Towards a typology of materiality/corporeality of music in the digital multimedia regime

The first part of the article examines the contemporary trend of the dematerialization of music in the multimedia spectacle, and in particular, thanks to the technological instruments, how this leads to conjunction with digital, and especially abstract, video. Various types of multimedia musical work are classified, in decreasing order of materiality/corporeality: from the traditional opera, regularly provided with all its normal material components, as well as the new dematerialized component, to new kinds of audiovisual works which instead are totally dematerialized. The second part of the article examines the countertrend of rematerialization and recorporealization of the musical multimedia spectacle. Other types of work are classified in which matter and the body, directly or indirectly and sometimes even metaphorically, regain centrality, despite the digital management and elaboration of the musical and video material.