Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Musician, traveling
(810 words)

1. Itinerant musicians

In the Middle Ages, itinerant musicians – who worked mostly independently but sometimes in conditions of quasi-employment at courts or in towns – were key figures in European musical culture. They played for entertainment (Light music), dancing, in the countryside, in streets and squares, at fairs, in taverns (Tavern music), and at tournaments and other ceremonial court occasions. Their audiences came from various strata of society, and they mastered …

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Rode-Breymann, Susanne, “Musician, traveling”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 08 June 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_030023>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20200128



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