Italian Operisti as cultural network

The correspondence of violinist Franz (17011786) Pirker and the singer Marianne Pirker (1717 1782) constitutes a unique body of sources for the study of mid-eighteenth century Italian opera. The 250 letters from between 1743 and 1756 exchanged between the married partners and with friends and colleagues trace from a personal perspective the opera artists (the Operisti as they called themselves) everyday experiences and careers. Beyond musical and artistic questions (e.g. concerning the musical repertoire) the correspondence furthermore points to the significant role artistic networks played in the careers of those professionally active in the world of opera during the eighteenth century. These networks extended to diplomats and ruling princes, and rendered possible communication across Europe as well as the capacity to respond to professional issues. Hence contract negotiations make up a significant part of the correspondence. Furthermore, professional trajectories are repeatedly seen to emerge from circumstances relating to the networks: London, for instance, where the Pirkers stayed from 1746 to 1748/1749, offered more points of contact to diplomatic circles than other residences. The letters also demonstrate the economic uncertainties of the periods opera business, the precariousness of singers and musicians. The impresarios financial risk would be passed on to the musicians by payment in instalments; in effect, the practitioners had to resort to cycles of debt to sustain themselves. Notes made on the criteria especially important for contract negotiations are equally revealing: artistic merits and renown measurable in the fee received and ones rank in performance constituted symbolic capital for further engagements. Finally, the letters provide an eloquent testimony of the Operistis intellectual and personal worlds during the period. The annotated edition of the letters makes these sources for the first time accessible to specialized researchers and people who are interested in opera history.