Carriera e storiografia dell’operista del secondo Settecento

This work is a meticulous examination of the mechanisms that generate the success of a musician and the subsequent historiographical yield, conducted through the examination of Niccolò Piccinni’s career during his Roman period, which—as is well known—was expressed mainly in the composition of intermezzi. The data collected on all operatic performances that took place in Naples, Rome, Venice (the main productive squares that exported titles and careers to the rest of Italy and Europe), disaggregated and re-aggregated again in pie charts, describe the specificities of individual markets and allow us to derive the place that each composer occupied in the markets in which he operated. The comparison of results with archival research (in this specific case, the reading of Chracas) and past musicological research also offers possible answers to many questions—for example, the reason why Roman intermezzi became established.

Finally, social network mathematics applied to the data collected illustrates what characteristics generate overwhelming success for very few lucky ones—like Piccinni—and how the “long tail” is created that collects everyone else. It thus becomes evident how, from this point of view, there is no difference in how success was achieved for 18th-century musicians and how it is achieved today.

(Translation by Bing)

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