What is it about?
This article discusses a new database that contains basic information on the productions of Dutch opera companies between 1886 and 1995. It is based on a book published in 1996, 'Annalen van de Nederlandse Operagezelschappen', which listed all these productions in chronological order. The database has many advantages over the book, allowing for new types of analysis with the aid of the computer. The database is freely available (through a link); the article offers a discussion of its design and its possibilities.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
The history of opera in the Netherlands has received relatively little attention, although it was an important element of musical, theatrical and cultural life. The database offers many new ways to study the scale and variety of opera in the Netherlands. For instance, it gives unprecedented insight into which styles, composers, works and performers were popular at what times, and how the various companies and cities differed from each other. In addition, it is designed to allow for comparison with other countries and other art forms.
Perspectives
A database like this enables us to study cultural history quantitatively, that is, analyse it based on concrete numbers. I think it is a huge step forward to be able to say not only that an opera 'was still performed' at some point (many discussions of opera don't even look beyond the premiere), but to know exactly how long it was in the repertoire and where; to see how often it was produced and be able to compare this to others; and to chart how this developed over time, slowly, quickly, suddenly, or erratically. It gives us a great sense of large-scale developments in the cultural life of the past.
dr. Rutger Helmers
Universiteit van Amsterdam
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Operatic Productions in the Netherlands, 1886–1995: from Printed Annals to Searchable Performance Data, Research Data Journal for the Humanities and Social Sciences, November 2020, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/24523666-00502007.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
