Music As Cultural Mission : Explorations of Jesuit Practices in Italy and North America

Music as Cultural Mission: Explorations of Jesuit Practices in Italy and North America elucidates how the performing arts played a seminal role in the cultural mission of the Society of Jesus. Drawing on unpublished archival documents, music and dramatic texts performed in Italy and North America over the last four centuries, the volume features the work of leading scholars in Italy and the United States and offers a broad view of the Jesuits' influence on musical and theatrical practice. Part I of this volume contains detailed explorations of the Jesuits' performing arts activities in Milan and within the Kingdom of Naples in the 17th and 18th centuries. Part II moves away from the discussion of Italy to focus on the various models of performance and pedagogy used by the Jesuits in the New World.