Concentrating on the performance of basso continuo in Italian music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, this book offers a fresh and novel account of the importance of basso continuo teaching, practice and performance, and provides new ideas for the interpretation and performance of music of this period in modern times. Giulia Nuti traces the history of basso continuo in Italy from its origins to its completion, showing how compositional practices changed with the development of styles of accompaniment, how basso continuo affected the composition process itself, and how the relationship between the composer and the performer varied through the centuries. The study draws extensively on primary sources, many of which have never before been considered.