Music at the Stuttgart court experienced a flowering in the 17th and 18th centuries that amazes us to this day. The quality of the music created and performed there easily holds its own when compared to that originating in more well-known centres of high culture of the times. One of the reasons for this was the stimulating cultural climate then current in this southwestern corner of the German speaking realm; France and Italy, the great archetypes for art and culture, lay so close that, even with the difficult travel conditions of the times, both were easily reached.