villa) and another one that locates the families in the city according to their political label.
Besides the multi-criteria searches permitted by the application for the end users, additional functionalities will allow us to produce different types of reports, in a largely automated way: family trees, prosopographies, professional or social networks, catalogue of sources and works, cartographies and chronologies, and statistics. For instance, we would like to produce a graph showing the annual periods of use of the families' holiday villas and city palaces. We would also like to elaborate a dynamic map that locates the different families' places of residence (palace, 'vineyard', suburban villa, holiday villa) and another one that locates the families in the city according to their political label.
2.2. To produce new knowledge about the performing arts in Rome:
1. Using the analytical and dynamic concept of 'performance', we seek to articulate our documentary approach, our analytical perspectives and the historical narrative we wish to suggest. The point is to put performance spectacles back into a broader logic, to situate them amid the historical events unfolding around them, and to understand the wider context in which they took place. Intrinsic to the spectacle-event is the context of exhibiting a work, its moment of execution, and therefore performance itself, its reception, even its recording in memory. This leaves traces which can be studied in various ways, not only from an aesthetic but also an anthropological standpoint. Instead of looking at a product -- the spectacle -- we focus on analysing a process, which takes in the process of production as much as the aesthetic dimension. Rather than concentrating only on actors, we turn our attention to performers, that is to say all the individuals who took part in the event, whether as audience, onstage or backstage, seen in their embodied dimension. Rather than working on a staging (mise en scène), we are interested in a production. The Event table of the PerformArt database, which seeks to gather all available information on a given event -- archival documents produced, individuals involved, realia created and/or used, places and groups involved -- should in this vein provide a large amount of the material needed for our inquiry. Far from limiting ourselves merely to what happened on stage or in the performance venue, our analysis looks at the spectacle-event as a whole, in its multimedia dimension. We are thus in a position to produce as precise a synthesis of historical performance processes as possible.
2. The uses of spectacle by the Roman aristocracy merit a wide-ranging study, looking at modes of consumption and reception associated with the system of 'magnificence' that defined court societies of the time, whether in Rome, Paris or Madrid. Beneath the apparent gratuity of the sumptuary expense, or in other words the mechanics of gift-giving, aristocratic magnificence was in fact an effective action, even an exchange, since it sought to demonstrate the excellence and preeminence of those bestowing it. By following family accounts records over significant time periods, it should be possible to assess the economic weight of musical and theatre patronage within the sumptuary expenses of these families. In considering the cost of music, theatre and dance in Roman family finances, bearing in mind the specificities of the aristocratic economy, we are in a position to analyse the economy of 17th-century spectacles through concepts that would have been familiar at the time, rather than anachronistically imposing our own modern vision. We are thus contributing to better understanding of the dynamics of political legitimation through wealth and the arts, which formed the backbone of the family histories of Roman elites.