A comprehensive account of music in Florence from the late Middle Ages until the end of the Medici dynasty in the mid-eighteenth century.

Florence is justly celebrated as one of the worlds most important cities.It enjoys mythic status and occupies an enviable place in the historical imagination.But its musico-historical importance is not as well understood as it should be.If Florence was the city of Dante, Michelangelo, and Galileo, it was also the birthplace of the madrigal, opera, and the piano.Music in Golden-Age Florence, 12501750 recounts Florences principal contributions to music and the history of how music was heard and cultivated in the city, from civic and religious institutions to private patronage and the academies. This book is an invaluable complement to studies of the art, literature, and political thought of the late-medieval and early-moderneras and the quasi-legendary figures in the Florentine cultural pantheon.