RADAMES: a new management approach to opera: repertory, archives and related documents

RADAMES (Repertoriazione e Archiviaziatie di Document i Attinii al Melodramma E allo Spettacolo) is an integrated research project launched at the University of Bologna in 2001. The project arises from the idea that the multilayered structure of opera can be described as a 'text', i.e. an intellectual, immaterial entity distinct from its material outcome (i.e, scores, librettos, audio and video recordings, etc.), RADAMES aims to define the relation between the intellectual level, as represented by the text, and its material outcomes. At the same time, if offers to users a coordinated access to the multifarious documentation of any specific opera, at any given point of its internal structure. The project aims to reach this objective through archiving techniques and methodologies offered by newer networking technologies, which allow different catalographic systems to cooperate in order to provide a higher quality service to different kind of users. This paper summarizes the current state of the RADAMES project, its architectural model and methodological approach, the technical implementation and the road ahead.