Skup Soundscapes of Entertainment – poziv na prijavu / call for papers

Soundscapes of Entertainment: Music at Leisure in
the 19th Century

organised by

Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini
Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Faculty of Educational Sciences

Croatian Musicological Society
Palazzetto Bru Zane

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Juraj Dobrila University of Pula
Faculty of Educational Sciences, Negrijeva 6, 52100 Pula

17-19 September 2026
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CALL FOR PAPERS

The Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini, the Juraj Dorbila University of Pula, the Croatian
Musiclogical Society and the Palazzetto Bru Zane are pleased to invite submissions of proposals for the

Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini
R e s e a r c h i n M u si c o l o g y

Conference «Soundscapes of Entertainment: Music at Leisure in the 19 Century» to be held at the Juraj
Dobrila University of Pula, Faculty of Educational Sciences, from 17 to 19 September 2026.
Since the late 18 century, when the development of the bourgeoisie and the mechanisation of production
enabled a more leisurely pace of work, the right to leisure time was no longer reserved only for the aristocracy
and upper middle class, but increasingly also for the craftspeople. Musical societies were organised in cities, in
which various social classes were represented. Democratisation also affected musical education, and schools
educated future professionals as well as amateurs — the future audience.
Professional education and high art favoured virtuosity and the gradual rise of the performance level, while
amateurs were supplied with simplified popular works for home music making and musical entertainment.
At the same time, the virtuosity that transferred itself from the concert hall into restaurants and outdoor spaces
was not ignored, just as opera hits became available outside the theatre. On the other hand, amateur music
making was structured in various musical societies, which proliferated not only in cities, but also in smaller
towns, also encompassing ethnic and minority musical organisations.
A kind of new enlightenment and democratisation was realised in ‘music for all’, whether at promenade
concerts, or at specially organised performances for workers.
Such an exponential growth of music for leisure towards the end of the century and on the eve of the cataclysms
of the First World War found its audience in all layers of society, and was applied to professional and amateur
music making, and to high and low art which adopted a number of commonalities in diverse social systems.
The symposium aims to draw attention to various factors that influenced the articulation of leisure and the
musical aspects that were associated with it, and also to the series of new demands that were placed on music for
leisure.

Music societies: structured leisure (choirs, brass bands, community bands, orchestras, student societies,
public lectures)
Military music in the service of leisure
From the stage to the music at leisure
Art music or kitsch
Music for workers
Street music
Café chantant
Benefits of music at leisure
Music education as leisure education
Concert series
Pianos and piano music
Domestic music making
Music at the seaside
Music at circuses, fairs and expositions
Music for dancing
Music publishing
Music economy and artistic policy
Migrating musicians and music material in the entertainment industry
Scholarly Committee
Lada Duraković (Juraj Dobrila University of Pula)
Ivana-Paula Gortan-Carlin (Juraj Dobrila University of Pula)
Roberto Illiano (Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini)
Étienne Jardin (Palazzetto Bru Zane)
Vjera Katalinić (Croatian Musicological Society)
Fulvia Morabito (Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini)
Massimiliano Sala (Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini)
Keynote Speakers
William A. Everett (University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory)
Vjera Katalinić (Croatian Musicological Society)
The official languages of the conference are English, French and Italian. Papers selected at the conference will
be published in a miscellaneous volume.
Papers are limited to twenty minutes in length, allowing time for questions and discussion. Please submit an
abstract of no more than 500 words and one page of biography.

All proposals should be submitted by email no later than ***Sunday, 12 April 2026*** to
<conferences@luigiboccherini.org>. With your proposal please include your name, contact details (postal
address, e-mail and telephone number) and (if applicable) your affiliation.
The committee will make its final decision on the abstracts by May 2026 and contributors will be informed
immediately thereafter. Further information about the programme and registration will be announced after that
date.

For any additional information, please contact:
Dr. Massimiliano Sala
conferences@luigiboccherini.org
www.luigiboccherini.org