[en] We present a new approach for population synthesis in galaxy nuclei, which makes use, exclusively, of a library of integrated spectra of star clusters. This method has given interesting results for nearby galaxy nuclei in terms of dating successive stellar generations and detecting bursts of star formation, as well as of determining the chemical enrichment. These population syntheses results for galaxy nuclei are then compared to those derived from an evolutionary method. The two different approaches are interfaced by means of theoretical M/L_V ratios for single generation stellar systems computed for differing ages. We conclude that results from the population synthesis are compatible with chemical evolution models. This confrontation allows the star formation history in galaxy nuclei to be derived. (author)