Illustration Acknowledgments - Abbreviations - Preface - Music and Society in the Classical Era; N.Zaslaw - Italy: Two Opera Centres; D.Libby - Paris: the End of the Ancien R gime; J.Mongr dien - Maria Theresa\'s Vienna; B.A.Brown - Vienna under Joseph II and Leopold II; J.A.Rice - Salzburg under Church Rule; C.Eisen - The Bohemian Lands; C.Hogwood & J.Smaczny - The Mannheim Court; E.K.Wolf - Courts and Municipalities in North Germany; T.Bauman - Haydn at the Esterh zy Court; L.Somfai - London: a City of Unrivalled Riches; W.Weber - Stockholm in the Gustavian Era; A.Johnson - Spain in the Enlightenment; C.H.Russell - Philadelphia: a City in the New World; N.E.Tawa - Chronology - Index