Conference Agenda

AI integration in music composition challenges sketch studies by generating unprecedented preparatory materials: datasets, trained neural networks, code repositories or even performance patches. The complexity, heterogeneity, and interdependence of these documents demand new analytical approaches to grasp AI's compositional potentials.

We propose to explore "multimodal sketch studies," a methodology adapted to these materials. Building on [Zattra, 2015] sketch studies methods for computer music and [Visi et al., 2020] horizontal/vertical multimodality framework, our approach involves: systematic collation of digital objects; preliminary description distinguishing source, text, and data; classification of novel document types; visualization of successive states including algorithm versions and multimodal analysis tracing information transformations across representation systems.

We apply this method to works by composers Sam Pluta (Sixty Cycles (2013), Matrix (2017)), Ted Moore (feed & alloy (2018)), and Jérôme Nika (Ex Machina (2022), C'est pour ça (2023)), analyzing preparatory documents the composers entrusted to us. These analyses reveal AI's specific characteristics in composition, particularly concerning "artificial musical memories", a recurring concept among these composers that manifests through stateful algorithms whose weights crystalize compositional intentions yet vary between performances. This phenomenon blurs traditional composition/performance boundaries and raises preservation challenges: how do we document compositional objects whose identity persists despite state variations?

By presenting this methodology oriented towards the understanding of new compositional processes where Ai is involved, we aim at illuminating both the epistemological peculiarities of AI in this artistic context and the needs to better understand intentions and methods of composers who explore these new expressive territories.

The Italian Opera by Women Composers Database was developed by the Conservatorio "G. Nicolini" in Piacenza as part of the Casta Diva: An International Research and Production Digital Platform on Women in Italian Musical Theatre project, which is funded by the NextGenerationEU plan. Conceived as a comprehensive and scientifically structured resource, the database is dedicated to the operatic output of women composers. The objective is to bring to light a significant yet often forgotten repertoire, which has remained hidden in archives and libraries, thereby restoring visibility to a musical heritage marginalised by traditional historiography.

This paper will present the database’s architecture, the data-gathering and verification methods adopted, and the descriptive criteria that guide its organisation. It will illustrate the different layers of information contained in each entry, including biographical profiles of women composers, performance records, musical sources with archival locations, and relevant bibliographic and discographic references.

Particular attention will be devoted to the digital infrastructure, including its capacity for continuous updating, openness to new additions and flexible search tools enabling cross-analyses of genres, historical periods, production contexts and professional networks. The database ultimately aims to serve as an essential reference for rediscovering women’s operatic repertoire, providing scholars and performers with reliable information for new productions, and contributing to the broader promotion of women’s creative contributions to Italian musical theatre.

This paper presents preliminary findings from an ongoing research project devoted to reconstructing the musical culture of Italian Carmelite monasteries during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Since 2023, supported in part by the Boaga Scholarship funded by the Carmelite General Archive in Rome and by several collaborating institutions, the project has sought to identify, document, and contextualize a wide array of historical evidence. These sources include monastic chronicles, administrative records, early printed books, and music manuscripts and prints produced by or dedicated to Carmelite communities.

The research employs large-scale digital infrastructures such as RISM and CANTUS, which enable systematic identification, cataloguing, and comparative analysis of musical sources across multiple repositories. In addition, the project features an editorial component: beginning in 2025, selected music collections are being published as critical editions within the newly established series Musica Carmelitana.

The multifaceted nature of the project – combining archival research, cataloguing, and critical editing – culminates in a long-term proposal to create a comprehensive bibliographic database of Carmelite music sources in Europe, accompanied by a prosopographic dictionary of Carmelite musicians. Together, these tools are envisioned as a foundation for future international collaboration among music librarians, archivists, and researchers, and as a step toward a more integrated understanding of monastic musical culture in the Baroque era.