ABSTRACT
Music for keyboards held an important place in the cultural life of the loose collection of city-states that formed Italy in the period prior to 1700. Among the principal musical employees of sacred establishments were organists and harpsichordists whose duties included performing, teaching, and composing. Music printing was a sizable industry in Italy and many keyboard composers published “authorized” keyboard prints that reflect a considerable tradition. Italy also dominated European manufacture of quilled instruments in the sixteenth century (and produced many in the seventeenth as well). Another prominent seventeenthcentury musico-cultural export, opera, found an important place in London, Paris, Vienna, and other major European cities. By 1700 it had become de rigueur to travel to Italy to view cultural artifacts or enjoy its musical tradition. Schütz and Handel (and later Mozart) were among the most famous of those who came to finish their musical education. Reciprocally, Italians themselves traveled abroad and found secure employment as well as receptive musical audiences, and Italian publications were widely disseminated. The “Italian style” was known and heard from Moscow to Dublin.
