Ultimately, this book is to be highly recommended: it will make a valuable and indispensable addition to the libraries of both scholars of eighteenth-century music and those from other disciplines who want to expand their knowledge of the role of music [...] in the self-fashioning and sustenance of European monarchic structures. NOTES This book is one ... Read moreof the most important contributions to our understanding of the context of the music most familiar to musicians and concert-goers today. [...] The editors have gathered an expert team; their own contributions are paradigms of accessibility. I commend this important book to every serious musician's book shelf. STRINGENDO The editors of this volume are [...] to be congratulated on assembling a systematically organized collection of essays by an impressive international panel of scholars, each of whom is an expert on a particular court and its archival sources. [...] It includes much new and occasionally surprising information, and a substantial amount of material made available in English for the first time. MUSICOLOGY AUSTRALIA The detail presented in this book is remarkable [...] a useful book which extends our knowledge of courtly music-making in Germany during this time, and it will undoubtedly be of value to scholars of the period. THE CONSORT [A] valuable resource for any historical musicologist investigating this extraordinarily productive and fascinating period of German music history, and I hope it encourages and enables more research in this area, and ultimately more performances of its many forgotten treasures. CONTEXT [T]he treasures in [the book's] 500 pages will satisfy a whole range of other music historical interests for years to come. The personnel lists, mini biographies and sheer number of name references to rulers and the musicians in their employ are invaluable. MUSICAL TIMES [A] fascinating picture emerges of the birth and nurture of a rich musical tradition which continues today in democratic form with the unequalled wealth of German musical performance in virtually every German town. CLASSICAL MUSIC [T]his valuable book provides a reliable source of information for anyone interested in 18th-century music in Germany. [...] there is an abundance of knowledge here from which everyone can draw. EARLY MUSIC REVIEW Show Less