`Edmund Bowles gives us the eyewitness accounts-combined with a scholar's analysis of the commemorative material and its musical implications-Anyone interested in the music of the past will find much to excite and inform in this collection: ceremonies are given back their choreography and costume, music is given back its context and symbolism-' Christopher Hogwood
In the days before the technology of instant media documentation, rulers of state and people of title would commission elaborate books of text and illustration, often enlisting the services of the greatest artists of the day. These festival books were published in limited editions at great expense and serve today as testaments to the wealth and prestige of the ruling houses of Europe.
Bowles has made the first in-depth study of these books as they document contemporary musical performance practices throughout the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Over 250 illustrations are included.