ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at many different aspects of musical activity, creation and reception in Spain during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It considers music as part of everyday life, as intrinsic to extraordinary ceremonial events, as well as its function in urban ritual. The chapter begins with a brief consideration of the state of the art regarding this approach and the potential for and the limitations of looking at music in this way. It addresses questions of orality/aurality, musical apprenticeships and teaching, the dissemination of music through print and manuscript, the market for music books and instruments, performance spaces, devotional practices and urban ceremonial. The overall aim is to suggest to the reader something of what the musical experience of the citizens of—and visitors to—Spain (and beyond) might have been.
