This talk explores the continuity of musical associations and conventions throughout the early modern Hispanic world in the time of Miguel de Cervantes, using both live and recorded musical examples. Points of contact between the real world and a densely woven imaginary world are plentiful in Cervantes’ writings. Cervantes relies on the power of music and its ability to deceive or surprise. Every strum of the guitar may bring several possible hearings. His work is embedded in an incompletely recovered musical tradition whose traces are audible, though unwritten improvisatory practices shaped performance and conveyed meaning across social levels and geography. See January 29 for more information on the festival.