Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Measuring emotion through quality: evaluating the musical repertoires of Spanish symphony orchestras

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Cultural Economics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Repertoire programming decisions taken by symphony orchestra managers usually pursue a mixture of aims embracing both quality and audience success, but are influenced by various factors. Our goal is to assess the quality of the repertoire of Spanish symphony orchestras and to gauge the impact of a series of external variables on the programming decisions. We take a sample of 20 professional symphony orchestras covering a homogenous period from 2014 to 2017. First, we summarise the quality in the repertoires through three partial indices (contemporaneity, most well-known composers and conventionality) before constructing a composite quality indicator using Data Envelopment Analysis. Second, we use regression analysis to examine the effect on the programme quality of various external variables, some related to the internal management of the orchestras, others addressing the socio-economic contextual aspects of the area in which they are located. We also carried out a cluster analysis to identify the most frequent programming strategies. We find there are two programming strategies, ranging from novelty and risk to more stable and safe repertoires based on well-known composers. The quality of orchestras is linked to longer seasons, how young these institutions are, and their being located in Madrid, whereas the most conventional programmes correspond to longer-standing orchestras located in areas with older populations and lower levels of education.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Source: Authors’ own

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Included are composers born in the last fifteen years of the nineteenth century and the bulk of whose work will therefore have been composed in the twentieth century.

  2. All of them belong to the AEOS (Spanish Association of Symphony Orchestras), the association which brings together the main professional orchestras in Spain. See www.aeos.es.

  3. All of the information concerning the musical repertoire and some of the variables included in the second stage of the analysis (guest performers, number of concerts, ticket price, etc.) come from the orchestras’ hand-printed programmes and web pages. They are therefore assumed to be trustworthy, reliable and the actual programmes performed by each orchestra during each season. The information gathered and the database are available from the authors upon request.

  4. Following McGrath and Legoux (2017), studying the repertoire decisions taken by musical institutions with major government support in funding is an interesting issue, since such decisions might be independent of funding pressure and economic cycles, yet might tend towards scheduling more standardised repertoires as a result of cost saving measures implemented in times of cutbacks.

  5. Based on the small panel data used, we also carried out a panel data fixed-effects model. However, the Hausman test rejects the notion that the individual effects are correlated with the explanatory variables. Nor does including dummies for each orchestra prove to be significant. This concurs with our hypothesis regarding the absence of any uniform programming patterns amongst the orchestras, but reflects a certain disparity over the seasons analysed.

  6. It is interesting to point out that although the relation between the variable Madrid and the quality index proves significant, the same cannot be said of the remaining partial indicators, thereby underlining the strength of the composite index’s capacity for interpretation with regard to the partial indexes.

References

  • Abbé-Decarroux, F. (1990). La Demande de Services Culturels: une Analyse Économique. Unpublished PhD thesis, Université de Genève.

  • Abbé-Decarroux, F. (1994). The perception of quality and the demand for services empirical application to the performing arts. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 23(1), 99–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bertaux, N., Skeirik, K., & Yi, D. (2015). Art music and the economy: the modernity index and the cincinnati symphony Orchestra, 1895–2013. International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 9(4), 376–392.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowen, H. P., Moesen, W., & Sleuwaegen, L. (2008). A compositive index of the creative economy. Review of Business and Economics, 54(4), 375–397.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castañer, X., & Campos, L. (2002). The determinants of artistic innovation: Bringing in the role of organizations. Journal of Cultural Economics, 26(1), 29–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Despotis, D. K. (2002). Improving the discriminating power of DEA: Focus on globally efficient units. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 53, 314–322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, P., & Stenberg, K. (1985). Why do some theaters innovate more than others? An empirical analysis. Poetics, 14, 107–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Felton, M. V. (1994). Evidence of the existence of the cost disease in the performing arts. Journal of Cultural Economics, 18(4), 301–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gapinslkit, J. H. (1981). Economics, demographics and attendance at the symphony. Journal of Cultural Economics, 5(2), 79–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansmann, H. (1981). Nonprofit enterprise in the performing arts. The Bell Journal of Economics, 12(2), 341–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heilbrun, J. (2001). Empirical evidence of a decline in repertory diversity among american opera companies 1991/92–1997/98. Journal of Cultural Economics, 25(1), 63–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heilbrun, J. (2011). Baumol’s cost disease. In R. Towse (Ed.), A handbook of cultural economics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ito, T., & Domian, D. (1987). A musical note on the efficiency wage hypothesis. Programmings, wages and budgets of American Symphony Orchestras. Economics Letters, 25(1), 95–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krebs, S., & Pommerehne, W. W. (1995). Politico-economic interactions of german public performing arts institutions. Journal of Cultural Economics, 19(1), 17–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lange, M., Luksetich, W., Jacobs, P., & Bullard, J. (1985). Cost functions for symphony orchestras. Journal of Cultural Economics, 9(2), 71–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luksetich, W. & Hughes, P. A. (2008). Effects of subsides on symphony orchestra repertoire. Economic Faculty—Working Papers. Paper 4. St. Cloud State University.

  • McGrath, T., & Legoux, R. (2017). Balancing the score: The financial impact of resource dependence on symphony orchestras. Journal of Cultural Economics, 41(4), 421–439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murias, P., Martínez, F., & Miguel, J. C. (2006). An economic wellbeing index for the Spanish provinces: A data envelopment analysis approach. Social Indicators Research, 77(3), 395–417.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murias, P., Martínez, F., & Novello, S. (2009). Bienestar Económico Regional: un Enfoque Comparativo entre Regiones Españolas e Italianas. Investigaciones Regionales, 18, 5–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neligan, A. (2006). Public funding and repertoire conventionality in the german public theatre sector: An econometric analysis. Applied Economics, 38(10), 1111–1121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nissi, E., & Sarra, A. (2016). A measure of well-being across the Italian urban areas: an integrated DEA-entropy approach. Social Indicators Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-016-1535-7.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Hagan, J., & Neligan, A. (2005). State subsidies and repertoire conventionality in the nonprofit English theater sector: An econometric analysis. Journal of Cultural Economics, 29(1), 35–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peiró-Palomino, J., & Picazo-Tadeo, A. (2017). OECD: One or many? Ranking countries with a composite well-being indicator. Social Indicators Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-017-1747-5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pérez, V., Guerrero, F., González, M., Pérez, F., & Caballero, R. (2014). La sostenibilidad de los Destinos Cubanos de Turismo de Naturaleza: un enfoque Cuantitativo. Tourism & Management Studies, 10(2), 32–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pierce, J. L. (2000). Programmatic risk-taking by american opera companies. Journal of Cultural Economics, 24(1), 45–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pompe, J., Tamburri, L., & Munn, J. (2011). Factors that influence programming decisions of US symphony orchestras. Journal of Cultural Economics, 35(3), 167–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez, A., Martín, J. L., Palma, M. L., & Martínez, M. I. (2016). Indexes of creativity: A measurement proposal for Spain and its Autonomous Communities. In International conference in cultural economics, ACEI 2016, Valladolid, Spain.

  • Seiford, L. (1996). Data envelopment analysis: The evolution of the state of the art (1978–1995). Journal of Productivity Analysis, 7(2–3), 99–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tamburri, L., Munn, J., & Pompe, J. (2015). Repertoire conventionality in major US symphony orchestras: Factors influencing management’s programming choices. Managerial and Decision Economics, 36(2), 97–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Throsby, D. (1990). Perception of quality in demand for the theatre. Journal of Cultural Economics, 14(1), 65–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tobias, S. (2004). Quality in the performing arts: Aggregating and rationalizing expert opinion. Journal of Cultural Economics, 28(2), 109–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Towse, R. (2001). Quis custodiet? Or managing the management: The case of the royal opera house, Covent Garden. International Journal of Arts Management, 3(3), 38–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Towse, R. (2014). Advanced introduction to cultural economics. Cheltenham: Elgar Advanced Introductions.

    Google Scholar 

  • Urrutiaguer, D. (2004). Programme innovations and networks of french public theatres. The Service Industries Journal, 24(1), 37–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Werck, K., & Hwyndels, B. (2007). Programmatic choices and the demand for theatre: The case of Flemish theatres. Journal of Cultural Economics, 31(1), 25–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zieba, M., & O’Hagan, J. (2013). Demand for live orchestral music the case of German Kulturorchester. Journal of Economics and Statistics, 233(2), 225–245.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the referee and participants at the 8th European Workshop on Applied Cultural Economics as well as the participants at the Research Seminars of the Department of Applied Economics II at the Universidad de Valencia for their comments and discussion on a preliminary version of the paper. We also wish to thank the two anonymous referees of the Journal for their comments and suggestions. The usual disclaimer applies.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo de Investigación Reconocido en Economía de la Cultura, Universidad de Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain

    Mafalda Gómez-Vega & Luis César Herrero-Prieto

  2. Departamento de Economía Aplicada, Facultad de Comercio, Universidad de Valladolid, Plaza del Campus Universitario 1, 47011, Valladolid, Spain

    Mafalda Gómez-Vega & Luis César Herrero-Prieto

Authors
  1. Mafalda Gómez-Vega
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Luis César Herrero-Prieto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luis César Herrero-Prieto.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and Figs. 2, 3, 4.

Table 9 Sample of symphony orchestras.
Full size table
Table 10 List of variables used in the analysis.
Full size table
Table 11 Overall results of the sample.
Full size table
Table 12 Index of contemporaneity by orchestra and season
Full size table
Table 13 Index of best-known composers by orchestra and season
Full size table
Table 14 Index of conventionality by orchestra and season
Full size table
Fig. 2
figure 2

Source: Authors’ own

Index of contemporaneity. Average by symphony orchestra.

Full size image
Fig. 3
figure 3

Source: Authors’ own

Index of best-known composers. Average by symphony orchestra.

Full size image
Fig. 4
figure 4

Source: Authors’ own

Index of conventionality. Average by symphony orchestra.

Full size image

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gómez-Vega, M., Herrero-Prieto, L.C. Measuring emotion through quality: evaluating the musical repertoires of Spanish symphony orchestras. J Cult Econ 43, 211–245 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10824-018-9337-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10824-018-9337-1

Keywords

JEL Classification

Search

Navigation