Call for papers · Women, material culture, music, and diplomacy in the early modern period
Women, material culture, music, and diplomacy in the early modern period
École française de Rome
14–15 April 2026
Organisers: Émilie Corswarem and Valeria De Lucca
Scientific commitee: Elisa Andretta (CNRS, LARHRA – Lyon), Albane Cogné (École française de Rome),
Émilie Corswarem (FNRS – Université de Liège) and Valeria De Lucca (University of Southampton).
The workshop aims to explore women’s agency in shaping musical culture in Rome during the early modern period through two interconnected dimensions: social and diplomatic networks and material culture. Moving beyond event-based historiography, the workshop adopts a longue durée perspective to explore how women, whether patrons, performers, or intermediaries, facilitated the circulation of music and artefacts across sacred and secular spheres, domestic and public spaces, and between Rome and other European centres across generations. By interrogating a range of sources and drawing on methodologies from musicology, art history, gender studies, and cultural and material history, the workshop seeks to illuminate practices of accumulation, transmission, and circulation of objects – such as scores, librettos, musical instruments and entire collections. It also seeks to explore these objects’ “agency” in negotiating diplomatic networks, social mobility, and identity. Bringing together international scholars with an interdisciplinary approach, this workshop intends to foster dialogue on gender, music, and power within transnational frameworks.
Conference Details:
Date: 14-15 April 2026
Format: In person
Venue: Ecole française de Rome (62 Piazza Navona I - 00 186 Rome)
Timeline:
Proposal deadline: 1 March 2026
Notification: 15 March 2026
