Towards a Shared Digital Infrastructure for Adriatic Opera: Mobility, Networks and the Methodological Trajectories of the Musicologist

Building on earlier scholarship on operatic mobility and exchanges across the Adriatic, this contribution aims to point out the need of a shared, global, and interactive digital resource for Adriatic (and more broadly Mediterranean) networks, and also a clearer awareness of the position of the researcher within these same networks. The paper thus develops a double perspective. On the one hand, it presents an ongoing attempt to reconstruct operatic circulation between the Adriatic shores, that means routes, theatres and repertoire; on the other hand it reflects on the figure of the musicologist experiencing mobility: moving between regions and archives (Italian, Austrian, Croatian, Slovenian, etc.), negotiating different historiographical traditions and continuously recalibrating methods in response to highly heterogeneous sources. From this situated vantage point, the paper traces the evolution of a methodological approach now grounded in prosopography and network analysis, and discusses concrete challenges encountered in practice: dealing with gaps, biases, and uneven granularity in documentation; choosing and refining a data model capable of accommodating events, persons, institutions, works, and places; and managing uncertainty in historical data without flattening it in the interest of “clean” datasets. The paper also discusses how collaboration with centres for information modelling has reshaped the understanding of what is at stake when interoperable ontologies and sustainable research infrastructures are designed. In doing so, it seeks to open a conversation not only about Adriatic operatic networks, but also about the practices of musicologists navigating the intertwined geographies of archives, disciplines, and digital infrastructures.