Music in the Baroque World ─ History, Culture, and Performance

Music of the Baroque: History, Culture, and Performance takes inspiration from the field of cultural history. The emphasis is on questions of performativity—how audiences perceived, reacted to, and identified with musical works and performances. The author illuminates representative works through the lens of politics, visual arts, theology, print culture, gender, domesticity, commerce, and cultural influence and exchange.

The main form of organization is chronological, but then thematic and idea-oriented, organized around five themes or sites of meaning. Part one familiarizes students with key concepts and materials that are essential to an understanding of the cultural history of early modern Europe. The remaining four parts address music and religion, opera and theater music, instrumental music, and the baroque beyond Europe.

Susan Lewis Hammond is Director of the School of Music and Associate Professor of Musicology at the University of Victoria, Canada.