New essays by noted authorities explore music and related arts in early modern Italy, the concept of musical voice, the role of singing in musical life, and the many ways of experiencing music.

This two-volume set explores the relationship between words and music -- and the roles they play in culture and society -- from the Renaissance through the nineteenth century. The first volume, Word, Image, and Song: Essays onEarly Modern Italy, presents a broad range of approaches to the study of music and related arts during that era. Chapters are devoted to such topics as musical source studies, issues of performance, poetry, and linguistics, influences on music from the Classical tradition, and the interconnectedness of music and visual art. Volume 2, Word, Image, and Song: Essays on Musical Voices, takes the notion of musical voice as a starting point and applies it in varying ways to diverse repertoires and music-historical circumstances, ranging from the operas and cantatas of Handel to the autograph albums of nineteenth-century collector Charlotte de Rothschild. Essays in this volume present a range of interpretive strategies with respect to the "voices" that one might hear and understand as emerging from a musical work, from the historical contexts of music, and from the reception of music and musical ideaswithin societies.

Rebecca Cypess is assistant professor of music at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Beth L. Glixon is instructor in musicology at the University of Kentucky School of Music. Nathan Link is NEH Associate Professor of Music at Centre College.