Wonderchamber: A Cabinet of Musical Curiosities from the 17th Century

Rulers and aristocrats competed to fill their “cabinets of wonder” with expensive curiosities: one-of-a-kind ethnographic, archaeological, or natural objects. With the same sense of curiosity in the pursuit of the unique, 17th-century composers created musical wonders that stretched the limits of harmonic convention—evident in compositions by Castello, Biber, Weckmann, and Uccelini.