The entanglement of music and literature of the early modern period is rich with exchanges, dialogues, and disputes. These entanglements present a fascinating counterpoint to early modernity, and in many ways serve as complicit witnesses to their times and places. The Routledge Companion to Early Modern Music and Literature considers musico-literary production from the period 1500–1800, as well as its contemporary resonances, and seeks to unpick these often knotty intersections. Following in the footsteps of The Routledge Companion to Music and Modern Literature (edited by Rachael Durkin, Peter Dayan, Axel Englund, and Katharina Clausius), the 28 chapters within consider this transformative time through four thematic groupings—music and early modern writings, political voices, staging the early modern, and afterlives—and invite readers to marvel at the miscellany of interactions between early modern musics and literatures from the sixteenth to the twenty-first centuries. This Companion is therefore a valuable addition to the bookshelves of those looking to grapple with the early modern musico-literary relationship.
