Music in the Italian Home, 1450-1620

Music in the Italian Home' examines for the first time the fundamental changes that occurred in domestic music-making between 1450 and 1620, and explores the role music played in the development of Renaissance culture. Domestic musical life in Renaissance Italy has been all but ignored by scholars, who have instead paid more attention to music performed in courts and churches. But it is clear that this period witnessed dramatic changes in amateur music-making. From the late fifteenth century onwards, musical instruments were produced in Italy in large numbers for the first time, and the advent of music printing in 1501 made written music available to much wider audiences. The result was a new form of amateur domestic music-making that had profound effects on social life. This project examines what it meant to play music at home, to own musical instruments and to be able to read musical notation in Italy in this period.
'Music in the Italian Home' uses many different sources to investigate what types of musical instruments and books people owned, how much they cost, and where they were kept in people's houses. These include inventories, listing the objects present in households at specific dates, sometimes noting in which particular rooms things were found, and account books, recording payments for the purchase of instruments and books, as well as for having instruments tuned, repaired or even repainted. This information helps us to discover at which social levels musical instruments and books were most frequently found.
Books and printed sheets containing basic instructions on how to read music and play instruments contribute to the picture of amateur musical activity in the home. These are printed in increasing quantities during the sixteenth century, and provide useful information about the numbers of people aspiring to musical literacy and ability. As well as discussing the fundamental principles of music theory and notation, they talk about the amateur performer's posture, how they should sit, or hold their instrument.
More general books about the ideal conduct of different members of society also discuss musical activity. These reveal that attitudes towards men and women playing music differed. While it was frequently recommended that boys were given a musical education, it was feared that too much musical knowledge for women could distract them from household tasks or even made them vulnerable to seduction. The project will use these texts to investigate the social and cultural meanings of music within everyday domestic life, and how they were influenced by, and in turn influenced, ideas about gender, age and social status.
'Music in the Italian Home' does not, however, just focus on music as it was performed in people's houses. It also investigates the ways in which musical imagery and inscriptions became increasingly common within the home, often on domestic objects. Portraits began to include musical instruments and books as a way of advertising male and female sitters' skills in singing or playing, while fresco decoration incorporated contemporary figures making music together in sociable contexts. But more unexpected objects, such as ceramic dishes made for the table, knives or printed paper fans, also included the words to songs and in some cases actual musical inscriptions. This research explores the ways in which such domestic objects contributed to the general culture of the home: how they were used, by whom and when.
The project will also investigate the emergence of the earliest music rooms in the sixteenth century. These spaces were not only devoted to performance or storage, but also housed collections of valued 'ancient' and 'exotic' musical instruments, or instruments collected for their aesthetic and material values. The development of a named space devoted to the practice or study of music also reflects the considerable impact that music's growing presence in the home has on the domestic sphere.

In addition to the Academic Beneficiaries, 'Music in the Italian Home' will benefit museum curators, professional musicians and people active in musical performance and recording, and members of the general public interested in domestic interiors and domestic life, in Renaissance art and culture, and in music.
Curators: The project's interdisciplinary engagement with a widely-varying selection of objects across many areas of study makes its conclusions relevant to collections of musical instruments, paintings, prints and drawings, ceramics, metalwork and furniture in museums around the world. The research investigates the social contexts in which these objects were used, adds to understanding of iconographical content and indicates the survival of groups of objects scattered across numerous museums. It will add to curators' understanding and knowledge of Renaissance objects with domestic and musical associations in their collections.
Musicians: The project is the first to scrutinize in depth domestic cultures of musical performance for this period. The continuing interest in performing and recording Italian Renaissance music means that there are many active ensembles eager to understand more about the original performance contexts for this music, as well as documented performance practice that will influence their own concerts and recordings. I have already been contacted by early music groups (for example, Pantagruel) for information and advice on surviving domestic repertories.
General Public: There is a profound public interest in the history and evolution of domestic life and the appearance of domestic interiors of the past, as the tremendous popularity of National Trust and English Heritage properties shows, particularly the new phenomenon of opening up spaces such as kitchens and other service spaces. The ground-breaking exhibition At Home in Renaissance Italy, (which I co-curated), received 70,970 visitors, with many commenting on the appeal of the show's domestic subject matter. The success of events for the general public such as a series of films with domestic subjects organized by the AHRC Centre for the Study of the Domestic Interior (2001-6), at which the applicant was a fellow, also indicate the domestic interior's broad appeal. The recent popularity of Amanda Vickery's series for Radio 4 'A History of Private Life' indicates that public interest in the subject of domestic life is ongoing. To a general public interested in the Italian Renaissance, 'Music in the Italian Home' will present a well-rounded picture of a vitally significant aspect of Renaissance culture. By examining music-making at non-élite levels, including consideration of social views on musical learning for women and children, and highlighting how everyday objects such as maiolica dishes, or paper fans, played an important role in reflecting and stimulating musical culture, this research will contribute to our understanding of music today.
For non-academics with an interest in the history of music, this research provides information both on the content of music played in Italian Renaissance houses, but also the social and spatial contexts for musical performance. Focusing away from music for Kings, Dukes and Cardinals, the research reveals to the general public music's importance for a wider cross section of society.
This research will be communicated to non-academic audiences by developing projects with museums and public broadcasting (see Impact Plan). The development of an exhibition on the subject of music and material culture (Designing Sound: From Lute to I-pod) allows the research developed and published for 'Music in the Italian Home' to be combined collaboratively with work carried out by music, art and design historians working on music and objects from the 15th to the 21st centuries. A television or radio series, under discussi