Musica Mercata: Finance, Commodity and the Music Industry from Antiquity to the Present
7th Sibelius Academy Symposium on Music History
The 7th Sibelius Academy Symposium on Music History provides the opportunity for music-history scholars all over the world to interrogate issues around finance, commodity and the music industry in the history of music from antiquity to the present and in all parts of the globe.
The financial condition of music has been recognised for as long as there have been studies of patronage in the music of the early-modern period or for as long as ‘opera’ has been regarded as both ‘an art and a business’. And while the domains of music publishing and the press have long been regarded as financially contingent, the 7th Sibelius Academy Symposium on Music History seeks to expand these concerns to include all types of agency related to music, commodity and finance across the globe, and all types of exchange: monetary, in-kind and reciprocal gifting.
The following (non-exhaustive) list opens up some questions that the symposium looks to explore:
- Cultural history of music and economy
- Musical celebrity
- Patronage and music
- Promotion and self-promotion of musicians
- Music publishing, engraving and other forms of dissemination
- Music institutions and their financial underpinnings
- Economic impact on the aesthetics of music
- Music as commodity
- Media and music
- Connections of the music market to other economic networks
- Musical societies
- Music collecting
- The trade in music autographs and related material
- The concept of the music industry
Keynote speakers
- Kyle S. Barnett (Bellarmine University, US): Music, media, and cultural circulation in the early U.S. recording industry
Kyle S. Barnett is an associate professor of media studies in the Department of Communication at Bellarmine University. His work focuses on popular music, media history, and sound cultures across media. His publications include “Furniture Music: The Phonograph as Furniture,” in the Journal of Popular Music Studies, “The Selznick Studio, Spellbound, and the Marketing of Film Music,’ in Music, Sound and the Moving Image, and “Eat What You Hear: Gustasonic Discourses and the Material Culture of Sound Recordings” (with Shawn VanCour) in the Journal of Material Culture. He has also appeared in several book anthologies. Barnett has co-edited issues of Creative Industries Journal and the Velvet Light Trap, while also contributing media and music columns for Flow, Antenna, and In Media Res. Barnett’s first bookRecord Cultures: The Transformation of the U.S. Recording Industry (University of Michigan Press, 2020) won the 2021 Association for Recorded Sound Collections’ Award of Excellence for Best Historical Research on Record Labels.
- Gundula Kreuzer (Yale University, US): Industries of Opera: Scenes from the Nineteenth Century to Today
Gundula Kreuzer is Professor of Music History and chair of the Department of Music at Yale University. Her publications include the multiple award-winning Verdi and the Germans: From Unification to the Third Reich (Cambridge University Press, 2010), a critical edition of Verdi’s chamber music (University of Chicago Press, 2010), a co-edited issue of The Opera Quarterly on “Opera in Transition” (2011), and Curtain, Gong, Steam: Wagnerian Technologies of Nineteenth-Century Opera (University of California Press, 2018). In 2019, she received the Dent Medal of the Royal Musical Association and launched a series of symposia (Y | Opera | Studies Today) to foster dialogues between scholars, artists, and curators about contemporary opera. Other current research interests include “indie” opera in North America; the long history of stage technologies; opera’s entanglements with digital media; and a book project on Hindemith and the role of operatic repertories in postwar German memory cultures.
Programme on Wednesday 5 June 2024
9:30–10:45 Registration and coffee (Lower Foyer)
10:45–11:15 Welcoming words (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
Teemu Leinonen, vice rector, University of the Arts Helsinki
Anne Kauppala, University of the Arts Helsinki
11:15–12:30 Keynote Gundula Kreuzer (Yale University, US): Industries of Opera: Scenes from the Nineteenth Century to Today (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
12:30–14:00 Lunch
14:00–15:30 Sessions 1a–c
Session 1a (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
Nancy November and Imogen Morris (The University of Auckland): The Economy of Musical Amateurs in Early Nineteenth-Century Vienna
Francis Lapointe (Université du Québec à Montréal): The necessity of importing pianos to Canada, is gone forever: The rise of the music trade in Canada, 1800-1851
Liliana Toledo-Guzmán (University of Arizona): Women Musicians and Breadwinners in Mexico
Session 1b (Auditorium)
Rachel S. Vandagriff (San Francisco Conservatory of Music): Cold War Patronage and Musical Modernism: Private Foundations and Transatlantic Relationships in a Pax Americana Economy
Eric Coutts (King’s College London): Patronage, commerce, and copyright: the development of the music business in eighteenth-century London
Clemens Kreutzfeldt (University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna): Gottlieb Graupner (1767–1836): A Transatlantic Musical Entrepreneur in Early 19th Century Boston
Session 1c (S3101 meeting room)
Sonja Tröster (University of Vienna): How much is an orchestra? Renting instruments in 19th-century Vienna
Karl Traugott Goldbach (Spohr Museum): Supply chains in the gut trade of the 19th century
Chloe Valenti (Specialist Advice Network at the National Trust): Music as merchandise? The market for nineteenth-century Garibaldi music
15:30–16:00 Coffee break (30 min)
16:00–17:30 Sessions 2a–c
Session 2a (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
Chair: Kaarina Kilpiö
Una McIlvenna (Australian National University): The Business of News-Singing in Europe from the Sixteenth through the Nineteenth Century
Jonathan Hicks (University of Aberdeen): After London Cried; or, the Noisy Character of Victorian Commerce
Morton Wan (Cornell University): Exchange Alley Ballads: Music and Financial Crisis, circa 1720
Session 2b (Auditorium)
Patrick Zuk (University of Durham): Soviet music publishing in the 1920s and early 1930s: perspectives from the correspondence of Nikolay Myaskovsky
Julia Bungardt-Eckhart (University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna): “From the Witches` Kitchen:” Publishing Avant-garde Music in the Golden Twenties Economic Strategies of the Viennese Music Publisher Universal-Edition
Michele Calella (University of Vienna): Publishing the music, selling the virtuoso: Franz Liszt and the music market (1838–1847)
Session 2c (S3101 meeting room)
Helena Tyrväinen (University of Helsinki): Chauvinism, shared values, business? Association française d’expansion et d’échanges artistiques as a sponsor of the Finnish Opera
Asier Odriozola Otamendi (University of the Basque Country / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea): A Wagnerian Risk: R.M. Azkue’s “Ortzuri” (1911) and “Urlo” (1914), or the Economics of Basque Opera
Metoda Kokole (Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute of Musicology): The Rise and Fall of an Opera Impresario: Amalia Mascheks Financial Enterprise in the Estates Theatre in Ljubljana (1833–1835)
19:00–20:00 Conference reception, City of Helsinki, Empire Room (Old Court House, Aleksanterikatu 20, Helsinki)
Programme on Thursday 6 June 2024
9:00–11:00 Sessions 3a–d
Session 3a (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
Alice Lee (Stony Brook University): Bookkeeping the Opera: A Financial and Quantitative-Based Analysis of the Vienna Hofoper
Inka-Maria Nyman (Åbo Akademi University): Neoliberal opera? Money and cultural value in contemporary opera practices
Mahima Macchione (King’s College London): The Hidden Networks behind Italian Operas Golden Age/Age of Gold in Rio de Janeiro, 1849-1853
Helen Greenwald (New England Conservatory): Artistry vs. Commerce: Verdi, Attila, and the Economics of Opera in 1840s Italy
Session 3b (Auditorium)
Louise Hanson-Dyer (1884-1962): Publishing, patronage, promotion (panel presentation, 120 min):
Jennifer Hill and Madeline Roycroft (University of Melbourne): Louise Hanson-Dyers Professional Network: A Data Visualisation
Rachel Orzech (University of Melbourne): An imagined French Bayreuth: Les Semaines musicales françaises
Sarah Kirby (University of Melbourne): Louise Dyer, patronage, and the British Music Societies of Melbourne and Sydney
Kerry Murphy (University of Melbourne): Editions de l’Oiseau-lyre publishing: some unusual case studies
Session 3c (S3101 meeting room)
Södergrens Shop of Musical Sweets: Distribution, production and consumption of music and music-related prints in a small Swedish town in the 19th century (panel presentation, 60 min):
Juliane Peetz-Ullman (Smålands Musikarkiv): Södergrens sale records shedding light on private music making in 19th century Växjö
Mathias Boström (Smålands Musikarkiv): Different sides of Södergrens broadsides
Kaj Ahlsved (Åbo Akademi University): Among bicycle marches and ping pong-polkas: The publication of sports-related middle music in Sweden (1867-1939)
Karin Hallgren (Linnaeus University): Military musicians in public music life – examples from Sweden during the 19th century
11:00–11:15 Coffee break
11:15–12.30 Keynote Kyle Barnett (Bellarmine University, US): New Sounds at the Market: Music Media’s Circulating Cultures (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
12:30–14:00 Lunch
14:00–15:30 Sessions 4a–c
Session 4a (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
Economic Management of Theatre, Music and Spectacle in Early Modern Italy (panel presentation, 90 min):
Francesca Fantappiè (University of Tours): Economic management of court spectacles between Florence and Paris (1590 – 1620)
Roberta Carpani (University of Tours): <<Fin che pagano i Lonati>>. Notes on impresarial theater in Milan in the Spanish period
Aldo Roma (Université de Liège): The Roman colleges as production and consumption systems of spectacle (17th-18th centuries)
Session 4b (Auditorium)
Simon Crab (Huddersfield University/CeReNem): Post-Human Music Production: Rationalisation and Automation in Weimar electronic music
David Thyrén and Jan-Olof Gullö (Royal College of Music in Stockholm): Creative leadership for achieving success: a case study – Mariann Records
Patrick Mertens (University of Heidelberg / Mannheim University of Music and Performing Art): The Megamusical of the Eighties between Art and Economy. The Exploitation Techniques in the Megamusical Field Discussed Using the Example of Chess
Session 4c (S3101 meeting room)
Stephanie Shon (University of Oxford): Culture Follows Economy: the Australian art music market 1960s–1990s
Johan Larson Lindal (Linköping University): Collecting the Modern Music: Lay Record Collectors and Expert Knowledge on Recorded Music in 1920s Europe and U.S.
Antti-Ville Villén (University of the Arts Helsinki): Music heritagisation: business as (un)usual
15:30–16:00 Coffee break
16:00–17:30/18 Sessions 5a–c (3 parallel sessions)
Session 5a (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
Maximilian Rosenthal (University of Music Leipzig): Navigating the line between economic and symbolic. A model for 19th century music publishers as actors
Iconography and fame in the Italian Renaissance: The Diego Ortiz case
Manuel Lafarga Marques (University of Valencia): Renaissance musical careers: Italian Spaniards in the middle 1500
Teresa Chafer Bixquert (University of Valencia): The famigliari as an investment: cultural and economic prestige in the Colonna family of the Italian Renaissance
Penelope Sanz Gonzalez (University of Valencia): Self-publication as self-promotion in the Renaissance musical career: Spaniards in Renaissance Italy
Session 5b (Auditorium)
Katherine Fry (King’s College London): The Victorian Poetess and the Musical Marketplace
Remi Chiu (Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University): Selling Music and Quack Medicine in Victorian Britain
Fiona M. Palmer (Maynooth University, National University of Ireland): Commodifying Orchestral Conductors in 1920s Britain: Conductor Medleys as a Marketplace Microcosm?
Wouter Verschuren (Royal Conservatoire): Landgrave Moritz of Hessen and his Protégé Heinrich Schütz
Session 5c (S3101 meeting room)
Niccolò Galliano (University of Milan): Puccinis Tunes: Casa Ricordi, American Popular Music and the Commodification of Italian Opera in the 1920s
Pierluigi Ledda (Archivio Storico Ricordi): Casa Ricordi and the rise of the publisher-impresario: the entrepreneurial side of Italian opera through the collections of the Archivio Storico Ricordi
Mark Mahoney (Cornell University): End Time(s): Spiritual Jazz and Political Economy in the Global 1970s
19:00–22:00 Conference dinner at Restaurant Lasipalatsi, Palmuhuone (Mannerheimintie 22 – 24, Helsinki)
Programme on Friday 7 June
9:00–10:30 / 11:00 Sessions 6a–c
Session 6a (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
M. Belen Vargas (University of Granada): Scenic music in supplements of 19th century Spanish magazines and newspapers as a market strategy
José Gálvez (University of Bonn) and Max Alt (Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn): Empowered by you: Datafying and programming music listening in the first half of the 20th century
Martin Perkins (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham City University): Performance Networks in Provincial Britain, 1750–1800, and the rise of the Musical Meeting.
Session 6b (Auditorium)
Cristina Pascu (The National Academy of Music “Gheorghe Dima”): Keys to Fame: The Emergence of Romanian Pianists as International Celebrities
Pawel Siechowicz (University of Warsaw): Virtuosity, Hausmusik, and the rise of consumer appetites. Enterprising activities of Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann
Clare Beesley (Utrecht University): Promoting an English Virtuosa in 18th Century Paris
Marianne Betz (Hochschule für Musik und Theater “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” Leipzig): “Duke, the wage earner, and Dukelsky, would-be composer”: The two musical sides of Vernon Duke alias Vladimir Dukelsky
Session 6c (S3101 meeting room)
Carolina Queipo and Teresa Cascudo (Universidad de La Rioja): Designing Classical Concert Programs for Profit: the Seasons of the Sociedad de Cuartetos de Madrid (1863-1894)
Elke Hager (Karl-Franzens-University Graz): Beethoven and his powerful female network: A Strategic Alliance for Competitive Value Creations
Nuppu Koivisto-Kaasik (University of the Arts Helsinki): Accompanists, instrument dealers, and seamstresses: the socioeconomic status of women piano teachers in Finland and Estonia, 1861–1924
Anu Schaper (Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre): Tallinn Sheet Music Catalogue and Musical Trade around 1600
11:00–11:15 Coffee
11:15–12:45 Sessions 7a–c
Session 7a (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
Tobias Plebuch (Uppsala University): Bach Inc.: The Baltic Network of C.P.E. Bachs Music Business in the late 18th Century
Carla Conti (Conservatory of Music Santa Cecilia of Rome): Music collecting and cultural female patronage. The Capece Minutolo archive at the Conservatory San Pietro a Majella of Naples.
Taryn Dubois (Yale University): Materials and Marketing of Manzottis late ballets
Session 7b (Auditorium)
Egberto Bermudez (Universidad Nacional de Colombia): Migration, job opportunities and self-promotion between Spain and America: the case of Gutierre Fernández Hidalgo, chapelmaster and composer, 1584-1623
Veronika Kusz (HUN-REN Institute for Musicology): Promoting a war criminal? The struggles of Ernst von Dohnányi and his impresario Andrew Schulhof in the United States (1949–1953)
Emma Sohlgren (Uppsala University): Operatic Expenses: Theatre Visits and Personal Finances of a Swedish Diplomat in Mid-Eighteenth-Century Paris
Session 7c (S3101 meeting room)
Performing Bavarianness: Images of Bavaria in the Early 20th Century Music Industry (panel presentation, 60 min):
Merle Greiser (Research Centre for Franconian Folk Music): Entertaining the Beer Tent: How Economic Success Shaped a Musical Genre
Risto Pekka Pennanen (University of the Arts Helsinki): Commercial Recordings of Bavarian Instrumental Folk Music and Their Marketing before the First World War
Karin Larsson Eriksson (Linnæus University): Swedish folk music and music publication: the case of AB Nordisk folkmusik
12:45–14:00 Lunch break
14:00–15:30 Panel discussion (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
15:30–16:00 Concluding remarks (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
Registration
The registration is open from 2 April until 26 May 2024 (Europe – Helsinki UTC +03:00). The event will be arranged in-person in Helsinki, but you can also register only to the online sessions too.
Register to Musica Mercata Symposium by paying the Registration Fee. The fee must be paid at the same time as you complete your registration, it cannot be paid later.
If you have a panel presentation, each member of your group is requested to register and pay separately. A separate link to the registration form will be sent to each group member.
Before registering, please read the Data Protection Statement for the Event Enrolment Service in the Customer Register of the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts. By registering for the event, you agree to the processing of personal data as described in the privacy statement.
Data protection at Uniarts Helsinki
Registration Fee Categories:
Early Bird rates 2 – 30 April 2024
Registration fee Wed-Fri (including the dinner) 150 €
Registration fee Wed-Fri (without the dinner) 80 €
Rates 1 – 26 May 2024
Registration fee Wed-Fri (including the dinner) 170 €
Registration fee Wed-Fri (without the dinner) 100 €
One symposium day registration 2 April – 26 May 2024
Registration for the one symposium day (including the dinner) 100 €
Registration for the one symposium day (without the dinner) 40 €
Online rate for all participant groups 2 April – 26 May 2024
Online registration fee (including participation only to the hybrid sessions) 20 €
Student rates
Registration fee Wed-Fri (including the dinner) 70 €
Registration fee Wed-Fri (without the dinner) 30 €
University of the Arst Helsinki staff rates
Registration fee Wed-Fri (including the dinner) 100 €
Registration fee Wed-Fri (without the dinner) 50 €
There are no free fees for Uniarts Helsinki staff or students. If your study program or Uniarts Helsinki pays your registration fee, please add the unit or project number for your payment in the registration form. The registration fees of Uniarts Helsinki’s members (presenters, staff and students) will be invoiced internally by the university’s Financial Services. Notice: It is not possible to make a registration payment with an Uniarts Helsinki credit card.
The registration fees include the daily coffees, participation in all sessions: keynotes and all presentations and Helsinki City`s reception on 5 June at 7 PM. The online registration fee includes participation to the daily hybrid sessions from Black Box Hall.
We accept the following forms of payment
- Finnish banks (verkkopankki)
- Visa or Mastercard
Please, notice, that when registering, the registration page remains active for 60 minutes. After registration, you will receive a confirmation e-mail and also the receipt of the payment. You can update your information until the end of the registration time. Please, save your documents.
Practical Information for Musica Mercata 2024 participants
Musica Mercata 2024 symposium will take place in the facilities of Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy`s Töölö campus (Helsinki Music Centre). Here you will find information about us and our venues as well as how to move around in Helsinki and where to visit.
Accommodation
The organisers have negotiated discount rates for conference attendees in Hotel Scandic Kaisaniemi and Hotel Scandic Grand Central. Both hotels are situated in central Helsinki, within walking distance from the conference venue. As the conference participant you will get the 10 % discount for the reservation to Forenom Aparthotels too.
Hotel Scandic Grand Central offers the following room rates (June 4 – 8, 2024):
- 179 euros / standard single room / night
- 199 euros / standard double room / night
Both room rates include buffet breakfast and free WiFi. Bookings can be made until May 21 , 2024 (or until the hotel is fully booked) online here or via phone (+358 300 308 403) / email (grandcentralhelsinki@scandichotels.com) or online: Scandic Grand Central. Ask the reservation code: musicamercata2024@uniarts.fi
Hotel Scandic Kaisaniemi offers the following room rates (June 4 – 8, 2024):
- 164 euros / standard single room / night
- 184 euros / standard double room / night
Both room rates include buffet breakfast and free WiFi. Bookings can be made until May 21, 2024 (or until the hotel is fully booked) online here or via phone (+358 300 308 403) / email (kaisaniemi@scandichotels.com) or online: Scandic Kaisaniemi. Ask the reservation code: musicamercata2024@uniarts.fi
We have also the discount code reservation for June 4 – 8, 2024 to Forenom Aparthotels in Kamppi, Herttoniemi, Pikku-Huopalahti, Vantaa Tikkurila and Espoo Leppävaara.
Forenom aparthotels offer you convenient accommodation in great locations. Getting around is easy, as you have access to main thoroughfares and public transportation. Ask the discount code: musicamercata2024@uniarts.fi
Getting around
The fastest and most economical way of reaching the city centre from the Helsinki-Vantaa airport is by commuter train. The I and P trains run regularly (mostly every 10–15 minutes) from the airport to the Helsinki Central Railway Station, and the journey takes about 30 minutes. A one-way ticket (ABC zones) can be purchased from an automat at the airport train station or from the HSL app. A taxi between the airport and the city takes 20 – 30 minutes and costs around 40 €.
Our conference venue is situated in central Helsinki, and the city centre can be thoroughly explored on foot. Most of the signs are within convenient walking distance of the city centre.
Helsinki does, however, have an extensive public transport system with buses, two metro lines, city bikes, ferries and commuter trains. Trams are the main mode of public transport in the inner city. The single public transport tickets can be purchased from ticket machines at the metro stations or the railway stations. You can download the HSL app from your app store for free to buy tickets, find routes (Journey Planner) and stay up-to-date with any service changes: HSL website
The municipal Suomenlinna ferry operates between the Market Square and the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress all year around. Tickets can be purchased from a ticket machine at the Market Square.
Good to know
Helsinki climate combines characteristics of both a maritime and a continental climate. Days are at their longest in the second half of June, the sun stays above the horizon for 19 hours. For the latest weather forecast in Helsinki see: Finnish Meteorological Institute
The local currency in Finland is Euro (EUR) and all major credit cards are widely accepted in Finland. There are several ATM machines (e.g. OTTO machines) and foreign currency exchange points available around the city centre, e.g. Forex and Tavex.
General Emergency number for police, ambulance and fire department is 112.
Finland has two official languages, Finnish and Swedish. Street signs in Helsinki are in both languages. English is widely spoken and most Finns also master one or two other foreign languages.
There are a number of pharmacies around the city. Look for the sign “Apteekki”, which means pharmacy in Finnish.
It is safe to drink tap water in Helsinki.
The time zone in Helsinki is Eastern European Time (EET), 2 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT +2).
There are plenty of hotspots available in the city centre and at harbours. You can also connect your laptop or mobile phone to a wireless network in many places throughout the city centre e.g. in several cafes, restaurants and libraries. In addition, most hotels offer their guests a free internet connection. For the international research and education community, it is possible to use Eduroam service while in Helsinki.
Helsinki Tourist Information provides free information about the city, main attractions, events, and services. The Tourist Information provides tips and advice for making the most of your visit. At the same time you can pick up brochures and maps. The Tourist Information Office is located at Aleksanterinkatu 24, in the corner of Aleksanterinkatu and Sofiankatu streets. Read more: Tourist Information
University of the Arts guidelines regarding the war in Ukraine
Visit our page containing general info on the impact of the war on Uniarts Helsinki
Call for proposals
Proposals are invited for
- Papers (20 minutes duration followed by 10 minutes discussion)
- Complete sessions and panels (two, three or four 20-minute papers, each with 10 minutes discussion)
- Panels with a freer structure (position-papers, lightning papers, responses, etc.)
Proposal length
- individual presentation proposals: max 300 words
- panel session proposals: max 350 words + each panelist’s proposal 200 words
The language of the conference is English.
The deadline for submissions is Saturday 30 September 2023 (23:59 Finnish time UTC+3). Notices of acceptance will be sent by Tuesday 31 October 2023.
While it is intended that the conference will be an in-person event, the organisers will be also pleased to consider hybrid or online submissions.
The organizing committee
- Anne Kauppala (committee chair) / Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
- Mark Everist / University of Southampton, GB
- Ingeborg Zechner / University of Graz, AT
- Markus Mantere / Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
- Saijaleena Rantanen / Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
- Kaarina Kilpiö / Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
- Marianne Mieskolainen (symposium secretary) / Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
- Johanna Rauhaniemi (symposium coordinator) / Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
Organisers: University of the Arts Helsinki History Forum and Sibelius Academy
Contact for inquiries
musicamercata2024@uniarts.fi
The 7th Sibelius Academy Symposium on Music History provides the opportunity for music-history scholars all over the world to interrogate issues around finance, commodity and the music industry in the history of music from antiquity to the present and in all parts of the globe.
The financial condition of music has been recognised for as long as there have been studies of patronage in the music of the early-modern period or for as long as ‘opera’ has been regarded as both ‘an art and a business’. And while the domains of music publishing and the press have long been regarded as financially contingent, the 7th Sibelius Academy Symposium on Music History seeks to expand these concerns to include all types of agency related to music, commodity and finance across the globe, and all types of exchange: monetary, in-kind and reciprocal gifting.
The following (non-exhaustive) list opens up some questions that the symposium looks to explore:
- Cultural history of music and economy
- Musical celebrity
- Patronage and music
- Promotion and self-promotion of musicians
- Music publishing, engraving and other forms of dissemination
- Music institutions and their financial underpinnings
- Economic impact on the aesthetics of music
- Music as commodity
- Media and music
- Connections of the music market to other economic networks
- Musical societies
- Music collecting
- The trade in music autographs and related material
- The concept of the music industry
Keynote speakers
- Kyle S. Barnett (Bellarmine University, US): Music, media, and cultural circulation in the early U.S. recording industry
Kyle S. Barnett is an associate professor of media studies in the Department of Communication at Bellarmine University. His work focuses on popular music, media history, and sound cultures across media. His publications include “Furniture Music: The Phonograph as Furniture,” in the Journal of Popular Music Studies, “The Selznick Studio, Spellbound, and the Marketing of Film Music,’ in Music, Sound and the Moving Image, and “Eat What You Hear: Gustasonic Discourses and the Material Culture of Sound Recordings” (with Shawn VanCour) in the Journal of Material Culture. He has also appeared in several book anthologies. Barnett has co-edited issues of Creative Industries Journal and the Velvet Light Trap, while also contributing media and music columns for Flow, Antenna, and In Media Res. Barnett’s first bookRecord Cultures: The Transformation of the U.S. Recording Industry (University of Michigan Press, 2020) won the 2021 Association for Recorded Sound Collections’ Award of Excellence for Best Historical Research on Record Labels.
- Gundula Kreuzer (Yale University, US): Industries of Opera: Scenes from the Nineteenth Century to Today
Gundula Kreuzer is Professor of Music History and chair of the Department of Music at Yale University. Her publications include the multiple award-winning Verdi and the Germans: From Unification to the Third Reich (Cambridge University Press, 2010), a critical edition of Verdi’s chamber music (University of Chicago Press, 2010), a co-edited issue of The Opera Quarterly on “Opera in Transition” (2011), and Curtain, Gong, Steam: Wagnerian Technologies of Nineteenth-Century Opera (University of California Press, 2018). In 2019, she received the Dent Medal of the Royal Musical Association and launched a series of symposia (Y | Opera | Studies Today) to foster dialogues between scholars, artists, and curators about contemporary opera. Other current research interests include “indie” opera in North America; the long history of stage technologies; opera’s entanglements with digital media; and a book project on Hindemith and the role of operatic repertories in postwar German memory cultures.
Programme on Wednesday 5 June 2024
9:30–10:45 Registration and coffee (Lower Foyer)
10:45–11:15 Welcoming words (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
Teemu Leinonen, vice rector, University of the Arts Helsinki
Anne Kauppala, University of the Arts Helsinki
11:15–12:30 Keynote Gundula Kreuzer (Yale University, US): Industries of Opera: Scenes from the Nineteenth Century to Today (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
12:30–14:00 Lunch
14:00–15:30 Sessions 1a–c
Session 1a (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
Nancy November and Imogen Morris (The University of Auckland): The Economy of Musical Amateurs in Early Nineteenth-Century Vienna
Francis Lapointe (Université du Québec à Montréal): The necessity of importing pianos to Canada, is gone forever: The rise of the music trade in Canada, 1800-1851
Liliana Toledo-Guzmán (University of Arizona): Women Musicians and Breadwinners in Mexico
Session 1b (Auditorium)
Rachel S. Vandagriff (San Francisco Conservatory of Music): Cold War Patronage and Musical Modernism: Private Foundations and Transatlantic Relationships in a Pax Americana Economy
Eric Coutts (King’s College London): Patronage, commerce, and copyright: the development of the music business in eighteenth-century London
Clemens Kreutzfeldt (University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna): Gottlieb Graupner (1767–1836): A Transatlantic Musical Entrepreneur in Early 19th Century Boston
Session 1c (S3101 meeting room)
Sonja Tröster (University of Vienna): How much is an orchestra? Renting instruments in 19th-century Vienna
Karl Traugott Goldbach (Spohr Museum): Supply chains in the gut trade of the 19th century
Chloe Valenti (Specialist Advice Network at the National Trust): Music as merchandise? The market for nineteenth-century Garibaldi music
15:30–16:00 Coffee break (30 min)
16:00–17:30 Sessions 2a–c
Session 2a (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
Chair: Kaarina Kilpiö
Una McIlvenna (Australian National University): The Business of News-Singing in Europe from the Sixteenth through the Nineteenth Century
Jonathan Hicks (University of Aberdeen): After London Cried; or, the Noisy Character of Victorian Commerce
Morton Wan (Cornell University): Exchange Alley Ballads: Music and Financial Crisis, circa 1720
Session 2b (Auditorium)
Patrick Zuk (University of Durham): Soviet music publishing in the 1920s and early 1930s: perspectives from the correspondence of Nikolay Myaskovsky
Julia Bungardt-Eckhart (University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna): “From the Witches` Kitchen:” Publishing Avant-garde Music in the Golden Twenties Economic Strategies of the Viennese Music Publisher Universal-Edition
Michele Calella (University of Vienna): Publishing the music, selling the virtuoso: Franz Liszt and the music market (1838–1847)
Session 2c (S3101 meeting room)
Helena Tyrväinen (University of Helsinki): Chauvinism, shared values, business? Association française d’expansion et d’échanges artistiques as a sponsor of the Finnish Opera
Asier Odriozola Otamendi (University of the Basque Country / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea): A Wagnerian Risk: R.M. Azkue’s “Ortzuri” (1911) and “Urlo” (1914), or the Economics of Basque Opera
Metoda Kokole (Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute of Musicology): The Rise and Fall of an Opera Impresario: Amalia Mascheks Financial Enterprise in the Estates Theatre in Ljubljana (1833–1835)
19:00–20:00 Conference reception, City of Helsinki, Empire Room (Old Court House, Aleksanterikatu 20, Helsinki)
Programme on Thursday 6 June 2024
9:00–11:00 Sessions 3a–d
Session 3a (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
Alice Lee (Stony Brook University): Bookkeeping the Opera: A Financial and Quantitative-Based Analysis of the Vienna Hofoper
Inka-Maria Nyman (Åbo Akademi University): Neoliberal opera? Money and cultural value in contemporary opera practices
Mahima Macchione (King’s College London): The Hidden Networks behind Italian Operas Golden Age/Age of Gold in Rio de Janeiro, 1849-1853
Helen Greenwald (New England Conservatory): Artistry vs. Commerce: Verdi, Attila, and the Economics of Opera in 1840s Italy
Session 3b (Auditorium)
Louise Hanson-Dyer (1884-1962): Publishing, patronage, promotion (panel presentation, 120 min):
Jennifer Hill and Madeline Roycroft (University of Melbourne): Louise Hanson-Dyers Professional Network: A Data Visualisation
Rachel Orzech (University of Melbourne): An imagined French Bayreuth: Les Semaines musicales françaises
Sarah Kirby (University of Melbourne): Louise Dyer, patronage, and the British Music Societies of Melbourne and Sydney
Kerry Murphy (University of Melbourne): Editions de l’Oiseau-lyre publishing: some unusual case studies
Session 3c (S3101 meeting room)
Södergrens Shop of Musical Sweets: Distribution, production and consumption of music and music-related prints in a small Swedish town in the 19th century (panel presentation, 60 min):
Juliane Peetz-Ullman (Smålands Musikarkiv): Södergrens sale records shedding light on private music making in 19th century Växjö
Mathias Boström (Smålands Musikarkiv): Different sides of Södergrens broadsides
Kaj Ahlsved (Åbo Akademi University): Among bicycle marches and ping pong-polkas: The publication of sports-related middle music in Sweden (1867-1939)
Karin Hallgren (Linnaeus University): Military musicians in public music life – examples from Sweden during the 19th century
11:00–11:15 Coffee break
11:15–12.30 Keynote Kyle Barnett (Bellarmine University, US): New Sounds at the Market: Music Media’s Circulating Cultures (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
12:30–14:00 Lunch
14:00–15:30 Sessions 4a–c
Session 4a (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
Economic Management of Theatre, Music and Spectacle in Early Modern Italy (panel presentation, 90 min):
Francesca Fantappiè (University of Tours): Economic management of court spectacles between Florence and Paris (1590 – 1620)
Roberta Carpani (University of Tours): <<Fin che pagano i Lonati>>. Notes on impresarial theater in Milan in the Spanish period
Aldo Roma (Université de Liège): The Roman colleges as production and consumption systems of spectacle (17th-18th centuries)
Session 4b (Auditorium)
Simon Crab (Huddersfield University/CeReNem): Post-Human Music Production: Rationalisation and Automation in Weimar electronic music
David Thyrén and Jan-Olof Gullö (Royal College of Music in Stockholm): Creative leadership for achieving success: a case study – Mariann Records
Patrick Mertens (University of Heidelberg / Mannheim University of Music and Performing Art): The Megamusical of the Eighties between Art and Economy. The Exploitation Techniques in the Megamusical Field Discussed Using the Example of Chess
Session 4c (S3101 meeting room)
Stephanie Shon (University of Oxford): Culture Follows Economy: the Australian art music market 1960s–1990s
Johan Larson Lindal (Linköping University): Collecting the Modern Music: Lay Record Collectors and Expert Knowledge on Recorded Music in 1920s Europe and U.S.
Antti-Ville Villén (University of the Arts Helsinki): Music heritagisation: business as (un)usual
15:30–16:00 Coffee break
16:00–17:30/18 Sessions 5a–c (3 parallel sessions)
Session 5a (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
Maximilian Rosenthal (University of Music Leipzig): Navigating the line between economic and symbolic. A model for 19th century music publishers as actors
Iconography and fame in the Italian Renaissance: The Diego Ortiz case
Manuel Lafarga Marques (University of Valencia): Renaissance musical careers: Italian Spaniards in the middle 1500
Teresa Chafer Bixquert (University of Valencia): The famigliari as an investment: cultural and economic prestige in the Colonna family of the Italian Renaissance
Penelope Sanz Gonzalez (University of Valencia): Self-publication as self-promotion in the Renaissance musical career: Spaniards in Renaissance Italy
Session 5b (Auditorium)
Katherine Fry (King’s College London): The Victorian Poetess and the Musical Marketplace
Remi Chiu (Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University): Selling Music and Quack Medicine in Victorian Britain
Fiona M. Palmer (Maynooth University, National University of Ireland): Commodifying Orchestral Conductors in 1920s Britain: Conductor Medleys as a Marketplace Microcosm?
Wouter Verschuren (Royal Conservatoire): Landgrave Moritz of Hessen and his Protégé Heinrich Schütz
Session 5c (S3101 meeting room)
Niccolò Galliano (University of Milan): Puccinis Tunes: Casa Ricordi, American Popular Music and the Commodification of Italian Opera in the 1920s
Pierluigi Ledda (Archivio Storico Ricordi): Casa Ricordi and the rise of the publisher-impresario: the entrepreneurial side of Italian opera through the collections of the Archivio Storico Ricordi
Mark Mahoney (Cornell University): End Time(s): Spiritual Jazz and Political Economy in the Global 1970s
19:00–22:00 Conference dinner at Restaurant Lasipalatsi, Palmuhuone (Mannerheimintie 22 – 24, Helsinki)
Programme on Friday 7 June
9:00–10:30 / 11:00 Sessions 6a–c
Session 6a (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
M. Belen Vargas (University of Granada): Scenic music in supplements of 19th century Spanish magazines and newspapers as a market strategy
José Gálvez (University of Bonn) and Max Alt (Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn): Empowered by you: Datafying and programming music listening in the first half of the 20th century
Martin Perkins (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham City University): Performance Networks in Provincial Britain, 1750–1800, and the rise of the Musical Meeting.
Session 6b (Auditorium)
Cristina Pascu (The National Academy of Music “Gheorghe Dima”): Keys to Fame: The Emergence of Romanian Pianists as International Celebrities
Pawel Siechowicz (University of Warsaw): Virtuosity, Hausmusik, and the rise of consumer appetites. Enterprising activities of Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann
Clare Beesley (Utrecht University): Promoting an English Virtuosa in 18th Century Paris
Marianne Betz (Hochschule für Musik und Theater “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” Leipzig): “Duke, the wage earner, and Dukelsky, would-be composer”: The two musical sides of Vernon Duke alias Vladimir Dukelsky
Session 6c (S3101 meeting room)
Carolina Queipo and Teresa Cascudo (Universidad de La Rioja): Designing Classical Concert Programs for Profit: the Seasons of the Sociedad de Cuartetos de Madrid (1863-1894)
Elke Hager (Karl-Franzens-University Graz): Beethoven and his powerful female network: A Strategic Alliance for Competitive Value Creations
Nuppu Koivisto-Kaasik (University of the Arts Helsinki): Accompanists, instrument dealers, and seamstresses: the socioeconomic status of women piano teachers in Finland and Estonia, 1861–1924
Anu Schaper (Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre): Tallinn Sheet Music Catalogue and Musical Trade around 1600
11:00–11:15 Coffee
11:15–12:45 Sessions 7a–c
Session 7a (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
Tobias Plebuch (Uppsala University): Bach Inc.: The Baltic Network of C.P.E. Bachs Music Business in the late 18th Century
Carla Conti (Conservatory of Music Santa Cecilia of Rome): Music collecting and cultural female patronage. The Capece Minutolo archive at the Conservatory San Pietro a Majella of Naples.
Taryn Dubois (Yale University): Materials and Marketing of Manzottis late ballets
Session 7b (Auditorium)
Egberto Bermudez (Universidad Nacional de Colombia): Migration, job opportunities and self-promotion between Spain and America: the case of Gutierre Fernández Hidalgo, chapelmaster and composer, 1584-1623
Veronika Kusz (HUN-REN Institute for Musicology): Promoting a war criminal? The struggles of Ernst von Dohnányi and his impresario Andrew Schulhof in the United States (1949–1953)
Emma Sohlgren (Uppsala University): Operatic Expenses: Theatre Visits and Personal Finances of a Swedish Diplomat in Mid-Eighteenth-Century Paris
Session 7c (S3101 meeting room)
Performing Bavarianness: Images of Bavaria in the Early 20th Century Music Industry (panel presentation, 60 min):
Merle Greiser (Research Centre for Franconian Folk Music): Entertaining the Beer Tent: How Economic Success Shaped a Musical Genre
Risto Pekka Pennanen (University of the Arts Helsinki): Commercial Recordings of Bavarian Instrumental Folk Music and Their Marketing before the First World War
Karin Larsson Eriksson (Linnæus University): Swedish folk music and music publication: the case of AB Nordisk folkmusik
12:45–14:00 Lunch break
14:00–15:30 Panel discussion (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
15:30–16:00 Concluding remarks (Black Box, livestreaming on Zoom)
Registration
The registration is open from 2 April until 26 May 2024 (Europe – Helsinki UTC +03:00). The event will be arranged in-person in Helsinki, but you can also register only to the online sessions too.
Register to Musica Mercata Symposium by paying the Registration Fee. The fee must be paid at the same time as you complete your registration, it cannot be paid later.
If you have a panel presentation, each member of your group is requested to register and pay separately. A separate link to the registration form will be sent to each group member.
Before registering, please read the Data Protection Statement for the Event Enrolment Service in the Customer Register of the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts. By registering for the event, you agree to the processing of personal data as described in the privacy statement.
Data protection at Uniarts Helsinki
Registration Fee Categories:
Early Bird rates 2 – 30 April 2024
Registration fee Wed-Fri (including the dinner) 150 €
Registration fee Wed-Fri (without the dinner) 80 €
Rates 1 – 26 May 2024
Registration fee Wed-Fri (including the dinner) 170 €
Registration fee Wed-Fri (without the dinner) 100 €
One symposium day registration 2 April – 26 May 2024
Registration for the one symposium day (including the dinner) 100 €
Registration for the one symposium day (without the dinner) 40 €
Online rate for all participant groups 2 April – 26 May 2024
Online registration fee (including participation only to the hybrid sessions) 20 €
Student rates
Registration fee Wed-Fri (including the dinner) 70 €
Registration fee Wed-Fri (without the dinner) 30 €
University of the Arst Helsinki staff rates
Registration fee Wed-Fri (including the dinner) 100 €
Registration fee Wed-Fri (without the dinner) 50 €
There are no free fees for Uniarts Helsinki staff or students. If your study program or Uniarts Helsinki pays your registration fee, please add the unit or project number for your payment in the registration form. The registration fees of Uniarts Helsinki’s members (presenters, staff and students) will be invoiced internally by the university’s Financial Services. Notice: It is not possible to make a registration payment with an Uniarts Helsinki credit card.
The registration fees include the daily coffees, participation in all sessions: keynotes and all presentations and Helsinki City`s reception on 5 June at 7 PM. The online registration fee includes participation to the daily hybrid sessions from Black Box Hall.
We accept the following forms of payment
- Finnish banks (verkkopankki)
- Visa or Mastercard
Please, notice, that when registering, the registration page remains active for 60 minutes. After registration, you will receive a confirmation e-mail and also the receipt of the payment. You can update your information until the end of the registration time. Please, save your documents.
Practical Information for Musica Mercata 2024 participants
Musica Mercata 2024 symposium will take place in the facilities of Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy`s Töölö campus (Helsinki Music Centre). Here you will find information about us and our venues as well as how to move around in Helsinki and where to visit.
Accommodation
The organisers have negotiated discount rates for conference attendees in Hotel Scandic Kaisaniemi and Hotel Scandic Grand Central. Both hotels are situated in central Helsinki, within walking distance from the conference venue. As the conference participant you will get the 10 % discount for the reservation to Forenom Aparthotels too.
Hotel Scandic Grand Central offers the following room rates (June 4 – 8, 2024):
- 179 euros / standard single room / night
- 199 euros / standard double room / night
Both room rates include buffet breakfast and free WiFi. Bookings can be made until May 21 , 2024 (or until the hotel is fully booked) online here or via phone (+358 300 308 403) / email (grandcentralhelsinki@scandichotels.com) or online: Scandic Grand Central. Ask the reservation code: musicamercata2024@uniarts.fi
Hotel Scandic Kaisaniemi offers the following room rates (June 4 – 8, 2024):
- 164 euros / standard single room / night
- 184 euros / standard double room / night
Both room rates include buffet breakfast and free WiFi. Bookings can be made until May 21, 2024 (or until the hotel is fully booked) online here or via phone (+358 300 308 403) / email (kaisaniemi@scandichotels.com) or online: Scandic Kaisaniemi. Ask the reservation code: musicamercata2024@uniarts.fi
We have also the discount code reservation for June 4 – 8, 2024 to Forenom Aparthotels in Kamppi, Herttoniemi, Pikku-Huopalahti, Vantaa Tikkurila and Espoo Leppävaara.
Forenom aparthotels offer you convenient accommodation in great locations. Getting around is easy, as you have access to main thoroughfares and public transportation. Ask the discount code: musicamercata2024@uniarts.fi
Getting around
The fastest and most economical way of reaching the city centre from the Helsinki-Vantaa airport is by commuter train. The I and P trains run regularly (mostly every 10–15 minutes) from the airport to the Helsinki Central Railway Station, and the journey takes about 30 minutes. A one-way ticket (ABC zones) can be purchased from an automat at the airport train station or from the HSL app. A taxi between the airport and the city takes 20 – 30 minutes and costs around 40 €.
Our conference venue is situated in central Helsinki, and the city centre can be thoroughly explored on foot. Most of the signs are within convenient walking distance of the city centre.
Helsinki does, however, have an extensive public transport system with buses, two metro lines, city bikes, ferries and commuter trains. Trams are the main mode of public transport in the inner city. The single public transport tickets can be purchased from ticket machines at the metro stations or the railway stations. You can download the HSL app from your app store for free to buy tickets, find routes (Journey Planner) and stay up-to-date with any service changes: HSL website
The municipal Suomenlinna ferry operates between the Market Square and the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress all year around. Tickets can be purchased from a ticket machine at the Market Square.
Good to know
Helsinki climate combines characteristics of both a maritime and a continental climate. Days are at their longest in the second half of June, the sun stays above the horizon for 19 hours. For the latest weather forecast in Helsinki see: Finnish Meteorological Institute
The local currency in Finland is Euro (EUR) and all major credit cards are widely accepted in Finland. There are several ATM machines (e.g. OTTO machines) and foreign currency exchange points available around the city centre, e.g. Forex and Tavex.
General Emergency number for police, ambulance and fire department is 112.
Finland has two official languages, Finnish and Swedish. Street signs in Helsinki are in both languages. English is widely spoken and most Finns also master one or two other foreign languages.
There are a number of pharmacies around the city. Look for the sign “Apteekki”, which means pharmacy in Finnish.
It is safe to drink tap water in Helsinki.
The time zone in Helsinki is Eastern European Time (EET), 2 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT +2).
There are plenty of hotspots available in the city centre and at harbours. You can also connect your laptop or mobile phone to a wireless network in many places throughout the city centre e.g. in several cafes, restaurants and libraries. In addition, most hotels offer their guests a free internet connection. For the international research and education community, it is possible to use Eduroam service while in Helsinki.
Helsinki Tourist Information provides free information about the city, main attractions, events, and services. The Tourist Information provides tips and advice for making the most of your visit. At the same time you can pick up brochures and maps. The Tourist Information Office is located at Aleksanterinkatu 24, in the corner of Aleksanterinkatu and Sofiankatu streets. Read more: Tourist Information
University of the Arts guidelines regarding the war in Ukraine
Visit our page containing general info on the impact of the war on Uniarts Helsinki
Call for proposals
Proposals are invited for
- Papers (20 minutes duration followed by 10 minutes discussion)
- Complete sessions and panels (two, three or four 20-minute papers, each with 10 minutes discussion)
- Panels with a freer structure (position-papers, lightning papers, responses, etc.)
Proposal length
- individual presentation proposals: max 300 words
- panel session proposals: max 350 words + each panelist’s proposal 200 words
The language of the conference is English.
The deadline for submissions is Saturday 30 September 2023 (23:59 Finnish time UTC+3). Notices of acceptance will be sent by Tuesday 31 October 2023.
While it is intended that the conference will be an in-person event, the organisers will be also pleased to consider hybrid or online submissions.
The organizing committee
- Anne Kauppala (committee chair) / Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
- Mark Everist / University of Southampton, GB
- Ingeborg Zechner / University of Graz, AT
- Markus Mantere / Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
- Saijaleena Rantanen / Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
- Kaarina Kilpiö / Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
- Marianne Mieskolainen (symposium secretary) / Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
- Johanna Rauhaniemi (symposium coordinator) / Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
Organisers: University of the Arts Helsinki History Forum and Sibelius Academy
Contact for inquiries
musicamercata2024@uniarts.fi