The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Music

Simon P. Keefe

The eighteenth century arguably boasts a more remarkable group of significant musical figures, and a more engaging combination of genres, styles and aesthetic orientations, than any century before or since, yet huge swathes of its musical activity remain under-appreciated. The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Music provides a comprehensive survey, examining little-known repertories, works and musical trends alongside more familiar ones. Rather than relying on temporal, periodic and composer-related phenomena to structure the volume, it is organised by genre; chapters are grouped according to the traditional distinctions of music for the church, music for the theatre and music for the concert room that conditioned so much thinking, activity and output in the eighteenth century. A valuable summation of current research in this area, the volume also encourages readers to think of eighteenth-century music less in terms of overtly teleological developments than of interacting and mutually stimulating musical cultures and practices.

• Combines different methods of scholarly enquiry: stylistic, aesthetic, historical and theoretical, suggesting directions in which eighteenth-century music studies will evolve in the future
• Broad in coverage of eighteenth-century works and trends, and international in scope
• Provides new insights for scholars and music lovers, opening up numerous avenues for further research and study