Competition at the Catholic Court of Munich: Italian Musicians and Family Networks

In the seventeenth century, Italian music with its interaction of music, scenery and costumes wasen vogueat European courts. As a result of the breakthrough of Italiandrammi per musica, the phenomenon of Italian musicians spreading all across Europe, from Scandinavia to Spain, from England to Russia, is fairly abundant and well known. On the other hand, systematical approaches referring to micro-historical perspectives on social and artistic integration of foreign musicians are still unexpectedly meagre and poorly researched. This article addresses foreign musicians at the court of Wittelsbach in Munich from as early as mid-seventeenth century up to late