ABSTRACT
The performing musicians felt free to adapt the music to changing circumstances: the number of people available, the size and layout of the hall, and even the nature of the occasion that required music. Documents like the cook book, Banchetti, composizioni di vivande e apparecchio generale, written by a steward for the Este family in Ferrara, Cristoforo da Messisbugo, are of primary importance for the social history of music during the Renaissance, as well as for the study of performing practice. At least twenty-four and more probably thirty musicians took part in the first banquet; twenty-two performed in the final concerto, and twenty-four danced the last Moresca to the sound of shawms. The largest ensemble at the second banquet involved twenty singers and instrumentalists. Some of purely instrumental music was unambiguously intended for the dance. When cornetts were substituted for shawms in combination with trombones, a wind band resulted that could play virtually any sort of music to good effect.
