Noise and Music Together: Soundscapes of Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Rome

This chapter investigates the key elements of Rome’s soundscapes in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries from a diachronic perspective through an analysis of various typologies of sounds, from the ‘keynote’ and ‘low definition’ sounds of background noise – originating from the city’s main economic and productive infrastructures – to complex ‘sound subjects’ like the serenades performed in the city’s piazzas in the early eighteenth century, intended to celebrate their elite sponsors. 1 I propose a classification of soundscapes based on their perceptual and indicative organisation, focusing in particular on the serenade, analysing its role in the spectacles staged by foreign delegations in Rome at the turn of the eighteenth century, its dual nature and ambiguous nature as a form addressed to the ruling classes but also intended for the populace, the relationship between its typical elements, and its importance among the territorial markers of festive celebrations.