Table of contentsMusic and the city. Musical cultures and urban societies in the Southern Netherlands and beyond, c. 1650-1800Stefanie Beghein & Bruno BlondéI. The urban stage -; staging the city“Les operas etaient en vogue”. Opera in a city in crisis: Antwerp between 1682 and 1794Timothy De PaepeOpera in a different language. Opera translations in the Dutch Republic in the eighteenth centuryRudolf RaschMusic-making ghosts: eighteenth-century Rome as operatic memory machineBruno FormentII. The church and the streetsMusic and funeral practices in Antwerp, c. 1650-1750Stefanie BegheinChurch music and minstrel music in the Southern Netherlands, with a special focus on AntwerpEugeen SchreursThe church, the street, the tower, and the home as sites of religious music-making in urban Baroque GermanyTanya KevorkianIII. Private musicSerious songs, musical practices and sociability in Paris at the end of the seventeenth centuryAnne-Madeleine GouletApollo's gifts. Dutch songbooks for the urban youth of the eighteenth centuryLouis P. GrijpThe societal dimension of music in urban life in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuriesThe societal dimension of music in urban life in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.Although early modern urban musical life has been the object of investigation with several researchers, little is known about the ways in which musical cultures were integrated within their broader urban environments. Building upon recent trends within urban musicology, the authors of this volume aim to transcend descriptive overviews of institutions and actors involved with music within a given city. Instead, they consider the urban environment as the constitutive context for music making, and music as a significant aspect of urban society and identity.Through selected case studies and by focusing on three 'musical circuits'-opera and theatre music, sacred music, and secular songs-this book contributes to a more effective understanding of music in late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century urban societies in the southern Netherlands and beyond. Musicological and historical research perspectives are fruitfully integrated, as well as insights from theatre scholarship and literary criticism. With attention to the musical life behind the traditional institutions, the circulation of repertoires, and musical cultures in peripheral urban environments or in cities 'in decay', Music and the City sheds new light on the societal dimension of music in urban life.Contributors:Bruno Blondé (University of Antwerp), Timothy De Paepe (University of Antwerp), Rudolf Rasch (Utrecht University), Bruno Forment (Free University Brussels - Ghent University), Stefanie Beghein (University of Antwerp), Eugeen Schreurs (Artesis University College Antwerp, Royal Conservatory), Tanya Kevorkian (Millersville University), Anne-Madeleine Goulet (École française de Rome), Louis P. Grijp (Utrecht University - Meertens Institute)Although early modern urban musical life has been the object of investigation with several researchers, little is known about the ways in which musical cultures were integrated within their broader urban environments. Building upon recent trends within urban musicology, the authors of this volume aim to transcend descriptive overviews of institutions and actors involved with music within a given city. Instead, they consider the urban environment as the constitutive context for music making, and music as a significant aspect of urban society and identity.Through selected case studies and by focusing on three ‘musical circuits’—opera and theatre music, sacred music, and secular songs—this book contributes to a more effective understanding of music in late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century urban societies in the southern Netherlands and beyond. Musicological and historical research perspectives are fruitfully integrated, as well as insights from theatre scholarship and literary criticism. With attention to the musical life behind the traditional institutions, the circulation of repertoires, and musical cultures in peripheral urban environments or in cities ‘in decay’, Music and the City sheds new light on the societal dimension of music in urban life.