Music and Culture in Late Renaissance Italy

"This book explores the role music played in the cultural, religious, and political upheavals of late Renaissance Italy, revealing how musical activity of all kinds was instrumentalized by those in power. Iain Fenlon focuses on the second half of the sixteenth century - a period often still regarded as one of decline and degeneration after the achievements of the Quattrocento followed by the calamita d'Italia - and argues that Italian culture did not lose its vigour after 1530, but underwent a transformation, as both individuals and institutions reacted to new economic, political, and particular religious circumstances."--Jacket.