Accounting and music: The role of Giuseppe Verdi in shaping the nineteenth-century culture industry

Abstract

The aim of this research is to investigate the contribution of Giuseppe Verdi and Casa Ricordi in shaping the nineteenth-century music culture industry by adopting a new perspective on accounting and history. In nineteenth-century Italy, opera represented an important phenomenon, both artistically and socially, playing a fundamental role of intermediary between society and the political sphere. The complex relationships between the composer (artist) and the publisher (cultural intermediary) are analysed in the specific field of opera music, outlining the evolution and interweaving of artistic, social and economic aspects. The study embraces the period 1839–1893 and examines the economic and private relations between Giuseppe Verdi and Casa Ricordi and their impacts on the culture industry to this day. This article’s novelty is to adopt a historical perspective to broaden accounting into the field of high music offering possibilities for further studies.