This volume examines a pivotal moment in the development of Italian music around 1600, one that concerns the history of composition, notation, and performance practice in equal measure: the integration of chordal instruments into musical production (in the broadest sense). The focus is on the phenomenon of the basso continuo, which raises not only numerous questions regarding performance practice but also various historiographical issues. Thus, the basso continuo is merely one form within a broad spectrum of musical practices; it arises from diverse historical conditions and interacts with composition, the (theoretical) conception of polyphonic writing, and the musical-cultural context of the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

With contributions by
Augusta Campagne – Tim Carter – Rebecca Cypess – Luciano Contini –
Anne Marie Dragosits – Alexander Flor – Thérèse de Goede –
Reinhard Kapp – Sarah Lutz – Eugène Michelangeli – Giulia Nuti